Ding How Restaurant

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

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.

A childhood favorite and hands down best Chinese restaurant in town! Be sure to get their general chicken, chin jiu chicken, or honey walnut shrimp. You won’t regret it!

Good prices. Best selection of vegetarian Chinese food I’ve seen in the Sacramento area. Good for dine-​in or takeout.

Good vegetarian food but we were overcharged. We asked the waitress to explain the order and prices and it did not add up to our 6 dishes and 3 $ 5.50 appetizers and brown rice for $ 8.50???

Ding How is my go-​to for Chinese food here in Davis. There are two menus — one regular and one of entirely vegetarian dishes. This was awesome for me when I was a vegetarian because there were so many options and the food was still flavorful which can be a challenge with vegetarian dishes. My favorite dish is definitely their hot and sour soup. Trust me when I say that I’m a soup connoisseur and that they have the best hot and sour soup. Although, once, I came during open hours still but they were closed and turned me away without even opening the door. Even so, I would still recommend Ding How if you’re craving some Chinese food!

I’m not typically a fan of Chinese food, however this place is great! Serving portions are big, enough for another meal the next day.

I would like to open this review by sharing my level of surprise when their middle-​aged waitress chased after me outside for tip. Now I’ve come here several times. But in that one extraordinary night I chose not to tip due to reasons including both food and service.
I feel that the food here boasts mediocracy at best. They tend to slightly overcook their chicken and make up for that with excess amounts of sauce. Their vegetables are often oily or undercooked with lack of seasoning. And I don’t ever recall their egg rolls being crispy nor seasoned.
In terms of service, I feel that at least half of their servers don’t regularly refill water nor ask customers if they need anything else. This place does not seem to have denominating procedures for handling customers besides seating them and passing the menu. Such a shame. ²⁄₅.

After being scarred from eating Chinese food at the four seasons, I had it in my mind that Davis could not offer decent Chinese food. I was actually surprised at the quality and quantity of the food here. The veggie chowmein was a bit on the oily side, and the waiter gave us our check shortly after our food came out, which is rude in my book, but everything was okay. Will come back when craving Chinese!

@Marry L. Uhha! You r very funny~ I will plan to spend a couple minutes of my life to write this passage to let the world know about your comment. First of all, u talking like this is your first time heading out for dinner, my friend. This is very common in sf. They will automatically charge tips, especially for a group of 7?! Plus, there are also restaurants charge tips even when there’s 5. I just can’t imagine how St**** u r, gosh! Did u came from the outer space? I suggest u checking out the whole America while u living in this planet. I am sorry being such a rude person here and sounded mean. However, at the same time, I am feeling so sorry for others who would take your words for granted perhaps. Especially when u judging the waitress who with a hard time understanding English, I just can’t believe how someone being such racist! Come on, here is America! Moreover, My whole point writing this essay is that may be u think u speak fluent English, but u seems like u don’t know how to understand the people who just come to another country and learn their language. It is already harsh for them, at least they tried to how to make a living in America! If u think that waitress is bad, and also I neither think that u r a good customer! Think about that, okay? Thank you for your time reading my golden comment. The End. :)

I lived in San Francisco for over 10 years and since I left the city I have not yet found the Chinese food — the taste I’m looking for. I never went to fancy Chinese restaurant in the city so the hall in the wall type of authentic food is what I’m after. We stumble in this place because we had Mexican food for lunch and it was pretty much next to it. So we ordered some food to go for dinner. The portion is adequate. The food are very tasty. Oh my gosh I found the the taste I’m looking for — the Mongolian beef so amazing could used more spicy to it but my taste buds likes everything burning spicy. I can not wait to try to eat in this place. Until next time.

I remembered it as better.
Tomato beef came with no noodles *perhaps my fault* but it was literally tomatoes and beef– and a whole lot of sugar it seemed. I guess that’s what I’d ordered though.
Maybe it’s better for dim sum?
I thought I was ordering just a pancake of noodles for under the tomato beef but I managed to order the house special noodles. Straw mushrooms and a few hunks of char siu were tasty, but not worth trying again in my opinion.
On the plus side, they did have an entire separate menu for vegetarians.

Sweet and sour pork was hard no flavor, chicken Bland, Ihad to throw it out. I couldn’t even pawn it off to coworkers.

Been here once and the food and service sucks. Everything here tastes really old as if it’s been sitting out there for a long time in addition, the food has no flavor at all so we had to add soy sauce to the fried rice. The food portions were small and everything was so nasty we didn’t even take the leftovers. I would never return to a place like this :(maybe I’m just spoiled by all the yummy Chinese food from Sacramento.

All this rave about Four Seasons and Hometown (which I’ve only had bad experiences with), and people seriously aren’t on this?
Ding How is a quaint little Chinese restaurant in North Davis, located in the Savemart plaza off to the left side. The interior definitely speaks your typical Chinese restaurant.
My first visit here, I was extremely pleased. Second visit? Only got better.
The flavor was definitely on point, the service was great (surprisingly super helpful and friendly waiters… at an actual Chinese restaurant? that’s rare). Take-​out available.
There is a serious laundry list of items available on the menu which is very normal. I have had: Fisherman’s soup, Fish Fillet w/​Snow Peas, Satay Beef, Braised Tofu w/​Mixed Veg (definitely different from what I was expecting, out of everything this was my least favorite. A bit sour in flavor??), Special Pan Fried Noodle, Vegetarian New Year. All of it was bangin’.
Portions great, pricing average. Great for groups (order dishes and rice, then enjoy).
Coming from the Bay, I miss Asian food in Davis. Ding How did not disappoint. Will be back.

I got braised tofu with vegetables, fried wontons with cream cheese, and white rice. I love the braised tofu from 4 seasons and was hoping it would taste as delicious. While driving home, all the sauce from the tofu dish spilled in the bag. :(
The braised tofu was more of a 2 star because there was literally 6 pieces of tofu and way too much veggies in it. Carrots, daikon?, cabbage, and canned corn. It also didn’t help that most of the sauce was gone. Won’t be getting this dish again.
Fried wontons were pretty good. 8 big pieces.
White rice was perfect. Steamy and cooked just right.
Lunch specials were enticing so I might just go back and try that out for next time.

2015 – 0618 they take only takeout order today!
[2015−0617] According to the note on the door, Ding How is temporarily closed since Wed, June 10, 2015. I will update here when I see it reopen.
Missing their vegetarian meals~~

After reading the reviews of insects galore here, I was super wary of trying this place, but needless to say I was pleasantly surprised. The fake roses at every table were tacky cute and the whiteboard with menu doodles up front didn’t match the atmosphere of a chinese restaurant so I saw lots of people getting takeout instead.
They have some items you don’t see at Hunan downtown, like the Chin Jiu chicken. There’s a screen up front with a slideshow of some special items, so that will help you make your decision. The plates are small for the price but it’s worth a drive if you live on the other side of town.

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 Unilocal 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 ;)

I’m surprised at how low some of these ratings are! Overall, 3.5÷5!
Gotta be choosing the right dishes!
I have had their lunch specials before and I find the soup meh. I never finish it.
Aside from that, I am an avid buyer of chicken & corn soup. It’s cheap, it’s healthy-​looking, and it’s my go-​to meal for when I’m sick! If you find you need more kick to it, you should just try it with more black pepper added to it. That’s what I always do with egg soup.
The honey walnut shrimp was good too! I feel a little guilty having it though since it has all this awesome white sauce around it, with your shrimp being crisp after breading (or tempura — I get mixed up between the two). It’s my Reward Meal. lol
Nice place to to-​go or dine-​in! The prices are reasonable for college students overall.