Finally, the Real Deal! If you've been searching for legitimate, authentic Chinese food in the Encinitas area, your search ends right here. After trying countless spots that lean too far into "takeout style" blandness, finding China Gourmet felt like a culinary homecoming. Why It Stands Out: * True Authenticity: You can taste the technique and the tradition in every dish. This isn't just sugar-coated chicken; the flavors are complex, balanced, and exactly what you'd expect from a high-quality kitchen that respects the craft. * Incredible Selection: The menu is vast and impressive. Whether you're looking for the classic comforts done right or more traditional regional specialties, they have a selection that caters to both the adventurous eater and the traditionalist. * Quality Ingredients: Everything tastes incredibly fresh. The vegetables have that perfect snap, and the meats are high-quality and expertly prepared. The Verdict: Encinitas finally has the Chinese restaurant it deserves! read more

Stopped by for lunch. They opened at 11:30am. Friendly service, clean dining area, good authentic food and reasonably priced. read more

China Gourmet - L25. Sweet & Sour Pork Lunch - Chinese Near Me - Encinitas, California

See all

Wonderful restaurant with great food, the best service, in a clean and open space. Second time here and enjoyed dinner equally well. First time I was solo and ordered the kung pao three ingredients with shrimp, scallops and chicken! Wow. Generous portions, amazing flavors and very satisfying. Came back with my family and enjoyed the same plus duck appetizer, chili fish, mushrooms with snow peas and chow fun. All again wonderful with unique flavors, generous portions and endless rice! Service was phenomenal with every wait person stopping by to check in us. Water glass remained full the whole time. Locals thank you for coming to Encinitas and giving us very familiar dishes with a loving twist and 10-15% less expensive. See you all again soon. read more

China Gourmet - Shrimp chow mein, chili fish (wow), king pao three ingredients, black mushrooms with snow peas - Chinese Near Me - Encinitas, California

See all

Good alternative to Panda. Got the house chow mein, good but greasy. Kung pao chicken, good spice and flavors. Braised eggplant was seasoned well, greasy. Came with rice and crunchy egg rolls. read more

This restaurant is pretty spot on, the food that we got was all delicious . The place is clean and service was attentive, no idea why they got so many 1 star??? read more

See all

I'm so happy this place opened! It's like a mini Chin's inside as far as decor and feel. The service was perfect! It's was a bit late on a Tuesday, so we were one of two tables in the entire place. I remember thinking how crowded it would have been on the weekend because it's not that big of a place, and the food and prices are great. We ordered the cream cheese wontons, fried rice and a surprise chicken dish. I asked the server to bring me his favorite chicken dish, and it was delicious! Wish I could recall what it was, but I'm sure you can't Miss with anything on that menu. IMHO, dine in for the experience and service. It's just a bit nicer than most restaurants on ECR. read more

Decided to eat Chinese tonight and try this restaurant for a 2nd time. Did takeout. Used web site. Worked well. Wonton soup, sweet and sour pork, dumplings and chow fun special noodles. All tasty but soup and dumplings the highlights. Pork probably better in house. Nice dinner! read more

The food was super yummy and are definitely gonna come back again. Also, the service was very fast and have a good decorations. read more

I just placed an order for lunch for my bf and I and unfortunately, it lacked in all areas. I ordered house chow mein... and there was no crunchy noodles and no other vegetables except cabbage. In addition, it was greasy and had no flavor. That was $20 down the drain The second dish was spicy honey chicken and it was soggy, soggy and soggy and had a strange flavor, as if it was old. None of the food was even hot. Also $20 down the drain. We placed orders based off your description and it's disappointing when it does not come out the way we intend it to. Will not be back.. please do better for other customers. Other customers - please be aware. read more

I really wanted to like this place but the last 2 entrees had an odd taste to them. This time it was Cashew Chicken, which I usually get from Chin's Szechuan. China Gourmet was cheaper so I decided to try theirs. It was not sweet enough, in fact it had an odd taste that got worse the next day. Never had that happen before. Is chicken supposed to be springy? Not good. read more

Food was really good. Service is always amazing. So glad we have a great local Chinese food place so close to home.

Was looking for another Chinese place in North County. Checked Yelp. Found this place which was location of a past Japanese restaurant. We had cashew chicken, war won ton soup, fried rice, and beef and scallops. All tasty and good portions. Highly recommend. read more

See all

Great authentic food!!! We enjoyed very much seafood soup, shrimp with walnuts, and eggplant. Beautiful decorations too. read more

Stopped by Bevmo after work and decided to order out from this new Chinese restaurant next door. The host in the front was very sweet and gave me a rewards card to earn a free entrée after a certain amount of points. Interior decor looked nice. Very clean and traditional. As for the food unfortunately it was a huge miss for me.... A bit pricey for the portions on the meat entrees. Also I did not realize it was $6 to add on only ONE piece of fried shrimp, an egg roll and a small cup of soup...robbery. Apps Egg Drop Soup: Bland and oily Egg Roll: Avg Fried Shrimp: Probably the most unique thing I tried. I was of fan of the batter they used. It almost tasted like fried sweet corn bread. I could eat a plate of these. Pork Chow Fun: No color. Lacked green onions. Bland with a strange rancid smell that I could not pin point. Braised Eggplant: Usually my favorite dish. Flavor was there but it was drowned out by the oil unfortunately Honey Walnut Shimp: Batter texture was great but where was the sauce?!?! Missing all the flavor... Tangerine Beef Lv 2: Probably the most disappointing dish. Zero tangerine whatsoever. I could only taste soy sauce with a little sugar. No spice at Lv 2 out of 5. Texture was very dry like beef jerky. I'd come back for that fried shrimp but otherwise it was 4 strikes out on the entrées for me ‍ read more

See all

Ordered the Pu Pu Platter, and it was an absolute disappointment. It was incredibly unappetizing (both in appearance and taste) with a sad assortment of overcooked items. The paper-wrapped chicken tasted sour, and I was worried about it not sitting well, so I didn't eat it. The chicken skewer was dry and looked beat up. Fortune cookies were the only thing I enjoyed. Will not be ordering from here again. read more

See all

This is our favorite Chinese restaurant in North County. The wonton soup is delicious. All the entrees are made from scratch and served hot and tasty. Fully recommend the sweet and sour chicken, the beef with broccoli, and the chow mein noodles. read more

Great friendly service, The food in always well prepared. We love their Dumplings and lunch specials . This has become our go to "traditional" chinese restaurant . We took pictures of the place because it looked so nice and we were eager to eat the great food. We are not foodie photo folks and decided against pics s of our "Clean Plate club". Yum read more

China Gourmet - Dining area - Chinese Near Me - Encinitas, California

See all

Incredible flavors and high quality Chinese food! Encinitas needs this restaurant badly. Juicy soup dumplings, delicious pot stickers and all three main dishes we ordered were full of flavor and perfectly cooked!! Nice atmosphere and very attentive/friendly service. We are already planning our next visit. The original Chin is back and doing things oh-so-right--GO! read more

See all

We love China Gourmet! We have been going to Chin's restaurants since 1990. The food is always consistent, high quality, and great flavor. The portion sizes are generous and the prices are extremely reasonable. Best of all, the managers onsite are amazing people and the servers are extremely attentive. I encourage you to give China Gourmet a try and ask for Paula the manager! You won't be disappointed. read more

Ordered to go and despite clear instructions there were no utensils or napkins. Soy sauce was requested and only one was given for five dishes. Asked for chilli oil and it was left out too. Food was ok. The pan fried noodles were very salty, it should be more bland. Perhaps why soy sauce was not given. Kung pao chicken is not spicy and had very little chicken. Too much mushrooms and water chestnuts. read more

Happened to go online on my birthday to order food to go and was treated to. a Birthday Banquet for free. Thank you, chins! Unless the Chinese restaurant serves Scallion pancakes , I don't go there. Their scallion pancakes are great, the honey chicken was delicious, crispy noodles came separately with a large container of the sauce with shrimp and chicken and beef . It was good too. We will order from here again and appreciate the birthday dinner gift! read more

Food was sooo good and customer service was excellent! Clean and quiet and great place to host dinners and celebrations. Mr. Chin was there to make sure we were well taken care of. Try it out! read more

China Gourmet - Taiwanese sausage fried rice and super jumbo crispy prawns. - Chinese Near Me - Encinitas, California

Great lunch special , you'll have to eat in if you want the soup included. Multiple signs up say this place is own by one of the original founders of Chin's Schezwan. So a comparison is justified.... Based on my one lunch special ToGo visit, I would say the food is very close to as good as Chins... close enough I can't say which is better based on one visit. ... my wife said Chins is a little better for her veggie low mein. The service and interior of restaurant was on par with Chins ( which is great 6/5 stars) read more

I have my favorite Chinese restaurants in North County but decided to try this new place out since it's so close by. I ordered a house special pan fried noodle for delivery and it tasted extremely bland. There was no flavor to the dish so I had to add my own sauce at home which is not the worse thing. When I was chewing the beef, I bit into something hard so I quickly spat everything out and was shocked to find a giant piece of plastic!! I was traumatized and didn't want to finish the rest of my food. I don't know where that piece of plastic could have came from but looking at the size of it is very concerning to me. I won't be reordering in the future. read more

See all

Thank goodness this place opened!!!! The original owner of Chins (back when it was good and edible) is the owner and chef of this new spot and we could not be happier!!! We are very picky about Chinese food and haven't been able to find decent quality Chinese food in San Diego in a long time but this new spot is definitely worth trying! Friendly knowledgeable staff that is so helpful with the menu, you can tell they are proud to work there, the food actually has flavor and isn't soaked in oil, noodle dishes actually have a tone of noodles and aren't filled with an insane amount of broccoli or tons of random poorly chopped giant pieces of onions. They actually cut the ends off of their snow peas and remove the string so they're enjoyable to eat. As a vegetarian the fried rice that I order (without egg) they are happy to make and it pairs perfectly with their tofu dishes. Of course I always want more sauce but the low mein is awesome! Long story short, we are stoked China Gourmet is here!!! read more

Lived in Encinitas for a few years now and never tried China Gourmet. We had Cashew Nut Chicken and Egg Rolls and really enjoyed it. Good food, friendly service and timely order. Will definitely go back to try other dishes. read more

If you're looking for quantity portion, and just plain white rice, this is your spot. If you're looking for QUALITY ASIAN FOOD, please ***AVOID*** at all costs. Though this is likely elevated Americanized Chinese food, you're better off ordering from Panda Express than to pick up food from this place. Very disappointing to find my Mongolian beef not flavored and full of oil. Not only that, but who puts bamboo shoots is a Mongolian beef dish?!? (See attached photos). The only note is there is a large amount of beef with corn starch that fills this entree so that the meat you're eating isn't dry. In addition, the quality of my veggie stir-fry only included wilted and black/brown rim edge on the cabbage and broccoli. Sad to say I stopped eating my spoiled items and reported this takeout order! read more

See all

Chinese food is definitely on my top 5 favorite food list however I didn't have a good experience from the food although service was decent. There are certain expectations if you have standards / expectations for Chinese food. However, food was just not up to my standards read more

We were excited to have a new local Encinitas option for Chinese food. Unfortunately we were sorely disappointed. We ordered delivery. The food was not packaged properly. They put sweet and sour sauce ( liquid) in a regular cardboard fold top box with a flimsy plastic bag. Needless to say it leaked everywhere. There were several entrees with lots of liquid that leaked inside and through the single bag. ( no individual wrapping / sealing or bags on them) Made a mess of the table, house and floors with the dripping trail of mess. Now on to the disappointing food: the "Super jumbo prawn crispy with golden garlic " had no golden garlic, just fried onions (perhaps shallots) but no golden garlic. The prawns were large, but certainly not "super jumbo" basically it tasted like regular deep fried shrimp / prawns. Definitely not worth $26.00 The sizzling beef and scallops were mediocre. The beef was tender ( velveted properly) but the scallops had no flavor and were overcooked. All in all, over priced and mediocre. Food is at most a 3 star but poor packaging brought the rating down one star. read more

Checking for Chinese dinner I searched on Yelp and found China Gourmet. The menu had all my favorite dishes and more, so we had to try them out. So glad we did! Not only did we have the best Szechwan dinner ever but the most pleasant dining experience as well. We had our favorite Plum Tree Beef, Moo Shu Pork with the little pancakes and sauce and Szechwan Garlic Eggplant.All of our entrees were cooked to perfection and absolutely delicious. The variety of flavors and textures made our tastebuds sing! There is such a fantastic selection of dishes that we have to go back many times to try everything we want. But I will always crave the Plum Tree Beef every time. Nice offerings of vegetarian dishes as well so there is something for everyone. To make our dining even better is how gracious, friendly and accommodating they are. Our server Paula is so sweet and provided excellent service. Mr Chin came over to greet us and inquire how our meal is He is so pleasant and genuinely appreciates his customers. We left with happy tummy's and a feeling of knowing we found a gem. Even though we don't live in the area, we will make the drive to have the best. I will recommend China Gourmet to everyone so check them out. You won't be disappointed! read more

See all

This was an awesome spot. We went with a group of 4 and my toddler and everyone LOVED the food. The food was great, the service was good and the decor was really nice. The serving sizes were really good considering how most places today have raised prices while cutting portions. This spot has done the opposite and we found it to be a 10/10 on value. read more

Delicious hot and sour soup and an order of house special lo mein. Beautiful interior and good service.

Great Chinese food in a cool place with fantastic service! I was really happy to discover this place in my Encinitas neighborhood. The staff was phenomenal making sure we were happy with our food and had everything we needed. I'm definitely becoming a regular! read more

First time at China Gourmet. It was gorgeous! Quiet, table cloths, beautiful furniture, comfortable, and very gracious people serving us! Food was delicious, we got Chow Mein, sweet and sour chicken, a beef dish and barbeque ribs appetizer and also dumplings! Delicious! We loved our experience there! Thank you, we felt cared for! read more

Great Chinese restaurant. They have a reasonable dinner special which is the same as their lunch special. The service was great and food came out hot and quickly. The only complaint was that they have low quality wine (tasted from a box) so next time I'll bring my own bottle and get it corked. I liked the interior as well! Very cozy on a cold night. read more

I went here with my clients because we were craving Chinese food and it was the closest restaurant from our meeting spot. We ordered the imperial soup, house chow and few other appetizers, but left pretty disappointed as we thought they were more high quality chinese food. I wouldn't waste my $ and stick to Panda. read more

Delicious food!!!!! VERY GOOD SERVICE!!! We just ordered what the next table had ordered which looked really good. That was a smart thing to do!!! The best walnut shrimp we have ever tasted!! It's perfectly crispy outside and extremely tender inside!!! My husband loves Chinese food and this restaurant has become our favorite Chinese restaurant . I love going to tjmaxx and I spend a few hours a week shopping there. My favorite Chinese restaurant is right next to Tjmaxx!!! Now I can eat the most delicious Chinese food immediately after a few hours of shopping . I'll be sure to try everything on their menu read more

China Gourmet - Chinese Near Me - Encinitas, California

One of the worst Chinese food experiences I've had. The food tasted worse than cheap fast food -- bland, overly greasy, and low quality. Even the basics were bad. Service was slow and unbothered, like they didn't care we were there. I rarely leave reviews, but this was just unacceptable. Definitely won't be back. read more

Finally good Chinese food in north country! I was very sad to see Rendezvous in Del Mar close. This has taken the mantel! I think you can always judge a Chinese restaurant on their duck. They have great duck and their soup dumplings are wonderful! Great spot reminds me of Chinese food places in Chinatown NYC. So happy to have found this place! read more

The food at China gourmet is very very good, close to excellent The staff, including lovely Paula , are all wonderful I can't understand why anybody would give this a one star review with this quality of food and service read more