After my latest visit to Quanjude, I've decided to reduce my rating to 1 star.

The duck is OK but it's gotten so bloody expensive to be a downright rip-off. Aside from duck, there's nary an item on the menu that isn't overpriced. Want a simple vegetable to accompany your dish? The meagre selections of greens start in the range of RMB 60. For a plate of vegetables???

Here's my previous review, where I initially gave the joint 3 stars.

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Never in my experience of dining at chain restaurants have I come across one brand with such wildly inconsistent quality. Some locations of Quanjude are fabulous, some are utter crap. Rumor has it that the even within one location -- the Wangfujing location, to precise -- the quality (and price) varies floor by floor, with the first floor serving sloppy ducks for the masses and the top floor lovingly preparing the finest birds for Beijing's upper classes.

What all this means in practice is that your first visit to any location of this venerable "time-honored brand" is going to be the culinary equivalent of Russian Roulette, unless of course you have previous reports on that particular location beforehand.

Still is the best to me. Have been to the Wangfujing location multiple times as well as one other one. The duck is simply plumper and juicier which makes every bite feel better than the best cuts from inferior ducks. I found the service to be alright, especially when we take the private rooms. Some people prefer the less fatty ducks at Dadong, but I personally find the Quanjude heads and shoulders above. The price is a bit steep, so it's not exactly a daily meal. I'd save it for special guests and occasions.

I went to the Quanjude Wanfujing location and I was not impressed with any aspect of the restaurant. The first thing is that the service is slow: it took about 45 minutes for even the appetizers to come, and the duck took longer. The second thing is that the service isn't good even when it does come: The guy who cut the duck definitely didn't give us all the meat on the bird, which we could see since it was right there. As for the actual food, I don't think it's that much better than your average roast duck in any restaurant that claims to specialize in roast duck: It's certainly good, but absolutely not worth 218 kuai if you can pay about 70 for an almost indistinguishable (to the layman) dining experience. One thing that you do pay for is the decor. It's spacious and very majestic, if a little crowded with too many tables, but the overall impression you get is of a Ming dynasty palace. Over all, I'd say try your luck at your local duck joint before quanjude--ultimately it's not worth it.

i am a man who like having Beijing Ducks, from now on, i have tasted over 20 brands of Beijing Ducks. only the duck of Quanjude is the best. the baked duck will be pared by the kitchener with a knife at the side of your table. it is said that the stuff and cook way were dainty.

People seem to complain about the service - not me, it was fab. All our servers spoke enough English, smiled a bit, were precise and attentive and the food came out pretty quickly. Admitedlly it was all rather drilled and brisk but at least it seems like they've got a staff training manual. The duck itself got a general thumbs-up from my out of town guests, though I did feel the slices were a bit crude and the pancakes thick and stuck together (ha, stupid out of towners...). The hoisin sauce was good, very sweet and sticky. Other dishes drew mixed feelings: duck liver was icy cold straight from the fridge (not nice), whereas the duck tongue dumplings were juicy and delicious. We had a great shrimp dish too - the sort of thing you'd see on a menu in Britain or the States - plump, peeled shrimp cooked just tender in a sweet sauce. The wine list is a complete disaster, and yes you can find better food elsewhere at half the cost if you know where to go, but ... the ground floor room of the original branch at Qianmen has a special character AND - most important - you get a certificate of authenticity with each duck. Wicked souvenir. It completes the holy trinity along with a fake Beijing 2008 gold medal and an "I climbed the wall" t shirt.

I've had Beijing Kaoya and it was alright. A little pricey for what i got - i thought they should've served up a whole feast for what i paid.

Qianmen

We choose this location as its the original Quanjude reastuarant and meant to be the best, perfect for visiting relatives, or SO we thought!

Duck quality is perfect, thats it.

Staff's attitude and other dishes just are not worth the bother.

The soup from the remaining duck meat and bones was awful and led us to believe was not from the duck and bones but another source. The rice was cold and chewwy. The lamb corriander dish was cold and bitty. The sweet duck pastries were ok.

We made a complaint to the staff about all of this and their attitude was their was nothing wrong.

I will never go back and strongly recommend people to go to other places as its just not worth the price or staff attitude.

Try somewhere else, just becuase the Duck's good its not worth the hassle.

The big branch at Hepingmen is an institution - raucous atmosphere, grand decor and hard to complain about the flavor of the duck - but it's not the best bird in town these days by a long shot. What's more, rumors that they no longer roast their birds over apple wood (it's conventional ovens now apparently) means three stars is probably fair. A suitable spot to take out-of-town guests.