219 Hospital Road, Kalubowila, Dehiwala
Last updated by savan on 10 January 2013
Here's a place we really wanted to like. A range of East Asian food that extends far beyond the usual Sri Lankan-Chinese staples, made by people who seem know to what they are doing, delivered quickly to your door.
The offerings include char kway teow, mee siam, sea food laksa - really a few steps beyond the standard sweet and sour pork, their website is great and easy to navigate and the attention to detail - well printed takeout boxes, prompt deliveries is generally excellent.
So it was with expectations of a good meal and a positive review that we entered our orders onto their easy to use online ordering system. We got nasi goreng (Rs. 449), char kway teow (Rs. 419) and noodles in black bean sauce (Rs. 439). The prices were decent, the photos on the website appetizing and the delivery man made it out to Dehiwala in under 30 mins. Everything was going smoothly - until we actually began eating.
The first sign of trouble was that instead of the black pepper chicken we ordered with the nasi goreng we got what appeared to be chicken satay or maybe some sort of red curry, but not black pepper chicken. Again this mix up would have been acceptable in the context of a tasty, inexpensive meal and this was really the main disappointment; inexpensive - yes, tasty - not really.
Everything was a little bit flat - the char kway teow was packed with a generous amount of sea food but the flavor was bland, the noodles in black bean sauce were similarly lacking in flavor. Shruthi's comment- it tastes like East Asian food you get in the West was probably the most appropriate. Just blander and lacking the flavors we are used to. We know you can always add more salt and chilli but the spices, garlic and ginger flavors we curry munching Lankans like also seemed to be missing.
The nasi goreng sums up the experience, apart from the pepper chicken mix up it was edible but lacked the flavor of a simple road side kade fried rice. For us road side nasi goreng/fried rice Vs. China Doll and we'd chose you in a heart beat Millenium Restaurant though, sadly, you don't deliver..
And that's the fundamental issue- the broad and interesting menu, the lovely packaging, the speedy delivery all falls apart if the food is lacking, and the food was definitely lacking - lacking flavor, and just the added oomph that would make this a better option than your nearest bath kade or standard Sri Lankan-Chinese joint..
We honestly wanted to like this place and given a lot of our friends give it positive review we are willing to give it a second chance, though not any time too soon. If our readers/ China Doll fans could list their favorite dishes we might know where to begin on any second attempt.
That's really hard to believe. I have been eating China Doll ever since they opened - and everything I've eaten, I love. My recommendations are the nasi, the blachan kangkung, firecracker prawn, the newly introduced chicken wings [SPICY], - and the list goes on…
It's also weird that you guys found the food bland - as long as I've ordered, its always been spicy, just the way I like it.
So weird…
i never liked this place. not that the food was bland, it was too salty and just didn't taste fresh… which was sad… it has a lot of potential to be better but like a lot of sri lankan places, the cooks tend to add too much salt and chillie and expect that to cover up the lack of flavor and taste
the food in china doll is very greasy and salty, the price is also comparatively high considering what you are getting, i have seen a steady decrease in quality in chinese dragon the parent company as well
Useless place. This place had lots of sandwiches when it started but now they don't do sandwiches. Obviously the poor quality led to loss of customers. Food is very dry and not tasty. Their chicken noodles have hardly any chicken pieces. Not worth the money.
Do not agree, Chinadoll is my favorite place and i order from them regularly. i seriously doubt this.
I dont know what people expect from staple chinese food, they are mostly greasy so if you expect fresh food with least amount of oil you should try a different cuisine.
Their Char Kway Teow is pretty authentic. Pad thai needs to be improved. Spicy Mee groeng is awesome and blazing hot.
As of lately the portion sizes have gone down a bit. apart from that they have been one of my favorite delivery places for Chinese cravings.
one word, Salty…
I really want to like their food too, but there is an overpowering flavour in all the dishes I've tried that puts me off. Oily too.
This place is terrible. Don't even think of eating here.
I didn't like their food at all. Their meals are pretty bad for the most part and some are very bad. So bad you can't eat the stuff.
Ok, I dont know if this is since their change of management, I have a few complains as a x-fan. The quantity of the food has good down, i mean dooooooown. What I used to like about that place was the back for the buck. The overall food quality has also gone down. Hope they would listen to the customers more often and improve, or this would be another BOX-O-NOODLE business :(
"Just blander and lacking the flavors we are used to. We know you can always add more salt and chilli but the spices, garlic and ginger flavors we curry munching Lankans like also seemed to be missing."
You guys say it's like a sri lankan chinese and then say it didnt have flavors you are used to.
This review is absolutely horse poop.
