Long on design, smokers and people smoking and using Apple computers, Hercules does pretty well in the sandwich department. My favorite is the club lunch set meal but they discontinued it as a set meal. Bring it back!!! Free wifi.

I've been living in Beijing since Oct 2007. Over the years many restaurants have come and gone.

When Hercules arrived on the scene I was a bit weary. But over time, as I have gone there more and more, I thought it was a great place to grab a nice lunch or dessert at reasonable prices. The sandwiches there are quite good and reasonably priced. My friends and I go there often for a sweet tooth break during the weekends. Their carrot cake is delicious. However, I've never gone there for dinner. Last Wed, (Nov. 16), I was hoping to have dinner at Hercules for the first time.

Wed night, they have a weekly special for "All you can eat mussels" and "buy 1 drink get 1 free". My friends and I thought this would be fun. So I made reservations for 8 people, knowing that a big party might need to reserve space. My reservations was for 7:30. Since everyone works, this would've been a good time for everyone to catch up.

When most of us were on our way to the restaurant, I received a call at 6:49. Apparently, they ran out of mussels and was wondering if we wanted to cancel our reservations. Of course I was upset. For a couple of reasons.

1) Attitude. Some from the restaurant called at 6:49 to inform me about this. My chinese isn't that great, so i asked for someone who can speak english and got someone who spoke fluently. Bascially, he said there's no more mussles and laughed it off. Knowing that I now had to find a place 8 people at the last minute, I didn't appreciate him chuckling at my situation. No apologies.

2) Organization/Management. He just explained that they have enough mussels for 40 orders and people started to arrive at 5 and it was already gone. This special is supposed to last from 5-11pm. Wouldn't any reasonable manger think that 40 orders to cover 6 hours would a a bit lacking?? He basically said that I can come next week, but try to come earlier. I guess that would be great if none of us were working.

I still think Hercules is a great place for lunch and desserts. I was just extremely disappointed in their lack of planning and how they handled the situation. Telling a customer who planned a dinner for 8 people 45 minutes before the event that the food is all gone...and chuckling about it is not going to make them feel any better. When I asked about future nights..they said, well, they cant' guarantee this won't happen again, but I was welcome to try. Thank you. Now I feel that not only did you ruin an evening for my friends and I, but a lesson wasn't even learned from this.

I thought the least they could've done was say something like "next time, please let us know in advance so we can buy enough supplies and set aside enough for your party".....

Some friends mentioned that it was pretty good that they called.....at least in China. I'm not sure that giving China (or Chinese businesses) a lower standard to meet is an insult to China (or chinese businesses who actually work hard) or just sad.

In the end, just stick to Hercules for lunch. If you are interested in their dinner specials, just make sure you ask if there's enough food before you arrive.

Good Luck!

what a nice place. i like the style and the food, just the waiters need a bit more training, but we are in china.
thank you for a good lunch

My husband and his buddies and I went here one late night after a few too many drinks. The BLT was really good but my salad and the other sandwiches not so much.

I like this place, I really do. The set lunch is great, the environment is clean and modern, and the wifi normally runs pretty smoothly. That said, I found a fly in my soup today, a FLY! Not happy.

went yesterday for lunch with friends and we all came away very happy.

they serve sandwiches like you would expect from back home; good bread, good fillings and no weirdo surprises that ruin what would have been simple tasty food.

service was friendly and efficient, the owner/manager(?) was present and clearly cares about the experience his customers

so if you are in the village and need a quick lunch, forget mcdonalds or starbucks and hit up hercules.

I went to Hercules for the first time this Monday and was in time for their pasta special: 60RMB for all-you-can-eat pasta and a glass of house wine. The staff's English was only so-so, but the food was amazing. I had spaghetti bolognese, which is difficult to screw up, but my dining partner had a delicious-looking plate of barbecue ribs. I had some of the fries and they were really nice, too. I can't wait to go back. The atmosphere is really nice and cosy and chic.

Just tried their RMB 58 set lunch (I had the cream of mushroom soup, chicken cesar salad and ox tongue sandwich) and enjoyed it. The mushroom soup came in a generous serving and the sandwich came generously filled with quality cuts of ox tongue and a side order of chips and salsa (also not bad for Beijing standards). The salad was fresh, but could have used better quality lettuce, and the freshly brewed coffee was a nice top off.

Despite its Sanlitun surroundings, Hercules is a quiet and cozy spot for a weekday lunch.