Terrace Lounge at Commune by the Great Wall - Beijing, China: One of the greatest sights to behold is The Great Wall of China. To stand in front of this legendary landmark makes one’s problems and worries feel insignificant in front of such majesty and largeness and these are the moments you need to hold on to in your lives. So the option of having a meal at the Terrace Lounge in the Commune by The Great Wall facing The Great Wall seemed like an opportunity we couldn’t miss out on. And we were always up for new experiences! So we headed out to the famed Commune by The Great Wall.

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At First Sight: Located at the Commune by The Great Wall, the Terrace Lounge is one of the restaurants near The Great Wall that boasted of offering a fantastic view of the historic wonder. We walked into a restaurant that didn’t quite take our breath away. While they had maximized on the ‘view’ they offered by throwing in a number of windows around the restaurant, it seemed to quite back-fire on the claim as the view just wasn’t that great. In fact, we couldn’t really see The Great Wall too well. It was a pleasant view, but by no standards a splendid view. Disappointed, we took in what the restaurant offered.

The Atmosphere: The ambience of the restaurant just didn’t move us into raptures. It was a nice restaurant that was peaceful to relax in. But it missed out on any great aesthetics with its linear structures, plain wooden paned floors, tables of standard looks and setting, comfortable but ordinary chairs. The ambience didn’t speak of any unique aspect, spelt no tradition and didn’t make us feel like we were somewhere special.

The Food: The Terrace Lounge at the Commune by The Great Wall has a menu which lists classic Beijing, Sichuan and Cantonese cuisine. Their menu consists of dishes that range from poultry to spicy food to vegetarian dishes. We started our meal with an order of the Pumpkin soup. With a bit of salt and pepper dashed into it, the soup was quite good and nourishing. A good start to the meal. We followed up with an order of the Linguini Pasta Arrabiata with Chicken. The dish was filling and quite nice but didn’t drive our taste buds wild with any savory wonder. The Green Chicken Curry we ordered was just about as good as any we would have got in an average Thai restaurant. Not succulent and aromatic. We were really looking to be saved by the grace of a good dessert; an act that can bring about instant forgiveness. But here too, the Terrace Lounge didn’t woo us with an extraordinary order of an apple tartlet and sorbet, but rather gave us a nice dessert without any ‘bombastic’ value. But what came as a surprise was the extensive wine list they carried. There were red and white wines from all over the world and many good names of wine bottles that anyone would love to nestle down with and watch the view.

The Service: The art of good service is to provide attention and care while remaining subtly unnoticed by the diners. No one likes to have hovering waiters who make you conscious of being watched. Sad to say, the Terrace Lounge at the Commune by The Great Wall had the latter and not the former. While they took care of all our needs, they did tend to hover.

The Calculated Impression: The Terrace Lounge did offer us a reasonable view, some decent food and service. But this is a claim that many restaurants can make and we weren’t looking for ‘a normal meal out’. With the boast of the view we heard so much about, and not knowing any other nice restaurants around, we came here with a few expectations and didn’t really get much of what we were looking for.

What I liked: The pleasant quietness of the place, the reasonable prices and the surprisingly extensive wine list.

What I didn’t like: The mediocre offer of food, ambience, service and view.

Rating: Between Bombastic and Not

Address and Telephone number for The Terrace Lounge at the Commune by The Great Wall:
The Great Wall exit no.53
Shuiguan G6 Jingzang Highway
Beijing, China
Tel: +86-10-81181888
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