China Grill

So disappointing.
My BF & I took my Mom to dinner here the other night — overall it just felt like they were trying too hard with the food … and overpriced as well.
What we ordered:
Lychee mojitos: ⁵⁄₁₀
Spicy beef & scallion dumplings: okay. small portions.
Edamame: they came just with a sprinkling of salt on top, not tossed, so some were super salty, others not at all.
Sake drunken chicken: this was the best dish of them all, tender & tasty.
Three headed dragon roll: awful. the ‘husk’ of the shrimp tail was left on when they fried it. that was fun to eat. the whole thing was just… dry & lacking.
riceless kaleidoscope roll: this poor roll was just sad looking, very loosely rolled & had no flavor.
Duck fried rice: I don’t actually remember there being any duck in it. Boring.
Trio of crème brules for dessert: Descent, but just your basic brule with some chai & ginger flavor added.
Bill: $ 201 (!!) and they add the gratuity for you — discreetly of course. We tipped on top of it, but the waiter either didn’t notice, or care to tell us.
So, to sum it up:
Pros: atmosphere outside is very nice, how can you go wrong with mega yachts?!

Cons: overpriced
too many bulky menus! Odd semicircle mains menu, then a drink menu & then sushi menu AND a prefix menu. Our table was covered in menus.
gratuity added for you & they don’t inform you of this

Bad name, the Grill offers not Chinese but Asian Fusion cuisine
Atmosphere 90 Upscale modern restaurant on a wharf
Service 90 Polite and knowledgeable
Food 95 Outstanding
Value 90 Relatively expensive but worth it
The total experience, provided you like the menu selections, is one not to be missed if in Ft. Lauderdale.

upping it up a star secondary to superb service by our serbian waiter, tasty black cod and delicious flank steak. food tasted much better than the first go around about a year ago. a bottle of pinot noir, good company, nice outside view of the million dollar yachts., perfect breeze.

One of my favorite places to eat years back was China Grille back when they had location on South Beach before it closed. I was recently told that they have location in the Hilton Fort Lauderdale. Figured I would take my family to dinner. I cannot express to you in words how terrible the service was and how plain and below average the food tasted! Also anyone who has been to China Grill in the past. The food last night was half as good as it used to beat best! I Promise! Don’t waste you time or your money. I do not look forward to negative feedback but China Grille — Fort Lauderdale
most definitely deserves it !!!

Had a nice dinner there last night and the service was great. For a hotel restaurant it was a pleasant surprise. I did not have the sushi but the rest of the food was fine.
Also, the view of the marina is beautiful.

Good food, but INSANELY overpriced and honestly PF Chang’s is a much better experience.

Actually would give it 0! Had actually one of the three worst dining experiences in my life here a few days ago. When we arrived at 7:30 pm we were impressed with the size of the restaurant and look. It was more Miami than Lauderdale and we got excited. After being seated Danny the server came over to share his «tude». We were fortunate as whew would only see him 3 more times during the next 2 hours and 40 minutes even though we only planned on being there for a normal meal.
Danny the «waiter with tude» proceeded to take our drink order and then went over a few things. When we told him that we were contemplating sushi he told us not to do it as it would likely come after our main course!
In any event it took 1:40 hours to get our dinner. All appetizers and each of our main courses consisting of their Steak and Chicken were either served cold or lukewarm a nice feature of the restaurant. Between the mediocre at best food and a server clearly avoiding us then placing an 18% service charge on the bill led to a great evening. It’s kind of funny but an hour into the meal when I caught him and asked how much longer for our meal he said he was monitoring it and should be out shortly. Forty minutes later is not shortly. Should have paid at that point and left.
By the way if the kitchen was having problems that evening you would never know it as managers Max and Martine were nowhere to be found. However kudos to another server in the area who was taking the effort and running around providing service to his tables. Bottom line is if Danny worked for me he’d be fired by the end of the evening. Second to go would be management.
A big-​0. $ 243.04 later.
Avoid this place like the plague.
Funny but when I told my wife that I made reservations here for us and she told her friends they said they had their worst meal here but she did not want to tell me for fear that I would not listen.

OK so here it goes… I re-​visited China Grill this past Friday after management went out of their way to contact me, apologize, and invite me back in after my last review. (This in itself was so impressive that I felt it fair to give them another shot.)
Visited for happy hour after hearing and reading good things about it and we were not dissapointed! I don’t know why this happy hour isn’t advertised more or not mentioned on their menu because it really rocks!!!
2 for 1 drinks, ½ off sushi and ½ off appetizers? Ummmm… yea! I decided to go with the Blueberry Kafir. Delicious. Not overly sweet and you could distinctly taste every note described on the menu. One of my sister’s ordered the Pear Tamarind Martini which she described as ‘sinfully delicious’. For apps we went with the crab cakes (my personal fave), truffle fries, crunchy salmon roll, tuna oshi napoleon and lamb spareribs. All winners. All freshly made and run out of the kitchen as soon as prepared and all presented beautifully.
Service was a little slow but in all fairness, there wasn’t an empty seat at the bar nor at any of the high-​tops surrounding… happy hour seems like the happening time to go. And anyway, our server (s) was so sweet that it really didn’t make a difference.
As we were wrapping it up, I noticed the manager and stopped to thank him and tell him that this experience made up for the last and I really appreciated the gracious invite back… he in turn thanked me and said that it isn’t often that people go out of their way to give positive feedback and that he really appreciated it. A few minutes later he showed up with $ 25 dollar coupons for EACH of us for our next visit. He was so nice and professorial that I am going to overlook the awful hostess who was rolling our her eyes as we were taking 3 group photos in front of the beautiful Christmas tree. Shame on her for almost leaving a bad taste in our mouths after such a lovely experience which very different from the first!
At any rate, I’ll definitely be returning for happy hour with my co-​workers in the near future!

I have been a fan of China Grill for many years frequenting their South Beach location, but unfortunately the Sobe location recently closed. The great thing is that although that location is no longer (for the time being), I still have the option of going to the Fort Lauderdale location instead.
The Fort Lauderdale location is a bit hidden and hard to find, but once you find it, you will appreciate its amazing location. You would think that it is located inside the Hilton, but it is actually located behind it, directly on the Ft. Lauderdale Marina which offers the restaurant beautiful views of the Intercoastal. The interior of the restaurant is also very beautiful. Reds and dark wood along with illuminating lighting create a warm environment.
The Lobster Pancakes, stir fried with wild mushrooms, red chili, scallions & coconut milk, was good but not as amazing as I was expecting it to be. In my head, I hyped it up, expecting to eat this scrumptious dish but although good it fell way below my expectations.
The Sake marinated «drunken» chicken accompanied by ponzu sauce, sweet crispy onions & Asian slaw was by far my favorite dish of the night. The chicken was so tender and had a delectable flavor. It melted in my mouth and finished with a nice savory flavor.
The Barbecued wild salmon was perfectly cooked and was good but not exceptional.
Our accompaniment was Duck fried rice. It was really, really, really delicious! Ah-​maze-​ing rice!
To top off the meal was a bottle of Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Claret, a smooth, full bodied cabernet sauvignon.
The location is a standout and the food is good too, but the staff here is also really exceptional; everyone is well trained, enthusiastic and engaging. Good service is often hard to come by so this is definitely one of the major pluses of dining here.
There are some improvement to be had but I do enjoy dining at China Grill!

Did not know what to expect. We were very pleasantly surprised.
Great décor and ambiance. Our wait staff were very good.
The food was excellent, Satay Chicken and beef Dumplings, the main consisted of Duck Fried Rice, Pork Ribs, Seared Tuna, Asian Vegetables. All cooked to perfection, and well presented.
I am looking forward to taking a group to this restaurant later in the week.

The breakfast buffet was descent. I like the view of the water in the restaurant.

Delicious upscale Asian.
Attentive service.
High energy.
And a great dessert (the great wall).
Not cheap. But very good.

Great happy hour. Made the drinks more affordable and they tasted great and were nice and strong! Left tipsy after 2 drinks.
Pretty good service but it wasn’t really busy that night.
Did not eat any food. Just went for drinks.

[Visit of Wednesday, May 2, 2012 — Happy Hour] The 2-​for-​1 drink special is a solid deal. We didn’t see the note that the Happy Hour food prices reflect the discount until we had already pigged out on various sushi rolls and crispy pork belly. Turned out to be a dinner and drinks for three for $ 92. If the regular food prices are double then they’d be well above the average range.
The food quality was well above average and our bartender, Jenna, was excellent. We sampled several drinks on the cocktail menu and she prepared each perfectly; even bringing to life one recipe I gave her. That’s service.
The only negatives were the $ 5 self-​parking fee on an empty lot. China Grill is in an area where there are often events and people will take your parking if you’re not careful. But I suggest they take the parking fee back out of the check for their patrons. The other point is that the dining room was very empty. If the prices are too high, and the experience doesn’t make up for it (a la Barton G-​Miami Beach), then that would explain the smaller market share.
I would definitely recommend it — and will go back — for Happy Hour.

A name like China Grill, you would expect Chinese, not Japanese. It is the typical Amercanized Asian fusion restaurant. Very expensive American sushi that is brought down to normal price over the happy hour. I did leave very satisfied after three courses for under $ 20 though.
2 for 1 drinks during happy hour, which lured me in the first place. Not bad. It brings it down again to normal FL prices. Still cheap.
Pork belly. I love pork belly anywhere. You get two whopping sized portions. Extremely fatty even for pork belly, but once you get past the fat. It is goodness.
Sushi. Was meh. Salmon smelled funny. Tuna hand roll was not bad.
Shrimp cocktail. Was disappointing.
Service– Was 4 stars and friendly.
The design of the space was very open and never crowded except around the bar. I cannot believe they can fill this place at anytime. It was huge.

Wow what a nice upscale/​casual atmosphere, right on the water with fabulous view. Hit the 5 – 7 Happy hour specifically for the Sushi. 2 for one drinks, and reduced price sushi (reduced down to normal good sushi prices).
Ok, started off with Crunchy Tuna Roll ½ size (which is 4 pieces). Teardrop shaped, like all of their rolls BTW. Different. — Wow great texture and taste!, Next it was the Spider Roll (seaweed on the outside), the Softshell Crab inside was just fantastic but the seaweed just a bit too chewy for some reason– told my server just as a heads up to the chef. He promptly made me another one and this time was just as expected– great! I think it might have been just a slightly left out too long strip of seaweed. He of-​course didn’t need to do that but was a classy move nonetheless.
Finished it off with a Crunchy Salmon Roll which had a great high quality sushi roll taste and texture, but just a bit small on the size (diameter) of the roll 10 pieces for $ 9 — normally not out of line, but I thought it was in my opinion for Happy Hour. Oh almost forgot– had 2 pieces of the Salmon Sushi– To Die for. It’s like eating candy. and the serve it the way everyone should in my opinion– Cold.
Overall I thought it was an outstanding, a bit expensive (Happy hour helps for us cheap flight crews), cool place, tucked away as part of the Hilton right on the water. Friendly professional upscale staff, real Sushi Chefs with the Sushi menu designed by their head Chef (who is the one who personally fixed my Spider roll).
Great place to wow your spouse or a date or happy hour with friends!
BTW. I was not asked to write this, I just was really impressed with this place and had some time to kill while trying out my new phone!

My husband and I ate here. I’ve wanted to try this place for awhile, but I’ve also heard very mixed reviews. The décor is interesting. Kind of a contemporary Asian, dark wood, open areas, and a view of the intracoastal between the docked boats.
The noise level was high, probably due to the design of the ceiling and the open areas.
We made reservations here, because one of the employees on the phone told me they had a gluten-​free menu. This is not true. There is no gluten-​free menu as all of the menu items have gluten ingredients. Please bring your own gluten-​free soy sauce and dressing. Please also know that the CA roll is made from fake crab (not gluten-​free); however, the waiter was nice enough to have them replace it with Alaska King crab, of course with a serious price up-​charge.
From the start, we felt that the waiter was trying to up-​sell us on everything: the wine, most expensive entrees, add-​ons, etc. When the food arrived, it was less than expected and the sushi was just… uh. The rainbow roll tasted like it had old fish in it. My husband is not gluten-​free. He had a dish with Szechaun steak in it. While it was fine, it was nothing to write home about. There was no spice or heat to it. And when the bill came, we realized we got hozed. There are so many places in Fort Lauderdale that have much better sushi and Asian fusion food than this place for half the price.

This is what happens when you’re on a business trip and are too tired to leave the hotel.
There was about a half an hour wait at 8p on a Monday night, so we opted to sit at some tables in the bar area. The waitress must’ve been way overwhelmed because it took her quite awhile to say hi to us and bring us our menus. Then, when she brought the menus, you only brought one for the two of us. Uh… okay?
We ended up ordering two half sized appetizers and a side dish to share. The appetizers were crispy pork belly with avocado salsa and watermelon, and a crab omelet. The side dish was duck fried rice.
The pork belly was actually pretty interesting seeing as I’ve never had it with watermelon before. The flavors blended together in a weird way, but it worked for me. The pork belly was crispy and fatty and the meat was tender.
The crab omelet was okay as well, but needed some kind of kick. There was a lot of mushrooms in it along with a really earthy sauce so the whole dish became kind of bland.
Our side dish of duck fried rice was undercooked. The rice was hard and there definitely wasn’t enough duck in it. There were little bits of pieces hidden throughout but it was mostly undercooked rice and vegetables. As I attempted to eat it, I was wondering if I was going to end up with indigestion.
When we mentioned to the waitress that our rice was undercooked, she thoughtfully took it off the bill.
Food was completely overpriced but what do you expect from a hotel restaurant? The food was definitely not up to par considering the prices.

Awesome place. I was surprised when I read some of the negative reviews, but that doesn’t stop me from at least trying a restaurant. My family and I went here two days in a row because we were doing a «stay-​cation» at the Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Marina Hotel celebrating our wedding anniversary.
Cool décor and very hip. The open kitchen and friendly staff really set the tone for our dinner.
We started out at the sushi bar eating ½ off apps and sushi along with buy one get one free drinks until 8p. We had the spider roll, California roll, and a Napoleon Tuna won-​ton concoction complements of the chef. The sushi presentation was fantastic and my wife just fell in love with Napoleon Tuna gig. Tuna mixed with wasabi, guacamole, kimchi sauce and something sweet in it that cooled the heat. Not sure what it was, but the combination was excellent.
After tearing the apps up we sat down at our table that faced the intercoastal waterway. A big yacht was parked at the dock so we couldn’t see the water, but that was ok. Our servers were Wilson and Gus, both gentleman were class acts. The manager Mike who just transferred from the China Grill in Vegas also stopped by a few times to check on us. Very professional.
We had the Lobster Pancakes, Baby Back Ribs, Garlic Shrimps, Chicken Satay and by special request and with a blessing from the Chef some french fries:) One word, WOW. Great flavors with all the food. I was extremely please with a side that came with the ribs, Asian Slaw (see pic). Ladies and gentlemen, I love coleslaw and this $hit was the best I have ever had. Not sure what’s in it but here is my breakdown, Baby Napa Cabbage, spicy mayo, cashews, bacon, carrots, red bell peppers, radish and some thin crunchy won-​tons. Good stuff folks.
What a great meal and we really felt like VIPs while dining. This place ain’t cheap, but it’s well worth it. Remember to tell Gus, Wilson, and Manager Mike that Dan sent you and Stay Hungry!

Really like this location because of the vibrant waterfront oasis. You dine right on the Intracoastal Waterway, watching the yachts going by and enjoying the beautiful serene view. The restaurant is very large inside with soft colors of gold, reds, oranges and blues. An open kitchen to view the fabulous chef’s cooking your food.
Hubby wanted to celebrate his B-​Day dinner here. This is where you go and order family style and everyone shares. I never saw or ate so much food in my life.
Everything we ordered:
Gigantic sushi tray (see pictures) — salmon, tuna, caviar, salted edamame, you name it. This was the very best sushi ever. Fresh and the rolls are not prepared with seaweed. They use Soy paper. I can not eat seaweed, so this was pure heaven for me. Not only was the tower displayed beautifully, the sushi was just simply amazing.
Crackling Calamari Salad– always order this, it’s just one of those gotta have things. Sooo good.
New appetizer, waiter said must try was pok belly– hubby loved it, fried to a brown crisp and full of juicy flavors.
Curried Chicken Satay, was terrific, moist and flavorful.
Sake Marinated Drunken Chicken-​ponzu sauce, sweet crispy onions, and asian slaw. An entire chicken sliced into thin pieces, excellent flavor, and the sauce gives it true perfection.
BBQ Salmon– chinese mustard sauce, and stir fried greens. Fresh, fresh, fresh and delightful.
Sweet Soy Marinated Skirt Steak– wok sauteed, lo mein noodles, tempura shitake mushrooms. Oh wow, the steak melted right in your mouth, full of great flavor and so tender!
Lobster Mashed Potatoes– Hallalujah! Many reasons I dine here :)
Green Beans– crunchy, yum yum
Dessert:
Bananas in a Box– carmelized bananas, caramel and ice cream. We always order this because it is scrumptious!
I could write a book about our evening. But I will spare you.
The server– excellent, impeccable service, very friendly, knowledgable, and so much fun, never had to ask for anything.
Managers– Delightful, professional, and excellent Customer Service. Three different managers stopped by to make sure we were enjoying our evening.
Wine Menu– excellent, ordered a bottle of Acacia Pinot Noir (2007) $ 50
Lychee Sakatini– to die for, drank three, so good with the sushi, perfect accompaniment.
Chef Keyvan is remarkable with his food! He came over to make sure we were enjoying our food. A true artist, creative, the kind of chef you want to bring home and cook for you daily. Excellent!
Food– Superior, excellent, it is consistent and always delish!
Prices– Reasonable for quality and portion sizes. So worth it.
Great evening, the food is remarkable! All I can say is my experience was the very BEST! Like it has been many times in the past.