50 Best Chinese Restaurants near La Jolla

“Best Chinese and Mai Tai's in San Diego or maybe the US“

“It's been a while since I last visited Fan-Fan. The menu here has changed, and it feels a bit like Panda Express, probably to cater to foreign tastes. At noon, the place is crowded with people waiting in line—it almost feels like a Chinese canteen for international students. You grab a plate, choose your favorite dishes, and pay by weight. They also have bubble tea you can order. My meal cost 23, which isn’t exactly cheap but is acceptable. The bubble tea was nothing special, so you can skip it. The food was okay, but I still prefer the old Fan-Fan, which served more authentic Chinese dishes.“

“This place was excellent. Substantial menu and can pick you heat level. Service was great but this place is small. 6 booths inside and 3 small tables outside facing the street. Waiter was very informational and all the food great. Located uptown from the Cove near the Bishop School. I will be going back“

“Our server Cam was awesome and food was great! Got to try it. Great dumplings!!!“

“First time here, was pretty good. You get assigned a table; then you go up and grab your bowl to make your hotpot (at least a pound) . You can get a second bowl for skewers and hand it to the counter , I would recommend getting all your hotpot stuff first then going back for the skewers so its easier on your hands. Would go back again.“

“We had to wait a bit for a table for two, but it was absolutely worth it. The scallop with shrimp and pork dumplings, along with the chicken and pork dumplings, are must-tries! We sampled three different types of dumplings, plus the green onion pancakes and the beef noodle soup — all were outstanding. By the end of our meal, we couldn’t leave without calling over the waiter to compliment both the excellent service and the incredible food. Everything here is top-notch! Such a great find…“

“We celebrated my grandma's birthday dinner and she had a great time. It was 7 of us with 7 entrees that were absolutely delicious. Bree our front of the house expert was so awesome and helpful, came at the right times and her recommendations (Mongolian Trio , Korean fried chicken) were 10/10. My grandma left super happy and felt special with her happy birthday song and delicious dessert. 10/10. Recommend!!!“

“delicious food! all of it“

“I recently visited Xinjiang BBQ, and it was a fantastic experience! The restaurant has a warm and welcoming atmosphere, perfect for a casual night out with friends or family. The staff was friendly and attentive, offering great recommendations and ensuring we had everything we needed.

Food: The menu offers a wide selection of skewers, from classic lamb and chicken to more unique options like grilled prawns and vegetables. The skewers were all grilled to perfection—crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and packed with flavor. The highlight for me was the lamb skewers, which were seasoned just right and had that authentic smoky taste that’s hard to beat.

The restaurant also serves some great side dishes, like refreshing cucumber salad and crispy flatbread, which complemented the BBQ perfectly. Their homemade dipping sauces were excellent and added an extra layer of flavor to the skewers. If you’re a fan of spicy food, definitely“

“Bomb food 🥘 clean dining area good service“

“we've been 3 times in the past few months and every time was great. we went the day after my wife's birthday, the same day our pet passed, and the staff made it a very special experience and distraction from our loss. absolutely recommend 110%. great food, great people, great experience overall.“

“Braised beef noddle soup, dumplings in chili oil, house made dumplings, everything was fresh and delicious. The spice amount was on the mild side but adding chili oil provided at the table can take the heat to another level. Definitely a winner!“

“Deliciously flavorful. I ordered hand torned noodles with beef in mild spicy. Has the kick of spice without the stress. I was curious about the pork burger with the white bang - that was good too!

Noodles are soft, fresh, and chewy. Must come again.“

“We came for my husband’s Birthday dinner & everything was so delicious. Andy and his team were super attentive. Not our first time here and definitely not our last.
If you’re looking for great authentic Cantonese food - this is a must - you won’t be disappointed!!!
We came from north county - soooo worth the drive“

“The server was the only one working but she got our order out fast and was so nice. The food was absolutely delicious.“

“The place I like to go for authentic Shanghai style soupy dumplings. They also have really amazing red oil won tons in the evening, and the fish and chive boiled dumplings are amazingly tasty. They're always fast to get our order and fast to the table, and the lady we had was very knowledgeable and asked us what we needed continuously. It was really good. They also have an amazing beef noodle soup that has thick, chewy noodles, tender, fall apart beef, and spicy soup.“

“It was my first time trying Hot Pot, the food was excellent. The experience was also great. Lots of options and everything was fresh.“

“I had such a fantastic experience at this hot pot restaurant! From the moment we walked in, Alex was warm, welcoming, and attentive, making sure we understood the menu and guiding us through the different broth and ingredient options.

The broths were incredibly flavorful — we tried both the hot spicy vegetable broth and the mushroom base, and they balanced each other perfectly. I highly recommend this spot to anyone who wants authentic hot pot!“

“We just celebrated our daughter's birthday and the service was really great!!! Our Server Nicolas R. made extra sure that we had everything and even went above and beyond with getting the food out hot and fast. This establishment needs more hard workers like Mr. Nicolas and the hostess that seated us Alicia. Thank you PF Chang for ensuring that our daughter's birthday celebration was a major success.“

“The Best Ever Chinese Restaurant I Have Ever Been To. My Tita's Loved It So Mucho!!!! 5 star Rating“

“(Lunch on 2025/07/03)
- Garlic Beef was really good
- Honey BBQ pork was above average: pork was consistently cooked and easy to chew
- Roast duck was pretty good but it takes a bit of work to chew the meat off each piece
- Seafood claypot was okay. I'd like a bit more texture and flavor.“

“super nice place, the food is delicious!!! the attention's nice !!! 👍👍“

“This place serves the most delicious and authentic Southwestern China style noodles. The broth is umami, noodles are chewy, and the seasoning is perfectly balanced with savory and spicy. Every friends I know who tried this restaurant fall in love with it.“

“Very nice restaurant with a big menu. The tea had chrysanthemum and goji berries and was delicious. Shanghai rice cakes are always a good option and the dessert sesame balls were tasty. Highly recommend. There's also plenty of parking in this small shopping district.“

“Fried garlic pork with steamed rice 😍“

“To go buffet review only: I’ve been here several times and swap between the 99 Ranch buffet. Ultimately, Woo quality, portion size is better than 99 even though it’s $2-3 more. Had the beef with broccoli, chicken with mixed veggies. Both very good and tender meat. Rice was good also. So, today not bad as it’s been less satisfying other visits.“

“Love going here! Been going here for years even before their renovations. Service has always been super attentive and the staff are so friendly. Favorite dumpling spot! We love the lamb dumplings. Their lunch specials are such a great deal!“

“Came here recently with a large group and was very impressed. All the food was delicious and came out very quickly. Excellent dim sum options and dinner dishes. Will come again when I visit again!“

“What a bargain for lunch! I was in the mood for lo mein and came upon this restaurant in my search in the area.
I didn't know how much their lunch special were until I sat down and looked at their menu. Wow! You cannot beat $11 for lunch these days and the food was served on a huge platter! I almost laughed when the waitress brought it out to the table.

This is a small restaurant with a few small patio tables in front. It was a weekday and it wasn't busy. The cashier/waitress was really friendly and nice. She had a ready smile for everyone who came in.

I wanted shrimp lo mein for lunch but only chicken or pork lo mein were on the lunch menu. I paid $2 more for shrimp and there were a lot in my dish. It was really good.
The side salad was plain and just mainly iceberg lettuce but the egg roll was good.“

“We went here for lunch on a weekday and it was pretty empty. The girl who worked there was really nice and seems to be the only person there who speaks English.

We ordered the skewer combo and added a few vegetable skewers too. I like how we could choose the flavors and spiciness level on each item. It's made to order so there was a little wait. We really enjoyed the food!“

“Absolutely delicious! The Peking duck was crispy and tender, and the pickled cabbage pork stew was so comforting. Loved the salted egg yolk pumpkin — creamy and rich. The stir-fried pork with peppers and boneless spicy chicken feet were super flavorful. And the sweet and sour fried pork had the perfect crunch. sooooooooo gooood!!!“

“A friend and I decided to try this place for lunch.
The server was Excellent. I think her name was Jenny. My friend had Orange Chicken.
It was a large portion and the lunch came with either Egg Flower soup or Hot & Sour.
Both were very good.
It also came with delicious Egg Rolls, crispy Won Tons as well as steamed or fried rice.
I had Pork Egg Foo Young and it was Excellent.
Hard to find Egg Foo Young on menus.
Extremely clean and pleasant atmosphere.
I can hardly wait to go back and try other items on their large lunch menu.“

“TOO GOOD ! It's been way too long since we have eaten here...close to 21 months. Even though there are heaps of Asian eateries around Irvine where we moved to in Nov, 2022 no one serves authentic Chinese food like this place. Forget about the cheesy ambience inside an old movie theater that is mostly an Asian supermarket...it's all about the incredible food. WEEKEND GETAWAY ! My wife and I hit the road at 10.30am on Friday to kick off our fun packed weekend down in San Diego. We hit heavy traffic as expected but better earlier than later. FIRST STOP ! We arrived here for lunch around 12.30pm. While my wife parked our car I headed inside to the restaurant....to my surprise Joe the long time manager recognized me straight off and showed me to a vacant table in the corner. TOO EASY ! When Joe popped over to say hi I gave him our lunch order. We knew exactly what we wanted...1 x Kung Pao Shrimp and 1 x Honey Walnut Shrimp. Joe came back with a pot of Jasmine tea and 2 tall iced waters. IT WAS PACKED ! Before too long Joe brought out my wife's huge serve of Honey Walnut Shrimp. Within 2 or 3 minutes my delectable looking Kung Pao Shrimp hit the table. MOUTHSATIONAL ! Trust me no one serves authentic Chinese food as good as here. My Kung Pao Shrimp tasted amazing...no tails on the shrimp and it was kicked up just enough. My wife was in gourmet food heaven enjoying her Honey Walnut Shrimp but I did have to pinch a few of her juicy shrimp with walnuts. THE BEST ANYWHERE !“

“I love this place I’ve been coming here for years and the lady, I think she’s is always so nice, it’s a predominantly Latino neighborhood so she speaks in Spanish and treats everyone like family. Of course the food is delicious and the place is always clean.“

“First I just want to say that it is not necessarily expected for Chinese service staff to be really friendly or accommodating, especially to white English speaking people...not because there is any intended rudeness, but because of language or cultural differences when it comes to restaurant etiquette, etc.

Having said that, the two waitresses that were on staff today were so nice and attentive and thoughtful. We loved their vibe.

This was my first time trying proper authentic Sichuan food after doing a ton of research on what to order (years of research technically, watching tons of channels on YouTube that cover this style of food), and although not every single item was made exactly as it might be traditionally made (the Fu Qi Fei Pian didn't have tongue, heart or tripe for example...it only had the thin slices of beef flank), I found that everything was very close to how it is made in China, or exactly as it should be.

We had the following (See pics with captions), and I recommend everything besides the stir fried potatoes (maybe there is a better way to get them than we did):

1. Mao Xue Wang
2. Shao Bai
3. Stir Fried Potatoes with vinegar
4. Fish & Tofu Mala (not sure of menu name)
5. Fu Qi Fei Pian
5. Special Sweet Rice Ball Soup (Dessert)

Everything tasted high quality and truly awesome. The portions were gigantic and definitely intended to be family style. We went crazy and spent $100 for the two of us, with drinks, and still had so much food left over that they had to put everything in a big cardboard box lol.

Oh and the weird looking fish eyeballs/egg soup looking thing is so strange but so lovely. We asked for a dessert and we were thinking we would get some kind of small piece of Chinese dessert like they do in America and other countries, but instead they brought out a steaming hot bowl of something I can barely describe (see pictures), but it was genuinely awesome and such a new experience for sure. Highly recommend trying it. You'll just have to see for yourself.

Can't wait to go back and try more. They have a gigantic and intriguing menu.“

“Just keep in mind I came here on a Monday at 6 PM so we didn't have to wait for a table or battle for parking. This parking lot was not turned into a paid lot try. It's where Chorus and Hive are. It's still fairly new so the menu is slightly limited. We saw photos of dishes on the wall but were told they were not available until next year. The jjajangmyeon was slightly watery. I got the "meat" one so there were strips of grilled pork. My husband got the "spicy" one which was green chili on top. It was not crazy spicy according to him but it was not that painful spicy. We got the chili shrimp and I really liked that. It was crispy, fried jumbo shrimp over with sweet chili sauce on a bed of cabbage. It had enough heat making your lips feel some heat. I liked it even though it's not a fancy dish. If I don't have to come on a busy weekend night I'm down to come back.

Oh just be ready to order on really slow tablets but your order gets through as long you're patient with the tablets. The tables are far enough where you feel like you're not on top of each other like at other restaurants in Convoy.“

“Eating a lot of their food past four months through Grub Hub due to being unable to walk. It’s always excellent. Tonight’s was super excellent, chop suey with beef extra snow peas and Napa cabbage. Been cooking for over 60 years and this is one of the best and healthiest things I have ever eaten.
Also a bargain…one order is enough for three meals!!!
Thank you Chins!!!💥“

“Lunchtime specials are where it’s at! There is no place in Hillcrest with this portion, quality, and variety for under $10. You’ve gotta try the chicken teriyaki!“

“My friend and I really enjoyed this restaurant. Both of us ordered the pulled noodles, which a good amount of raw garlic (good for your health!). I personally did not like the food as much as my friend, who vouched it was better than other places. Nevertheless I thought it was all worth it and would recommend it, as they have a style that feels home-made.

Parking: Absolutely no issues.

Kid-friendliness: Almost certainly kid friendly.

Wheelchair accessibility: Almost certainty no issues with wheelchair, as there are no stairs or interferences with the entrance of the supermarket“

“When we entered there wasn’t anyone, and tbh the restaurant’s design looked a little bare… it almost looked like it wasn’t doing well. When the food came, my entire family (with three kids) loved it. We were here for lunch and ordered noodles, and I could just say it’s comfort in my belly. Tho they took our order wrongly and served us an extra bowl of noodle (and we paid for it), we took it bcos we wanted to try something else from the menu.

A senior lady (I suppose she’s the one who cooked the dishes) came out and asked if everything was alright, and even gave us a free bottle of drink. Oh, there was also a small crowd also flowed in during our meal as well.

Would recommend!“

“You can tell this place is family owned due to the wonderful service and amazing flavors!
First time we tried this was a couple years back and I guess our palate just wasn’t aligned bc we did not like it. Going back in so glad we did! It’s been one of our favorites recently, got it twice this week ?
Their vegetarian options are really good too! Highly recommended killer prices for the quantity you get“

“Best sushi in San Diego at reasonable prices! Delicioso!!!“

“It's Funny. It's Easter and Everyone is Starved. And all my housemates are like, "Let's go have some China Quik Wok!" This place is THAT good!!!“

“Plenty of parking
Friendly staff with quick service
QR code to view and order online
Food was delicious and large portion sizes
The buns were were soft and fluffy, paired great with the braised pork belly
Beef noodles were delicious!“

“Good fun but a $10 cover charge“

“Best BBQ Pork and the Lomein is great. Been coming since they opened and never disappointed.“

“Same food as Zen and excellent service.

Order ahead and take it to go as it does tend to get busy here.

With limited dining space, you'll probably enjoy your meal more at home.

Tip well.“

“I love this place! I was having a real hard time finding decent Chinese food here in SD until I discovered City Dragon. OMG! So good! And they are so nice every time I call for delivery which is free! The food is so delicious and so fresh tasting!“

“To be honest, this isn’t the first place we planned to go to, but I’m really happy that they have a karaoke spot with good food! There are 10 of us, and the only room available was the Large one, which costs $60 per hour with a 2-hour minimum, so we paid $120.

The place is spacious with a lot of food options to try. Unfortunately, most of the karaoke songs are in Chinese or other Asian languages. I’m Filipino, and I noticed they don’t have Filipino songs and only a limited selection of American songs. I don’t mean to sound negative, I just want to have a good time with good friends and great karaoke. The staff are very nice though, and I hope they can upgrade the song selection soon. Hehehe“

“The food was delicious. The music and the vibe of the place was amazing. The staff was attentive and on point!“