We went there last night. 60 of us. We had the best time. Great food and excellent service. No problems at all even though we were such a large group.
The staff were very attentive and the food came with no gaps or waiting between courses. We made a lot of noise but never felt we were disturbing the other diners. Would recommend dining here to any one.

I had not been there before and have family and friends who had and my expectations were high, but my comment is “disappointing”. I make better Kiwi Chinese food with a more diverse vegetable selection, more protein ingredients and better tasting.

The Joyful Restaurant is anything but… it was my first time here since its re-opening and it’s fair to say I won’t be back. The restaurant was very busy with most tables filled, we sat down and waited to be served, after about 15 minutes we had to go up to the counter to order drinks then after that try to attract one of the staff who were neither friendly or helpful to take our order. We had dumplings to start which were nice enough, and fish cakes which resembled little bland rubber bullets. For our mains we had satay chicken which was very bland, curry noodles which were ok, egg plant with pork mince which was nice, and one of the better lemon chicken dishes I have had, nice and crispy and a good lemon sauce we also had fried rice for the table which didn’t seemed fried at all and was very bland. Half the dishes came without serving utensils which we had to get our selves as the staff were too busy. I recommend Joyful only as a take away option, and the one star review is based purely on the terrible service and bland tasting food. In my opinion there is far superior Chinese restaurants out there.

Ok meal. First time at new building. The lemon chicken was very sickly too much sauce and fake lemon flavour. Quite big meals though.Chicken cashew was nice lots of nice veges too.

I have been going here for 10 years and even though 5 years was over seas, every time I came back I had to go.

Now I’m back living here it is a weekly occasion.

Would recommend to anyone and the dumplings are great

Have been a long-term fan of Joyful since well before the earthquakes. V pleased to have them up and running again! I have taken literally dozens of groups to Joyful over the years: friends, international visitors, and international students. We have never been disappointed – the food is consistently fresh, hot, flavoursome and attractive on the plate. Our most recent visit a couple of weeks ago simply confirmed for us the consistency of this very popular restaurant. Certainly, their prices have gone up considerably, but understandably so, given the rebuild/relocation etc. I hope Andrei will give them another chance – as the other reviews show, his experience is very atypical.

Great meal at Joyful Restaurant last night it was the first time we had been. Amazing food brought super quick. Lots of very helpful smiling staff. Would definitely visit again soon. And they have a take away menu.

Worst service I have ever received at a restaurant, tried so hard to get the staff to take our order or ask for some water and they were just useless and ignored us. I had to go up to the counter 5 times throughout the evening because there was no other way to get any service and I wasn’t buying drinks either. I saw 0 smiles on any faces of staff. The food was ok but I will definitely never ever consider going back.

Amazing food in a plush setting but very affordable. We dine here every 2 weeks. Crispy skin pork and chilli beans with minced pork are our faves. Would love to see dim sum menu added for lunch diners.

OOhh my god when I heard you were re-opened in Riccarton it made my year! I missed your wonderful food and generous plate servings.
Always had wonderful experience dining in at “Joyful”. Worth the trip from Greymouth to Christchurch to eat your food again! Hallelujah best Chinese food ever!