Came for YumCha on a Saturday. No booking and was given a table immediately.
Pro: friendly and prompt service without being intrusive - some yum cha places are famous for pushing food onto your table. Food portions are good and tasty without being too oily. Good variety of yum cha options and I quiet like ordering from the menu as well as waiting for the food to come round via the servers.
Con: Hard to find free parking.
Very nice yum cha
We had takeout this time and it was ready in 20 minutes
Friendly staff and the person on the telephone remembered everything
Came here on a very quiet Monday lunchtime. We were the only diners, so we got the owners' full attention and VIP treatment.
Food was all satisfactory, albeit their menu was missing some of the staple yum cha dishes that we order by default (i.e. tofu jelly and chicken feet). The wonton noodle soup was bland, though.
Price was reasonable. Ambience was great and we loved the spacious and odour-free environment.
This is a favourite place for yum cha for my partner and I. The food is good, especially the orange beef which is delicious. The younger staff are very friendly with good service - however one of the woman in charge is quite rude and tries to pressure you to buy the more expensive items like roast pork and roast duck. Food is a bit pricey as it is. Jake Elsmore
Went here for yum cha as part of a big group. Really refreshing to see the staff smiling and pleasant to deal with during yum cha. Was also nice that we were not jammed in together, with elbows almost touching the neighbouring table, much more pleasant dining experience. Food was good, all fresh and tasted as expected.
Great to find a yum cha place with nice food and with low or no MSG, been to lots of other places, but most of them make me thirsty all the time.
fantastic yum cha, great variety, reasonable prices, and friendly service... great to go with a group and order a large selection for sharing
Went there with a large group of people and they could accommodate which was great. The service was quite reliable and attentive, I guess they have improved since the latest ratings on zomato. The selection Is quite wide and dishes arrive really quickly after ordering.
Wasn't that hungry so just got some entrées. The bbq pork buns were quite tasty actually and the fried dumplings without being sensational were decent. Everybody around the table seemed happy with their meals. Point is it's not the greatest food you'll get but for that price it does the trick.
A good but not amazing place to get Yum Char, the fact they do it all week is great and they have a decent specials board for lunch. The service is very pleasant but can can sometimes lack attention. Though it was nice of them to notice I was struggling with the Chop Sticks and politely gave me a fork without hurting my pride haha.
Food was good, squid and pork buns are as good as any I've had. There can be a tendency to over order like I did, so keep an eye on what you put down on your preferred list as well as what you accept from the food cart because you will be getting both 😂. Would return if the feeling arose.
If your looking for Value/quantity then you'd be hard pressed to find a better Yum Char place - very reasonable on the wallet.
I love their deep fried squid, custard buns and egg tarts! The staffs were friendly to me. The food doesnt take ages to come out. Would go there again for lunch :)
Been here yesterday for lunch, we didn't go with our usual yum char, decided to order some traditional Chinese dishes from their menu. All the dishes were delicious, we ordered chicken, prawn, tofu and pork dishes, size was good enough, worth for the money, will back again....
I do not usually come here, but thought I would give this another try seen my mum was in town to help translate some of the Chinese menu.
Am always skeptical coming here, as there is always very few people dining here, and the lack of Chinese patrons worries me.
We ordered from the Chinese menu which has not been translated to English, which was more or less seasonal and recommended by the restaurant owner.
The food we ordered was good, however do not expect cheap eats. We were taken back how expensive our bill came to when we paid. It was in excess of $120. Which is very pricey for for dishes. I now know why there are a lack of Chinese people dining here, and it could be the price that is keeping them away.
If you do get a chance to try this place, I would recommend you try their tofu, as it is made inhouse which has a custard like texture, which I quite enjoy.
Best cha in Wellington! Love it! My partner and I went there twice in two days! Good quality food, service was great! Love it! If you haven't tried it, go! Will pop in next time I am in Wellington.
Yeah - good yum cha!
Went two days in a row. What more can I say?
Went here with my partner for lunch. Very nice food and great service. Very warm waiters. They all seem to be honestly interested in satisfying our needs. Had some tender beef tripe that I was craving for, amongst other deliciousnesses. Amazing!
For traditional oriental dishes there are better places in Welly with more developed and refined recipes than big thumb. In saying that though the steamed vegetables were nice and fresh with adequate garlic and seasoning and the pork pot wasn't bad. The salted steam chicken was very good in fact too.
Love this place. Their dim sums have improved so much over the past months and they do taste like those you have in HK now. Well done for trying so hard for improvements. I go there for dinners too, love the steamed fish, tofu dish and the sweet/sour pork with sesame seeds on top. Food is delicious and service is good. They are not pushy and not trying to sell you the most expensive dish.
This is my favorite Chinese restaurant in Wellington. I am not a fan of the yum cha in the daytime (but this is due to my personal tastes rather than a fault of the restaurant) but their evening food is fantastic.
The orange beef and stirfry dishes taste amazing. There are a few dishes that are on the slightly salty side but they are few and far between.
The staff are consistently friendly and the food comes out quickly, which is great.
There is never any real need to book unless you have a large group as the place is massive and has always been able to cater to my family of four.
Dishes are around the $20-25 range - highish for asian food but the meals are large and great to share so worth the price.
I would recommend dinner here!
We have been eating yum cha here every Sunday for well over a year, and will continue to do so.
The service is friendly, helpful and respectful. Staff always take the time to explain what is in the food, with a smile.
The food is fantastic, always hot and tasty and they keep adding new food to the menu.
The management is always interested and makes the time for a chat.
Prices are very reasonable and we have recommended it to every one we know.
The best yum cha in Wellington.
Mr William
My husband and I love eating out and were suggested to try Big Thumb by a group of friends. Wow! We started with the big thumb platter which was very tasty. The service was very good with the waitress polite and friendly. following the entree the mains came out accompanied with the rice. ( the kitchen is super quick) the mains were wonderfully hot and full of flavour. the orange beef was beautiful, the best I have had in a long time. My husbands pork cutlets were divine! a little tangy and a little spicy. At the end of the meal the lady (guessing it was the owner) was super friendly, she came by to check that everything was ok and even though it was busy, made the time to talk to all the tables around us. Absolutely wonderful hospitality. Will definately be back! Thanks for a wonderful evening!
I came here with a group for a BYO night.
Great choice on the menu - servings are very generous so we shared five dishes between six people, and we still didn't get through it all. I chose the Black Bean Beef which was great - evidently everyone else thought so too as that was the first plate we finished off.
It was quite loud in the restaurant, as it's quite large and there were quite a few people there. Didn't mind the noise so much, but perhaps not the best place for a quiet dinner. Corkage was $5 for BYO.
Big thumb looks amazing the staff are usually very friendly and the food is yummy!
i would go to big thumb for dinner in a heart beat BUT yum char on the weekend is a little bit of a let down. Theres less choich and sometimes it gets a bit cold in saying this the yum char through out the week is scrummy as they make the dishes you want.
Very good food and very good service.
We had a large group Xmas function here with 60 people and it was amazing. The people were so friendly and helpful, and the food was devine! Am just in the process of booking a large birthday grouping now
BIG THUMB Restaurant is Surprisingly GOOD!!! I went there today for a Sunday Yum Char lunch with my wife. The food was all so surprisingly YUMMY!! The new decor with its nice new comfortable chairs and BIG pretty red and white lantern styled lights is GREAT!! The service is terrific!! And the prices are most reasonable!! I will have no hesitation in returning again!!
POV - This is the best Asian in the region it has the authentic taste. Great atomosphere and located in the heart of it all.
Cost/Quality/Size is Excellent.
A great meal gauranteed.
I have not dined here for sometime, but have good memories of the food here, both at lunch and dinner.
My memory is of satisfactory food and good pricing. The lunch in a bowl dishes were, I recall, always good.
Parking can sometimes be a problem in the street.
The Sichuan dishes warrant investigation, especially on wintry Wellington days particularly if an icy Southerly is blowing.
Good basic westernised Chinese food if that's all you want. Dig a bit deeper however and you'll find some Szechuan gold in their menu. Also their pan-fried dumplings are sublime. Combined with a cold Tsing Tsao beer there is a lot to like about the big thumb, especially now that they have a hot pot night too for die hard Szechuan addicts
Had a fantastic yum cha this morning. Staff are excellent very attentive and friendly. Food was top notch. Would highly recommend.
Amazing food. Sunday Yum Cha delicious. Good selection and you can make special orders. Loved the new dish, orange beef. Friendly, helpful staff who serve very well. Will definitely be back.
Absolutely delightful yummy Yum Cha lunch experience. We celebrated a 60th birthday... so a good amount of us. We tried soooo many dishes, my favourites were Harm-Su-Gok(pork wrapped in a sticky rice, oval shaped morsel. Also the Vegetarian Rice Rolls (I ordered 6 more plates to takeaway). They also make other varieties of Rice Rolls, eg. Roast pork, Beef, and Prawn...we tried them all. The fried Taro Balls are fluffy and light looking, but are deliciously dense. So many yummy dishes were eaten. We saved some room for dessert, but we didn't have any of the restaurants offers. We had 2 birthday cakes to get through. We all had a fabulous time, food and company. The owners, and waiting staff were very friendly, and helpful. The restaurant was beautifully decorated with Chinese decor, love the massive lantern shaped lights.
We definitely will be going there again. I'm sure I'll be ordering another lot of Vegetarian Rice Rolls to takeaway again... love love love them!!! Cheers 😍
Loved all the food that were served for today's yum cha. Very tasty and delicious. It's hard picking a standout dish from today but definitely recommend the orange beef, pork buns, dimsums and sesame mochi red bean balls. Not giving 5 stars just because there were times when we ordered/requested some food items but they either didn't arrive or we had to follow up on the item a couple of times.
Found my new favorite place for yumcha. Booked a table of 2 for lunch on a Saturday. We got too excited that we didn't think of taking pictures at all. The food was amazing. There were staff pushing trolleys with different dishes around, and they also gave us menu to order what we want. The staff also noticed when we had enough food so they stopped offering and let us enjoy our meal uninterrupted.
We had a nice dinner here however there were a coupple things which threw me off here. The second I walked in (with a mask may i note) i noticed a pungent smell of cigarettes. The later once we got our meal I found a hair in it. Not a huge deal as these things happen, but just something to think about. Otherwise the food was wonderfull.
Had yum cha there 3 times in a row over 1 month (all weekends). That tells you how much my family enjoyed the food there. Food is really good/fresh and for now (not sure how long it will last) yum cha dishes are around the $6.50 range from about $9.50 so good food at good prices makes it worth a visit! They will run out of food so go earlier and order more as around the 1.30 pm mark on a Sunday, they are completely sold out of yum cha food.
I bring my own favourite tea (Feijoa & green tea, or Iron Goddess of Mercy) there and just ask for hot water so I can enjoy my favourite tea with the yummy food as the tea they serve there is not to my liking.
Such a amazing place, everything I ate full of flavour. Service was fast and above and beyond, so friendly. Must have the orange beef!!!
Had dinner here and the food was great! Loads of fresh vegetables, beef was really tender and all the meals were packed with flavour. Good service as well. Would definitely eat here again.
Loved the restraunt, decent portion sizes
Ordered kung pao chicken and hot pepper chicken tasted amazing. Service was great too Big Thumbs UP 👍👍
Lovely night out at Big Thumb, always a favourite. Love the food and service.
Very nice yum cha, everything was nice and fresh 😋
We did Yum Cha on a sunday. Food was fantastic! Service nice and friendly. Really appreciated the menu with pictures of the good. Pricing ok. Orange beef and squid was fantastic, and they had the ability to order specific dishes from the menu.
Love the Peking duck! Had a lovely dinner with family and the menu has so much variety. The owners were attentive and friendly.
Had Yum Cha here. Food was nice, service was good although there were very few diners.
Like many restaurants the toilets let them down.
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