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    Pekin Cafe and Lounge

    2.5 (150 reviews)
    ModerateChinese, Noodles
    Updated 1 month ago

    Order Pekin Cafe and Lounge Takeout or Delivery

    Pekin Cafe and Lounge Photos

    PEKIN CAFE AND LOUNGE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Divey
    Moderate noise
    Good for kids
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Pekin Cafe and Lounge

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    Great atmosphere down to Earth family oriented
    Rogelio C.

    Great food great services very humble place. Great for dining. local family business.

    Dim Sum and Lucky Buddha Beer.

    We love this restaurant! Historical to Butte, friendly, and best of all, Delicious Authentic Chinese Food! Know your Chinese America history, and you will know how and why Chop Suey and Chow Mein came about. This restaurant stays loyal to its American Butte roots. The Dim Sum is fabulous, and my favorite dinner is the Ginger Shrimp! However, all the food is fantastic, and with generous servings at a very reasonable cost. We also love the atmosphere, the servers, and the private traditional dining booths; not former brothel rooms as some here have claimed! I received my Masters degree in NYC, and would often go to Chinatown for a great meal. But, this is my favorite restaurant of all time, and lucky us, we live in Butte, so we can go anytime!!! If you don't fall in love with this historic restaurant, then you are most likely an unbearable snob that is ignorant of Butte Chinese history, a notoriously bad tipper, or just a difficult customer to serve. Regardless, please have some respect in your reviews. This Chinese restaurant has been operating for over 100 years with the same family generational members using the original recipes. This restaurant is precious. Pekin Noodle Parlor is a Cherished, Family Restaurant that Butte loves, and always will.

    Raw shrimp.

    My wife and I were looking forward to this place. Thinking it is the oldest running Chinese restaurant in the USA we thought it would be dialed in to perfection. Were we wrong. One of the dishes was shrimp fried rice. Thawed raw bay shrimp was served on top of fried rice. If you order anything the same sauce is used for every dish. Very little meat served with nothing but mushy celery and onions. There was no white or brown rice served at the table. The food was tasteless. From New York to Chicago to San Francisco to overseas and every place in between this is the worst Chinese food and any food we have experienced. We left with our plates full. Food was horrible. We were so excited to come here, total disaster.

    Sweet and sour pork with pineapple and fried rice, the dim sum platter, Peking special chop suey, edamame and Chinese beer
    Andrew K.

    I like this place for the historical interest and the service was very good. The food that I have had was okay to not great. But it's fun to be in the little orange brothel booths and think about old miners chowing down.

    Stairs from main entrance to restaurant
    Nycole R.

    Since this is the oldest Chinese restaurant in America AND is in an old brothel & opium den, I knew I HAD to have a meal here. Unfortunately, the food was not nearly as noteworthy as the historic facility itself. Upon arrival, you have to climb a staircase to get to the restaurant. That will make it inaccessible to some, so keep that in mind. Each table is inside a small partitioned area with a curtain for privacy. It's kind of neat and makes for a unique dining experience. The food is delivered on a metal rolling cart by the servers-ours was exceptionally personable. That's where things get a little dicey. The food was pretty bad. The flavor was off, the texture of the noodles was nearly unpalatable, and the meat barely tasted like meat. We did not finish our meals, but attempted to politely take a few bites and then push it aside. If I was rating on food alone, it would warrant one star. But strictly due to the history and the unique environment, they garnered a participation trophy. Visit so you can experience the oldest operating noodle parlor, but don't come for the fine cuisine.

    Historic sign
    Valerie B.

    The experience is a must. Historical and memorable. But my dish mes were not good- the chicken in the egg flower chicken soup had processed/pressed chicken strips that were so icky! Sorry- not sorry. I couldn't eat it. The pork fried rice was just white rice doused in some soy sauce, 4 peas, and some poor quality pork pieces. Nothing. $9.95 for a teeny serving. If you're gluten-free, just note that no accommodations can be made. Soy sauce is in everything. I really couldn't eat anything on the menu except for rice and a soup. Our waitress was kind and efficient. The place is quieter than I thought it'd be. I'm glad I got to go, but cannot really recommend it to anyone who likes authentic Chinese food...or good food, in general. This was much like a fast-food style, but not as good. The canned mushrooms and tiny little bay shrimp on others' dishes looked so sad.

    Combo #4
    Erika T.

    We were recommended this location from a coworkers friend who's been here multiple times. This is one of the city, staples, and kind of a oddity of the city. Apparently the Chinese restaurant also used to be a brothel. Thought we would give it a try. When you first walk in, you do have to walk up about 20 to 25 steps to get to the top of the building. As the restaurant is located on the second floor. When you go through the door to the restaurant, it is a little crowded and claustrophobic. When I was reading that they had pink booths, I did not really read much into it and thought that it was just kind of upholstered boots like at a normal restaurant. Boy was I wrong, when they say boots, they mean more like private rooms, and the walls are painted pink. We were sat in a booth with a little room to squeeze around the chairs as we did have the radiator right up next to our table. You could tell they were busy because most of the tables had the curtains drawn and the wait staff was running around, like chickens with our heads cut off. Are we just was good she was very attentive to us, but she did disappear for periods of time, knowing that she was busy running up and down because you could hear the trolley cart on the floor. When it came time to order all three of us wanted something to do with the spare ribs but unfortunately we were told they were out. So next plan we had to figure out what else we wanted to eat. We all did get a combo plate, which is a little bit of rice noodles, and then whichever protein we had chosen . I chose to go with the fried shrimp. I played sizes are good but for the price that you pay would've expected to pay a little less or gotten a little more food. I did have the chicken chow mein. It was a little on the weird side because the chicken was cut into strips and just placed on top. When I've had this type of chicken chow mein in the brown gravy sauce, the chicken has been, cubed up and cooked within the entire meal. Also, it was lacking some bean sprouts, which added some of that heft to the meal. My rice was a little on the dry side or overcooked and again it just had chicken strips on top. The best thing out of my meal I would say it would be the fried shrimp and the fortune cookie at the end. If you don't mind mediocre Chinese food, and you want to see the wonder of oddities that light in the restaurant, then I would say this would be a perfect place for you to go.

    Outside, before going up the stairs.
    Joe J.

    We really enjoyed the history of the restaurant. We had the Pekin Dinner Special, and we were able to try a number of dishes. We also got a side order of the Tomato and Beef Chop Suey, which was really good and probably the highlight of our meal. The restaurant is way more than just the food. It's the history!!!

    Jeff W.

    For our 9 yrs annevesasary took wifee to THE oldest chinese restaurant in the states, no it's not in NY or San Fran, it's actually in Butte Montana believe me or not. How was the food? Forget the food we here for the history in the making. It's not even fair for me to critique as i grew up in Flushing Ny lol But was fun and took a lot of pics

    Inside booth
    Alex H.

    Pekin Noodle bar is the longest continuously running Chinese restaurant in the U.S. First off 10/10 experience. There are a lot of rumors that this restaurant was a brothel. If you don't already know, Butte had a lot of brothels in it's previous life, and the noodle bar has private booths that give cause to the rumors. However, true Butte historians know this restaurant was purchased by the original restaurant owner sometime around 1911, shortly after it was built, and apparently passed down through family/friends for generations now. These booths were very common in Chinese noodle parlors at the time, and they brought the traditional style here. When you walk up the stairs, it's confusing. No signs, but the right door is the bar and the left door is the restaurant. Most people who leave good reviews for this spot leave them for the bar, which can get lively on occasion despite limited hours. 10/10 service, our waitress was honest about the food and extremely polite 10/10 price - cheaper than any Chinese restaurant I've been to which is surprising for sit down service. 0/10 for the food. Do not come here for the food. It is not good and honestly do yourself a favor by ordering something extremely simple like soup, chicken fried rice or something off the vegetarian menu. You will regret ordering any type of meat. This is okay with me, because I came for the experience, not for the food. If they improved the food or changed it, I would have given 5 stars.

    Mark S.

    This is a must-see place. It's full of history and is incredibly interesting. The ambience is like no other place. The service is very good. Unfortunately, the food is not. The experience is 5 star. The food is 1 star.

    The chicken is the long white strips.
    Jayne N.

    Take a picture in front of this historic building, walk up the stairs, look around and LEAVE! Now you can say you were there! Food was not edible. Chicken was processed strips of lunchmeat. The white strips in photo is the chicken strips! Super nice server so tried a bit of our sampler dinner and went to Dairy Queen! Life is short, paid and left! What a travesty! Dairy queen saved our evening and good thing we have a sense of humor! Ps: soap and water is cheap! Clean your restaurant and wash your dividing curtains!

    Szechwan Chicken with Noodles
    Dakota S.

    Szechwan Chicken 4.3/5 overall. Meat 4/5. Sauce 4/5. Flavor 4/5. Size and value 5/5. Super cool place!!!! The oldest continuously operated Chinese restaurant in America, owned by the same family since 1909! The whole experience there is fun, the bar and bartender were fantastic, the eating booths, and of course an extensive and delicious Chinese menu. Great portions, and fantastic staff! Highly recommend making a stop here!

    Nothing like canned mushrooms.

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    Ask the Community - Pekin Cafe and Lounge

    Uptown Cafe

    Uptown Cafe

    4.1(116 reviews)
    0.2 mi
    $$$

    Looking for a healthier meal while traveling, this spot was perfect. Salad bar, soups, light…read moresandwich options and more. One staff member assisted all guests who came and went during our visit. Food came out in a reasonable amount of time and was very good. Plenty of meat and cheese on my sandwich. Side salad was a fresh mix of greens, thin slices of cucumber without the seeds, cherry tomatoes and a sprinkle of seeds. The balsamic dressing is excellent. My SO ordered a tuna melt with chips and he was given four options of chips. Nice. They also have pasta salad or upgrade to side garden salad or soup, or add one for a bigger meal. The waitress was friendly and kept an eye on us. Food is fresh and tasty. Everything is clean. Restrooms in back. Art on the walls is for sale. On street parking is free. Highly recommend.

    I came across this place one day while looking for a lunch spot here in Butte and decided to give…read moreit a try, well I have been coming here ever since! First off it's local, it's a small business, and they have a great variety of offerings for lunch or dinner. Today was a tuna melt day! This might be my favorite sandwich so far that they offer here. Their tuna is as close as I can remember my mom making when I was a kid, adding in the croissant was a great idea and the texture?!?! Excellent addition. I suggest getting the sandwich as is. You're welcome! Foot traffic was low today but the service was excellent as always, our server Clarissa said she was new but her warm smile and great attitude made her feel like an old pro. This place checks all the boxes from the great food, great service and cozy ambiance you can have a meeting here or go on a lunch date.

    Photos
    Uptown Cafe - The Uptown Café now has a cozy, casual bar for meeting friends over drinks.

    The Uptown Café now has a cozy, casual bar for meeting friends over drinks.

    Uptown Cafe - Tuna melt with chips (they have four options)

    Tuna melt with chips (they have four options)

    Uptown Cafe - The Uptown Café adds a cozy, casual bar for meeting friends over drinks.

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    The Uptown Café adds a cozy, casual bar for meeting friends over drinks.

    Pekin Cafe and Lounge - chinese - Updated May 2026

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