Top Chinese restaurants in Berkeley, United States

Best Chinese food in the bay area.

My husband I adore this place. I almost always get the lychee martini and the lemon pepper prawns. Pure delight.

This place falls into the okay category for me. It's not your typical Chinese restaurant, and it's not exactly fusion either. The food is decent overall, with some dishes aligning with traditional Chinese flavors while others don't quite hit the mark.

Service is fine, and the food is just okay—nothing remarkable. There's nothing that makes me eager to return; it lacks that special something to set it apart. While it's a passable choice if you're in the neighborhood, there are likely more memorable dining spots worth exploring elsewhere.

Our pastor introduced us to this place. Since then, we have been here for dates and group events. We also ordered take out delivery. Each time, the food has been served hot, fresh, and tastes good. Good portion sizes. Customer service is good. Would ho again.

Great service, fast and reliable. The dumplings are tasty good dumplings. We especially enjoyed the steamed fish, they took off the bones, made it fresh and tender, juicy and delicious, really worth it! The lamb is so so, but other things are very good.

Small dinner - on grubhub . No beef in Mongolian beef. The orange chicken tasted fishy and rubbery. The chow mein (broken noodles ) and fried rice really greasy. Couldn’t even finish the food. Got really sick. Maybe this was a bad day but we experienced it.

Great food and staff!! We did a large complicated pick up order. They were patient, and handled everything beautifully. The food was delicious. Well packaged, and ready as promised. Parking is a bit tough, but you will likely get lucky. Interior is great, and looks like an amazing dining experience.

This place gives you a great amount of food for the price! I loved their beef and broccoli, egg rolls, and fried rice. The orange chicken was decent but a little too squishy for me personally. They were fast, friendly, and everything was correct.

The pecking duck is a must! It was simply delicious, so good I actually forgot to took a picture for this review.

The potstickers and the pork dumplings were also really good (and big). Honestly, no issues with my visit.

Recently, the Beijing duck doesn't seem as fresh as it used to be. Despite the price hike, its quality seems to have declined. I've given it two tries with consistent results. Nonetheless, I still enjoy their other dishes.

I've been searching for this place again 😭 and couldn't find it because their salt and pepper chicken is awesome 👍😎🥰 and the lady was so friendly.

Very delicious Chinese food with lots of vegetarian/vegan options! The service was fast and the workers were polite. The space is large and beautifully designed, with several fish tanks running along the center and art on the walls. It was a bit pricey but I think worth it for the serving size and experience.

This is the sister restaurant (actually brothers) of the recently closed Shen Yua in Elmwood. My 10-year-old daughter and I stop by because we were craving some of the favorites.

We got pork dumplings which was fantastic crunch and flavor especially with soy sauce and a little bit of chili sauce 9/10

She got the lemon chicken which was classic. 9/10

I got the Manchurian beef. Perfectly sauced. Not too spicy but had a nice complexity. 9.25/10 Order again- yes but try the sesame beef next time... That was one of my favorites at Shen Yua.

This is a timeless gem of a restaurant, with unbelievable flavors that are deep and bright. The service is wonderful and has consistently been so for over ten years.

The food tastes good and kinda american chinese style. The portion is large. Overall the taste is above average and the price is reasonable.

Went there for lunch. I had the Kung Pao chicken and my wife had beef and eggplant along with an order of fried dumplings. The food was good but we've had better. My wife really liked her dish but she thought mine was not that great. Personally I think zucchini is kinda weird in Kung Pao. I will say though that the service was outstanding. In and out of there very quickly if you want to. And the servers really take care of you.

This is my favorite Chinese restaurant in East Bay for a long time. Decent food quality and great taste. They are famous for pecking duck but I do think they also have other great dishes as well. I love 2 skin appetizer, rice sizzling soup, crab meat with buns. Sour Pork Ribs. I am so glad to see them survive during COVID 😊

Our favorite Chinese restaurant in Berkeley. All the dishes we have had here are excellent, and we've probably tried many of them over the years. The specialty dishes are where the restaurant really shines, and the zha jiang noodles are a must. Sesame bread is treat, though eat it fresh. Great place to dine-in.

King Yen is our go-to place for decades of good Chinese food. While they do a strong take-out business, there's nothing like this food directly out of the wok. My personal favorite is their tea-smoked duck, served with feather light rolls. The pot-stickers are excellent. I've tried all their prawn dishes and all are good. The meat dishes are excellent and the noodles are great, the vegetables nicely seasoned and yummy--in short, reliable, and uniformly good. Service is pleasant and capable. The atmosphere is airy, quiet enough to enjoy your company. There's always food to take home (barring certain relatives as dining companions.) Take-out is equally reliable, and actually cooked there! A neighborhood treasure. The next generation is dining here as well.

Good food, but the prices have gone up ridiculously. Sad to say I won't be eating there anymore 😞

This is a popular restaurant. It’s clean with lots of tables. We went on a busy night. They have several round tables with a lazy Susan in the middle for large parties. The food was outstanding! I highly recommend the Peking Duck. Best I’ve ever had. Soo good I couldn’t get a picture. We ordered Ginger Calamari and they gave us some sort of peppers and chili mix that was terrible and we couldn’t get the waiter’s attention to fix it. The staff did bring the dishes out at a nice pace so we could enjoy our dinner together.

Super tasty chengdu foods!
Fried tofu was especially goood

Not great Chinese food, anyone who is saying “the best” hasn’t been to Great China or Shan Dong, or is getting very different food from me. This was the second time I’ve been here, the first time I went with an open mind and was underwhelmed and disappointed. Lacking flavor—if I got this same dish (Broccoli and Chicken) from either of the aforementioned restaurants I know it would tastier, and about the same price. For this price point it’s not worth it unless you are out of options. $42 for for a soup and a broccoli and and chicken (and rice) seems a bit steep.

Being a Chinese immigrant who moved from Taiwan to Houston, Texas at the age of 9 and living with a Caucasian family, my expectations of Chinese food is atypical of most Chinese Americans. So the first time I went to Great China, I went by myself, and I ordered their Kung Pao Chicken lunch special served with a soup, spring roll and salad for $16. I soon realized that by opting for this comfort zone choice, I completely missed what makes Great China one of the best Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area.

Motivated to amend my previous experience, I returned with a party of ten, and we were poised to immerse ourselves in a truly authentic Chinese culinary journey. Our order reflected this, as we curated a bonafide feast reminiscent of the vibrant foods found throughout China, from the street vendors of Xi'an to the upscale restaurants in Beijing.

The meal kicked off with a serving of Spicy Cold Skin Noodles (Lian Pi), a popular Northwestern Chinese street food. These noodles, simultaneously springy and chewy, were quite a departure from traditional Italian pasta. Served cold atop an array of vibrant veggies, succulent shrimp, and perfectly cooked egg, it was a refreshing salad-like appetizer that set the tone for the meal.

Their Hot and Sour Soup was next, a ubiquitous offering in most Chinese restaurants, but here, it felt like tasting the original blueprint. The balance of sour to savory was perfect, as was the ratio of vegetables and egg to broth, resulting in an ideal consistency. This was clearly hot and sour soup as it was intended to be.

The Peking Duck, the house specialty and what a lot of people associate with Great China, did not fail to deliver.

The oft underrated component of Peking Duck is the wraps. If it's too doughy, it can ruin the dish. At Great China, the wraps are executed to perfection. They are so thin as to be almost translucent, yet they retained their firmness throughout the meal, allowing us to savor the dish at our leisure without worrying about the wraps hardening.

The Honey Walnut Prawns were a revelation, crispy despite being drenched in a sticky honey sauce. This dish eclipsed any fast-food equivalent I've ever had - Panda Express has got nothing on this :)

Accompanying our main dishes was the Ong-Choy (Water Spinach) with Fermented Tofu Paste. The freshness of the water spinach was evident, offering a crisp contrast to the robust flavor of the fermented bean curd.

Our seafood indulgence included two crab dishes. The Ginger Scallion Crab with Noodles, a Cantonese classic, was followed by the equally delicious Cantonese Pepper Salt Fried Crab. Comparing the two would be an exercise in futility - each had its unique appeal, and both were winners that complimented each other.

Finally, we had the Steamed Surf Clams. The clams, paired with fluffy sticky rice soaking up all the flavorful juice, made for an exquisite finale. The delicate flavor of the clams was complemented by the crunchy scallions, adding a layer of unexpected texture.

Even though I was raised on a diet of Americanized Chinese food (beef and broccoli still holds a special place in my heart), my palate, unsophisticated as it might be, was still able to appreciate and savor the authentic Chinese flavors that Great China brings. This establishment truly provides a culinary experience that bridges cultures, making the richness of traditional Chinese cuisine accessible and enjoyable to West and East alike. It has mastered the art of authentic Chinese cuisine. I now know where to take my Taiwanese mom for a feast when she visits, and it's a place where both of us can honestly enjoy.

Family run Southern Chinese cuisine, polite staff, spacious, tv is always playing in the background but kept real low, clean restaurant, clean bathroom, you choose where you seat. But to be polite, sit where your numbers suit the table seating so others may have a seat. You won't wait longer for your food, never waited more than 15 min for my food, they'll ask if you'd like something to drink after they leave your a menu, I suggest the tea. Good Chinese food. Recommend if you're in the Downtown Berkeley area, price is good for the area. Please tip, again Family run restaurant.

My Mongolian beef had no beef just peppers, I don't see how this place still has 4 stars, must be friends of the owner smh

Not good. Beef noodle soup is a classic Chinese dish and one of my favorites. They advertise it outside their restaurant. It was not good. The broth was too sweet or too salty, just not right. The meat was difficult to chew.

I love Great China. The flavor of each dish is only matched by the speed it takes to pump out the best Chinese dishes in the Bay Area. I may be biased, having spent so many dinners at Great China since it’s old location closer to campus. We often order 10+ dishes when we come with a group of 8. Can’t stress how great the food and service is.

Come for the double skin, Peking duck, walnut prawns, Yuxiang eggplant.

Family home style and authentic tastes of Sichuan food. Good portions and reasonable prices to cater for the homesick Chengdu students, no doubt, and local foodies too

Ordered takeout twice in one week here. Delicious garlic noodles and hot & sour soup. They were able to make the noodle dish vegetarian for me and it was delicious. The women behind the counter provided great service and were very sweet.

Excellent food and service! Fried rice and wonton soup are a must! Fish dishes are superb! Everything is large portion so you will have a left over. Strongly Recommend!

This is my go-to place for Chinese food in Berkeley. It's relatively inexpensive, and the people who work there are always very pleasant to me, which you won't always find in every Chinese restaurant. I'm not saying that they are mean at other restaurants, just that they don't have the greatest social skills. The food here is passable, not great. I feel it could use a little more seasoning, but you can always add more condiments to suit your palate. Overall, I always enjoy coming here.

. I expected to get a good portion as the comments said but when I opened it there was only meat on one half. And the chow mein had no flavor aswell. The sesame chicken has a pretty good flavor to me but the meat was very very chewy. Picture below is how I got it. Not worth the price

Extremely fast service. Excellent food, fair prices.
I ordered two appetizers and four main courses, which came out to 70 bucks and is appropriate to feed like 4 people.
First time I've ever had orange chicken with the breading still crunchy. Will come back.

One of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the area! The spicy beef noodle soup is AMAZING!!!

Had takeout here. Cucumber dish was good. Spicy chicken was quite greasy. Could use a bit more of Sichuan peppercorns as well. Probably will try something else next time.

Great spicy Chengdu cuisine. Twice Cooked Pork Slices W. Minced Leek ($15.95) and Mapo Tofu ($13.95)were tasteful. Very polite staffs.

We stopped in for appetizers and ended up enjoying multiple plates of food that were amazing. The server said that the food is not cooked until an order is received. So, it may take a few minutes longer to get the food, however, the flavors are worth it.

How can anybody not enjoy handpulled noodles? I ordered the spicy garlic pork noodles--the pork wasvery tender cooked in the spicy brown sauce to perfection. Service was attentive without being overbearing, and the tea was definitely a nice touch. Would definitely come back again!

Pickled cabbage and fish noodles were great! Would like to try the Zhajiang noodles next time

Eating here is like gambling, the taste and the look of the same dish from this very same place can be dramatically different.
All the dishes we ordered are the better rated ones from this restaurant, just have a look at the pics that I took and compare with pics of the same dishes took by the others, they simply don’t look like the same dish. The taste is also horrible.
The West lake “beef” soup is totally a joke, there is no beef in it! After we communicated with the owner of the place, she simply insisted this is just the way it is, despite the fact pics uploaded by other guests clearly show there should be beef in the soup.
It is also quite tricky with the tips here. We were told the price in the bill already includes the tip, and we were not even asked whether we want to tip such horrible service and how much.
There are so many better Chinese restaurants nearby, if I decide to have Chinese again in that area.
I’ll definitely not come back.

We came here as a party of 4 for lunch. We appreciated that the restaurant checks for proof of vaccination. We each got one of the handmade noodle soups and they were great! Our server was friendly and overall it was a good experience.

One of the best Chinese restaurants in the East Bay. This legendary restaurant in Elmwood serves delicious duck, pork, chicken, and vegetarian dishes. Large and reasonably priced dishes. Friendly and attentive staff. Indoor dining or take away.

Ngl, this would be really good if my food wasn’t burnt. They give you a big amount though

One of the best Chinese spots in the East Bay, imo. Food here is excellent for lunch and dinner. Huge portions. Mouth watering tasty…. And the service here is better than most places. Attentive and diligent. We love this spot for outdoor dining at lunchtime and indoor dining at dinner. Either way it’s excellent every time we decide to go here. Highly recommend and will definitely be back. Cheers

Was craving simple Chinese food so decided to check this place out. Order a simple 2 item plate for around $9-10 (after tax). Got 1/2 fried rice and 1/2 chow mien, both were pretty good, no complaints. I got honey sesame chicken, which was nice because no it all Chinese food places have sesame chicken some just have lemon or orange chicken. My other item was the spicy basil eggplant and tofu, but unfortunately I was very disappointed with this item, I got none of the tofu and the taste was very bland. The amount of food they give you is also about average, they don't packet the container to burst, but they don't skimp either. Overall a decent place for simple Chinese food, just be cautious of what you pick for your items.
Currently (09/2021) Chefs steam plates are still open, but still no sit down for the restaurant food, so the reviews just for the fast service heated Chinese food (Panda Express style).

Old school Berkeley Chinese favorite a little bit more expensive and usually a cut above, in recent years has become a little dull and flavorless. I ordered the Kung Pao chicken, and shrimp dumplings, both of which were flavorless, and the shrimp dumplings were a waste of time both times I ordered them. I hope they do better next time.

Campus adjacent, modest Sichuan spot with very friendly people running the place. Casual style setting with fast service and lots of menu options. The Tan Tan noodles were so good, and you can adjust the spice level before you mix them up to eat them. Great amount of heat as is. If you like traditional Sichuan food you will like the spicy level. The spicy crispy fried chicken is👌. Not as spicy as the heaps of peppers in the dish would have you believe. The hot tea they served us was good. Prices are great and servings are family size, so on the larger side.

Simple and clean decor with good warmth.
Fairly good food, though our choices: crab and corn soup, chow fun, and ma-por tofu didn't wow me. The ma-por was probably the best dish. I'm guessing they were well executed but I was just hoping for more flavor.
Overall a good Chinese cuisine experience. Cool to have the Northern Chinese focus.

BE HERE

I tried the Zhajiang hand pull noodles and preserved vegetables Lamb hand pull oodles. I would definitely recommend the Lamb noodles. The Zhajiang noodles were a bit disappointing it didn't have enough soybean paste and the pork were not chopped thin enough.

I give five stars because the food is goooooood. Was I starving when I went. Yes. But still the food is amazing. I went with my mother, my husband and my 2 kids. For 5 people the order was like 53 bucks. And that's also my husband having 2 beers. The place is cheap, good and the food tastes amazing in my opinion Oh they give you alot of food. Their not skimpy at all.

Came here in anticipation of their previously great szechuan beef. Was very dissatisfied with the quality of the food, tasted like sour chips in Szechuan sauce. When confronting the staff with our unfortunate experience, we were told that this is how it is and were insinuated to leave early. Tasty crab cakes tho.

General Tso chicken was good. Decent Chinese restaurant with lots of options.
Added edit: Kungpao chicken was meaty and chewy with a small amount of crunchy, it balanced well with the peanuts. Garlic Eggplant and toss cucumber were awesome! Grilled cooked fish were crunchy (not crispy) and tasty. Mapo Tofu was ok for me. The spicy seasoning didnt really go into the tofu, tastes kind of like tofu drizzled with hot oil. The soups: hot and sour soup & Veggie and meat soup. Tastes did not go into the ingredients. Decent restaurant over all.

I really enjoyed this place. The food was like really good comfort Chinese food. Everything was delicious, and the service was great.

This is not a fine dining place, and it is not the world's best Chinese food, but it is great food for a reasonable price. If you are a fan of tasty Chinese food like I am, you will be happy to come here.

Food is not very authentic Chinese but tastes pretty good if you can handle Panda Express food. Price is good for the amount of food. Fast service and there's a few tables inside.

Best pot stickers in the neighborhood! I'd like to add that the green beans, eggplant and the tofu special are all stand out dishes. Generally, the quality is very very good, some of the best around. We love coming to King Yen, it's very underrated for how outstanding the food is!!!