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Mah's Kitchen

3.3 (66 reviews)
InexpensiveChinese, Hawaiian
Closed • 11:00 am - 9:00 pm

Order Mah's Kitchen Takeout or Delivery

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MAH'S KITCHEN ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Casual
Moderate noise
Dogs allowed
Outdoor seating

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Recommended Reviews - Mah's Kitchen

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Shrimp chop suey
Armando D.

Had the chicken chow mein and beef broccoli with a little barbecue pork and white rice and chiles "güeritos " it was pretty delicious! The service was fast and friendly even for takeout! This is an icon Chinese restaurant in el Centro! Cashier was super nice!

Outside.
Bobby D.

Unexpectedly, I drove out to El Centro today along with one of my employees because the employee responsible for servicing our vending machines was out sick. It's been about two months since my last visit, so I definitely wasn't used to how hot it gets El Centro. While I was filling vending machines, I was sweating profusely and building up an appetite. When we got done with our work, I was beyond hangry and was ready to chow down. My employee recommended that we eat lunch at Mah's Kitchen and it truly did not disappoint with an exceptional value for your money personal combo lunch meal. El Centro isn't a big city, so as long as you can find the main drag of the city, then you'll be able to find Mah's Kitchen. The main drag is Imperial Avenue off of the 8 freeway. Mah's Kitchen doesn't have the most aesthetically appealing outside appearance, but don't let that deter you. The restaurant is next to Burgers & Beer, across from Los Cabos Seafood & Grill, diagonal from the DMV, and opposite of Goodyear. This is a hole in the wall sit down restaurant with table and bar seating in the vein of a poor man's Chef's Table; random murals of the Great Wall of China, a forest, and a beach; interesting chandeliers, and a television. The waitress provided okay customer service, but I wished she had checked on us more often. My employee had visited Mah's Kitchen on multiple occasions and had spoken glowingly about his dining experience. I was skeptical because of Mah's Kitchen's 3-star Yelp rating, but my employee has a perfect record of recommending restaurants that have been rave worthy. Mah's Kitchen continued his perfect streak. I wouldn't say Mah's Kitchen was the best Chinese food I've ever eaten, but what it has going for it is their believe it with your own eyes value for your money Personal Combo plates. I'm not exaggerating, but you get a Mount Everest amount of food no matter what combo plate you order. I ordered the D7 Personal Combo plate, which comes with pork fried rice, an egg roll, chicken chow mein, and kung pao chicken. I had to add salt to the rice and chow mein, but the heaping amount of food came out fresh, hot, and ready to devour. For an unbelievable $12.99, I was thoroughly satisfied and my hangry feeling turned into being completely filled. If you so happen to be in El Centro, don't let their 3-star Yelp rating prevent you from experiencing an amazing value for your money meal. Based on my first time experience, I plan on trying their other Personal Combo plates. Yes, you should too.

Sign. Pretty at night
Gloria L.

2.5/5 stars overall Our 4th try at Chinese food in El Centro. We were tired after walking 3 hours and driving all day so we stopped for dinner. Nothing has really stood out. Mah's wasn't really in our list because the reviews weren't good but we decided to give it a shot. It's on the corner at Imperial and Main with a lot in the back-it's so small our truck wouldn't fit and let others out so we parked on the street. There is an entrance from the side by the lunch special menu on a wooden board with tagging on it. You enter by the register where they give you a paper menu (the exact same as someone posted 2 years ago) and you pick your seat then come back up and order. You can see the cooks using the woks behind the register area. The woks are on a super high flame which gives me hope. They look like pro's. We sat but the table had crumbs and the setups were scattered so I don't think anyone took time to clean up. We decided on Mah's wonton soup (she said has everything) which is like a War Wonton soup and crab Rangoons which have fake crab and cream cheese inside. It's so hard to find them with real crab. Hubs went up to order the apps. We decided on entrees and then went back up to order those. Apps came out. The wonton soup was ok. The broth and veggies were good but the Wontons had a strange flavor to us. The crab Rangoons were not crispy either and the dipping sauce tasted overly sweet. Then the entrees came out. They brought me a combo instead of the entree. The Mongolian was a bit sweet but pretty good-especially the thin, crispy noodles underneath. They brought the white rice out with the entrees. I wasn't sure if she meant it for the soup but it was for my entree. So by then the rice was cold. My husband's Combination 6 with chicken lo mein, sweet & sour chicken, egg foo young and usually egg flower soup but since we had ordered the wonton, they were nice enough to substitute pork fried rice. Not sure why they call it fried rice anymore though because it isn't fried but has some brown sauce to make it look fried but this had no flavor on top of that. The egg foo young was ok but dry since it didn't come with a sauce. My fav was the lo mein-it had great kinda smoky flavor. Hubs was the s & s chicken which was had a decent crispy coating and not horribly sweet sauce. We probably wouldn't come back. Too bad since we still haven't found our favorite go-to place for Chinese food.

Lunch special c.
George E.

What happened? I just posted a review on Mah's Kitchen not even a week ago. Now it's a blank draft. I'm not sure of it's something I'm doing wrong or if it's on Yelp's end. I went to Mah's Kitchen because while I was in Lucky's I challenged myself to try the Mongolian Beef in every Chinese restaurant in El Central. Why would a San Diegan make such a challenge? It started because I'm a big fan of Mongolian Beef. When I went to Lucky's it was served on a bed of crispy noodles. I'd never had Mongolian Beef served that way. At least not that I recall. So I figured I'd try other Chinese places in El Central as that would be material for more Yelp reviews. I had mixed feelings about Mah's. On one hand I was concerned about my health. As reviews properly stated it is badly in need of a deep cleaning. The walls in particular. The floors as well. The tables were all clean. Since I wasn't eating on walls or the floor I was safe. This was a counter serve place which I don't care for. The woman at counter was nice and compared to the staff at Lucky's more friendly. The wait time for my order was about average. My lunch combo arrived on a bed of white crispy noodles with BBQ Pork and Chowmein. I felt that was more to my personal liking than Lucky's lunch combo. Like Lucky's soup fried wanton and an egg roll as I'm accustomed to in my favorite place in Chula Vista for the same price range were missing. Also missing was corn and peas from fried rice. It did have a little pork in it. Like Lucky's it was rather bland and the addition of soy sauce cured that. The Mongolian Beef was very good. It was even more tender than Lucky's. The onions could have been cooked a moment longer but we're ok.Over all a very good mongolian beef. Like the rice the chow mein was a little bland, but soy sauce made it better. The restroom was in horrible condition. It smelt awful. There was now toilet paper, no paper towels and trash on floor. Also the lack of a senior or veterans discount was a big disappointment. Perhaps by the time I return Which won't be real soon, The place will be deep cleaned, the rest room is in better condition and they offer a Veterens and Senior discount. When all that is taken care of they'll surely rank at least 4 stars.

The spicy mustered is BOMB
Vince R.

In the pictures is the Mongolian beef & pork combo! The serving size you get is enormous! You can definitely share one plate between two people but this is AMERICA and you can eat it all by yourself if you want too. There's convenient parking next to the building The staff is bilingual and friendly! I've only been here twice (this week) but I'm sure I'll be another regular customer since I'm within walking distance! Definitely give this "hole in the wall" a try!

Mongolian beef.

I really love this place, but today I was saddened by my plate, not really any beef and pure vegetables, with everything being so expensive now a days eating out is something that should be enjoyable and not disappointing.

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1 month ago

Food was not good and left a bad after taste in mouth. Wouldn't know to much about the customer service because it was take out

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2 years ago

Food okay very poor customer service. Do not recommend other better restaurants to go to

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3 years ago

Great price awesome food. It hasn't changed in 25 years except Mah is not there bless her soul

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7 years ago

This place isn't good and they tend to change there menu prices often without warning. Don't eat here.

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Chef Lee's Chinese Food and Noodles - Chicken chop suey and chicken chow mein and white rice

Chef Lee's Chinese Food and Noodles

(98 reviews)

We ordered takeout last night, March 6, 2026. We've eaten in the Resturant and had take out…read morenumerous times in the last 5 years and the food has always been excellent, but tonight the food was a fail. We ordered cashew chicken, orange chicken, and beef and broccoli. All of the vegetables in every dish were soft as if they had been cooked earlier and then just heated it up and thrown into the food. The orange chicken was not crispy. I felt like it had been cooked earlier then heated up in the microwave and orange sauce poured over it. The food was ready as promised and tasty, but the fact that the vegetables were soft and mushy ruined it. I tried calling the resturant last night and again today to let them know , but they are closed. We've never had a bad meal from Chef Lee's. Jopefilly this was just an off night

The girl Jaylene is the only reason why they are even getting another star. Or the Mongolian beef…read morewith the fried rice everything was good good proportions but when I ordered my salt and pepper chicken wings in the menu says 12 pieces and when I got my food, it only came out with 11 pieces so then I asked Jaylene why that they are short by one chicken And she said she will bring it up with the owner. So this lady comes out from the back of the kitchen and tells me that the chicken is big so that's why she only gave me 11 pieces but then I referred back to the menu. It didn't say anything about big or small I said 12 pieces so I kindly asked for my 12 pieces And in return she just started cussing me out in Spanish and then went back into the kitchen still screaming and angry. I didn't even ask for the money back. I just pay for my food. Honestly, I will never come back here again or they will never get my business again if I had a way to report that their slashing customers as soon as they walk in, I would do that promptly Attaches my plate of 11 piece of chicken and the menu says 12 pieces but nowhere says whether they are big or small or anything I still think I got ripped off which I didn't tip anyone in the kitchen I tipped Jayleen only

Chinese Gourmet Express

Chinese Gourmet Express

(6 reviews)

We had been out all morning and decided we needed a bite to eat and a place to relax. We walked to…read morethe food court and decided we'd try the Chinese Gourmet Express. Gourmet and Express really shouldn't be used together and this was fast but not gourmet. They give you a sample of orange chicken as you are looking at your choices. The sugary coated chicken hooks unsuspecting folks It seemed like a Panda Express steam type prepared food but it had a bit more interesting. They had lots of spicy food with jalapeños as well as the normal red peppers. Hubs selected the orange chicken, fried rice and bbq pork. I had Beef & Broccoli, half rice & chow mein noodles and Kung Paso chicken with more zucchini than chicken. The chicken was tender without a tenderized without a tenderized feel. The broccoli and zucchini were great with a bit of a crunch. Kung Pao chicken wasn't really spicy-even though I found a couple of red peppers. My husband liked the orange chicken-though a bit sweet and BBQ pork was ok. We both only ate half our food. It will be nice to have another meal. My motive was not so pure, as I saw something else to top off the meal. The ambiance is mall food court but service was good.

I was highly disappointed with my experience. The Orange Chicken lacked quality, and the rice was…read moreextremely dry, making the meal very low graded. I came in during the afternoon...expecting fresh and flavorful food, but unfortunately it wasn't like that. The entire meal was disappointing, and because of this experience, I do not plan on returning. Waste of 14$.

Mah's Kitchen - chinese - Updated May 2026

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