this is a cant miss event, the acrobatic show was better than anything you could see in las vegas, incredibly talented performers who in the peak season do this three times a day! amazing on every level for sure. the peking duck dinner was heavenly, with all the accompaniments to go with it. honestly it would have fed three people easily,no problem. dont miss it!!
Review by: IUSLYWN, January 2018
The show itself was great! The venue was ok, but very crowded. Our party of six could not sit together but no couples were separated. The dinner afterward was great! Plenty of food and our guide was fantastic. If you’re visiting this country for the first time you may want to add this to your list
Review by: julian, October 2017
Pecking Duck Banquet was an awful experience, poorly executed by the tour company. The acrobatic show was nice. First we were taken to the show. The show in itself is gorgeous and mesmerizing, although the theater is dirty chairs, floor, entrance, all dirty and poorly maintained. We were asked on-site to pay an extra 20 USD aprox. per person in local currency to upgrade our seats to a better ones, which we declined and still got good sits. Afterwards we were taken to a restaurant that is not a Beijing Duck restaurant we know this because we booked other tours with the same company and had already been taken to this restaurant. They served us regular Chinese food dishes, and brought the Duck afterwards. It was cold, prepared in other site, wrapped in vinyl plastic, not fresh, tasteless, and not good at all. Fortunately we had visited a traditional Beijing Duck restaurant days before this tour and experienced a Beijing Duck meal in its entire splendor. We left the venue completely dissatisfied.
Review by: Carey C, September 2017
I want to start by saying that I've had wonderful tours with Viator and our guide and driver on this tour were wonderful. The problem was the show and restaurant were really not. I think the issue was simply that we were the only people on the tour which made the choice of the show and Peking Duck dinner probably difficult to book for the host tour company that Viator uses. The show came first and when we entered we were told that to sit up near the front we would have to pay extra. We did. The show was fine but we were told by the rest of the people in our river cruise group that the show they went to was wonderful. The restaurant selected for the Peking Duck dinner was really sub par and and pretty far out in a suburb. The duck was not crisp and the meal really wasn't good, though the server was very nice and tried hard. I need to add here that we would have happily taken the river cruise optional tours offered but were told that they were sold out which turned out to not be true. But that was why we booked the dinner and show with Viator before leaving for the cruise. We were then comped by our cruise director for the Peking Dinner they offered and it was really so far superior that I was amazed. Perhaps if we hadn't gone on the Peking Duck tour option we wouldn't have known the difference, but I've worked in many and owned a restaurant and I know food and have actually had some pretty good Peking duck in the states so this restaurant on the Viator tour was really lacking without a doubt.
Review by: Patricia C, May 2017
We were the only Caucasians in the room, and felt very uncomfortable. The house was packed with the Chinese. Somehow we thought that there would be more people like us tourist in attendance. The show started with an act in Chinese, which we didn't understand at all, and in fact left to find out why we were not getting the Acrobatic show. They explained it was a beginning act, and that we would eventually see the act we paid to see. When we returned to our seats, they were taken. Fortunately a person behind us Chinese, who could speak no English got the person to move. Also we thought this was an evening event but it was in the afternoon. Again we thought it started with a Peking Duck dinner, but dinner was after the show. We assumed the dinner would be served in the same venue, it was not. We were taken to a restaurant, on the lower level, by ourselves with no one else present, which again made us feel very uncomfortable. The dinner was acceptable, but when we had a Peking Duck dinner later on our trip, this dinner was far less palatable. I would not recommend this event to a Westerner. None of the audience went to this dinner. The show was fine, but everything that led up to it, made us concerned.
Review by: Wendythat, May 2017
I was the only one on this tour and was terribly uncomfortable when I discovered this. My tour guide was very caring and made sure I didn't get lost in the crowds of people attending this show, but he also made absolutely no effort to chat to me on the journey there or back. I also, of course, went for the Peking Duck Banquet on my own and although the food was very good, I was so uncomfortable eating alone in a restaurant where everyone else was with a party that I'm surprised I was able to eat anything at all. I would have much rather been given the option of cancelling after been told that I was the only one on the tour.
Review by: Andres C, April 2017
Ive been in many shows and this is one of the top three I ever seen. The Duck Banquet was not a banquet but doesn't matter when you had the best duck in town.
Review by: Alicia B, April 2017
The acrobatic show was nice and it was very neat to see the strength and talent of the performers. Our tour guide, Michael, hardly spoke to us during the ride to and from the show. After the show, we were driven a ways to a duck restaurant where we were sat at a table in the hallway, given our food and ignored. We were given the option of coke, water or beer but if you got beer you couldn't also get a water, only one so we all opted for coke to be safe. We were given a small glass with 4-6 oz. of coke. A guy did come out and show us the proper way to eat the duck but I was expecting the duck to be carved at our table and it was not. Once all of our food was served, we were basically ignored. I wanted more to drink so finally got someone's attention and was told more coke would cost 15 RMB or about 2.20 for a can of coke so I said OK. I didn't know if this would be paid for by our tour guide or not since it was part of our dinner but it was not.
Review by: Emma, January 2017
The show was good, a few of the stuts were dangerous but fun to watch. _br/_ I give this only 3 stars because, the dinner was average. I read other reviews which sounded much better and it seemed others have had better experience. One review read that the chef curved the duck on their table, but all we got was a plate of duck and a girl came over to show us how to wrap it - as if we don't know how to put some duck on pancakes! We could have done this our by ourselves without a guide. _br/_ The original pick up time was 5pm, but the guide range at 2:30 to say she was waiting at hotel reception already!
Review by: Allen D, December 2016
Small theater. Every seat is good. Guide asked us if we wanted to upgrade to VIP seating and I declined. I'm glad I did as the difference was only a few seats away. As I said, the theater is small and every seat is good.
Review by: jligon, November 2016
At 87 each, this tour was just not a good value. If we did this again, would just take a taxi to see the acrobat show which was fine and a duck dinner anywhere else would have been better. Worst meal we had during our two weeks stay.
Review by: frank w, October 2016
We have only put this tour as only 4 recommended. The Acrobatic show was superb and for an hour or so you are 'mesmerized' with what feats the boys and girls provide as part of the show.
Review by: Amy W, October 2016
The show was AMAZING - truly spectacular. The theater isn't much to look at, and our audience had lots of typical Asian tourists who spoke loudly during the performances, didn't care about intruding in your personal space, and the host only spoke in Mandarin, but the show and performers were wonderful! Breathtaking, and I spent much of the show with my mouth open and my hands on my cheek, shocked. However, I would suggest looking for the acrobatic show as a stand alone excursion, without the peking duck dinner. The dinner was TERRIBLE!!! The duck was not good, and the other dishes were extremely Westernized and not authentic. We went into the restaurant and saw many many tables full of tourists. You could explore on your own and find MUCH better food after seeing this wonderful show. Not worth the extremely pricy package, considering how cheap Chinese food is.
Review by: Michael M, September 2016
The show was amazing but there were no insights into the Peking duck as it says there would be. The driver picked us up the dropped us off at the show. Then he met us after the show and took us to the restaurant but didn't stay with us. After that he sent the other couple in the van we came in and put us and him in a taxi. The taxi dropped him off first then us. It took us an hour and a half to get back to our hotel when it should have only be about 45 mins
Review by: Arturo A, July 2016
Outstanding show performance. the only hassle was that it took an hour to pick up and drop off people from other events. If we had gone directly from hotel to show, I would have given it a 5 star rating.
Review by: Carolyn H, June 2016
Show was fantastic and food was average. Guide was prompt and did a good job.
Review by: i_balfour, June 2016
The acrobatic show as extraordinary. We were on the edges of our seats and thoroughly entertained. The Peking duck dinner was also very good with a good choice of dishes and more than enough to eat.
Review by: Jennifer A, May 2016
SOOOOOO Good! The show was amazing! Absolutely amazing. For how much the tour cost, the seats could have been much better though. We were off to the side so the view for everything wasn't the best. As I said, for how much the tour cost, they should have purchased VIP seats. The dinner was good. There wasn't much duck to go around. Luckily, the rest of the group didn't actually like duck. They take you to a very touristy place that obviously caters towards white people so the food wasn't the greatest. They do provide more than just the duck though. So there is plenty of food. There were only five people in our group and they bought out enough to feed an army.
Review by: Heather L, April 2016
The guide called us the day of the tour and asked if we could move to an earlier time. We agreed, but once we were dropped off at the show, we discovered we were over an hour early. The guide leaves once you are seated, and because the general seating area what is covered in this tour only reserves a section, not specific seats, I guess they want to get you in early. Spending an hour sitting and doing nothing was quite a drag - it would be much better if we had gotten reserved seats and simply come later. The dinner was decent. The tour was convenient for me as I was traveling with my grandmother and could not easily move around the city on the subway to find other places, but I imagine that this would be better if you could do it on your own. The show itself is worth seeing.
Review by: Llamaschool, April 2016
As a single traveler, I didn't want to go to a Peking Duck restaurant on my ownwho orders a whole or even half duck? And I'd read good things about the Acrobatic Show, so I went for it. The restaurant that we were taken to clearly catered to international tourists but the chef did actually carve our duck at the table, even though our guide had warned us that he might not be able to b/c it was 'high season.' The server demonstrated the appropriate way to fold the duck and condiments into the sleeve, and we were offered wine with dinner and checked on often. We were given fruit, a salad, soup, and four entrées kung pao, orange chicken, an egg and chicken dish and broccoli beef for the four persons in the party. The acrobatic show was incredible. One of the highlights of my trip-- it made me want to bring my kids to Beijingif they like the Cirque de Soleil show that passes through every year, they'll love this! If other reviews stated that the theater and costumes were tired and run-down, things have been overhauled since. Just amazing! Our tour guide was William Kuang, who was also the guide on my tour of the Summer Palace, Panda Garden and Lama Temple. A former accountant who is thrilled to be working as a tour guide and sharing the culture of Beijing with foreigners, William is highly recommended, as is this tour package!
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