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Chin's Szechwan - Encinitas

3.9 (704 reviews)
ModerateChinese, Noodles, Soup
Closed 11:30 am - 9:00 pm

Order Chin's Szechwan - Encinitas Takeout or Delivery

Chin's Szechwan - Encinitas Photos

Business Info

CHIN'S SZECHWAN - ENCINITAS ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Moderate noise
Casual
Good for kids
Good for groups

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Recommended Reviews - Chin's Szechwan - Encinitas

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What can I say everything you ask for it's in one spot. Great service, delish food, and endless options with different meats like chicken, beef, or fish and all of them were phenomenal. Definitely a spot that I highly recommend to check out and perfect for big groups because you'll definitely wanna try different items and share them

Jennifer A.

"Feeling wok-ed up with happiness during our Galentine's celebration with @yeng.realestate @mkvang27 at @chinsszechwan ! Serving high-quality Chinese cuisine since 1976, they never miss -- from the legendary Honey Walnut Shrimp to those perfect Pot Stickers, House Lo Mein, Szechuan Garlic Eggplant, and the Imperial Double Happiness (scallops + shrimp = the ultimate foodie love story). Good food, good vibes, and the best gals -- the perfect night out." Love the remodel and location @cityofencinitas Vickie was really nice!!!

Beef & Broccoli in Brown Sauce wife loved
Peter I.

OK, we have tried a bunch of Chinese restaurants in this area, we went to Chin's years ago and didn't find it really what we wanted but about a month ago we got some appetizers and one entrée and thought wow that's different than we had years ago. So tonight after football and a long day, we thought let's make it easy and get something that we really really hope we love. So we did Uber and ordered beef and broccoli and honey walnut shrimp. They were. UNBELIEVABLE! I don't know who has taken over this restaurant or who is the new chef but the difference is amazing. The taste, the texture. The flavor was perfect. I highly recommend this restaurant to everyone, next week we will go in person and have it fresh off the grill which we cannot wait to try.

Tangerine Chicken
Eric F.

This was my first time at this Chin's location. The front desk and interior decorations were beautiful. It felt very inviting. The staff was friendly and attentive. I ordered a lunch entrée and it came with soup, fried rice, an egg roll, a wonton, cucumber, and an egg roll. I thought it was just going to be the meat, so that was a pleasant surprise. They weren't busy either. It's nice to know that Chin's quality doesn't change from location to location as far as I've seen so far.

I love the food at this place! Every single dish is really good and top quality. The portions are super generous, and I fully recommend it. You have to visit any of their locations--you'll be blown away! There's a reason they win the awards for the best food in all of San Diego

Cindy L.

A decent spot if you're craving flavorful Chinese food, though the flavors didn't feel especially authentic. Many of the dishes tasted quite similar due to the heavy sauces. I'd compare it to Panda Inn. The staff, however, was friendly and welcoming.

Spicy Honey & Sesame Chicken
Joey R.

I love Chins in general but especially their Encinitas location! It's always super clean and their staff is very attentive. The food is also always amazing. I love the spicy honey & sesame chicken, egg drop soup, lo mein and the potstickers! I will definitely continue eating here. I love it!

Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings (6)
Laura M.

Very open floorplan, bright& clean! Came in& was greeted right away& seated quickly. Their booths are super roomy and huge. The server was super attentive and quick. Like she was always there, but not hovering. Waters came out with cold&refreshing. The chicken wings were crispy and juicy. It was a little on the salty side though. Not sure if it was because I was eating the garnishes with the chicken. The lo mein, was good. I like my lo meins with thick thick noodles though, but it was still good either way, I tried to add some soy sauce to it& the little saucer wasnt working properly so I accidentally messed it up and made it too soy saucey. Good thing I was already about finished with the plate before that happened. I didn't really eat the Szechwan beef so I can't really speak about that.. but overall, this was a good random spot that we tried out!

Three Flavor Ma La
Rhondi S.

Let's see, yes it's Christmas Eve and they are only taking to go orders, placed order 5:00 would be ready at 5:30. confirmation at 5:17 an app said it would not be ready until 6:30, ok no big deal. Arrived at 6:30, order not ready, host had no idea when our order would be ready. There were 25 to 30 people in line waiting on their orders as well as as well as people waiting in their cars for their orders as well. We knew this was going to be an issue. Husband talked to the host politely asking when our order would be done he said "I have no idea" it would've been easy if he just checked into the kitchen to look at our order and give us an estimated time but no no Customer Service. Rude customer service would not help was just very rude to all customers. We couldn't cancel our order online because it was 8 o'clock already and they close at 8:30. There's no way we're waiting on food that would not be ready. Took another 20 minutes just to cancel our online order.... ridiculous. We have guests waiting at home, had to go to Panda Express instead, they will NEVER get another penny of our business, they just lost a $200 order and a 20 year customer!!

(L) House Lo Mein Soft Noodles (Shrimp, Beef & Chicken)
Kitty C.

What a beautiful remodel they went through. Everything is new and modern. The original red doors are gone and replaced with modern ones. Although everything is new age, it's still elegant. The food was still amazing as always. Hot and sour soup is my favorite, you can never go wrong with that. we also ordered hunan fish, lo mein, and sweet and sour chicken. If Chin's was too dim for you before, come back! They went with an elegant white interior, no more lead with red interior design. Great place for a little get together. The tea pot is adorable too. The aesthetics were well thought out

Garlic eggplant with tofu. A very generous serving!
Cathy G.

Ordered the spicy garlic eggplant and pork, but they made a mistake and made it with tofu. I almost sent it back, but after tasting it to confirm it was tofu, I was amazed. It was delicious. The level 2 sauce had flavored the tofu so well, that I didn't want to switch! If the order had not been botched, it would be worthy of 5 stars!

Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings (6)
Angel R.

What I love about this restaurant is the amount of thought that goes into my experience from start to finish. The environment is very welcoming and always clean. The staff always greets you with a warm and familiar smile that makes you feel like you've been there before. The food always satisfies and I love the fact that you can add a spicy level to the entrees. Whenever I don't know what to order the wait staff is always prepared to offer suggestions. The wait for the food is very little. Come here if you want an escape, bring your family and loved ones and you'll end up making more memories at a place like this. Thankful to have this in Encinitas. The egg rolls are SO GOOD!

Egg Roll (2)
Bianca R.

Delicious food and amazing service! Every dish is fresh, flavorful, and cooked to perfection. The servers and host are so friendly and welcoming, they make you feel right at home. Chin's is definitely my go-to for great Chinese food! Ps, they have the best egg rolls out there! It's a MUST try

Lunch special - Spicy Honey & Sesame Chicken. Pot Stickers (8). Arnold Palmer

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Chin's Szechwan - Encinitas Reviews in Other Languages

Ask the Community - Chin's Szechwan - Encinitas

Is there MSG in Chin's food? I had the hot and sour soup and the chicken chop suey?

Yes, I remember asking for no MSG when I ate lunch there

IS Chin's Encinitas mvoing locations and when will the new one be open? I saw a sign next to BevMo

No we aren’t moving locations, we are completing a full remodel. That is not us, thank you!

Are you guys open for dine in? Yelp says closed?

Hi we closed to finish remodeling. Should be finished by tomorrow! Thank you.

Do you have reservations?

Yes! Please call the store directly. Thank you.

Do you have outside seating?

No sorry thank you

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4.4
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0.9 mi
$$

for nearly two years, Scout, my orange, husky-looking mut and I have been driving by their…read morenow-shuttered Encinitas location four times a week after playdates at Power Lines Dog Park. every time we do, I think "we gotta back there for another visit." pretty sure CHIKO has aged out of my draft queue. now that I've finally gotten around to finishing the review, they've been closed for months. in the draft, I suggested CHIKO might not be a destination restaurant, but if you happen to be in the neighborhood, it's definitely a place worth stopping by for eats. if you wait long enough, like I did, the nearest ones are in the DC area and probably not worth a cross-country trip. sad.

Post-mortem... I was sad to hear that CHIKO permanently closed their doors at the end of last year…read more It's rare for an East Coast based Asian chain restaurant to migrate to California, but that was what CHIKO did. As noted by its name, this place served a fusion of Chinese and Korean cuisines. Their Encinitas location took over what used to be a roadside diner along N Coast Hwy 101. The seating capacity was less than 40 people which included a few high-top counter spots. At my last visit, I came for a late dinner before their closing time. A large menu was posted on the wall behind the service counter that listed about two dozen food offerings. The items seemed to be comfort food like pot stickers, spring rolls, fried rice, and chicken wings but flavored with unique combinations of seasonings and spices. I started my meal with the Marinated Beef Tri-Tip Skewers which came as a set of three and a Chinese mustard for dipping. The meat was very tender and well-seasoned. I also ordered the Cumin Lamb Stir Fry which the cashier said was medium spicy. After tasting a couple of bites of the noodles from the serving bowl, I agreed that the heat level was moderate, even for my palate. I thought the portion size should have been more for the price. That was my main criticism for both items, otherwise the food was solid for an Asian fusion eatery.

Photos
I love chiko-lada! Soju is deadly (good).
I love chiko-lada! Soju is deadly (good).
Pork and kimchi potstickers
Pork and kimchi potstickers
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Birdseye Kitchen

Birdseye Kitchen

3.7
(892 reviews)
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Ignore all the 1-star reviews. If you want something fast on a Friday-Sunday night go to McDonalds…read more There is a reason things can take some time and why they are always packed - ITS GOOD FOOD (and it's a scratch kitchen where everything is prepared fresh). This is some of the best food in north county. Great vibe, indoor, patio and side walk seating. Just a straight up great locally owned and operated business - nothing else to it - Every dish I've had is phenomenal - Pad Se Ew, Chow Mein, Beef Pho, Pineapple Fried Rice with Curry powder is exquisite, bring a date and split a few plates. Or order for pickup and eat it at home. Eating in wait time for food usually like 20-30 mins (order an app, or a drink and chill). Togo orders usually around 45-90 mins. Thanks for all the hard work and incredible food Birdseye staff!! Encinitas loves you.

The food here is honestly great. The customer service is insanely terrible. Everyone is weirdly…read moreentitled and inconvenienced by you. And it's been like this for years. Today I placed an online order because the website showed an estimated wait time of 10-15 minutes. The second I submitted it, the estimate changed to 1 hour and 17 minutes. Had it said that from the start, I never would have placed the order. My husband was already on his way there. So I called right away, not to complain, but just to let them know there was clearly an issue with the system and to see if there was anything they could do. We ordered fried rice and spring rolls. That's it. Instead of, "Oh wow, sorry about that," I was immediately met with pushback. I was basically told the website didn't say that, even though I literally had a screenshot of it. The whole conversation felt weirdly argumentative for no reason. And honestly, this isn't the first time I've felt like customers are treated as an inconvenience here. I've been coming for years because the food is so good, but the customer service is consistently cold, dismissive, and sometimes just plain rude. Nobody expects perfection. Orders run behind. Things happen. But when a customer calls politely about a legitimate issue, the response shouldn't be to make them feel like they're crazy. At this point, Birdseye has some of my favorite food in Encinitas and some of my least favorite customer interactions. It's a shame because the food deserves better than the service.

Photos
Too cute
Too cute
Beef Pho, and drunken noodle
Beef Pho, and drunken noodle
Inside

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Inside

Chin's Szechwan - Encinitas - chinese - Updated July 2026

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