City Vaults - Lincoln

Had to go to Lincoln to get tickets for the Drill Hall, had to put 24 hours on the NCP so had the afternoon shopping Around six, we headed across the train lines to find The City Vaults. Again, we were the only diners in there. We had expected the same unusual menu but it had been shortened to a few traditional English style Chinese dishes, such a shame. We had Hot Sour Soup, Salt Pepper ribs (excellent), Veg Chow Mein, Chinese Duck, and Minced Pork with French beans (about 12 fiery red chopped chillies) my eyes were watering but I persisted. Would loved to have tried Duck Tongue or battered frog legs

Have walked past this restaurant a number of times, on the way home after work, and it always busy with Chinese students getting their even meal...this was a big factor in thinking we should give it a go. Finally we did on a Saturday night. To our surprise on arrival there was not many people dining in the restaurant, just a few tables taken up. The decor leaves a little to desire, but i think this adds to its ambience. I must admit we had a little communication problem with our waiter at first, as he struggled a little with English, but we thought this could be another good sign that this would be traditional Chinese food. After looking at the extensive menu, including weird and wonderful dishes, i can only assume were traditional Chinese food we ordered. We kept our choices conservative for a first visit and went for the set meal for 4. The smells of the food coming from other diners was really nice, and on receiving our meal we were not disappointed. The food was very evidently freshly cooked and extremely good indeed....i would even go as far to say the best Chinese food i have had. We had plenty of food for the four of us and every dish tasted different and delicious. We had the meal, x2 bottles of wine and a pint of cider for £20each. This place is extremely good value for money, with beautiful, fresh, home cooked food, and interesting and friendly service....we will definitely be visiting again, and maybe going for something a little more adventurous this time. Highly Recommended.

I visited this restaurant on a Saturday night and it was very quiet. The menu was limited and did not offer even half of the dishes that my local restaurant does. The crispy duck was chopped into very small pieces and was very fatty, so we decided not to eat it. The main courses arrived with side plates as our dinner plates and the noodles were piled onto a regular dinner plate. None of the food was kept warm and quickly went cold. Overall, I would rate this restaurant as below average.

I visited this restaurant on a Sunday evening, so it was quite quiet. However, there was a continuous flow of Chinese students going upstairs for karaoke. The restaurant offers two menus, one in English and one in Chinese. Both menus offer equally delicious food, but the Chinese menu includes some dishes that may not typically appeal to English palates. Overall, the food was great and reasonably priced.

My group of four recently dined at this restaurant and found ourselves to be the only guests. The waitress seemed to have difficulty with the language barrier, as she did not understand when I wished her a happy new year in Cantonese. The service was slow, with our food arriving at different times and lukewarm by the time we were able to eat it. Despite this, the food was delicious and we enjoyed our meal. I can't help but wonder what the experience would be like on a busier night.