The Best Chinese Restaurants in San Diego

The city’s first Chinatown was established in the 1860s, encompassing an eight-block district where the Gaslamp Quarter sits today. Since then, standout Chinese restaurants have spread far and wide, from Kearny Mesa to North County and beyond. In this update, newcomer Super Dumpling Cafe and resurrected Convey Street darling China Max enter the map; Golden City Restaurant and Shancheng Lameizi Hot Pot, which have closed, leave.

Meet Dumpling

This tiny Point Loma spot distinguishes itself by handmaking its dumplings, often right when you order them. The plump boiled dumplings are available with a variety of fillings, from shrimp, chive, and pork to cabbage and pork, mushroom and chicken, and celery with beef. Newly added items include the tasty Beijing zhajiangmian noodle dish and the rougamo, a Shaanxi street food comprised of stewed pork sandwiched in a pillowy Chinese flatbread.

Super Dumpling

Super Dumpling Cafe, a new dumpling destination, opened its doors in Piazza Carmel, replacing the former Villa Capri Italian restaurant. The new spot comes from the family behind Sunny Noodle House in Clairemont Mesa, who decided to head to North County to open a Chinese restaurant that uses other Asian diasporic influences. After undergoing a major renovation, the light-filled casual dim sum restaurant now slings xiao long bao (soup dumplings), pot stickers, grilled pork buns, and noodle dishes. The spot’s colorful soup dumping set features eight flavors, such as chicken and corn, black truffle, and Korean barbecue beef.

Din Tai Fung

The legendary soup dumpling restaurant from Taiwan lives up to its global reputation in the Westfield UTC mall. When diners first walk into the dumpling mecca, they can marvel at the rigorous dumpling-making process in the kitchen window. Pair the Kurobuta pork soup dumplings (also called xiao long bao or XLB) with the pear lychee martini made with whole lychees. Chicken xiao long bao is also an alternative. Cap off the meal with the chocolate-filled XLB for dessert. Starting November 23, the restaurant will be retailing dumpling-inspired holiday gifts including clip-on plushies of its mascots, Bao Bao and Shao Mai, and a pair of holiday ornaments fashioned after a xiao long bao in a steamer basket and the brand’s iconic takeout bag.

Qin West Noodle

Branching out from Los Angeles, this fast-casual noodle joint focuses on regional dishes not commonly found in many Chinese restaurants. Housemade noodles are found in the cold liangpi noodles and hot spicy wonton noodle soups; the Guilin noodle soup is a favorite with generous portions of tender beef shank, pickled vegetables, and lily flowers.

Haidilao Hotpot San Diego

The UTC outpost of this hugely popular hot pot chain specializes in a personalized customer experience. Choose up to four soup bases for your table, from Sichuan spicy to tomato soup, along with a range of proteins, vegetables, and carbs to cook and dip in the bubbling broths. The Dancing Noodle dish is hand-pulled at your table by an expert noodle master, dressed in a traditional Chinese costume with an entertaining face-changing mask. Kids can opt for the free chicken nugget meal, while all customers can help themselves to a buffet of unlimited snacks, sauces, and condiments.

The Noble Chef (豪記)

This long-established restaurant on Balboa Avenue serves tasty traditional Cantonese dishes. Chef Jia Hao Zhu specializes in gorgeous roast meat dishes, like Peking duck and roast pork. Other popular favorites include the salt and pepper pork chops, Chinese broccoli with garlic, and French-style beef steak.

Taste of Hong Kong

This Cantonese restaurant’s owner also operates Cui House, a fine dining operation based out of Kunming, China with establishments listed in the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide (China’s equivalent of the Michelin guidebook, launched in 2018). Menu highlights include Cantonese roast duck, crispy slow-roasted pork belly, and salted egg yolk chicken wings, but also ask about the daily specials. The team is also behind the eagerly-awaited resurrection of China Max, slated for a November opening.

Szechuan Chef

The Convoy Street restaurant has been on the strip for a decade, serving up traditional dishes along with modern favorites. Standouts include the beef with king mushrooms and dried red pepper chicken, made with small morsels of crispy chicken thighs spiked with scallions and hot Szechuan peppers, as well as the counter stocked with various cold appetizers.

Shan Xi Magic Kitchen

The Shanxi region in northern China is known for its knife-cut noodles and vinegary flavors, and this establishment stays true to the traditional cooking methods. With a toothsome, bouncy texture, the housemade noodles are what make this spot special. Biang biang spicy hand-ripped noodles is the star dish, and can be ordered with spicy cumin lamb or beef brisket.

Tasty Noodle House

Chinese restaurants from L.A. are increasingly branching out to San Diego, and Tasty Noodle House is one of them. This modest restaurant specializes in Shanghainese cuisine as well as scrumptious plates from other regions. The fish fillet and beef with spicy sauce are numbingly spicy and delicious and the Shanghai pan-fried pork buns topped with black sesame seeds are a must-try.

YinTang Spicy Hot Pot

The Taiwanese hot pot chain now has locations on Convoy and Mira Mesa, offering the mouth-numbing “mala” spicy soup options, along with curry and tomato soup bases as alternatives. The do-it-yourself meat and vegetable buffet stations give customers options to build their own bowls, which are weighed by the cashier and brought to the kitchen, where the ingredients are cooked in separate saucepans to bring out each component’s distinct flavors. The Mira Mesa outpost offers a skewer station, where diners can pick out beef, tofu, or chicken skin to be grilled in the kitchen.

Eastern Dynasty 粤品

This Hong Kong-style restaurant on Convoy Street gives customers plenty of options for roast meat and live seafood specialties. The Peking duck and roast pork belly are standouts with crunchy crispy skin atop tender, juicy meat. Another popular favorite is lobster, cooked as you like it: ginger and scallion, steamed garlic, or salt and pepper with butter. The add-on noodles round out the entree to balance the aromatic flavors.

China Max

Under new ownership and with a new dumpling-centric menu, China Max is back after a devastating fire in 2020 and a multi-million dollar remodel. Although the Kearny Mesa spot’s menu has shifted to handmade noodles, dumplings, and more signature fried rice dishes, there are still plenty of dim sum favorites on the new menu. The restaurant had a short-lived all-you-can-eat weekday promotion to celebrate its reopening, causing lines to form around the block. Make sure to try the har gow (shrimp dumplings) and the delicate rice rolls.

Jasmine Seafood Restaurant & Express

One of the iconic mainstays in San Diego, Jasmine’s longstanding reputation as the flagship Chinese restaurant on Convoy Street is well deserved. Its spacious dining area fits the bill for large groups, banquets, and steaming dim sum with rolling carts. Dim sum highlights include seared taro cake and sweet rice wrapped in lotus leaf. Try the elaborate chef specialties like sweet-and-sour rock cod filet and Peking duck.

Hongyuan Kebab

This friendly Chinese-Korean spot, a newer addition to Convoy Street, specializes in skewers that diners cook themselves with the help of an automatic rotating grill set on each tabletop. The menu’s combo B set features eight varieties of skewers from an extensive list that includes spicy lamb, beef rib finger, and chicken gizzard plus a selection of two cooked dishes like shrimp fried rice or excellent homemade dumplings.

Dumpling Inn & Shanghai Saloon

This homegrown Convoy Street establishment focuses on comfort cuisine. It’s hard to go wrong with any variation of the tasty morsels of dumplings on offer; boiled, steamed, or pan-fried are all good choices. Chef Phat Vuong has also added his stellar braised duck noodle soup to the lunch menu. Choose a drink from their extensive list of craft beers or sip cocktails from the bar at the 1920s-style Shanghai Saloon.

Ma-Dasao 买汰烧 / 马大嫂

Tucked away in Sorrento Valley amid busy office buildings, the owners from Mada-Sao on Convoy relocated and took over Mr. Holy Gao’s former location. Keeping some of the specialties like Chef Gao’s tofu and weekend dim sum specialties like soybean milk with fried crullers, the staff have also added mei fun varieties and healthy options like steamed chicken with mixed vegetables. The wok-sauteed a-choy and Taiwanese braised pork over rice are winners too.

Chef Zhu

This restaurant from a veteran Chinese chef is a gift to residents in the surrounding North County neighborhoods, who keep the kitchen humming with brisk takeout business. The spacious establishment is great for large parties sharing Shanghainese dishes like lion’s head meatballs, braised pork knuckles, and pan-fried glutinous rice cakes. The dim sum menu also showcases Shanghai sticky rice shumai and red bean sponge cake.

Golden Island

This Mira Mesa restaurant specializes in Chinese banquet specialties, seafood, and dim sum. Drop in on a Friday night for live music performances with genres spanning blues, funk, swing, and pop. Its all-day dim sum includes all the greatest hits, like pork siu mai and shrimp har gow dumplings; expect lines for weekend dim sum but they take reservations for parties of eight or more.

Taste of Hunan 湘村人家

This Scripps Ranch restaurant offers a wide range of traditional Hunan specialties, along with comfort food favorites like shrimp fried rice. The fish fillet with pickled vegetables topped with sliced hot peppers and scallions along with the minced pork and pickled string beans are popular. Another must-order item is the marinated lamb with cumin, served on a sizzling iron plate to keep the meat piping hot and crispy.

Diamond Palace

Operating in the Rolando neighborhood near San Diego State University, the 15,000-square-foot space hosts two dance floors and two stages for live music with the capacity to seat 700 guests. The bright, spacious Chinese restaurant and banquet hall features dim sum carts, roasted meats, live seafood, and other Cantonese-style dishes.

Hometown Taste

Located in Rancho Bernardo, this Chinese restaurant is one of the few places that specializes in Yangzhou-style cuisine, considered a cornerstone of Chinese gastronomy. Owner Bruce Bu operated his own restaurant in Yangzhou for 15 years before spending time in the kitchens of well-regarded restaurants like Taste of Hunan and Double Happiness. Try dishes like Yangzhou-style boiled dried bean curd shreds in soup, Yangzhou crab meatball, and fish with pickled vegetables.

Ju Feng Yuan Dumpling Cafe

This bright, modestly-priced Chinese restaurant, nicknamed JFY Dumpling Cafe or just Dumpling Cafe, features a beautiful wooden pagoda inside its dining room that’s reserved for large parties. Menu highlights include a gorgeous signature xiao long bao basket with seven colorful flavors, including original pork, cheese, crab meat with roe, and black truffle. Other crowd-pleasing dishes range from boiled dumplings (pork or chicken) to shrimp and pineapple fried rice. Come on the weekend for the large soup dumpling that you dive into with a straw; it’s a Tianjin specialty not often found in San Diego.