China Inn Restaurant

I had the Shrimp Lo Mein. It was okay. Very bland though. Goto Super Wok down the street (Hornblend/​Ingram). Its a mom and pop chinese take out way better than this place. The only reason i came here is because Super Wok is closed on Sundays. And sure enough i was disappointed.

Top notch Chinese food — just tragic that they closed. I tried the other nearby Chinese place (up in Clairmont) wound wound up with food poisoning. No more great Chinese in SD: (

Has anybody heard anything about whether they will open up at a new location? I need my Sweet & Pungent Shrimp! I will drive any distance for it…

Cant believe they closed they had my favorite orange chicken. It was cooked without flour so it tasted a lot fresher. Sorry to see it go. Also, wonder why it closed.
I guess I will have to find another Chinese place that is good.
Thanks for all your wonderful food!

A deeply saddened posthumous review for a Pacific Beach institution:
I have spent the day in mourning. I’ve eaten at China Inn at least 624 times — twice a month for 26 years. We have NEVER had a dish or drink we didn’t like, that was poorly prepared, or was substandard in any way. China Inn has been our go-​to spot for THE WORLD’S BEST CHICKEN EGG FOO YUNG, fried dumplings, and Moo Goo Gai Pan! A favorite for our whole family, this was Dad’s go-​to Chinese, my son and husband played tiny pirates sword fights with sword picks from our Mai Tais (best anywhere), and the Egg Flower and War Won Ton Soups always made our colds go away. Goodbye Moo Shu everything, Sesame Chicken, Lemon Chicken, BBQ Pork with Snow Peas, Sweet and Sour Chicken and Pork, and Beef with Broccoli!
What is to become of the beloved staff? Shame on landlords who obviously overpriced their rent so as to force this wonderful restaurant with great drinks to close.
Farewell China Inn! Please make an interest list on your website in case you decide to reopen someplace new soon. We love you and we will follow you if you decide to open again!
Thanks for being part of our family!
Laurel and Andy

I am HEARTBROKEN!!! China Inn had the absolute BEST Egg Foo Young and they are gone! The crappy landlords appear to want yet ANOTHER bar! They lost their lease. They have been here since 1988! Guarantee I won’t give them a dime but will be watching for Judy and Andy Kim to open up elsewhere!!!
Can’t we have SOME nice places to take the fam here in PB? enough with 80 friggn bars!

Goodbye, China Inn…
You will be missed. I’m glad my last meal encompassed my two favorite things on your menu… the peking duck and a few fog cutters.
I don’t know what is in those fog cutters, but it gets me good and happy EVERY TIME.
Farewell.

This review is obsolete as you’re closing for good this week. You’ll always have a place in my heart. Many bad decisions have developed via your crafty get drunk quick cocktails, specifically the fog cutter. The food was spot on too, best China food in San Diego. I’ll miss you dearly. Pacific Beach is losing a friend this weekend. I love you!
Tears,
Daniel McEwan
PS I’ll be all up in you today!

Second time here, first time was just as bad but I always like to give second chances. I ordered Crispy Beef, hot and sour soup and shrimp fried rice. The service is bad, food is bland, I love garlic but I think it’s the only spice this restaurant has discovered.
The one extra star was for the fried rice, I mean if you are a Chinese restaurant and can’t get that right then you should just close. So good job on that basic dish.
My fortune cookie read «Sorry for your misfortune.» Seriously!

I’ve been to this restaurant for dinner on 3 occasions. Each time we’ve had a good experience — food and customer service awesome! I was there last on Valentine’s Day for dinner with my family. It was a busy night for the restaurant and they did a great job sitting guests down, bringing drinks, taking food orders, and serving food in a timely manner. They handled the traffic that night extremely well. Highly recommend this restaurant for their food and customer service!!!
Orange chicken, beef & broccoli, egg rolls, chicken fried rice, are our favorites on the menu.
Keep up the hard work China Inn!!!

I have been hunting for good Chinese food in San Diego for a while. So far this place in my #1!
The shrimp rangoons and Wor wonton soup are wonderful!

And the quest for great Chinese food in San Diego continues. I’ll admit it, as much as I love this city, we struggle to nail Chinese food. It hurts, hurts real bad.
China Inn is exactly what you’d expect. A bit dingy, outdated and rough around the edges — typical signs of Chinese greatness, but the price you pay for mediocrity is a bit high. We’re sharers, order a bunch of items and pass the plates around. Nothing adventurous on this visit, which may have been an unconscious attempt to play it safe. Tempura shrimp, orange chicken, house special mo-​shu, shrimp toast, good four seasons, egg drop soup, won ton soup, hot and sour soup and a variety of their specialty drinks. The star of the show? The booze…
Where the food felt standard, a bit bland and run of the mill, the drinks were tropical, delicious and refreshing. Served in some B.A. tiki mugs they were a great option over beer or wine for the night. Service was kinda whack but it was a busy night and it turned out to be a bit of a blessing that the waitress forgot our second round of drinks — saved us a few bucks and we were able to move onto bigger and better things faster than expected!

Wow, they were woefully unprepared for the onslaught of Christmas Night diners. I arrived at 5:15pm to a line practically out the door of people waiting to be seated, waiting to collect their takeout orders, and people like me, wanting to place an order for take out. Chaos.
The manager was too busy answering the never-​ending number of phone calls to assist any one.
Thank goodness for Amy, a lovely and calming presence at the bar, who graciously took my order and payment and when I stopped back 45 minutes later, she handed it to me without fuss or muss.
Food ain’t bad either! The Chicken Moo-​Shu and the Phoenix and Dragon (shrimp and chicken with veggies in white sauce) were worth waiting for!

Three stars because the ambience was cool. It’s currently christmas time so they have a christmas tree up and tons of xmas lights, which I love! The place has a Quentin Terantino vibe, and a fun looking bar with fun fruity drinks.
As far as food goes, definitely mediocre. I’d say it’s on the bland side, and the sauce the food is cooked in leaves you feeling very thirsty, this is usually a sign of MSG.
Food wise its just ok, but I did enjoy the vibe for my particular dinning experience.

Family and I were in nearby Belmont Park and looking for a place to grab dinner. Chinese food was the consensus among the group and this was the closes place.
There is much better chinese food to have at other places.
House Special Lo Mein — greasy and mostly noodles. hardly any meat or veggies at all.
Crispy Honey Chicken — chicken was dry and overcooked.
Mongolian Beef — also very greasy
Buddha’s Feast — this was pretty decent. vegetables were cooked just right and sauce was good.
Honey Walnut Shrimp — too much sauce!
Parking — There is a small lot adjacent to the restaurant with marked spaces. Take not the number of your parking space, grab a ticket from the restaurant and place is the slot corresponding with your parking spot.

I’ve been there many times. I never had any problems with parking.
The cocktails are sinfully good. Order a Zombie or Suffering Bastard while you wait for your food. Then you’ll see what I mean. Or share a Volcano. These are serious cocktails and have A LOT of alcohol in them. Two of them will turn you into a giggle dispenser for the next few hours.
It’s a good old Chinese restaurant.
I love their Szechuan, Kung Pao and Sweet and Pungent Shrimp.
3 winners for you.
Good old Hot and Sour Soup. Shrimp rangoons.
Birthday party there tomorrow. It’s on! :)

I love this place! Amazing drinks and food! Definitely the best Chinese food in San Diego

I had the Broccoli Chicken to go. This was some of the most tasteless food i’ve ever eaten. Not just Chinese food but ANY food. Maybe they don’t use MSG or something but it tasted so bland I thought they made a mistake.
UPDATE: I called and complained about the taste. The Woman said she would make me a new dish if I came in. Since it was late and I was famished, I declined and ate the poorly made original. She did say that they don’t use MSG on the Broccoli Chicken. Sadly that may explain the lack of taste. Points for offering a new dish but the original was so bad it’s impossible to rectify my original one star. Also there are similar reviews about their take out with one star so my rating remains the same. Methinks I won’t return.

I come here for one thing and one thing only. Sweet and pungent shrimp!
Expeditious service and wait staff are friendly.

I don’t know why I keep trying new places in PB — most of them are terrible just like China Inn. We came here one afternoon and ordered their lunch specials. My scallops with broccoli was drowned in a thick, white sauce (yup) so I wasn’t able to really taste anything else but the sauce. The fried rice was completely stale. The soup was overly salty. I was craving chow fun, but they don’t serve that here. =(
On the other hand, other patrons in the restaurant seemed to be regulars and really enjoyed their food — but I guess that’s a preference difference. This place definitely caters more to Americanized Chinese food fans. The owners are Chinese, but the dishes are definitely not anywhere near authentic.