Red Capital Club, Beijing

Whatever happened since they got a good reviev years ago, this place is so run down that it can not even be recommanded as a place for a drink. Their famous limousine outside the front door did sure not run for the last five years, nore has it been washed since. The manager, some kind of lost foreigner in this city, wearing dirty jeans and a somehow odd pullover is totally out of reallity. The food is poorer then the service and that comes to something. We were served something called Pecking duck, believe me, it was such a disgrace to the city it was called after. The sauce we were supposed to dip our freezer style pancakes in came out of a paintshow I believe, some sticky stuff you would not feed to hated animals. But the best came as we called the manager to ask if he would call this a Peking Duck...his answer was, that this one was not the normal style Peking duck but actually much healthier. Well, we did not come for healthy food. And we will never come again. But I will also from now on never read Travel and Leisure again, because after all they called this place some of the hottest restaurants in town. And bye the way, their so called hotel RED CARPET and their Hostel next to the Great Wall are as bad as the restaurant. To be avoided by all means!!!Chairman Mao would have known where to send these pretenders...

After eating nothing but Chinese food for 2 weeks, this was a welcome break. The menu was in English, and the food tasted like "normal" Chinese food from home. So it's probably not authentic, but I'd had enough authentic by then. It was a really interesting place indoors, lots of things to look at, fun bar, fun atmosphere. I liked it and recommend it to others traveling there as a place to try at least once.

The residence: looks great on the website but the actual place is too cramp and too old. The courtyard is so small that I felt claustophobic there. For the price they charge of over US$200 for a double room, it is definitely not value for money, in fact I feel a sense of being ripped off. US$80 would be about right for a place like this, compared to what else are available in Beijing. I booked two nights and left after one.

Poorest food we had during a 2-week journey thru China. Poor and unsmiling service. Totally over-rated; pretentious and agressively expensive. Just have a look at the court-yard and walk away. However we should have noticed that no chinese guest was daring dining there, which is a decisive clue. Stick to basic principles: select only crowded restaurants with no foreigners at all; they are often outstanding...

I loved the place, its great for a foreigner to visit and entertain the ceo of the company i work for the celtic manor in uk and ive never been to a better place, the service is improving as you can see, and the food is quite some,

The people who own the Red Capital Club clearly know how to market to its audience --unsuspecting gringos. This place is listed in all the guide books and it's located in a very cool, dimly lit hutong. The restaurant is unmarked, just a set of red doors leading to a nicely decorated courtyard. The walk in the dark to find this place was the best part of the experience. As for the restaurant, the ambiance is fantastic, but that's about it. Your first big clue is that there are no Chinese customers. The food is absolutely terrible, the service is average at best. They need to have the people who run PF Chang's teach them how to make Chinese food. If you must, stop by for a drink after dinner somewhere else. There are plenty of courtyard style restaurants in Beijing that are excellent, and for about 1/2 the price.

The theme of this restaurant was fantastic. Dishes are large. However with all the great ambiance the place lacked one thing. Good food. The overall theme of the four different dishes tried was lots of "Oil"! A bottle of wine a requirement to cut the grease. A "Poor" rating is the rating given for the quality of food. Certainly a disappointment since it is written in several sources. My other problem was one of our personal wait staff had a very bad cold. She handed us dishes. Very leary of other hygiene practices if they are willing to put someone with a very bad cold as your food server. Would recommend passing on this restaurant.

I was a little skeptical when I went. I thought it was going to be a tourist trap but was pleasantly surprised by the food and decor. It has a great cigar bar and wonderful ambiance. The food was good considering and fairly priced. The service was below par though. They forgot an order and changed one of our orders because they had "run out" of the dish. They took a chair away without asking and was generally unattentive. I would still recommend the place though. It's a very nice place to bring visitors but not really for locals. There's better food to be found elsewhere at more reasonable prices.