Chinese lanterns in Ipswich

Wish I'd have taken photos! I've never written a bad review in my life but seriously, just don't even go there. We ordered from Lanterns when our regular Chinese was closed. Thought it would be a safe bet being a town centre restaurant and good reviews. Oh my, the dishes were unrecognisable. Without doubt, the worst Chinese food I have ever eaten! Absolutely gobsmacked at the quality and it was £10 more than we would usually spend as well. Since I've been speaking to others, I've been told it has changed ownership so maybe that is something to do with it. The worst dish we had was chicken satays, my children's favourite. Even they said "what is that!" Dreadful waste of money, bland, couldn't even taste peanuts let alone any other rich flavours and spices in the sauce. Also had a yellow bean sauce dish, it had the cheapest cuts of chicken and the yellow bean sauce was completely tasteless. Just awful. Will never be going back and I just have to advise others not to bother!!

Nice fixed price menu, eat as much as you like all cooked to order, better than a help yourself buffet. Plenty of choice. If you don't want the eat all you like price menu. Then you can order off different menu pay for each item of your choice. Friendly, chatty staff, busy for a Wednesday but still no issues with service and all food was hot, although they never got my pan sizzling beef wrong, brought prawns out but they did offer to let us have them free of charge and get my correct order. I was happy to keep the prawns to avoid any delays. Very tasty so not an issue with me.

The best chinese in Ipswich would be considered a massive understatement! Every waitress will greet you with a warm smile and they really are exceptional! The food is just second to none, freshness, taste and easily the best SMOKED CHICKEN I have had the pleasure of eating! The chef is top notch and I will continue to eat at Lanterns for as long as I live! Overall 10/10 experience from start to finish every time without fail. Once again the SMOKED CHICKEN is godly!

Went here last night, the restaurant had around 30 people in it, there was only 1 waitress and she did absolutely amazing, the food was good, but you would expect that giving the 5 chefs BOH, give the waitress a raise or at least someone to help out, clearly her talents are wasted here. She did great.

Im absolutely disgusted with how me and my family was treated tonight. I knew all along we had two hours that wasn’t my issue, my issue was the staff taking too long to come to the table and take orders. It took 45 minutes just for us to get our appetisers to come out then when our mains arrived we was told we only had 15 minutes to eat 14 dishes!! My dads partner actually had a mouthful when a rude girl came over and told us to leave she was half way through her dinner it’s an absolute joke and do you think this is acceptable??? I get it’s a Saturday night and busy but most of the time the staff were just wondering around actually not doing anything also why book so many people in if you know you can’t be quick enough to actually take orders and get the food out? We paid nearly £200 pounds to leave most of our mains because we was told to get out as the table was needed!!! You should be embarrassed with how you treated us tonight I will never return to you guys if you can’t cope with the capacity then don’t book so many in really simple.

12 in our party food was good, staff friendly, plenty of choice all for a set price as much as you could eat. Only small issue we had an extra 10% added to our bill as over 7 in our group

We had an amazing meal today. We used to order take away as the service is usually very very poor. Today I was surprised! Two beautiful and polite young ladies made our evening very enjoyable! Restaurant was full and it was only two of them absolutely smashing the service. Waiting time for drinks was about 3 minutes which never happened before. Clean toilets and tidy restaurant. Super happy. 👏

First time I have used Lanterns for a takeaway meal. We liked the menu on offer and we were impressed with the food and service received. Had a minor wait but nothing to complain about as it was Christmas eve. I would recommend collecting your own food yourself and booking directly with them.

Well what can I say the food ,the service, atmosphere and surroundings were amazing. Myself and my family love Chinese food and this experience certainly didn't disappoint. Only Myself and my husband had been to the restaurant before. But I've got to say that the food was even better than our previous visit. Definitely a good dining experience for any occasion. Thanks Lanterns for making my son's Birthday so memorable for him. THE Only thing I forgot to do was take photos of our food. We were all so excited to dig in. So when we visit next time. I promise photos will be added.

Amazing food and great quality, a good selection and very well presented. On my first visit I loved how friendly and welcoming the staff were, it felt like a local pub in how lovely they all were. I would give 5 stars but the only letdown was our drinks order was forgotten about.