Au Royal Pantin is the kind of no-frills Chinese spot that's been quietly serving avenue Jean Lolive for years — the sort of place you walk past a hundred times before finally stepping in. The à la carte menu does respectable Chinese-Asian classics (the Thai sweet and sour chicken gets repeat mentions), but the evening buffet is a known weak point with limited, low-quality options. Skip the buffet, order to order, and you'll have a perfectly decent neighborhood dinner without crossing into Paris.
The à la carte kitchen turns out decent Chinese-Asian classics that far outshine the weak evening buffet — a practical Pantin fallback, not a destination.
Skip the evening buffet entirely — multiple reviewers say it's sparse and low quality. Order à la carte instead, where the kitchen does much better cooking to order.
Skip the buffet, order à la carte at this neighborhood Chinese spot
Au Royal Pantin is one of those neighborhood Chinese restaurants that's been quietly doing its thing on avenue Jean Lolive for years. The menu runs the gamut of Chinese-Asian classics — the Thai sweet and sour chicken gets a mention from satisfied diners, and there's a buffet option alongside the à la carte selection. Service is generally friendly, and it's the sort of place where you won't feel out of place if you don't speak French.
That said, the buffet is where things get dicey. Multiple reviewers note that the evening buffet is far from copious, with a very limited selection and lower-quality items. There are also hygiene concerns flagged in some Google reviews — mentions of cockroaches and cleanliness issues that you should be aware of before deciding to go. The move here is to skip the buffet entirely and order à la carte — the kitchen does much better when cooking to order, with decent portions and flavors that land above what you'd expect from the exterior.
With a Google rating hovering around 3.2 and a TripAdvisor score of 3.1 (ranked #62 of 74 restaurants in Pantin), this isn't a destination restaurant — and it knows it. It's a practical, unpretentious spot for locals who want a Chinese meal without crossing into Paris. If you live nearby or find yourself in Pantin, it's a reasonable option for a casual dinner. Just don't make a special trip.