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Min Chef

4.4 (213 reviews)
ModerateChinese
Closed 11:30 am - 2:30 pm, 5:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Updated over 3 months ago

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What's the vibe?
Casual
Dogs allowed

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Recommended Reviews - Min Chef

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Stewed Beef with Potato
Robert W.

Bro this is way too good. They have outdone themselves again. I am in awe. Wow. These eggplant noodles r the absolute bomb and if youre passing by you HAVE to try!!!!

Delicious dishes all around! The shredded pork in garlic sauce was perfectly balanced--sweet, tangy, and full of flavor. The stir-fried veggies were light and fresh, and the tomato beef stew was rich, tender, and so comforting. The place is small and cozy, with truly home-style cooking that reminds me of a homemade meal. Great value too!

So good. Taste same as last time I been to Beijing
Yaosheng Z.

So good . The best Beijing cuisine in Oc . Solid Northern Chinese spot. Laba garlic pork intestine is amazing. Kids loved the sweet and sour pork.

Pork hock in house special sauce 民厨肘子
Min Z.

Restaurant is open for lunch and dinner so check their hours before you go. Located in a plaza with boba and dessert, plenty of parking in front of restaurant. Portion is generous and it's authentic northern Chinese cuisine. Strongly recommend the pork hock, the meat is so tender and flavorful. The winter melon soup is perfect for the cold weather. Staff is welcoming and offers food recommendations to your taste

Sophysna L.

Title: Authentic Beijing Flavors in Irvine -- Every Dish Deserves a Round of Applause Body: Didn't expect to find such authentic Beijing food right here in Irvine! Min Chu really nails that "home-cooked" Northern flavor -- hearty, rich, and full of soul. The braised ribbonfish is perfectly cooked -- crispy on the outside, tender inside, soaked in a deep savory sauce that hits all the right notes. The pork ribs with stewed beans taste like something straight out of a Beijing kitchen -- meaty, rich, and perfect over a bowl of rice. But the real stars are the layered meat pie and the sesame cold noodles. The pie is insanely good -- crispy, flaky layers on the outside, juicy minced meat inside, every bite bursting with flavor. The cold noodles are a dream: chewy, refreshing, coated in fragrant sesame sauce with just the right touch of garlic and spice. Every dish shows real craftsmanship and heart -- a must-try for anyone who loves true Northern Chinese food.

House Special Chicken
Yan L.

My all time favorite Chinese restaurant in OC right now. It's located in a very unassuming and quiet plaza with plenty of parking. Food is always solid and the staff are always nice and attentive. One thing to mention about this spot is that they really know how to stir fry. I have yet to try a restaurant in the States that has nailed stir fry dishes like this one. Braised Eggplant - stir fried to perfection. Flavor profile is solid and love that they add some tomato and bell pepper. House chicken - recommend this dish for a chicken dish! Flavors are strong. Peanuts are a nice addition. Meat pie - best way to describe this imo is that it's most similar to dumplings but with a different outer skin. I thought the skin would be crispy like green onion pancake but it's just single thin layer of dough. Stir fry cauliflower - a little mild spice and stir fried in a black bean sauce.

This was my first time realizing this place also does Beijing cuisine, so I brought my Beijing friends to try it and help judge. In the end, my Beijing friends couldn't stop praising it and were totally won over. We've already made plans to come back next time. Just looking at the menu made me want to order everything. Sweet and Sour Pork (Tangcu Liji): I felt like I had to try it. All I can say is that it was incredibly good. I know people trying to lose fat should stay away from oil, salt, and sugar, but it was just too delicious. Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, with a perfect sweet-and-savory balance that made it impossible to stop eating. Definitely worth breaking the diet. Minchu Diced Chicken: The signature dish. Dependably and solidly delicious, full of wok hei. No risk of disappointment. Stir-fried He Cai: Recommended by my Beijing friends. There's egg on top, and underneath it's kind of like fish-fragrant shredded pork stir-fried with a lot of bean sprouts. Very fragrant and great with rice. My Beijing friends also said it tasted extremely authentic. Minchu Braised Hairtail Fish: I honestly can't remember the last time I had hairtail fish. It tasted just like the food from my childhood. Dishes I still want to order from the menu: Minchu pork knuckle, crispy fried meatballs, ribs stewed with green beans. Next time.

Smashed cucumber salad
Mike L.

Came on Christmas and they were open! Every dish we had was good and service was good. stir fry cauliflower: delicious Chinese cauliflower that was cooked well and savory. stewed beef with potato in brown sauce: there was a mix of beef cuts but it was mostly lean. The potatoes and carrots were soft and delicious in the sauce. sweet and sour house meatball: meatball was deep-fried then covered in a sweet and sour savory sauce. really liked this dish. yuxiang shredded pork: lean shredded pork that was covered in a tomato based sauce. smashed cucumber salad: refreshing appetizer and was super crunchy. deep fried starch with garlic sauce: my friend said this was a staple Beijing street snack. The texture was chewy inside and crunchy outside. Pair it with the garlic watery sauce and it was super delicious.

Sichuan Spicy Shrimp
Anthony W.

TLDR; pork hock too salty, food made to-order was awesome, service was fast I've been looking for a nice Chinese in Irvine for a while now that isn't too expensive, and min Chef does a reasonable job in doing that. The food came fast, and the stir fry dishes had a lot of wok hay (breath of wok taste, almost smoky). Shrimp was very good too --crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. The stewed pork hock was too salty though and could use a couple more hours of cooking, but overall decent food and service. Bathroom was gross though.

Interior
Dave L.

This is a little gold mine of a restaurant. It is small and cramped. You might have to wait for a table. The menu is limited to the kind of food we who are not Asian expect from a Chinese restaurant. When the food comes, all those inconveniences fall away. The food is excellent! The taste is hot, fresh, and cooked to order. Their veggie dish with clear noodles is so good! Be aware that their spicy dishes are very spicy. We will return and explore more dishes. Only one suggestion of wish, that they include more green leaf veggie dishes. This place is a hidden gold mine.

House chicken
Danni O.

Good dinner here with no wait on a weekday. The braised eggplant was my favorite dish followed by the house chicken. Cold duck has great flavor of you like cold dishes, fried rice was pretty standard. Only complaint was their ice machine was not working so they only served room temperature water on a hot day.

Braised Pork Spare Ribs
J C.

We miss O'Shine where this restaurant took over, so we decided to give the new place a try. The menu looked good! When the food came out, portion size was smaller than we expected. We liked the cauliflower and the spareribs with snow peas, but the tofu fish dish fell flat. It looked nothing like the photo and came in pieces with bones. It wasn't fish fillets, so not safe for children to eat. There were only 9 pieces of spare ribs, with tons of peas. We felt a bit cheated considering the prices weren't cheap. Overall food was ok, I would be back to try their dry noodle and noodle soups.

This is a very authentic Chinese restaurant! So delicious ,my kids love it There are so many spicy food

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2 months ago

Really delicious and authentic Beijing food. Service is good, dishes come out fast. I have been back here multiple times.

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8 months ago

Food was authentic and great portion. Service was very good and friendly, if you like Chinese northern cuisine a great place to go.

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EverSpring Modern Chinese

EverSpring Modern Chinese

(451 reviews)

$$

Leaving this review after an almost bad experience to help the restaurant or anyone else that may…read morehave eaten here today. 5 stars for fixing the problem immediately for us. We've been here several times before and what keeps us coming back is the quality of the food. Today, they had a new chef cook our food and it was terrible. Green beans were extremely sour (way way too much vinegar). Mapo Tofu had a ton of oil but not enough sauce, so it was just flavorless except the oil. The fried pork chop was over fried where some pieces you can't even bite through. The rice had too much water in it and was mushy. I rarely return food but this time it was so bad we had to let them know. We returned all of our dishes back to them. They let us know there was a new chef today, and they would remake all the dishes for us with the original chef. The replacement dishes were just as good as all our previous visits and it was excellent again! So thanks to the staff for fixing the problem. I'm not sure if they are training a new chef to take over, or as a backup, but they need to be careful as serving bad quality food like that would drive most people to never come back. We knew the food was good from prior experience, so we knew we could ask why the food quality changed. For first time customers, or those that may have ordered to go - if you had bad food today, it may have been a fluke due to the new chef. Service however was a amazing as usual. For all our visits including today, the staff has been kind and always looking for ways to help out and make sure we were having a good experience. So besides the food being good, I would say excellent service is also huge plus here. Don't be fooled with the automated ordering and robot delivering the food into thinking there is no service. The people behind the counter are awesome! Hope management takes care of this new chef issue quickly since their food quality is the main reason people come here. There was a night and day difference between the original food we got today, and the replacement!

Modern Chinese, Ancient Disappointment…read more EverSpring looks great, sounds great, and is priced like it plans to deliver something memorable. Unfortunately, what I'll remember most is how quickly my excitement turned into polite disappointment. The salt and pepper pork chops were...bold. And by bold I mean shockingly salty, like the chef was trying to preserve them for winter. I've had salt and pepper chops more times than I can count, and this version tasted nothing like any of them. Overcooked, oddly flavored, and just completely off. If this was a creative interpretation, creativity may have gone a step too far. Then there was the crispy beef. I say this with sincerity: it was inedible. Not "I'm picky" inedible--burned-breading-that-tastes-like-toasted-mistakes inedible. Each bite delivered a charming note of scorched regret, like someone deep-fried a crouton and called it a day. I stopped eating not because I was full, but because my taste buds filed an HR complaint. And look, if this were cheap comfort food, I'd shrug it off. But this is sit-up-straight-when-the-bill-arrives pricing. For what we paid, I expected at least one dish to make me say, "Okay, this works." That moment never came. The concept is solid, but the food just didn't deliver. I wanted to love it. My taste buds, however, requested an early exit. Everything went to the trash can. Never again.

KPB Asian Bistro - Mongolian Trio

KPB Asian Bistro

(236 reviews)

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I organized a baby shower for my coworker at the office and was looking for good catering options…read more I wasn't too happy with the usual fast food choices, so I searched Yelp for Asian restaurants near my work. I found several options, but some were out of my budget and others didn't have great reviews. I came across KPB and spoke with Jerry, who was incredibly helpful and honest. He gave great advice on how much food to order for a group of 18 people. I originally planned to order four party trays (fried rice and three entrées), but he suggested that three trays would be enough. He was also very accommodating and gave me until the morning of the event to finalize my order. I ended up ordering Mongolian beef, Kung Pao chicken, and Young Chow fried rice. Everyone really enjoyed the food, and we even had some leftovers that we were able to enjoy the next day. The food was delicious, the pricing was reasonable, and the service was excellent. Highly recommended--Jerry truly made the catering experience smooth and stress-free!

I visited this restaurant for the first time and was really impressed! The lunch specials ($13.99)…read moreare incredibly affordable, especially considering the current economy, and the portions are huge. Each meal comes with rice, a main dish, soup, and even two dumplings--such a great deal! There's also convenient parking right in front, which makes it super easy to stop by. I went a little after the lunch rush, so it was nice and quiet--perfect timing. Highly recommend!

Chang'an - Tongue fried

Chang'an

(284 reviews)

$$$$

One of the best Peking Duck destinations on SoCal for sure…read more Service here is always great and all the dishes they recommended tasted 10/10. Of courses we were there for the main attraction. Peking Duck!!

I hate to leave a one star review for this restaurant as we have been here many times. We have…read morealways had good service and loved the quality of the food and the ambiance of the environment. But last night was totally different. $605 for four people before the tip which I normally would have left 20% or $120 on top of. That would have brought the total to $725. That's $181/ person. Well I actually tipped $75 and afterwards felt like a chump for even tipping that much. The food quality was good. We had the Peking duck and a host of other items. All good. But the service??? Not so much. It started out great. The food came quickly and there were plenty of wait staff helping arrange plates and make sure everything was good. But it was like they turned off the service light switch. Our tea and a bottle of wine were set up on a cart situated behind our table. The server did finally show up one time. But it was to serve our tea to the table next to us. That table was complaining afterward as they had ordered a different flavor tea. So we ended up all night serving ourselves both the tea and the wine. No sigh of anyone. Not a single check-in to see how we were doing. I finally had to go find the server to get the bill. I did complain to the manager on the way out. He said they were very busy and he hoped we would give them another chance. The problem? They were not that busy. Hurt me once. Shame on you. Hurt me twice. Shame on me. Pretty anemic response to the concerns of a table of four that spent that much money at the restaurant. If you look at my reviews on Yelp I don't usually knock businesses. I try to find the good in their efforts. But folks, if you want to play in the high end market, you need to up your game. Treat customers like you want them to come back.

A & J Restaurant

A & J Restaurant

(2.8k reviews)

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My husband YELPED this place and it has really high ratings and reviews so we decided to give it a…read moretry! It was 20 minutes away from the Pacific View Mortuary so we decided to come here after my husband visited his dad... GREETED UPON ENTRY! Quite nice and loudly by a nice lady! I believe I only saw ladies working in the restaurant which is pretty cool! Women power!! SPICY BEEF NOODLE SOUP: 10/10 I love the TENDONS so much!! They were nice and TENDER!!! Not chewy at all! The flavor of the broth is good and not too SALTY or SPICY so you can easily adjust it if you need more Salt or Chili oil...Better than SHANGS in Las Vegas in my opinion!!!... SPICY WONTONS: 9/10 The wontons were small and fell apart easily but, the sauce was DELICIOUS!!! It was such a TEASE because it was a small dish that was PACKED with so much flavor so I finished it as REVENGE!!! Mwahahaha!!!!... BEAN CURD WITH ASSORTED MUSHROOMS: 9/10 Loved the bean curds!!! I finished it too!!! There was only ONE MUSHROOM though so that's why I took off a point... SCALLION PANCAKE: 8/10 In not usually into it. My husband loved it and it reminded him of ROTI... PAN FRIED PORK DUMPLINGS: 9/10 It was nice and juicy! The portions were HUGE!!! Definitely had to pack this one home to finish it later... SERVICE WAS EXCELLENT!!! AMBIANCE was nice! The tables were set per close to each other towards the front of the restaurant so there wasn't much room to walk in between tables. It reminded me of the walkway that's similar to being on an AIRPLANE!!! If you are a Big person I would recommend sitting at the tables towards the back because there's more SPACE there!!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND TRYING THIS PLACE !!! A & J RESTAURANT MAKES YOU WANT TO COME EVERYDAY!!!!

Beef tendon soup good! Solid 8.7/10 thick noodles good texture. Needs more meat probably 4 small…read morepieces Pan fried dumplings ok 6/10, wish it was fried all around not just one side. Idk if I would get this again Fried pork is good 8/10 would get again just so I can have some protein I love the spicy wontons but they are small but flavor is bomb. 8/10 Scallion pancake is pretty dense but I like it when I rip the layers for a lighter flaky texture 8/10 Minced pork was comforting but the meat to rice ratio is really bad. Maybe 2 teaspoons of meat. Hella rice. 6/10 wouldn't get again unless they had more meat :/ But they're pretty fast! Solid comfort meal

Min Chef - chinese - Updated May 2026

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