Oriental Village

My girlfriend and I were visiting in Brighton last week and decided we'd try this place out due to the clean looking, minimalist interior. The 'Tapas' offer also seemed attractive as did the idea of having such a wide choice of oriental cuisine for a set price was rather appealing. Well... In fact, the only good thing about our meal was my beer.

After being seated and having the four course meal system expained to us, we ordered our starters. The starter platter which we ordered looked like a KFC family bucket layed out on a large plate. Every single one of the six items which we ordered was deep fried and swimming in oil. They would have deep fried the plate itself if it would have fit in the fryer!

Next came the second course of soup and crispy duck. The cucumber and spring onion for the duck was dry...really dry, as if it had been chopped in China and shipped over.

The miso soup which should be a thin, light soup, was thick like bleach, and tasted not far off. And looked as if it was also deep fried.

The service was pretty poor as well. Many of the small things we had asked for like additional cutlery or additional serviettes had been easily forgotten about and required several reminders.

For the main course we purposely tried to go for non-fried sounding food, however an abundance of grease was found to be present in almost every dish. This seemed to be the key to they're 'oriental' flavour.

In conclusion... avoid at all costs! This is not good value for many. after drinks and service charge we ended up with a £50 bill for two of us.

p.s. I burnt my tongue on the uber deep fried chicken thingies... I hate burning my tongue! However this turned out to be advantagous as it disguised many of the exceedingly bad flavours my girlfriend was experiencing.
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Rudolph Pimplebottom the Third
Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Ive been to this restaurant serveral times, the foods delicious and generous. The service is very good and the venue is lovely. I would def recommend this to either familys or couples.
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Tanya Coghill
Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Moved to this area a few years ago. Been to this restaurant at least 20 times. Love the atmosphere, food, staff and overall price. Never seem to get to the main courses as the starters and second course meals are delicious and can't help but order more and more.

There is always a member of staff available. It has quite a busy atmosphere so romantic types will probably find it not so cosy but if you want great food and service for couples or parties this place is the best.

I like to dine out a lot, if this restaurant was in central Brighton it would be packed every night if its not already!!!
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Gary
Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The person who left the above message must only normally dine in the Wimpy or

other such nasty establishments.

The way in which they explained their joyous night out, would but only deter me from going incase i found myself on the table next to them !

The food itself is great, if you shop at Iceland.In fact you could recreate the whole

experience at home for about £5 !

The waiters though are very friendly and attentive, but have an unhealthy obsession with removing your menu.

Value ! No ! It is purely psycological that you think your getting a good deal because of the title "All you can eat". You will spend more and get lesser quality food than if you go to most other chinese

restaurants in town !
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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

We have just returned from dining at this restaurant tonight, I don't really want to say how great it is, because then everyone will know about it and we may not get in!

But I have to say it is without doubt the best Chinese food/restaurant in Brighton.

2 of us had the Set price ORIENTAL TAPAS @ £14.99 per person. Order anything from the menu - as much as you like from each of the courses for a set price.

The restaurant itself is ultra modern - bright, but subtle lighting - the tables are well presented, with ready laid out prawn crackers, 2 dips and finger bowl ready and waiting on beautiful table linen.

We were met at the door, explained we hadn't booked, but were shown to a table, anyway.

We ordered Jasmine tea for 2, up came 2 wine glasses, with a little flower in the glass, the hot water was poured into the glass, the waiter explained to wait a few minutes for the flower to open, And the flower exploded into blossom in front of your eyes in the hot water, photo call! The glass was topped up all through the meal with more hot water, each time the flower floated up and back into life - AMAZING! And that's just the tea! @ £2.00 per person.

The waiter suggested a mixed starter to be made up or choose what you wish. We had the chefs mix, prawn toast, satay chicken, seaweed, tiny ribs, chicken pieces in batter, fish cakes, prawn wraps, spring rolls, I can't remember everything! He asked us if we would like some more of anything, Then we had Crispy duck and pancakes, (about a dozen) an option for more, we went on to the crispy lamb with lettuce.

At this point we decided we weren't going for the many main courses, the food was really delicious and we didn't want to spoil it by overeating.

So we went to desserts, deep fried ice cream.

This is an amazing restaurant, we spoke to staff member Angela who along with all waiters, asked us if we were enjoying our meal, and told us that jasmine tea is only served that way in top London restaurants, I can see why.

This isn't only for special occasions, although there were birthday parties here, with banners and singing waiters with balloons, this is a 'feelgood' place to go for any occasion, just to eat a great meal in a great atmosphere.

Go there, but you must have the tea!! we were the only ones having tea. I have given all 10/10 because I couldn't fault it on this visit. Going back ASAP.
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B Burgess
Saturday, September 22, 2007

I have to say I am rather shocked by this restaurant after reading such great reviews. Although the service is attentive, I did feel it was rather over the top, with over 4 waiters at one point attempting to continuously refill our wine upon every sip we took. It just felt at one point that we didnt have 5 mins to ourselves, with every move we took being so intently observed. The food in addition, I have to say was average, having been to so many other fabulous Asian restaurants within Brighton that I have to say I felt fairly let down with the mass of additive and msg filled foods that were available. I cant help but feel the popularity of this restaurant is much down to the all you can eat type style.Although it is fairly good value, I cant help feeling I would rather spend marginally more money in other restaurants with the guarantee of fabulous food in a far more relaxed and less intrusive environment.
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Thursday, February 22, 2007

Really really good - great service, food and very attentive. Little surprise it has such terrific reviews and so much support from the locals. First time there and with a plan to return.
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MarkB
Monday, February 19, 2007

This is definitely one of the hidden gems of brighton which I luckily live close to!! Delicious food at really low cost and very attentive service. You literally can order as many dishes as you like and get four courses for only £15! And they don't rip you off with your drinks either. It's always rammed so you're guaranteed a good atmosphere (just don't go if you looking for a quiet candlelit dinner!).
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Friday, February 16, 2007

This is definitely one of the hidden gems of brighton which I luckily live close to!! Delicious food at really low cost and very attentive service. You literally can order as many dishes as you like and get four courses for only £15! And they don't rip you off with your drinks either. It's always rammed so you're guaranteed a good atmosphere (just don't go if you looking for a quiet candlelit dinner!).
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Friday, February 16, 2007

i went to the oriental village on a friday night a couple of weeks ago after reading about it on here and thought surely it cant be as good as everyone says, but, low and behold it was blooming fantastic!!! the staff were friendly and attentive the atmosphere was good despite it being very busy and the food was to die for! the mixed platter is a must but every dish we tried (and we tried nearly all of them!) was as good as the last! definatly try here if you love chinese food!
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john winter
Saturday, February 10, 2007