Chef Chin

Excellent dinner and phenomenal service! We will definitely be back! Thank you so much! We had the dumplings, won ton soup, crispy duck, garlic/​basil chicken, and moo shu pork. There was so much soup and it was so hearty! The duck was decadent– such a treat! Everyone loved the moo shu pork. We did not touch the garlic/​basil chicken because that was the last dish we ordered and we were stuffed! Okay, we nibbled a bit but that will be leftovers! Yum! The service could not have been better. I cannot compare the service to anywhere I have ever been. It was so much better than other restaurants. The servers were there and, zip, they were gone again, never hovering but extremely attentive. I appreciated seeing a mix of children, elderly, people dressed both casually and in business attire.

Good service, clean, nice people. Portions are large enough to share and even have leftovers especially if you order an appetizer.

I’ve never had a bad meal here, it’s the best Chinese place in town. From the soups to the egg rolls to the entrees, everything is perfect. The service is excellent, such a warm and friend staff who are very attentive. You can tell the staff and ownership really care about their patrons. They always provide fast service whether it’s lunch or dinner. They are just always courteous and I appreciate it every time I come here!

Wonderful authentic Shanghai style Chinese Food. Came here recommended by a family elder, and it did not disappoint. Had 9 dishes, and every one was good. Best ones were the tea duck, jellyfish, and rice balls after dinner. Definitely will come back!

There are a lot of tasty items on the menu that should be tried here such as the combo pan fried noodles, looks bland but very well seasoned! The Hunan fish was so tender and the sauce was just right. There are a few items that could be skipped such as the shrimp and walnuts which is wayyy better at China Max and the fried rice was just okkkay. Spicy eggplant was tasty but they didn’t add the pork like I wanted them too. Very friendly service but leftovers are not as good as in the restaurant .
Ordered the tea smoked duck and the fried noodles and that was the worst meal. The waitress recommended the duck and it was like eating smoke …

There are Chinese version menu and English version menu. We ordered some dishes from the Chinese menu, attached some photos. 回鍋肉 stirred fried pork belly, tastes a bit sweet and spicy, good for combination with rice. Love the dessert a lot — 桂花酒釀湯圓 rice balls with some sesame.

Yum yum yum! I admit I had low expectations after my experience at The Pearl for dim sum, but Chef Chin revived my hope for good Chinese food in the Rancho Bernardo area! My parents were really craving Chinese breakfast and I was able to find Chef Chin on Unilocal.I was a little skeptical when we first got to the restaurant because it was super empty. We were seated shortly and our waitresses were very nice. Our food came out pretty fast and it was all hot and fresh. My mom really enjoyed everything, which is a good sign. We got sweet soy milk, salty soy milk, beef rolls, onion pancake and rice rolled Chinese donuts. I felt very unhealthy while consuming everything but it was delish. Will definitely come back when in the area again!
Only negative feedback was that we were served a teabag. not tea leaves.

I was pleasantly surprised by this place. Having lived near the Convoy area for many years, I’ve been very underwhelmed by the Asian restaurants in the RB area. But this place was a good find. I know we’ll definitely be back.
I can’t speak for everyone else, but we thoroughly enjoyed the food here. When we saw the Xiao Long Bao (aka — soup dumplings) we knew we had to get an order. They weren’t bad. Definitely not the best I’ve tasted, but more than decent. I’d order them again for sure. We also had their pan fried crispy noodle. This was good, too! Lastly we had their Honey Walnut Shrimp. Now, I’m not a huge fan of this dish from any restaurant. But their version was pretty good.
Service was a bit slow, but it was close to closing when we came in so I’m sure they were trying to clean up and get outta there. So, I’ll cut them a little slack. Our server was friendly and helpful when she wasn’t busy prepping to close. I could tell she was trying to gauge whether we wanted more traditional Chinese foods or «Americanized» Chinese food. (I’m guessing since we’re Asian ourselves.) I thought her sensitivity to that without us vocalizing it was pretty cool. But overall, this was a pretty good experience. We’ll be back for sure.

We have been looking at this place for long time, until today, when we decided to go and eat dinner with the family. No waiting time to get our seats, few minutes to get our order warm and ready to eat, excellent costumer service. We tried chow mein, spicy pineapple chicken and beef with broccoli. Everything was delicious. Definitely we will come back and will try more food.

We come here regularly and while the dishes and taste has changed a bit after they had a new chef, the quality and authenticity is really good. We’ve taken a lot of our friends here over the years and everyone was always positively surprised by the food. Just look at the amount of Asian guests that go here to eat, and you know you can’t go wrong.
What many people don’t know is that they have an «Asian American» menu with the typical «Walnut Shrimp» type of stuff that has been drowned in sweet-&-sour sauce — essentially, what many (especially elderly) Americans seem to expect when they go to a Chinese restaurant. However, they also have a VERY authentic, truly Chinese menu with family style dishes. With those, you order different plates for the whole table to share. It may be a little bit difficult for us «Westerners» to navigate those dishes because their names are either fairly generic («Spinach with bean curd sheet») or specialty names («Lionhead meatballs», «Three cup chicken», «Ma-​Po Tofu») but it’s absolutely worth trying because those dishes are SO much better.
Sometimes when the place is really busy the wait may be a bit longer and/​or the dishes aren’t served all at the same time, which is the sole reason why I’m not giving 5 stars here.

We had a great dinner on Christmas Day at 7 pm. We made a reservation a few days ahead & confirmed it on the 25^th. We were seated within 10 minutes. Our server Julie was fabulous. Food was only a little slow coming out of the kitchen but everything was delicious and hot! Drink refills were promptly taken care of. We will definitely go back again. Reservations are a must on Christmas!

First of all, the food here is great, very authentic Chinese food，one of the best in town. However，the service here is much worse comparing it to Chins at Kearny Mesa. Especially the lady in the front who takes charge of sitting customers and the checks. If not for some special dishes I can’t have elsewhere，I would never come back.

We have no complaints about this place. We ordered wonton soup (the 2 – 3 person size) and potstickers. The soup was awesome. We each got two bowls out of it. And it smelled and tasted so good. Full of meat and wontons. The potstickers looked and tasted homemade and were probably the best I’ve ever had. And dinner didn’t disappoint. My husband ordered hunan beef and I ordered the crispy duck. Both meals were top notch. The wait staff was attentive and friendly. Answered all out questions and never left our glasses empty. This is a great choice for Szechuan Chinese food. Eat here!

This used to be one of my favorites in the area, and good enough not to trek down to Clairemont Mesa. I just visited again today, and I am fairly certain either it changed hands or the kitchen staff changed because the food was different. Plus they raised the prices as well.
The food was okay, but not good enough anymore to make it worth the price to eat here. I used to get a pretty decent xlb here… Not again more, the filling wasn’t up to par. The green onion pancake tasted slightly old and greasy or they used old oil.

Love this place, we always come here for a family gathering. The interior is clean, with some nice chinese decors.
They have many food varieties, also you will not be disappointed at the food quality. Most of their dishes are very authentic chinese food.
Some people may be a little more concerned about the price, to be honest, you get what you pay for. If you were to expect low price like panda express, then what you can get out from it is a pre-​cooked type of food quality. In chef chin, they freshly cook every dishes. So it totally makes sense to pay a few bucks extra.

This place was better than I expected! We went here on a whim just because we wanted to try a new place in the area. What a great find in RB!
Eats.
+ Potstickers. Man, oh man! If you come here you HAVE to get these. I’m almost never thrilled thrilled to get potstickers, but the soupy part that comes out after every bite makes me look forward to getting it again! it’s like xiao long bao but a potsticker version. I am impressed!
+ Mongolian beef. The beef was tender and the sauce is amazing! Definitely a must if you love beef.
+ Crispy duck. I ordered this expecting ‘peking duck’ but was surprised with something different. The skin was crispy, but the duck was overcooked and had a lot of minced garlic on top. Don’t get me wrong, I love garlic — but it didn’t compliment the duck at all. It doesn’t come with hoisin sauce or buns either — BUT you can purchase 6 buns for $ 2. It comes in a half portion, but this was by far the largest half portion I have ever gotten! If you want peking duck you’ll probably want to opt for the ‘famous tea duck’ instead.
— Mung bean dessert. Could’ve done without.
Service was great, our server was attentive and very sweet. The prices are reasonable, the dishes are authentic and everything tasted great. I can’t wait to come back and try other dishes, especially for brunch (aka dim sum)!

We come here on occasion since my in laws live in the area. Sometimes the food is good, sometimes it is a miss.
According to our waitress this weekend, there is a new chef at the restaurant as of the beginning of DEC. From what we can tell, food quality is pretty good… better than before. We ordered several dishes, but my favs were the wuxi pi gu (sorry, my pin yin sucks) and some veggie stirfry that includes taro. The meatball was good according to others at my table, but I thought it was a tad too vinegary. We also had tofu soup with spinach (OK) and smoke duck which I did not like. I prefer crispy Peking style duck.
All in all, good meal. Plus, service is much better than other Asian restaurants tend to be (ahem…Pearl).

We came for a awkwardly late lunch, so it was quiet empty.
The service was okay, I guess better than most asian places, but nothing to special.
The food I felt wasn’t really authentic, it was asian-​american, but leaning more on the asian side.
The food was okay, but very heavily seasoned… Sichuan food is usually more heavily seasoned, but I think it was wayyyy more heavy on the salt. I didn’t care for that…
Overall I’d give it a 3.5÷5, but Unilocal doesn’t let us do half so its a 3 bc its definitely not a 4.
Its a place to try, just dont get any of the shrimp or fish eggrolls. And don’t let the waitress talk you into ordering random things either…

Placed an order to go over the phone, and was surprised at how quick the service was when we came to pick it up.
We love the location of this place since it’s so close by home and the food was great. We ordered the sizzling beef, the house special fried rice and the salt and pepper chicken wings.
Food was delicious! Will be coming here soon.

You have to love a place where:
* The owner comes buy and introduces himself with a card and personally wants to ensure your satisfaction
* Is Chinese and has Chinese speaking clientele in a predominantly Caucasian neighborhood.
* Has an ambiance that makes you ask, am I still in Rancho Bernardo? When you walk in and sit there.
This place is unpretentious. The prices are decent and the portions are good.
I had one of the 5 dishes from the ‘must try list’ it was a kung pao mix of seafoods. The scallops were prepared perfectly. I added some of their chili sauce (you have to ask for their hot sauce, its not on the tables otherwise) and it was great.
The wonton soup was a tad bland but when I added the chili sauce it was a lot more tasty! I liked how much vegetables and wontons we got in our large portion.
All in all it was a fun way to end our evening after having just watched ‘The Grandmaster’ at a local theater. (Zhang Ziyi and Tony Leung star in the latest movie about Ip Man) :)
We had been playing softball earlier that day and came in casual and they treated us very kindly. I was a little embarrassed at first but quickly forgot about my slightly unbeautiful appearance because of how they treated me :)