Forbidden Palace Chinese Bar & Bistro

Let me start by saying the food was incredible, the service was great, and the decors is very cool. The reason I only gave 3 stars is because their SEO has them listed as a buffet. They show up as the number 1 buffet in the area. THIS IS NOT A BUFFET!!!! My kids were starving and just needed something quick with no wait. By the time we got out the car and inside to see there was no buffet, it was too late for me to get them back in their car seats before meltdowns of epic proportions began. So it was frustrating that this was not actually a buffet. I saw after that other people had the same complaint. If they removed buffet from their SEO I would change my review to 5 stars. Now for the food, everything was great. The lomein was probably the best I’ve ever had. The fried rice was excellent. Everything was great. Great vegetarian selection.

The cooked food is very good. It’s surprisingly very fresh and homemade-esque. The sushi seemed to take a while even though there was a lot of wait staff because it appeared there were only two people making food. My husband and I love sushi. About 2/3rd of the menu is sushi, but we didn’t like the sushi or my usual favorite - shrimp tempura. The egg rolls are huge. The rice extremely generous portions. We have a whole other meal for two as leftovers. The service was great. All of the staff was. They have robots delivering food and there are 2 or 3 gliding around with cute animated faces. The place was busy and everyone was enjoying their food. The ambiance is as in their photos. I’m attaching pics of the food. Sorry we ate some first!

Food sucks. I ordered 4 different meals curry no flavor asked for extra sauce even fried rice looks and taste like it was steamed no flavor. Pot stickers taste like raw dough and store bought sausage. Lumpia has not taste also looks like a store bought sausage. Hot chili chicken Nad little to no flavor came out almost cold. Hibachi chicken blan little to no flavor. Lettuce wraps was alright. Spent over $100 and felt like I wasted my money. This is the first time I have not liked 1 thing me and my wife. Best thing was the fortune cookies. Looks nice and service was great but they need to fire the cook.

Had this on my list for the longest time but extremely disappointing. May have been because we went between Lunch and Dinner. The only freshly made item was the fried rice, everything else was reheated and was cold in some spots, had to ask them to heat again. It was still not very good, so we finished the dumplings that were okay (also not freshly steamed) and left. Would not recommend, at least not during non-busy hours

We've been eating here for many years. This is hands down the best Chinese restaurant in Virginia Beach. The food is always hot and fresh. The service is top notch. The portions are very generous. The lettuce wraps are to die for. Every dish I've had here is absolutely fantastic. Large, tender cuts of chicken are in every chicken dish we've had. From the Generals chicken, which my husband loves, to my favorite, Steak Wobar, we always leave satisfied. Even the sushi is delicious. Every dish you can think of from a Chinese restaurant is here and then some and all are at a higher level of quality than the average Chinese restaurant. There are even some unique delicious and very reasonably priced cocktails that are absolutely fantastic. I highly recommend this restaurant for the best Chinese cuisine in the entire Hampton Roads area.