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    Difference

    4.1 (70 reviews)
    InexpensiveChinese
    Open 11:00 am - 8:30 pm

    Difference Photos

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    DIFFERENCE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Quiet
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - Difference

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    Long Life Vegetarian base (taken after I ate a portion )
    Bubbly K.

    A family owned business making fresh Chinese food with nice purity of flavors! Fresh veggies and not over salted or loaded with MSG - what a refreshing change from others who mask the food with too much soy and salt. We ordered carry out - Chicken with Broccoli, Wonton Soup and Long Life Vegetarian with a side of black bean sauce. The vegetables are bright and crisp! The wonton soup is simple broth and what seems to be handmade yummy wontons and a few greens floating on top- very soothing! A side of fresh crispy wontons came separate to float atop! The couple is kind and friendly and the place is clean. They have a menu for heath conscious people - veggies steamed without oil, no cornstarch, no salt - i really appreciate this as you can control your condiments as desired. They can adjust your spice level to how you like you like it- let 'em know! Note - you need to request soy etc - which I appreciate too- very thoughtful and less waste! So often those packets and plastic utensils end up in the trash... We can't wait to return and try some other dishes! Give them a try and see the difference

    Freshly made spring roll good& plenty
    Dave M.

    WOW! Best Chinese food I've had in years and I've been in China many moons ago . The wonton soup was delicious- FRESH wontons in a light broth that was not overly salty. The spring roll was obviously homemade fresh and plentiful. I requested hot sauce for my pork lo mein & they informed me they can cook it spicy and it makes a Huge DIFFERENCE flavortown 4 shore!!! I'll be back

    House  Special soup with wonton
    Jess M.

    Everything is fresh. Family run. Friendly service. Amazing shrimp egg foo yong!! Never had a bad meal in 4 years!!

    Dave O.

    This is the kind of place you give 5 stars to for lots of reasons, sometimes it's not only about the food it's the total package that gets them to the 5 star review. The location is in a dying strip mall that may survive if they can fill the empty store fronts with local businesses. There were a few national brands that didn't survive like a Dollar Tree and a Save A Lot but the small guys seem to be holding on. Difference is a take out / eat in establishment ran by the most friendly people you'll ever meet. I didn't ask but it looks like the mother, father and son were working, the phone never stopped ringing and the wok never sat idle. This is as close as I've gotten to "home made" authentic Chinese cooking. This place was really clean and the kitchen was an open design so you could watch all the cooking I loved that about this place. I like it hot and I mean really hot not just spicy but in terms that is understood universally "Thai Hot" that's how I ordered it and that's how they made it. Of course I played it safe this was my first visit here so I opted for the sliced beef and broccoli, fried rice, an egg roll and wonton soup. It was all fantastic! I may have passed a dozen or so Chinese take out joints in route here and the next time I crave authentic Chinese I will make the drive again. I can't wait to try sometime else from Difference :-)

    Tiffany S.

    Being that this is my first trip to Daytona Beach wanted to try something other than a chain restaurant, we were craving some Chinese food and I saw that this restaurant had a lot of good reviews on yelp; let's say I was not disappointed from stepping foot into Difference restaurant I could tell by the smell & the aroma that this was authentic Chinese food. Although we got there a little late Little closer to closing time all her food was nice and fresh I would recommend this place to anyone eggrolls excellent fried rice some of the best I've had on the East Coast, if I could give this restaurant 20 stars I would definitely coming back next time it might I'm in Daytona Beach!!

    Hot and Sour Soup

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    6 months ago

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    3 months ago

    Great take out . Was so happy to fine this place . Great delivery service to our hotel definitely would recommend.

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    2 years ago

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    3 years ago

    This was once my favorite " go to " for Chinese food, but the quality seems to have suffered.

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    3 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    12 years ago

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    4 years ago

    Great food at great prices. Hot & Sour Soup was fantastic. Had water chestnuts in it. Egg roll good but small.

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    4 years ago

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    12 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    5 years ago

    Food was very good. Portions were large. Ready in 15 minutes. Lots of Chinese restaurants in Daytona but I'm glad I found this one

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    9 years ago

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    9 years ago

    Business owner information

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    Eric C.

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    5 years ago

    The food was OK and the order was correct. It just didn't have the "Wow, I'm coming back" effect.

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    Page 1 of 2

    Ask the Community - Difference

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    We love Chinese food, and honestly had been underwhelmed by the restaurants we tried in the area…read moreafter moving here a few years ago. The restaurant is located in a strip mall - clean, neat with a few tables and booths (but you can also reserve for large groups). This place was on the list to try and I'm so glad we did! First, Alice, who is one of the owners, waited on us and could not have been more friendly or personable - she is a joy! The restaurant serves a number of different Asian cuisines - in addition to Chinese there are Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese offerings as well. We started with pan-fried gyoza which were SO good - fresh and flavorful. Hubs loves kimchi so had to try theirs - he inhaled the bowl and declared it amazing (I'm not a fan but it did smell yummy and garlicky!!). He enjoyed it so much he got an order to go as well. I tried my go-to Chinese favorite Kung Pao Chicken - it was quite good, well spiced, full of fresh veggies and lots of peanuts. Next time I'll probably get it with shrimp or tofu. Hubs had Pad Kee Mao with chicken (Thai hot!) and loved it. Although we were too full, the almond pudding on the menu did sound good - maybe next time!

    China Star - Spicy Chicken with Garlic Sauce

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    Let's start by saying I'm from NY and worked over 20 years near Chinatown. It would be unfair to…read morecompare this restaurant to those in NY so I will compare China Star with other restaurants in the area. I ordered several basic dishes. If you can't get the basics right, then you're in the wrong business. Before you say anything, I did not eat all of this at one sitting. Eggroll - A bit small but not bad. Could have used some bits of pork in the filling. Fried pork dumplings - The first one I tried was very dry. I took the rest of the dumplings and placed them in a steamer for a few minutes. That brought them back to life. In most area restaurants, the dumplings are terrible. They are small with little filling and are pretty much comparable to frozen dumplings from the supermarket. Some of them probably are. China Star makes their own. While they are more like shumai than the traditional potstickers, they are very tasty and have the right amount of filling. I would probably lean towards the steamed dumplings next time and I would fry them myself. Sweet and sour chicken - This was done very well. The coating was light and not at all greasy. So many places use too much batter and overcook them. Beef lo mein - Extremely well done. Lots of tender beef with properly sauced noodles. I really enjoyed this. Spareribs and fried rice combo - This is the only dish that I had a problem with. The fried rice had no flavor. The ribs were overcooked and overly sauced. They were a sloppy mess to eat and not worth getting dirty over. Since moving to Daytona Beach Shores 4 years ago, I have been searching for decent Chinese food. Several high rated restaurants were obviously rated by people who don't have a clue. China Star is the first local Chinese restaurant I would go back to. They are definitely not great, but better than any others I have tried in the area. I look forward to trying some other dishes. I just won't order the ribs again.

    Love there food!!! Best and most reasonable Chinese food in the area! Very large portions. My only…read morecomplaint is there fried rice is to land,it needs some more flavoring it's like eating white rice it's barely yellow.There crab ragoons are out of this. And all ribs boneless or with bone are great. All meats in dishes are really tender. The egg roll are perfect color and crispy and flaverful!!!! Will never stop going there!!!

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    Asian Sauce Box

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    We were the second table in that day and promptly served by the owner. We ordered a variety of our…read morefavorites such as steamed eggplant stuffed with shrimp, rib tips in black bean sauce, soup dumplings, seafood dumplings, siu mai, baked pork buns, and sesame balls. I got the beef brisket noodle soup and my father got the braised pork belly and taro. Stand out favorites were the baked pork buns and sesame balls, both perfectly cooked and filled. The siu mai were available as shrimp, pork, or beef - we got shrimp and yes it was nice shrimp but I prefer the shrimp/pork mixture. Seafood dumplings were good as was the eggplant. The black bean pork rib tips were a bit underseasoned and the soup dumplings had only a few drops of soup and too thick skins BUT if you just think of them as ginger pork dumplings they're great. Brisket noodles soup was good but nothing outstanding. The pork belly was thick cut and perfectly cooked tender and fatty and while we assumed it would be chunks of taro it turned out to be minced into the sauce. Mostly sweet without much other nuance but adding a bit of the chili paste we asked for made it better. Only complaint is that after our final dish came out we never saw our waiter again. A younger waiter started working the floor which only had 3 other tables occupied. We had to flag him down for take out boxes and the check after sitting there for 10 minutes despite him having visited once to refill water when we were already done. If I'm craving dim sum and had to be in the area I'd go again but I'll still be going to Orlando to really scratch that dim sum itch.

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    We have been ordering to go food from here for years. We stay at a nearby hotel and it's super…read moreconvenient to pickup the food. Tonight we had the "winter pockets" (crab rangoon) and chicken pad Thai. The pockets were a lot smaller than they were a few months ago. Taste was good. Probably wouldn't order them again. Chicken pad Thai did not have peanuts or bean sprouts ?? This seemed odd to us. It was not the best pad Thai we have ever had. It wasn't the worst either. I ordered medium spicy and the food as not spicy at all. Overall, we were disappointed. Next time we will probably try a different restaurant.

    Difference - chinese - Updated May 2026

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