Lu Ban Restaurant

Had bottomless brunch here, service was alright and there was a selection of spirits and mixers with 3 cocktail options however the food was sub par. The spring rolls were delicious but the main of sweet and sour was giving primary school dinners. Sorry but definitely would not go here again for £40pp.

Drinks are the only thing that saved this experience and they weren’t weren’t that great! Service, food, and atmosphere 2/10. Gutted as we’ve been told this place is amazing but it was so far from that. Overpriced for takeaway standard Chinese food that came cold, stale, and stiff. Presentation and plating was lazy, and there was absolutely nothing imaginative about the food whatsoever.We are are big foodies that regularly eat out and in 5.5 years of our relationship have never once complained at a meal.Awful house music playing trying to save the awful atmosphere, that in turn made it worse.Won’t be returning unfortunately. Please take this as constructive criticism and not us being harsh. We want to see Luban Liverpool thrive!

Really good service, attentive staff and friendly. Food was okay I think the snacks were probably the best part of the food. We had prawn crackers, caramelised walnuts and pork crunch with honey sauce for snacks which I would definitely recommend. For starter we had pork ribs which are unfortunately not any different than any pork ribs from a local chippy. We had duck and pancakes and pork bao bun for mains, these were again a disappointment as we felt they were just the same as a takeaways dishes. Lastly for desserts we had the chocolate sphere, cherry blossom and the Chinese doughnuts. We were really looking forward to the desserts and we were hoping these would change our opinion on the restaurant but unfortunately these only made it worse. The chocolate sphere and the cherry blossom were overly sweet while the caramel sauce for the doughnuts was extremely bitter. Overall not a very good experience and would not go here again.

Excellent restaurant, with Chinese cuisine influence, from the masterful chef Dave Critchley! Every single detail is carefully planned and looked after and despite the attention invested in all aspects of the dining, the service feels very natural and welcoming, reflecting genuinely the true nature of local Liverpoolian hospitality.Flavours, smells, colours and atmosfere, all contribute to an unique and enjoyable dining experience!!Highly recommended!!

Bottomless brunch - the service was impeccable and the food was okay too. I would recommend the cauliflower main over the Szechuan chicken. Vladimir made our experience - he was very attentive & made sure we had constant flowing cocktails.

3rd time here, 1st time at the chefs table. Dave Chritchley was fantastic explaining every dish he served and was more than happy to answer any of our questions and engage in conversation. What can I say the food exceeded all expectations with not one guest finding any fault with their food. Will be visiting again soon.

The Short Version - From serious quality control issues (mushy rice and oversteamed dim sum) to a failure of vision (upscale Tianjin fusion ) Lu Ban is nothing more than middle of the road British Chinese fare masquerading as inspired cuisine. Save your time and go elsewhere. Edible flower and microgreen garnish does not a good restaurant make. If you are brought here under duress, order the doughnuts, they might redeem your mediocre meal.The Long Version -On first glance, the menu appears disturbing similar to a British Chinese takeaway, offering . Little sign of the Tianjin influence Lu Ban claims to draw from.I ordered the early dinner prix fixe (£30) with the £9 siu mai add on.The duck spring rolls with Szechuan plum sauce was a flop. Whilst the duck was tender and the spring roll itself flaky and tasty, the sauce lacked direction. There was no tang, no sweetness, no kick, no life and even no viscosity. It was a pool of watery hoisin with the tiniest hint of star anise. Simply dripped off the roll, perhaps for the better.The siu mai scored well on flavour but was also lacking. My order was oversteamed, leading to flaccid wrappers separating from their filling, and the chili oil had the heat level of a Mormon adult film. However, the chili oil was incredibly flavourful - I found myself simply taking nibbles of the chili flakes. The chili oil harmonized with the pork and prawn filling which was rubust with balanced fattiness. Disappointing at how close this dish could have been excellent with proper steaming and some kick to the chili oil.The main of crispy chili beef was a failure on all fronts. As their first table of the day, it is unforgivable to serve overcooked mushy jasmine rice. Did someone accidentally pour an extra cup of water into the rice cooker? The beef itself was flavourful and crisp but drowned in sauce which masked what seemed to be well marinated beef. Takeaway Chinese drown meats in sickly sauce to hide poor cuts so I'm not sure why Lu Ban decided to ape this choice. The sauce itself was solid, a little sweet for my taste, but simply just present in too vast a quantity. The vegetables were sliced mind bogglingly thin so they provided zero texture contrast and sat limp in the ocean of sauce. Awful. Awful. Awful.That brings us to the dessert - the most interesting part of the meal. Youtiao plays duo roles in Chinese breakfasts, sweet or savoury and here Lu Ban ambitiously aims for both. Obviously inspired by churros with both a cinnamon sugar dusting and a caramel dipping sauce, they add their own spin by adding enough spices to the cinnamon sugar to land a flavour punch and a salty undertone to the sauce that is extremely satisfying. The doughnuts are well fried and well coated. My only complaint about this dish is the laughable single edible flower. Fine dining pretense all the way to the end.

Very dissapointed with our visit tonight after high recommendations from my son who visited last week.My Birthday celebration tonight and we had a table of 6 booked right opposite the pass, one thing we all noticed was the noise level !! Very high... which made talking very difficult.It was great to see the chefs at work who were very busy, along with the waiting staff who were so understaffed and overworked that trying to get attention to order drinks was hard work !! Along with that they very rarely looked up as they worked, so trying to catch their eye rarely happened and my wife had to get off her seat 4 times in total during the evening to either get cutlery or ask for more drinks.Chefs were getting annoyed dinging the bell and shouting Service" there just wasn't enough staff ... and boy your paying for it but not getting it.So on to the food

I went here with my boyfriend for our Valentine's meal. The service was the best thing about our experience. The staff were caring and attentive. The food was good. Not excellent, but good. My main issue is that when I booked over the phone, they didn't mention the fact that there would be a set menu, which cost £150. With drinks, it was a £200 bill. I'm no stranger to fine dining, and knew it wouldn't be cheap, but I think the customer should be made aware of this before they're at the table and the food starts arriving. Other diners said similar. We won't be going back.