I was so excited to try this place after reading the reviews but I was unfortunately extremely disappointed. Being from California, I know I'm spoiled with good Chinese food, but for some reason I haven't been able to find any in the Syracuse area at all. The egg drop soup had zero flavor . I felt like I was drinking eggs in vegetable oil . Very off-putting - definitely needed salt. We also ordered the general tsos chicken and orange chicken - both of which came out almost black?? Very burnt tasting and not normal. The cuts of chicken seem very low quality as well as the chicken was gooey and squishy inside . The lo mein also lacked flavor . We unfortunately won't be back read more

China Cafe - Orange chicken - Chinese Near Me - Manlius, New York

My favorite place for takeout. The in room dining area is small though and the place is always crowded with people waiting for takeout (like me) which can detract from the ambiance. But the wok hei (flavor imparted by food cooked rapidly on a hot wok) seems more pronounced (and it's the most pronounced of any local Chinese restaurant I've been to) when you dine in. I like the kung pao chicken, moo shu pork, steamed pork dumplings, beef ho fun and tri-flavor chicken. The owners are extremely nice and helpful. Order early, during peak hours the wait for your order can exceed 30 minutes read more

China Cafe - Kung Pao Chicken - Chinese Near Me - Manlius, New York

See all

Exceptionally good egg rolls. Chicken chow was very good. Good selection of food. Service was meh; not particularly friendly or helpful. They have tables but no longer provide table service. Closed on Tuesdays. read more

I have had house lomein chicken lomein pepper steak soups sweet and sour chicken everything I have had is amazing we now order at least once a week .for us it's a good location and worth every penny read more

This is my favorite place for my families Chinese food fix. We have loved everything we have ever gotten here over the last 3 years. I would highly suggest China Cafe. read more

Great tasting Chinese food at a value price point. Highly recommend Food was great, it had the "dragons breath" fiery taste from the hot wok. Interior and exterior of the restaurant are really well kept and clean. Good seating area for around 5 parties or so. Take out is available as well. Staff are friendly and provide great service Take away notes: highly recommend for great tasting Chinese food at a good price point read more

They did an awesome job setting the place up for take out only; free hand sanitizer, plexiglass between the cashier and the customer, floor tape helping you keep 6 feet apart, option to use your credit card without having to sign (and yes i verified the amount was correct using my online banking) The food was delicious; I often like to order 2 appetizers: crab rangoon (which comes with a delicious sweet+sour sauce) and a small wonton soup- enough for a lunch time medium appetite. Both were delicious, and for less than $8 its a thrift great lunch. Conveniently located in the village of Manlius; plenty of free parking including handicap spots so you don't need to be one of those jerks that parks in the fire lane :-) read more

See all

First time here and we were extremely disappointed. We had Hot and Sour soup, it honestly was tasteless, with a strange flavor. The fried wontons were tiny and overcooked. The Wontons in Chili oil were steamed not fried. They actually were ok. The Pork pan fried noodles were just not good. Very flat and not tasty at all. Finally we had the Salt and Pepper chicken which was supposed to be spicy. It was not spicy at all and the chicken was dry and chewy. This honestly was just BAD Chinese food. We won't be going back. read more

Food is amazing here! Service it okay never had a problem. It's more of a walk in walk out kind of place although they do have places to sit. read more

Six years later and China Cafe is our go to for Chinese food. The food is delicious. Our favorites are the sesame chicken and vegetable lo mein, but to be honest I haven't had anything I haven't liked there. You want Chinese food? This is your spot. read more

Went during lunch and got shrimp lo mein. Prices are decent and I have no complaints. Will return! read more

China Cafe - Lo mein - Chinese Near Me - Manlius, New York

Good go-to in Manlius. The service has generally been fast. Now that they have opened up seating inside, I've seen one or two when picking up food but don't generally see folks eating in here. read more

great food, nice people, reasonable prices. What more do you want? Review mus be 85 characters, therefore################################################################################## read more

This Chinese American place in a manlius strip mall has all of the classics on their extensive menu. It's consistently good; only occasionally jumping to great. They have a very hopping take out business and the only time they messed up my order was to give me extra crab Rangoon that I never asked for... So I grab some extra hot mustard and took care of the problem. I put more money in their tip jar the next time I picked up food, to compensate. read more

This place is BEYOND disappointing. Highly suggest you try someone else! We love their food, but they have the WORST service. Over an hour late on the food tonight (after giving us a 45 minute wait time - now been 2 hours). The last order we had with them, it was a half hour late. This is because they prioritize certain people's orders and leave others to rot. Twice they gave us someone else's order. Never going here again. Such a disappointment for us! read more

Worst Chinese food ever!!! And I've had a ton of Chinese food. Nothing tasted right. We got various dishes - fried rice, noodles, vegetables, various types of protein- shrimp, chicken, pork, various appetizers. We were disappointed. Nothing was edible. What a complete waste of money, the only thing good about this place is how hilariously terrible the food is, we're still laughing about it. Guess we must be spoiled by our city experience and appetite. Even the brown rice by itself was disgusting, like eating mush!! Even though we were famished, we couldn't eat it. We ended up throwing it all out including in the containers they were packed in. read more

Only tried this place once so this is a very small sample. I thought the food was average at best. Dry and underwhelming.

Probably one of the best Chinese take out places in CNY that I've tried, even arguably one of the best Chinese food places in general (restaurants and buffets included). It seems more authentic and flavorful, and their Kung Pao chicken and beef Chow Fun never disappoint. We ask for our dishes to be extra spicy, and they fulfill the request for the most part. Service is good and China Cafe is now our go- to place for Chinese food! read more

See all

Tips: I can only speak to the take-out. I have not eaten sitting down at the restaurant. Overall, disappointed with the mild flavors, could use more. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I got a recommendation from a friend to try out China Cafe because it had great tasting food. I called in a take-out order for dinner one night on the way home from Toggenburg Mountain. I was unfortunately very disappointed with the food. Maybe it was because I had take-out and the food wasn't as great quality for the drive home. Eggplant with Garlic Sauce - The flavor isn't quite there. I've had some great eggplant garlic sauce dishes around the Syracuse area and China Cafe didn't measure up to some of them. 21 Cafe is by far my favorite. Szechuan Boiled Fish - The fish wasn't as flavorful as I'd like it. I could taste the chinese numbing spice, but not much else. Crispy Chicken - batter was too thick and tough If I find myself in the area I might give China Cafe another chance by dining in, but I wouldn't want to order away again. read more

See all

The food is wonderful. Amongst the best cheap Chinese takeout in CNY! They have great balance of flavor and the spicy dishes truly are spicy. Very disappointed in the dine-in service. They take up to an hour to get food to your table. When you order takeout the cashier's attitude can be great, or can be incredibly rude. If they had better service this place would definitely merit a 5-star rating. read more

Woah and wow. Ate here a couple weeks ago, and through my THC tinged brain thought "I need to write a great review for these guys" Come to find out I written one about 8 years ago. Dang, talk about consistency, this place is still bringing still bringing it, and maybe even better. I come back to Philly, and yes I've got my places here in Chinatown and elsewhere, but good old China Cafe in a modest Manlius strip mall is all business with extremely fine food. Wow this is a boring review, and I'm sorry for wasting your time. I wonder if the hardworking staff ever reads Yelp reviews, or if they care? Staff is all business. I nodded at one of the chefs on the wok line (if that's what you call it) and he nodded back. Made my day. Peace, and love your neighbor! read more

Great quality food where the vegetables are always cooked perfectly and a great ratio of meat to vegitables. My favorite dish, Kung Pao chicken is done perfectly. We haven't had a bad meal, always a delicious meal with anything that we order. read more

So it's hard to categorize this restaurant. From a review stand point it can be viewed as both a take out restaurant or a sit down restaurant. Now I know a lot of take out places have tables that most people don't use, but this restaurant is filled with people looking for authentic Chinese cuisine. There are also many who come and go for take out of their favorite American Chinese cuisine. For the most part my family and I come here and eat at the restaurant. The service is always good. And the food is top notch. Yes they have your favorites like Beef and Broccoli, Garlic Chicken, and Sweet and Sour Chicken. While I will agree that all of those are delicious, I come here specifically for the more authentic dishes like Beef Brisket stew, Chinese Broccoli, and the numerous fish dishes. All crafted with the best possible flavors. They are very good about both speed and accuracy, so if you bring your family here, you will be chomping down on exactly what you ordered fast. The prices are extremely fair for both a sit down restaurant or if you use them as just a take out joint. I can't really find any issues with this restaurant, so if your looking for good Chinese food, come here! read more

China Cafe - Beef Brisket Stew. (Family dug in too fast!) - Chinese Near Me - Manlius, New York

See all

This is probably one of my favorite Chinese restaurants to go to in Syracuse. The prices are decent especially for the lunch special and the service is great. They always seem to recognize me even if it's been a while ( talking over a year here). They have an extensive menu for Chinese American and also an authentic Chinese menu. I've never ordered from the Chinese menu cause I don't know what to get but everything off the Chinese American menu is great. The food packs a lot of flavor,heat if it is listed as spicy, and the portions are huge. Even from the lunch special I still had left overs. As for the location, there is plenty of parking space. The restaurant is located in a strip mall. There are about 5-7 tables inside but they do get very busy as they do a lot of take out orders. We were the first ones there on a Sunday and within half hour-hour the place was packed and only had 1 unoccupied table. The inside is nothing fancy but let the food speak for itself. You won't be disappointed! read more

China Cafe - Kung pao chicken with side of rice. This is the lunch portion you get either a complimentary soda OR egg roll OR Soup. - Chinese Near Me - Manlius, New York

My family and I recently tried this restaurant because we heard about it through a friend. We met on a weekday to dine-in and ordered 3 lunch specials. The inside isn't much, but we saw a few other tables with diners as well. The lady at the front register provided friendly table service. Today we tried the beef with broccoli, kung pao chicken, and shrimp with garlic sauce. Each lunch special comes with an egg roll, soup, or can of soda. A great deal for the price! The beef was higher quality than most chinese takeout places. You could actually tell it was beef. All the dishes were really good so we ordered a quart of chicken lo mein to go to help with dinner. I ate the leftover lo mein and my husband ended up looking for more too. We look forward to coming back and trying out their many other dishes. read more

See all

The food was fresh and very tasty! Lots of chicken and not just vegetables. The customer service is great and the prices are great for the amount of food you get. We will be back, even though we are 1 1/2 hours away! This is our place to go when we are in the area. read more

China Cafe - Kung Pao Chicken - Chinese Near Me - Manlius, New York

This is one of our go to places. The food is consistently good. Tonight we ordered from grub hub and the driver never showed up. I went over to the restaurant and the food had been sitting there. Rather then letting me take it they insisted on remaking it so it would be hot and fresh. Thank you!!!! read more

The food is pretty good. I like the "health menu" where you can basically build your own stir fry. But the woman working the desk is rude and pushy, and the restaurant isn't honoring published prices on top of adding additional (unadvertised) credit card fees. I do realize this is a reaction to the current challenges faced by restaurants but to up-charge the same order twice with no notice is unwelcome from the customer's perspective. There is actually a limit for what I'll pay for a small tray of tofu and had I known the costs I wouldn't have ordered in the first place. read more

Great food - always. We have never had a bad meal. Ask for what you want, and they do it. I recommend.

I'm from the area and this is my local go to place for Chinese food. Ran by a friendly family and the food is good every time, no problems.

My favorite and go to place for Chinese food in Manlius! Always good good and quick service.

Updating to 4 stars. Have given restaurant additional orders and loved everything. The crab Rangoon and wonton soup are wonderful! I stick to the rice dishes now - have been delicious! read more

Nice option especially if you want to sit down and eat in a Chinese restaurant! We did this a while ago, great food! Will be going there again! Great take out too! read more

China Cafe deserves an updated review - it does, in fact, have a couple legitimate dishes hiding on the lunch menu. One is that gong bao ji ding that they make so well. At lunchtime it can be paired with fried rice and the choice of soup or an egg roll for the incredible price of $6.84 (after tax but before their well-earned tip). Their fried rice is fine (not the neon-yellow stuff served at a lot of Chinese-American joints). The egg rolls China Cafe sells are the generic made-in-Parsippany-New-Jersey-and-frozen-for-transit variety, so wonton soup is the right move here. It adds up to an unholy quantity of food, way too much for a human's lunch, that I thoroughly enjoy eating for lunch. They've got about 50 lunch-menu items here. I'm guessing that there's another fantastic option hiding right in plain sight, but I'm kind of leery about branching out from the old standby. I tried one of the pork dishes and it was pretty mediocre. And it's too bad that the spicy fish is only available as a main entree. But as far as lunch specials go, it's hard to top the kung pao. read more

Best Chinese food in America!! Family and locally owned business, great authentic food with the broadest menu I've ever seen! I've been coming here since a child, unfortunately it looks like they dont do "dine in" service here anymore, but the takeout is just as good! Thank you China cafe, I will be back next time I visit manlius! read more

AUTHENTIC, AFFORDABLE, THE BEST YOU'LL EVER HAVE (in central NY, at least) -- that pretty much sums up China Cafe for you, if you don't like to read. China Cafe is the best Chinese food I've had since moving here from the Bay Area. I've been craving and missing Chinese food so bad - when I lived in SF I used to eat Chinese at least 3-4 times a week with my family, at authentic Chinese restaurants and I guess I got spoiled. Didn't think I'd ever find a place like this in CNY, until now! Went here yesterday with my friend from Beijing and a friend who knows nothing about authentic Chinese and all three of us left singing the highest praises. This place is BEYOND AWESOME. First of all, we came in at 8:30 pm on a Sunday night. In true Chinese fashion, they were open until 9:30. They seated us quickly and we ordered (details below). The waitress was incredibly attentive and sweet, and the dining area was clean and tidy, and not very large. It was cozy and I could imagine coming here on many more occasions with friends for parties or get-togethers. Now, THE FOOD: 1. Kung Pao chicken (you know you're in the right place when they use the traditional Chinese name for it -- Gonbao Ji -- rather than the Americanized name!) -- this was expertly prepared - not a single bone in any of the chicken (my teeth thank you!) and it was spicy without being unbearable or acid reflux-inducing. TONS of chicken (enough for all of us to eat our fill and a half and then have leftovers for lunch) and delicious roasted peanuts. I can see this dish becoming a perennial favorite (no veggies though, so make sure to order some!) 2. Spicy fish fillets with peppers -- One of my favorites of the night, no doubt. But be warned: VERY SPICY! They make this in the Hunan-style, which is known for being spicy and heavy on the heat. The fish fillets were gently fried in a batter before being tossed and sauteed with spicy green peppers, LOTS of them. This is my favorite thing about Hunan cooking (which may not be suitable for all diners): the peppers, which look and taste like green bell peppers, but are actually HOT peppers - sweet and crispy, with just a tiny hint of a bite. China Cafe really nails this dish, a favorite among the Silicon Valley crowd. 3. Seasonal vegetable (doh miao - a surprise to find in Syracuse, since only really legit Chinese places with many Chinese customers seem to even bother buying this vegetable and offering it on the menu, not even sure where they bought it because you can't find it at Wegmans) -- China Cafe did this to perfection too, just the way my grandma would do it. The greens were fresh and perfectly prepared, cooked to the point of being tender but not at all limp, sauteed with pieces of blackened garlic. The huge plate was perfect for the three of us, and not a single bite was left at the end of the night. 4. Scallion pancake - these were the only low light for me. Scallion pancakes are usually crispy without being too hard or tough. The ones we had last night were fried just a bit too long, in my opinion, resembling chips rather than crispy pancakes. Even so, my friends gobbled it up (the dipping sauce really makes it). 5. Chow mei fun -- I think my friend ordered this in the Singapore style, but I'm not too sure since she did it in really swift Chinese. The thin egg noodles were stir fried with egg, cabbage, shrimp, carrots and some other veggies. This was superb and went down fast -- a really great flavor and lots of fresh amazing ingredients. 6. Five spice beef noodle soup --WOW, just like you'd find in SF. The beef on top is sliced thinly and seasoned, then placed on top of noodles (get the lo mien -- thicker egg noodles go well with soup, but that's really just a personal preference) with bok choy and soup. The soup could have been a bit warmer, in my opinion, and the noodles needed more time to soak up the flavor of the soup, but the beef - MY GOD! It was like being in my grandma's kitchen again. My friend and I really couldn't believe we were in Syracuse/Manlius when we started into this dish. All this food was about $45, and we had enough leftovers to split it three ways and still have lunch for all of us. That is CRAZY affordable and CRAZY delicious! Seriously, you've got to come here and taste what real Chinese cooking is like. Mmmmm, my stomach is growling again just thinking about it :-) read more

STOP. If you're looking for authentic Chinese restaurants, cancel your other candidates and go here now. This is a family owned restaurant that knows not only how to prepare good quality food, but accurate and authentic to the cuisines they are inspired from. Let's begin. We started with "wu xiang niu," or literally translated to five-spice beef, but more accurately called Sichuan braised beef slices. This is considered an appetizer. Let me forewarn you that this is a chilled dish, and it is intended to be that way. Sichuan by nature is dense with spicy food in an already hot country, so this balance is necessary. This is one of the most delicious appetizers from Sichuan. It's packed with flavor, but with none of the chilli heat or tingling Sichuan pepper. The beef is cooked until tender in a master stock. You must understand how great this dish is. Cold tender beef slices that's seasoned to perfection? That makes little sense; but when you try it, it will make perfect sense. 10/10 Get the walnut shrimp. I must admit at first I was underwhelmed by the small size of the shrimp, but it is as they say -- size does not matter. The dish was adequately creamy, and the walnuts were candied (a commonly missed necessity). Another common downfall is the shrimp that is not adequately deep-fried such that it is too tender on the chew. Savory, sweet, creamy. Oh my gosh, get this dish. 9/10 We also got the fish fillet in hot chili oil or "shui zhu yu." This is one of the main staples of Sichuan cuisine (also note in my other review I touted "la zi ji" as a staple as well). This dish was cooked fantastically. The oil was thin, but still had substance. It was not literally oil, but resembled an oily spicy broth that would be totally acceptable to sip (another downfall of those who don't know how to prepare "shui zhu" dishes). The fish was tender and soaked up the spices in the broth. Overall a savory spicy dish that pairs great with the rice in your bowl. Put the fish on top and you'll have perfectly seasoned rice that takes up the aroma of the chili oil. Mmm. 9/10 read more

Being weened on Chinese food as a kid my usual go to items are Hot and Sour Soup and Pork Fried Dumplings. Well tonight I mixed it up a little. I went to China Cafe to see what it was like and ordered from there as the menu is very limited online. I found China Cafe to be very clean and very bright, it's ok I was doing take out anyway. I ordered the Pork Fried Dumplings and the Spicy Wontons. I asked if both sides of the dumpling can be seared (pan fried) at first I was told no! I said why can't you flip the dumpling over to brown the other side. After asking very nicely the woman who I will call, "Happy" folded like a card table, it's wasn't like I asked to re build The Great Wall. I did ask if MSG was used the answer was a very quick "No" the "No" was too suspicious but I was in no mood to go head to head with, "Happy". I did ask the young girl who took my credit card if she ( Happy) ever smiled? The girl chuckled. My food cam package up as requested. I asked if they do true Szechwan or mostly Cantonese. The girl gave me a menu and pointed out the Szechwan items. I will return back in the short term to try other items and will critique accordingly. read more

Located in a strip mall in Manlius, China Cafe looks like a hole in the wall, but looks can be deceiving. China Cafe serves very delicious takeout and sit in Chinese food. The price is very reasonable and affordable for most. I always order their steamed pork dumplings every time I order out. They make really good fish and noodle dishes as well. read more

Very good food, and the staff was nice.... BUT service is very slow if you dine in during dinner time, as they manage a huge take-out volume, which seemed to get priority on the night we were there- Thus the deduction of 1 star. The honey walnut shrimp was very good- my favorite! I wouldn't hesitate ordering takout from here at all, though- definitely good food at a decent price. read more