Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao (Toa Payoh)

There's only less than 5 tables occupied in the whole big restaurant.

But staff had to squeeze me in between 2 couples despite my request for another table. (I was dining alone.)

There were more than enough staff but ALL were 'busy' with 'whatever'. I had difficulty flagging them down to take my order.

I think most of the kitchen staff must be taking their afternoon nap. Despite a relatively quite late afternoon, i waited more than 30mins for my porridge which turned-up 'cold'. Well, it's not even 'hot' enough to 'cook' the fish slices in my bowl. My starter came after 2 reminders and when I'm almost finishing my main. Please note that I'm a slow eater plus the Congee was really lousy.

I would usually have my food change in situation like this, but experiencing the lax service and the long waiting time, I just wanna get out.  And yes, they didn't bother to ask about the left-over raw fish in the bowl.

I usually enjoyed Crystal Jade's food and service, but not this one.

If you're an avid steamboat buffet lover like me, you shouldn't go for Crystal Jade's. Their portion is way to large for each item and each patron is only entitled to 3 prawns (WTF!)...Their saving grace is their free flow of Luohan fruit drink. Other than that, I know I won't be back again.

i had lunch w my bf at crystal jade on sun, 13th sep. it was supposed to be a nice enjoyable lunch so we ordered more than usual.

the food was comfortable n satisfying. but the restaurant was quite under-staffed as the place was fully packed. many customers including ourselves waited for over 30mins with repeated 'pushing' of the staff for our food items n it never came. i requested to cancel our orders instead n was told by the staff that it has already been cooked n she will serve it now. the 'now' was never. i checked with her again n she rushed off to 'collect my order'. 10mins passed after my 2nd interaction with her n we were about done with our meal. i decided to just cancel my order with a different lady n asked for the bill as well.

this is what we ordered n ate ytd:

1) xiao long bao - not bad, could have more soup though.

2) plain porridge - this is really my comfort food. yummy as always!

3) salt & pepper cuttlefish - my bf likes this. it was okay, could have been more crispy i feel.

4) fried wanton with salad sauce - a tad pricey. it was okay, but not worth $1.50 each. i can get one at kou fu for $0.70 i think.

5) roast pork & duch platter - this set us back by $18.80. the duck meat was tender n the skin was crisp. the roast pork was nice too with the plum sauce. however, i think it was a tad pricey.

6) bbq pork steamed rice rolls - a bit bland. i had better ones at peach garden n fortunate restaurant.

i looked at their dim sum menu n feel that the prices have been increased, some quite starkly. the siew mai was $4.30! my gosh....

overall, the food was acceptable and i guess its not the staff's fault that they were under-staffed. i will be back again but maybe only for the plain porridge and chili dumplings. simple comfort food at fair pricing.

My best pal and I just had dinner earlier. We ordered

1) Yang Zhou Fried Rice

2) Steamed Scallop with Beancurd

3) Egg Plant with Salted Fish and mushroom

4) Double boiled Hashima with Coconut -dessert , must try

50 Almond Cream - dessert

After all taxes and GST , each person pays about 30 dollars. The quality of food is good and service as well. Worth patronising.

Want to try some 'Hong Kong' restaurant, I was delighted when I was told that Crystal Jade is a HK-owned restaurant chain.

Inside, the atmosphere feels like many typical HK restaurants - sea food tanks, dim-sums, and roasted delights etc.

We went with family of 4 and each of us ordered some foods:

Fried beans

Roast duck

Clay-pot vegetables and bean curd

BBQ chicken

The quality of food is not bad and comparable to standard HK restaurant. The waiters/waitresses were helpful

Few down-sides: the size of the main dishes were rather small and considered expensive compared with eating a similar standard meal in HK.

Had lunch today at Crystal jade. Food was not bad. Working in a dim sum restaurant have made me want to try the dim sum from everywhere.

I love the e-fu noodles at crystal jade - whether its the shrimp roe & chive or the minced meat with tofu one. I don't really think the xiao long bao is that great though.

Grandma likes the congee and occasionally I'll packet the congee for her lunch. The plain congee and the chicken feet goes really well.

Pan fried carrot cake is one of my favourite dim sum dish. Crystal jade's one was not bad and i enjoyed it with their chilli.

I especially like this particular dessert that they have - the souffle egg white ball. It's red bean paste + a slice of banana inside. Really good.

Even with these chain outlets, each one is unique and deserves their own ratings.

My experience with TPY is that the service is usually very good. The place was crowded, but that didnt prevent the waitresses from giving good service. Guess they were adequately staffed.

I was reading the past reviews and was wondering why the ratings on the 'value' were so low. I've always thought Crystal Jade was inexpensive Chinese food. I know its not the cheapest, but the quality is good, and to get good quality elsewhere could cost a bomb because Chinese food has always been expensive.

What I like about Crystal Jade is that when faced with rising costs, it increases the prices of its dishes rather than shrink the portion. There's nothing I hate more than shrinked portions at the same price (which is why I dislike BK now for its super-small burgers, and my boycott of some fishball noodles which reduced the no of fishballs from 3 to 2, as well as some chicken rice stalls which has practically no more chicken left)

Anyway, I am a huge meat lover, so it was an experience going with a vegetarian friend. As my friend was vegetarian, there was no point sharing the dishes. I had the Yangzhou fried rice ($9.50) with generous prawns and char siew, my friend had plain noodles and we shared some vegetable buns and some bamboo stuff. The bamboo stuff was a pleasant surprise as it was actually quite tasty. It was my first time eating vegetable buns here too so I was quite surprised at how good it tasted.

It was quite an amusing experience cos while we were there, there was a table next to us (which we believe was a Malay family as they were speaking in Malay). My friend whispered to me in Chinese - "Can they eat here?"

Sorry to any Malay folks reading this - this wasn't meant to be offensive, but we were under the impression that they should be going to a Halal Restaurant... and I don't see how halal my char siew was...

Then what was even more amusing was when the waitresses served them the dishes and said 'xian yu chao fan' - salted fish fried rice... the family looked at her blankly... and she repeated... 'xian yu chao fan'. Gosh, it was so obvious that our dear friends here didn't understand Mandarin.

But that aside, the service was quite excellent and the food as well. Will definitely return.

The must try , got to be the Xiao Long Bao. u can pick the dumpling up with just the tip of your chopsticks!!!...

The set lunch for the beijing duck is ok, but i have tasted better ducks else where.

When we went, there was the day's special dish.. chestnut chicken, taste good. forgot , but the waitress recommand a type of hor fun and fried rice.

The siewmai and har kar are a bit tough...

but the service is not bad... the place is fully packed, but the waitress are still very helpful.

I ate here on Friday evening with my parents. As we came during dinner time, we had to wait for about 10 minutes before we were seated. I felt that some of the food was overpriced. For example, the abalone congee. It cost $13.50 and contained only 4 very thin and small slices of abalone. The food however, was excellent. The portion is sufficient. I'm actually craving for Crystal jade's congee now. The food here is neither "heavy" nor oily and would be great for weight watchers. I would visit this place again because of the food and the fact that there are outlets everywhere.

Came to this branch for the first time with wife and kids last evening. Place is a combined cakery, kitchen and la mien xiao long bao place. I must say with 40+ stores, Crystal Jade is becoming more like a fast food of good chinese food rather than a restaurant. Oh well, but i hear they make loads of good profitable revenues. We ordered :

1) Hand sliced noodles with beef

2) Spinach with garlic fried

3) Crab meat with egg

4) Xiao Long Bao

5) Shen Jian Bao

All were competent and nice. Must say the egg was good. My kids ate heartily as usual. But crystal jade getting predictable and boring. It is more like something we eat when we want consistency. Meal was S$45 for 4 of us so very good value for money.

Must have eaten at their outlets at least 15+ times this year already. Talk about good business!