Ding how is an institution in Davis. It's been here as long as we have (more than 40 years) and is small, quiet, and a good place to meet someone for lunch. The food is excellent and the servings are large. The average lunch special, which includes soup, egg roll, chow mein, fried rice, and cookie along with a generous helping of your chosen entree costs ~$7, so definitely affordable. Before your order arrives, there are strips of won ton with sauce and bowl of cashews. I enjoy the walnut shrimp, lemon chicken, broccoli beef and a few other items. Recently, I met at Ding How with three friends, one of whom none of us had seen for 15 years. It would have been a perfect place to catch up, especially since only one other table was occupied, but we were rushed through everything, including clearing plates the minute we finished, someone trying to take a plate away to box up the food while someone was still eating, and four trips to our table to see if we had paid the bill yet. We even asked one of the waitresses if there was some reason she wanted us to leave. We DID spend an hour visiting, but the place was STILL EMPTY when we left at 1 p.m. and I don't have a clue why the wait staff felt it necessary to keep rushing to get us out of the place. read more

Since my last review I'd like to add that the vegan menu is amazing! The lemon "chicken" is a must have. Super crispy on the outside with a delicious sweet lemon glaze. read more

Ding How Restaurant - Mongolian "beef" from the vegetarian menu. - Chinese Near Me - Davis, California

This is my 5th time eating at this place. The last three times my to-go order was wrong. The food is great, the service just ok. I would rather eat at Panda Express at this point. At least I know what I'm getting.... read more

Ding How Restaurant - What is this... It's NOT BBQ pork. - Chinese Near Me - Davis, California

This restaurant probably has some of the most realistic and delicious vegan dishes I've ever had. Prices are pretty good for what you actually get. Every meal provides a decent portion of food. My wife and I often have to get to go boxes because we can never finish the meals we ordered. If you're vegan, many of the vegetarian dishes will have you wondering or even asking the staff if it really is vegan. But be assured that it is. The staff is very knowledgeable when it comes to serving those on a vegan diet. The only things you have to specifically ask them to not bring you is the fortune cookie (which is not vegan.) And I would be careful about some of the sauces that come with a few of the vegan dishes. We received a sauce that tasted like it might have been worcestershire sauce. Great service. Very friendly. You don't typically have to worry about order mistakes here if you're vegan. They even will inform you if something has egg in it if you are ordering off their vegetarian menu. The menu says vegetarian, but most of everything you see on the vegetarian menu is vegan. If it is not, the staff will tell you. Some recommendations from my wife and I. These are some of the best dishes we've had. We haven't tried them all but we've tried many of the vegetarian menu dishes. - Vegetarian Sesame seed chicken - Vegetarian Twice Cooked Pork - Any of the Vegetarian Beef is good. - Vegetarian Spicy Tofu. For the most part, you'll just have to do trial and error to find the dishes you like and which ones you don't like but almost all the dishes are delicious. Even though the menu items are called pork, beef, chicken, prawns, or fish, these are not actually the actual thing when you refer to them as the vegetarian options. Some of the soups do have egg in them however. This place should definitely be on any vegan's list of favorite places to eat if you're in the area. read more

I've always had excellent service and quality food when I've been here. My girlfriend loves vegetarian options and this place is not short of that. At first I was reluctant to try this place since Silver Dragon was my go-to spot for Chinese, but after trying this place, I never went back to Silver Dragon. The food here is just a higher quality, and I am always tempted to try new things here because the menu has a lot of variety. The feel of the place is also more intimate, which is always nice. My favorites are the sizzling plates. Not only are they great flavor, but they're visually (and acoustically) appealing! read more

Best hot and sour soup in the world - coming from the biggest hot and sour soup critic in the world. Other food is okay, and I always ask for no MSG. But if you love HSS you won't be disappointed, I have yet to find a better bowl in SF and even China. It's that good. read more

Super disappointed with this place. We were excited about all the vegetarian options here, but the food was so bad, we actually through it out. $25+ worth. And what's worse, a customer was inside the restaurant waiting for food with his mask off his face (he said "because he was reading"). Seems the restaurant staff must have noticed, but said nothing to him. Unfortunately, Davis seems to have a lot of very poor Chinese food, despite the large Chinese-American population (esp. students). It may be worth driving to Sacramento next time we get a craving. read more

I like this place for its sesame chicken. Why I do not know. Other than that the lunch specials are a dollar more than Hunan's and is alright. You just wish you didn't have to spend 7-8$ on lunch :P We go here when we get tired of the other chinese places in Davis but it's a go-to place for a nice cozy chinese sit down. read more

Nope. Never again. The people who work there are extremely wonderful, the food prices are fair for the portions, the flavors are pretty good, and I enjoyed my time there... So, three stars for that! But this place is not for me and I know I'm never coming back. No matter how the experience, the aftermath is that It's 3am and I'm writing a yelp review instead of being asleep when I have work in the AM So... alright, I am 27 and had never experienced actual nausea and worse, vomiting. Tonight I finally found out what my friends were feeling all those times I'd been by their vomiting sides. No bueno. Woke up feeling chills, light headed and before I knew it I was in the bathroom experiencing something I never ever want to feel again. I don't know what part of this dinner caused it (I'm thinking the chicken, my sister thinks the MSG) but I'm not about to go and find out. I got extra food to take to work too! Lol we know that's not gonna happen anymore. I think Chinese in general is not gonna happen for a while. Ain't nobody got time for that! Alright well Good night ;) read more

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I have never done a yelp review but felt I needed to speak out. I ordered online ahead of time and it said the food would be ready in 25 min. When we got there to pick it up, they said it would 25 min. So basically an hour to get the food. This restaurant is probably the worst Chinese food I have ever had. Not sure if it was the night or the cook but the food was terrible. The Mu Shu Pork came as chicken and there was no plum sauce, The egg rolls (6 of them) came with a little tiny dish of sauce that barely took care one roll.... plus there were 3 of us. The food had no flavor and the chicken pieces were so big in the Chicken and green been and the Mu Shu that you had to cut them up with a knife.... like they didn't want to take the time to chop it up. I used to go to this restaurant years ago but hadn't been in a while and thought I would help them out as a local restaurant and what a mistake. Cost me $55 for 3 dishes and they couldn't even get them right. read more

My favorites include vegetable fried rice, spring rolls, chow fun, and the vegetables egg foo young.

This place was one held in high regard but what it's become is unfortunate. My last visit, the spareribs were visibly over cooked and the shrimp tasty like water. Would not recommend read more

My family and I have coming here for 15 years . The service is always good and the food quality is excellent. Generous portions and fresh veggies. My favorite is the fried rice and cashew shrimp. Great lunch deals. Beer list could be better . read more

Ding How never fails - it's been in the that spot for as long as I can remember, which is at least the early nineties, when my mom worked at the dry cleaner next door. The beef broccoli and the sesame chicken are my go-to's but you can never go wrong with pork fried rice or the chicken chow mein. It's greasy, but that's what makes it the best hangover food in North Davis. It's a great price for the amount you get. read more

Okay quality. The waiters keep forgetting the orders and what we ask. Wouldn't come here again. Rather just go to HongKong Cafe instead

Been going to Ding how for over 20 years. The past few times we have ordered take out it has taken an hour - 1.5hrs when they said it would take 20-30min. Tonight it took 1.5hrs and we found a piece of metal in the pork fried rice. We will no longer be a customer. read more

Ding How Restaurant - Metal we found in the pork fried rice - Chinese Near Me - Davis, California

It's pretty bad. I got sesame chicken and it's really chewy, not crispy. It was really hard to bite into it and smelled burnt. They did not want to give a refund for their awful food. DO NOT EAT HERE! read more

First, let me say I hate eating Chinese food with Americans who each want to order their own dish instead of ordering family style where dishes are ordered for the table and everyone gets a taste of every dish. Do they think the lazy Susan is for decoration? Or to let their children spin like it was a toy? I now know why my relatives love this place: Sugar, Sugar, Sugar. With over half the population having blood sugar issues, from prediabetes to full blown diabetes one would think a diabetic could find something safe to eat. But if you think that, you would be wrong. I thought I was safe to order the broccoli in garlic sauce since we were each ordering our own dish American style. How simple is it to stir-fry some broccoli with lots of garlic and some soy and ginger? It wasn't garlic sauce it was something similar to terriyaki sauce which is soy sauce and sugar. Lots of sugar. I could not eat it. I had to take it home and rinse all the sugar off of it before I could eat it. But I understand that this is what Americans like. There were 13 of us and the other two diabetics each ordered a plate of sweet and sour pork for themselves. The rest ordered other dishes where the overwhelming amount of sugar wasn't so obvious. Probably half of them have blood sugar issues and don't even know it. Even the soup had lots of sugar in it. Our waitress was a real sweet heart having to put up with the insanity of each person ordering their own plate of food like this was an American burger joint. And do you really need to know how many won ton's are in the won ton soup before you will order it? When I asked for hot mustard and chili sauce she brought it right away. When our tea needed more hot water again she was on top of it. When we got the bill they added a 20% gratuity before they put the total due down. The elderly person in our group who offered to treat us was not used to this and added a tip to the total and we had to explain that the tip was included and she was tipping twice. Personally I hate this although it seems to be getting more common these days to include a "server charge" and make it look like another entree on the bill. How often do people double tip these days with out even knowing it? And check you bill, waitresses are people who can make a mistake just like all of us can. I did notice that there were several Chinese families in the place which is always a good sign but not a guarantee of good Chinese food. Chinese food can be some of the healthiest food in the world, but not when everything has sugar in it or sprinkled on it. read more

They called this fried rice... I found maybe 2 peas and a few carrots in this white rice? Barely any egg and no flavor at all. For someone who loves fried rice, I was completely disappointed. read more

Ding How Restaurant - Fried rice - Chinese Near Me - Davis, California

Take-out only at this time. Portions were smaller than some other local Chinese restaurants'. Like most of them, there is sugar in most of the sauces. Prices were average. read more

Came here with a group of friends. The service was lacking...really lacking. It seemed like you had to box somebody to get a water refill. My wife also overheard the server speaking in Cantonese (I think) that it was slow and they'll just close early. So we were rushed, but not rushed. They brought the bill early, but said no hurry...but we all know an early bill pretty much means gtfo. I don't really ever have high expectations for service when I eat at a Chinese restaurant. Some of the best Chinese I've eaten was at a restaurant that didn't even care you existed once the food was dropped off. But let's get to the food. Fried rice was spot on great. Many of the other foods (broccoli beef/hunan beef/beef chow fun/chow mein Hong Kong style) tasted very similar (the sauce). It wasn't bad, and I'm sure they have a base sauce, then build up, but it wasn't built up at all. Potstickers hit the spot. Overall it was a pretty average meal. Make sure you don't go on a slow night or you might be asked to leave...but not asked to leave. read more

We went there last year. The restroom is just close to the kitchen and very dirty. The waitress is lazy and rude. Beware when you receive your check because they don't give the details of your order in the receipt. The only give a list in Chinese language and they force you to pay tips. We all were sick because the seafood was not fresh, maybe fool read more

Place is delicious and great for vegans like me! I got their szechuan beef, general tsao and mandarin chicken all vegan. So good!! The general tsao was the most crispy one I've had it was delicious. The mandarin chicken came in huge portions, way worth the price and taste. The beef was made with the vege usa beef, which most vegan restaurants use, but they really seared/cooked it to perfection. I like how they are really generous with rice too. Would love to come here often, if only it was in Sacramento. read more

The vegan twice cooked pork is amazing! All of there vegan meat choices are good but the vegan pork is just something else

This was my first time here, and I believe it will be my last. I enjoyed the fact that this place had Honey Walnut Prawns as a lunch special because I've never seen it as a lunch special anywhere else! For $7.95, I received about 5-6 pieces of Honey Walnut Prawns, Chow Mein, Fried Rice, and an egg roll. Before the entree came out, I was served a small bowl of hot and sour soup and crispy won ton strips. Honey walnut prawns: Decent for a lunch special, but I've had better. It was a little sweeter than the usual honey walnut prawns I've had. Chow mein: the best item I had within the lunch special. Fried rice: UGH. I left it there! I had one bite and it tasted old and like cardboard. Come on... I didn't even pack it to-go and I barely touched it! That's a big deal, especially if a college student does it. Usually I would pack all of my food (even if it's not that good) because I know one of my roommates would eat it. But this rice was so horrible, I didn't want anyone else to even eat it! As for the egg roll, I never enjoy egg rolls at Chinese restaurants. This one was bad just like the rest of them. I just really didn't enjoy my meal. I was disappointed and felt like I wasted my money and I'll probably throw my leftovers away. SIGH. read more

Good Chinese food. You can sit down or take out. Decent portions too! This is one of the more authentic restaurants in Davis. The ambiance is typical Chinese restaurant and the servers are quite attentive which is nice. The food comes in well sized portions, perfect for sharing with a group of friends. read more

Legit place if you're vegan. I will make this short and sweet -- order the General Tsou's "chicken" and the "beef" with mushroom and bamboo shoots. Also the vegetarian pot stickers are pretty tasty and the sauce that goes with it is a bit tangy and spicy. The food is pretty inexpensive and you get a lot. The fake meats they use don't have a weird texture and the flavor tastes like the real thing. My boyfriend lives in Davis and we are both vegan so I am sure we will be back to eat here. Um, that's all folks! Sorry I didn't make this review sound like an Onion article with satirical undertones. read more

HOW THE HELL DID I NOT KNOW THAT DAVIS HAD A RESTAURANT WITH A FULL VEGETARIAN MENU?!?! I'm mad. I must compensate for lost time and eat everything they have on their vegetarian menu. (They have really good soups and mock meat. YUM!) read more

My husband and I used to eat at Ding How almost on a weekly basis. The last time we ate there was over a year ago after he found a dead cockroach in his food. I was shocked, disgusted, and disappointed. I also read older posts on a different website from other customers claiming they saw cockroaches running across their table and across the floor in the restaurant. Before this occurrence, I did have positive memories of the restaurant and food. It's just too bad this had to happen. Hopefully they have made changes and taken ownership of this problem, because it is not acceptable. read more

The short: Avoid if you want authentic and fresh Chinese food Yes, the staff here can speak Chinese, but in terms of authenticity and freshness? Gross. Strike 1: We arrive early for our reservation and they said it takes 20 minutes to set up. 20 minutes? The restaurant isn't remotely busy or full. Strike 2: Bathrooms are gross and on the way to the bathroom, I see that there is a large table that can seat our party (there's a second seating area in the back) Strike 3: A guest comes in who already ordered to-go. Sorry, your order isn't ready for another 15 minutes. Another guest wants to order. Oh sorry, we don't have enough food in the kitchen for you. Strike 4: Oh, 3 strikes and you're out? Need more convincing? I'll keep going. Another 10 minutes pass ("table is still being set up"), and my uncle asks for paper to write down what to order. Why? We can seat you. What? Why didn't you tell us that before? Strike 5: The food was bad. Maybe this place is ok for Davis standards, but I really would rather eat other cuisines than come here to get a taste of 'China' food. The fried rice was overcooked, walnut prawns soaked in sugar, general tsao's chicken was overly sweet and tangy, and the really terrible: so much MSG! Yuck. Maybe some of this is exaggeration and I am spoiled knowing what amazing Chinese food tastes like because the food here is edible and tolerable, though not in any way great or amazing at all. I'm putting this place in the same category as Panda Express, which to me, is Americanized Chinese food, and does not equate to authentic Chinese food. A plus? Free wifi; password is their phone number read more

Ding How Restaurant - Chinese Near Me - Davis, California

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Two words: lunch special. Seriously, it is one killer of a deal that you won't get anywhere else. The only place that might be able to rival the quantity of food you get is Silver Dragon - and that's located on the opposite end of the map. Their food is quite tasty, and authentic (it's not Chinese food if it's not greasy). I was also pleasantly surprised by the environment inside, which was not at all what I expected. Lots of soothing string music and instrumentals. The only complaint I have is that they put too many vegetables in with their specials. Still, it beats the hell out of Panda Express. Oh, but beware - they charge you an extra dollar if you pay with card for a meal under ten dollars. read more

Wow!!! Thank you sooo much for some amazing Pork Egg Foo Young!!! Plenty of gravy too. So happy that you are consistently good.

We used to go here almost everyday, to the point where the servers knew our orders and we were considered regulars. Since they hired a bunch of new workers who seem to have no training, we rarely come back. The service is terrible, the orders always come back messed up, and I'm currently sitting to resolve a messed up order but they seem to want to blame me for them getting my order wrong. In fact, they asked me for the food they gave me back, which is concerning. They won't update me on the status of getting me the food I wanted in the beginning. This whole ordeal has taken 2 hours. At this point, I don't even want their food (which isn't even as good as it used to be) but I bet getting a refund would take another 2 hours. A year ago, I would have given Ding How 5 stars. Today, it's 1 star at best. EDIT: I wrote this in the restaurant and right before they finally got us actually vegetarian food (still not the order we wanted, but at least edible), we watched another customer finally flag down a server to tell them they also gave her real meat instead of vegetarian. Way to go, Ding How, way to go. read more

I used to frequent this place before moving out of the area and I miss it immensely. (note to those new to the area or new to Ding How -- this isn't a purely vegetarian place as it may seem from many of the reviews!) I LOVE their steamed pork buns here and they were always consistently amazing -- they come in orders of 3 and that was usually enough to fill me up for dinner and have one for a snack the next day. Seriously, SO GOOD! The wor wonton soup is the *perfect* feel good food when you have a cold/flu or just want some sort of comforting soup. The to-go order of this is HUGE and can definitely feed 2-3 people at least. I also really LOVE one of their tofu dishes but I unfortunately don't know the name b/c I was just a beneficiary of good company who ordered the dish! With all of the positive reviews here for vegetarian cuisine here, though, I'm not surprised they'd be make an excellent tofu dish! I believe Ding How also has a lunch special which was good but if you just want to chow down on some Chinese food, there are other places in Davis which I believe were/are cheaper with larger portions (Silver Dragon comes to mind). I definitely would come here just for the pork buns though... or that tofu dish which I'm now craving and will need to research and see if I can find something similar nearby... read more

Ding How's vegetarian menu has really good treats and a great variety but I don't see myself going back which is unfortunate because this place is really good. Here's why... Cockroach fried in my wonton. Cockroach running across the ground. Gross! read more

This review is strictly for the vegetarian aspect of this restaurant. It's so rare that restaurants offer a full menu of vegetarian options. And it's equally as expansive as the non-vegetarian one! And what's even better is that the food actually tastes good. They drench it in thick and delicious sauces, and all of it is seasoned quite well. I went through a period where I was trying a different item on the menu every week, and I still haven't tried everything. I would highly recommend the Mongolian beef. Taste-wise, you will not be able to tell it's not meat. Mandarin-fried chicken is excellent as well. Veggie chicken with black bean sauce, chin-jiu chicken (deep-fried), mushu pork, GOD. I. LOVE. THIS. PLACE. I would stay away from the seafood, though. Vegetarian shrimps tend to have a really weird gummy texture. Fish is very good, though the "meat" that they use may not be quite what you expect. It doesn't really imitate real fish. Another great thing about this place is that they offer lunch specials. For a pretty good price, you get a meal that consists of fried rice (or chow mein), deep-fried wontons, a bowl of hot-and-sour soup, an egg roll, and your entree. It's quite filling. This lunch special option is available on weekends, and in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian formats. I don't know about you, but as a vegetarian who frequents vegetarian-oriented haunts, it's refreshing to see a veggie option that's not owned by the head of a deranged cult. The service is very friendly and accommodating. And they are fast as well, for both dining in and for take-out. And for some reason, the place is never packed with people. Again, I can't speak for the non-vegetarian menu items, but the repeat business of many friends speaks for itself. GO TO THIS PLACE. NOW. It deserves your business. read more

I've ordered takeout from Ding How before, but this was my first dine-in experience! When we arrived, we were greeted and asked if we had any vegetarians in our party before being seated. One of my friends is a vegetarian and we were very happy they were already thinking of her! Plus, once we were seated and given menus, I noticed that hers was an entirely vegetarian menu! Very cool. They gave us hot tea for free (YAAAAAS!) and took our order as soon as we were ready! I ordered the fried wontons first, and one of my friends got some hot and sour soup to start. The wontons and the soup (which she shared with me, because the small portion was still huge) were both pretty delicious! Next, I ordered the cashew chicken. My friends ordered the vegetarian cashew chicken, some chow mein (can't remember which one, specifically), and the dim sum platter. The waiter also asked if we wanted any steamed rice and of course, I had to have some. Overall the portions were really big! Once I was too full to go on, I still had almost an entire plate of cashew chicken, three wontons, and half of the rice left over! When the waiter brought over our check and some fortune cookies, he made sure to warn my friend that the fortune cookies were not vegan. I was really impressed with how much effort they put into making sure vegetarian/vegan customers had plenty of options and weren't eating any meat/animal products without knowing! All in all, I'm very impressed with Ding How and will definitely be going back. read more

I won't recommend this place! Zero stars if I can! Hot & Sour soup was OK but I had better. Pork was too tough, some of veggies there so rough I spit it out. I obviously didn't eat them. Shrimp Chow Mein was OK, I found only 4 shrimp. Pineapple chicken was good. Beef & broccoli, I didn't like it. It has something that have way too strong flavor and the meat was tough. I came first and other who came later got their food first. They told me that I ordered an appetizer so I can have time to finish my appetizer so they served other table first.( I know, it makes no sense!) And they told me that any other Chinese restaurant has the same rules. They told me to tell them if I would like to get all food the same time, then they will do that. I ordered Hot & Sour Soup, Shrimp Chew Main, Pineapple Chicken and Beef & Broccoli. I didn't order an appetizer because we didn't have much time to eat. If I had time I could order Dim Sum Platter but I didn't. They kept telling me that Hot & Sour Soup is an appetizer. No, it's in the soup section. If they want to call soup an appetizer, then they can put under appetizer menu. The more they spoke the more I got irritated because they were rude! I came out super annoyed!! I won't go back! The good thing is that this food isn't great. I have no reason to come back! read more

If I could give zero stars I would. I ordered some food from them today and literally threw up while eating it. The food was definitely old or something. UGH! Disgusting!!!!!! read more

I have had a long and loving relationship with Ding How. I fondly remember my days of biking there after work for a takeout dinner and riding home with delicious smelling food in my basket, feeling like a banquet awaited me. Recommendations: Appetizers are something I'm guilty of often, and especially so here. Their pork buns! Delightful. Bun is soft, yielding, and lightly sweet, pork inside is sweet and tender. Very filling and GIANT! Be careful! Also I love their crab cream cheese wontons SO MUCH wow I love them. It is hard to eat an order of those by yourself but darn if I haven't tried. Chin jiu chicken is crispy and spicy in a most welcoming way. I order this when I want something that feels light but is actually fried and unhealthy. This Wor Wonton soup got me through many colds.I seriously associate it with comfort and feeling better. It is so packed with deliciousness!!!! I love ordering this with a group (it is a huge dish) so all can enjoy the lovely variety of meats and veggies loaded in the delicious salty broth. Their beef and broccoli is great. Their honey walnut prawns are AMAZING, crisp and meaty under their blanket of sweet sauce... but then again, I haven't really had a honey walnut prawn I didn't like, heh. The snow pea, water chestnut, mushroom and broccoli veg. dish is so delicious and super fresh, everything is cooked perfectly and the peas retain their snap. Big bonus, great to order if you want a little fresh veggie stuff to cut all the decadence. Aaaaaaand their house fried rice is a must try, it is everything fried rice ought to be, crammed with so much stuff that every bite has some new special tidbit of delight. Just yum!!!! read more