I wanted to try more Chinese restaurants in Berkeley, and my boyfriend and I came across this one while passing through Gourmet Ghetto, so I thought I'd give it a go. We ordered two noodle dishes, zha jian mian and beef noodle soup, as well as some of their dim sum dumplings. The dumplings were decent. The noodles that came weren't my favorite type (i like it when it's a bit chewier and less thin), but even then I still thought it was delicious. My boyfriend loved the zha jian mian, and after coming here, it has become one of his favorite Chinese dishes. Overall, especially since it was a foggier day, the hot noodle soups were very comforting and the restaurant itself is pretty nice inside. I am definitely coming back to try other items on the menu. read more

The highlight of the meal for me was the homemade garlic noodles. I think the only homemade noodles I have gotten from a Chinese spot were the ones at Shandong in Oakland. I substituted tofu for meat. I feel like the tofu could have been better. We also got some spicy garlic eggplant, which was solid. read more

It was ok. Not a huge fan of Chinese food, portions were kinda small, cashew chicken was good but didn't like a noodle dish.

The cumin lamb noodles were AMAZING - tender and full of flavor. The noodles sleek and chewy. The sesame bread was stuffed full of onions and topped with sesame seeds. Service was quiet but very present. Delightfully clean. Much more to explore - lamb club and other flame charred doecialties！， read more

While I don't have Chinese food often, I would consider this the best Chinese food in Berkeley. The place is extremely clean and the food was very classic Chinese in my opinion. They have a large menu. They give complementary hot tea. My only complaint might be that I am not a seafood fan, and my chicken had a slight seafood taste. Maybe from the cooking utensils? read more

Dalian - Sichuan Chicken and Kung Pao chicken - Chinese Near Me - Berkeley, California

Love it! The staff, the food and the service is amazing. Never a disappointment, always great! I love the noodles here, taste just like the ones in China. Super authentic! read more

Get the garlic noodle...or add the garlic sauce to any dish! Awesome flavors and great service.

Best Chinese food I've had in the east bay. Haven't had a chance to try the lunch menu yet, but I'd imagine it's just as good. This place is such a hidden gem, service is always great - been there with a group of about 12 and they were really accommodating. Will definitely be making this my go to for Chinese food. read more

I don't know what happened to this place. Maybe they had a server who called in sick, but we were standing for almost ten minutes waiting for someone to seat us. The person at the front was dealing with take-out orders but when I asked a wait staff person if we could sit down, she pretty much ignored me. When we finally got our table, we received a pot of tea without cups and we had to ask for water. The staff seemed overwhelmed and our food took longer than expected. The staff did not check-in with us at all. They just dropped the food at our table and walked away. We like the food, but my husband doesn't want to come back. They also changed the chairs which were very hard and uncomfortable. read more

Extremely delicious. Can taste the quality of ingredients and the freshness of preparation. Extremely kind waiters/waitresses. Prices are just right. Must have: Shrimp Dumplings read more

Went their for a friend's birthday party. Loved the food. They accommodated us beyond their closing hours even though we were a large group.

I love this place for Chinese food. The noodle dishes are very hearty, I can barely finish them. The garlic one is my favorite. They also have other genuine non noodle dishes. The oyster soup in claypot is generous with the oysters - highly recommend. read more

serious salt cravings sent me into chinese food territory and it's one food we hadn't yet tried in the gourmet ghetto. why is it so hard to find chinese food places that serve real mu shu rolls instead of flour tortillas? nothing annoys me more. that's why i kind of fell in love with da lian. they're for real yo. we decided to do take-out since both the husband and i feel that eating in chinese food restaurants in slightly depressing. i mean, right? this one is clean and nicely lit, if a little bland in the decor dept. but i was really impressed by how nice the service was. i asked if there was dairy in the walnut shrimp and the server told me no. so i placed my order and we went for a stroll around the block while our food was being prepared. when i got back she came rushing up and said there was in fact dairy in my dish (she had double-checked) and so she didn't have them make it for me. i was very thankful, dairy tummyaches are so not fun. and it just showed that she was paying attention and cared. i ended up getting the kung pao shrimp instead and it hit the spot. the shrimp were fat and juicy and they gave me a lot of them. we also got a fried chicken dish in a sweet & sour sauce, but the chicken was only lightly fried and it was super tender. and the mu shu, well you already know it's the real deal. read more

This is my favorite Chinese restaurant in Berkeley. Their food is always delicious and they also have a "healthy" selection of the menu (i.e. steamed vegetables, steamed chicken with vegetables). My favorites are the sesame bread (listed under chef's special), lemon chicken and the mixed vegetables with tofu. read more

"Meh. I've experienced better" is a pretty accurate description of my food at Da Lian. I went there because I was a hungry Jew in need of sustenance on Christmas Day. Da Lian is only one of a few Chinese restaurants that were open today, so I decided to take the plunge and try it out. I wish I hadn't. The food is way too oily and all of the flavors are muddled. Da Lian represents your typical Americanized/fast food Chinese restaurant. I wish I had gone to Great Wall instead. read more

I usually really loathe to give bad reviews, but my experience at Da Lian was just not acceptable! We ordered the sizzling rice soup since it had such great reviews, and received the whole show of putting crunchy rice into soup at the table. As soon as we tried to drink it, however, I realized that they didn't put whatever magical powder they usually put in soups, and it tasted literally like hot water with bits of zucchini and chicken in it. -___- When we told our server, our soup was whisked to the kitchen, and instead of giving us a new bowl of sizzling rice, they stirred in the magical powder and gave us back the SAME BOWL OF SOUP. Seriously?? you're not gonna entertain your guests' good graces by giving us another bowl and putting new RICE in it?? its RICE! so now the rice is all soggy and sad. It would have been okay if they just comped our soggy soup, as a gesture of good faith. but no. we received soggy soup with some vague "oh they forgot to put salt in". (it's not just salt, okay? I'm chinese, I use "chicken powder", no need to pretend that its not MSG) There are better and cheaper chinese places in Berkeley, and it is just ridiculous to charge what they charge without the service that you'd expect from a place at their price point. Never again. read more

Very good. This place stands out as excellent amongst the Chinese food options in Berkeley. I got the Beef & Broccoli and Eggplant with Chicken. Both dishes were well constructed and were very fresh tasting. 4 stars because I was really surprised that it was so good :) read more

Expensive chinese food that tastes ok. Got one dish, to go with no rice included for $19. Not worth it

Has always had great service for many years, the food is almost always consistently good (once every few months it gets a little off but it's barely noticeable, and usually for to training somebody new) I've been here for many years and have never disliked my meal, the staff or any other amenities! Highly recommend from a local (me) who has lived in the area over 15 years. read more

Family friendly, great food, generous portions and a lovely wait staff. Try the spicy, garlic pork (homemade) noodles. You will not be disappointed. read more

Went here with some family visiting from out of town back in 2012. We ordered several dishes (Sizzling rice soup, Spinach potstickers, Xiao long bao, Sizzling beef, Pork chow fun, Honey walnut chicken). Yeah, there were only 4 of us. :) All the dishes were good. Reminded me of good home cooking, comfort food - tasty but down to earth dishes. The restrooms were clean (I always take it as a sign of how clean the kitchen is), and the ambience and decor were very nice. read more

Surprisingly authentic for a chinese restaurant in gourmet ghetto. Even asian parents would be pleased. I prefer dalian to great china as you don't have to wait to be seated and the food is comparable if not even better. Hunan beef tastes different when ordered during lunch vs at dinner. Different cooks? I would strongly recommend the fire glazed tofu. A large amount of food for 4 people came out to be 40 before tip. read more

LOVE this place. Recently had a 11 person family dinner there. Superb food, very friendly and courteous service, reasonable prices. All in all an excellent experience. 20 dishes and out the door for about $25 a head. read more

This is my go-to Chinese restaurant in Berkeley. I always get the honey glazed walnut chicken (or prawns if I want to spend the extra dollar) and they're both amazing, although everything else I've tried here has also been great. Their lunch specials are very reasonably-priced too! It can be a little pricier than I want to pay as a student for dinner, but if you're looking for good Chinese food, it's worth it. Service is really quick - I've gotten in and out in about half an hour for lunch, which is great when I only have an hour break to get some food. read more

Pretty good Chinese food for a decent price. My personal favorite dish is Mushu but this place really skimped on the meat. Otherwise, it is pretty good. read more

Da Lian is our go-to restaurant for Chinese food. Some of our faves are the szechuan chicken, won ton soup, and chicken with eggplant in garlic sauce. Their noodles are all homemade, too. I like the consistency they have with their food. They do get busy at lunch so sometimes service isn't the best at that time. Expect to leave full since they serve big portions! read more

I like Dalian because it cooks good un-spicy food. Love their sizzling plates. I would definitely go again and try more of their dishes. Their spicy dishes are average, since they are not known for sichuan cuisine. read more

My favorite asian cuisine in town! I am not a big fan of tofu but Da Lian has an amazing dish that I highly recommend called Fiery Glazed Tofu. As a vegetarian, it is my favorite Chinese dish! Waiters and waitresses are extremely nice. Highly recommend if you're just looking for some good Asian food! Not the greatest setting but again amazing food! read more

I have been eating here on a weekly basis, and sometimes multiple times per week, ever since my co-worker introduced me to Da Lian. I LOVE the szechwan prawns lunch special. The lunch comes with a salad too. Mahal. read more

There fresh noodles with pork are amazing! In 2 weeks I went there twice! I highly recommend the noodle dishes there.

This place is gourmet very good and underrated. Everything tasted so fresh. I was attracted by the fresh garlic noodles with pork brisket. It is superb. I wish they had noodles with something other than red meat like, chicken. Food is well seasoned and high quality. We waited about 20 minutes and had tea. The food tasted like it was made from scratch and I have had the best in Alhambra, San Jose or San Francisco. The shrimp har gao was different and fresh. The sichuan chicken will not disappoint. Some of the best I have ever had. I just wish they had some alternatives to pork. Otherwise, 5 stars. read more

Visiting the Bay Area, stopped in at random, had an excellent meal. We ordered pot stickers, and chicken chow mein (both were above average) but our family would really recommend trying the salmon steak and/or a homemade noodle dish (we had the pork in black bean sauce) and also the sesame bread appetizer all of which were very delicious. Give this place a shot if you haven't tried it! read more

It's not the best I've had. I drove to Oakland from SF because I saw a review on TV. The sesame pancake was disappointing. The noodles were okay, but I've had better in SF. I am Chinese. So I am pickier about what is good. read more

My favorite Chinese restaurant in Berkeley. Their Sichuan chicken is incredible, and you need to try it now.

Good clean tasting food. I'm a vegetarian and they had lots of selection. The vegetables weren't over cooked and left crunchy to my liking. The chow fun wasn't over greasy. The mu Shu vegetable tasted great too. Although, I ordered the sesame bread and was a bit disappointed. It was too much bread. It was a carb overload with rice. But I will definitely be going back! read more

My husband and I and our nephew went to Da Lian for dinner yesterday evening. When we got there at around 6:30, only a handful of tables were occupied by customers. The rest of the restaurant was empty. I was uneasy as to whether we made a good decision coming here for dinner. I noticed a hand-written sign on the wall recommending handmade noodles. We ordered three bowls of their handmade noodles. The noodles were satisfying. I decided to be brave and try their green onion sesame pancakes and steamed shrimp and chives dumplings. Both of those dishes also tasted very good. We were quite happy with our meals! read more

I think I've noticed an accidental discovery theme with this place. :) Last week, I was desperate for Chinese food and after walking by this place a million times on the way to elsewhere decided to stop in. My husband and I were seriously (and surprisingly) impressed. We had the sizzling rice soup (fresh, fresh, fresh w/ delicious spinach, mushrooms, zucchinni, chicken and shrimp) and the Sichuan Chicken (lightly fried and covered in spicy garlic-ginger divine-ness). I plan to use it for all takeout plans in the future, but you could seriously have a nice dinner here as well (as we did). read more

I really enjoy Da Lian. Very good service, very good food and easy on the wallet. We had the smoked pork, sizzling steak and a delicious spicey chicken dish - I forget what it is called, but it is chicken breast pieces rendered very soft and served spicey. The staff are attentive and friendly - they know how to keep their customers happy and likely to return. read more

We ordered Zha Jiang Noodles ($8.95), Sizzling Rice Soup ($6.95) serves 1 to 3 people, and Pan-Pacific Salt and Pepper Salmon ($13.95). The Sizzling Rice Soup was great, except it only had two prawns in it :( However, ever since we've had it there we've been looking for it at other Chinese restaurants we've been going to! My girlfriend liked the Zha Jiang Noodles, I wasn't a big fan, mostly because of the cucumber. It had zucchini in it as well, which my girlfriend loves. The Salt and Pepper Salmon was good, if you are expecting something like Salt and Pepper Fish (like cod or flounder) it's a bit different, but still good! We went right when they opened on a Sunday and it was very peaceful and nice there. We saw a lot of people get take-out orders, so those seem to be popular. read more

Ordering generic (boring) Chinese fare and you're better off somewhere else. They specialize in northern cuisine but it seems they are casting a wider net with a broader menu which makes ordering a little confusing. However, this place is in the middle of the gourmet ghetto and they have something unique to offer. The key is to embrace their specialties. The sesame bread is one of their staples and their cumin lamb and Velvet fish is excellent. Their fire glazed tofu is one of my favorites and their lamb with pickled cabbage very comforting. Stick to the specialties and you're in for a treat! read more