It's a very Westernized place. You probably figured that out from all the other reviews already, but if you need it spelled out, there you go. I don't dislike that on principle or anything - I just dislike the fact that this means they've used this to cut a couple of sneaky corners.

In traditional places, there's three ways to eat the whole bird - Peking duck rolls, duck carcass (pepper-and-salted, stewed, whatever) and duck soup. RMB 238 (or whatever it costs) only gets you duck rolls. You have to tell the waitress you want your carcass (either takeaway for free, or add labor costs of RMB 38 for the second "way"). Duck soup is an egregious RMB 42 per person. What the hell, Duck de Chine? We forked out the RMB 38 and it wasn't even very good.

They also don't get all the meat off the carcass. Irritating.

HOWEVER - the duck itself was fabulous. Fabulous fabulous fabulous. Love the leanness, love that they've kept the skin crisp and oily. LOVE. I would come back for this duck time and time and time again.

Other dishes that we ordered were tasty (lamb, mushrooms) but a little overpriced. You do pay for the setting. We were sitting near-ish the door and lord, it was drafty.

10% service charge not really justified. Still, I would come back for the duck (and just the duck!)

I took some out-of-towners here tonight. The ambience is great, and the food is good too. I would say the duck was above average. However, as I have written many times before regarding restaurants in Beijing, the service leaves something to be desired. My gripes stem from 2 situations: 1.) the waiter took away my hoisin sauce while I still had duck on my plate and was actively eating it - that's a big no-no; 2.) we ordered a bottle of wine and instead of the staff pro-actively filling my glass during the dinner when it was empty, I had to ask them to re-fill it. Come on people, raise your game!

It's a great place in overall. The staffs are friendly, ambience is good, service is nice. Definitely a place to bring your guests to have dinner. Do reserve beforehand though, so you would not have to wait for your table.

I found the duck to be average, nothing too special. The sauce is also average as well. It is less greasy than other roast ducks I think. The other food however are great. The food came fast as well.

Overrated dim sum lunch. The dishes were tasty, but not spectacular. If you're already in the neighborhood and looking for a place to have dim sum during your lunch hour and want to go to a place where other people might be wearing suits, then this is the place to go; otherwise, it's probably best to go to Duck de Chine for the duck...makes sense, considering the name.

Note: I haven't tried to the duck.

A great restaurant, great decor and not expensive. When we first went we slightly worried that it was going to cost a fortune, but to get a few dishes and a whole duck with some drinks (beer, no wine) cost around 300 - 400 RMB for 2 people.

Ive been here with guests in Beijing and it really is a special place to take people for duck. And the duck tastes fantastic. They still talk about it when I get home too.

The only critisism, its not that easy to direct people to the restaurant if they have not been there before.

The decor was simply very nice, refined it makes perfect chinease cuisine. The menu was extensive, the food was delicious and beautifully presented, and the roasted duck was delicios with good rate.

In the past 3 years, I’ve been to many of the city’s top duck restaurants, but when a friend of a friend from high school came into town for only one day, I was eager to impress them with one of the city’s newest additions to the list of top duck restaurants: I introduced them to Duck de Chine, located in the factory-chic setting of 1949.

The setting was elegant, refined and upscale and the menu brings together recipes from both Chinese and French cuisine. Within the restaurant, you feel like you could be anywhere in the world. The menu was extensive, the food was delicious and beautifully presented, and the duck was superb with the highlight of the experience being the special duck plum sauce with swirls of sesame and peanut sauce topped with roasted garlic. Brilliant. Another highlight of the evening was the Australian Lobster with E-Fu noodles and the Pan-Fried Beef Tenderloin.

Overall: A place to impress visitors or business clients, the interior is exquisite and I’m sold by their special duck sauce (plum sauce with swirls of peanut and sesame sauce topped with roasted garlic). My mouth waters just thinking about it. Great food, even better ambiance, so-so service, and expect to pay a pretty penny.

For more reviews on Beijing's party & foodie scene, check out my website: www.lumdimsum.com :)

I went to Duck de Chine yesterday for my first and last time. Having found the restaurant by chance some days earlier its setting looked quite appealing to me.

Atmosphere
Located in a beautiful modern courtyard, it sure is a great location. The interior is a good mix between modern and traditional styles. However, the tables are lined up against the walls and are quite close to each other, which made us feel uncomfortably close to our neighbors, although the space would easily allow a more interesting and secluded setup. Adding to the inconvenience was that apparently the place is not ventilated, thus you were sitting enveloped by the fumes of roasting duck & smoke.

Food
Duck (CNY228) - taste was okay, although nothing special, neither the duck nor the accompaniments were anything to write home about or at least inventive.

Pan-fried fish fillet (around 100) - Apparently fried in the same pan as our neighbor's chicken, tasteless and overwhelmed by tacos (?!) and heavily salted spinach.

Lamb (around 80) - actually quite good, but very small serving.

Others - I remember none of the other uninventive dishes, none were in any way justifying their hefty price tag.

Service
Roughly 10 dishes were served in rapid sequence, and we were finished within 45 (!) minutes. As soon as a dish remotely qualified as finished, a waitress quickly removed the dish. At minute 46 the table was completely empty. Never had such a quick dinner in a duck restaurant.

Price
4 persons paid 800 kuai, not worth it.