Grand Palace

4.5÷5 An authentic, traditional Chinese restaurant in Norwich. One of the best in the area when it comes to its quality of food.
Great Cantonese food, especially fried fish and bitter melon. Dim sum available. Service and staff is pretty good for a Chinese restaurant. The décor looks a little run down/​outdated. TV with Chinese shows running. The place is a great place to eat for those who are from China/​fluent in Chinese.
Areas they can probably improve for better business:
1) catering to the English-​speaking customers
2) updating décor/​interior design especially doing something to the unused buffet
3) addressing food allergy/​dietary restrictions in the menu and educating staff eg. vegan, vegetarian, dairy, gluten

This is now one of those local restaurants that has the capability of being better with time — if the owners/​managers listen to their customers.
The place was originally one of those oversized standard all you can eat chinese buffets,.then it just closed. Now, having recently reopened, we decided to try it just to see… and was surprised to find the buffet is gone. Now a simple restaurant.
Now, I will say the first impression is not welcoming — the old carpet looks terrible!, then because the space is so huge — it becomes unsettling.
Ok,.well, keeping a open mind, we were seated by a pleasant (and only) waiter… who asked us if we would like a drink while we perused the menu.
This is where it gets tricky… they have 2 menus! one for the «american»…and one aimed at the «asian» customer. …and right next to us on the wall was a entire «special» board — all written in chinese! (except for the price.)
Now, I will say, my partner Ray just ordered one of the luncheon specials with a app of crab rangoon — Shrimp in Lobster sauce,…while I’m one of those folks that wants to try new things — so when I asked about one of the Congee dishes — I was a bit taken back when the waiter said to me «You won’t like it — try bla, bla, bla…» I wanted to say «How do you know what I like?».
well,…I ordered the Roasted duck rice and a Broccoli in Garlic sauce. The waiter came back with the news… no Duck… so I settled for a Scallop dish.
Now, i have to admit… things weren’t looking to good at this point. …though I remained hopeful — after all — we were the only non-​asian folks in the joint.
Well, when the crab rangoon arrived — I started to have a change of heart — WOW — these babies were packed, and not a lot of dough but a thin crispy shell. We both agreed that these were the best we’ve had in quite some time.
I was doubly surprised when our main courses arrived. Big portions, flavorful, and served with a great no-​pork fried rice! Ray & I were both surprised… and impressed.
We are both looking forward to going back and trying other dishes.
I only can hope that the management reads the reviews here and makes all the menu items accessible to ALL patrons. …oh…they also need to get savvy on allergy info.
One can hope! (after all — if you live in Norwich — that’s all one has…)

Right when the restaurant opened, everything was unorganized and you would have to wait a long time for your food. HOWEVER, overtime everything became smoother and better. The food is delicious and the owner along with the waiters are super nice. The dim sum is really good and personally, I enjoy the egg yolk bun! The dinner there is also good! This is a good place to get traditional Chinese food! They have gradually improve immensely! I’m glad I gave this restaurant another chance!

I went with my family to enjoy some traditional Chinese dishes. I am a white guy with a Chinese wife. I was not impressed with the dishes we had, but my family thought they were good. Since this is one of the few places in the area to get real Chinese food, we will be back and I will update my ratings. Décor is bland and beat up from the previous business, which was a buffet, and the service could use some work. But, they have only been open a week, or so, and I am sure it will improve with time. The wife tried the dim sum a couple days ago but was not very please with that.