Noble Chef

I am a born-​and-​raised Cantonese and I would say the Cantonese food here is the best in town.
The food is perfectly seasoned-​I appreciate it because of it is what Cantonese food is all about.
The service is very good, definitely better many Chinese restaurants and even some American restaurants.
The only down side is the price, like in many reviews. It is overpriced if you are used to the price of Chinese food in LA.

Bunch of co-​workers took the January birthday peeps out for lunch and Noble Chef was the destination. They managed to fit 12 people in the round table which was pretty tight. The food was ok. A couple of the dishes were overly salty but other dishes such as the duck and veggies were excellent. A bit on the pricey side for what you get so it may be best to order family style. Service was good and the food came out prompt.
Note: 2 credit card max per check. We had a large party who paid with cash and 4 credit cards. They made an exception this one time.

Wonderful Peking duck, tofu, beef and cabbage. The staffs there are very kind and atmosphere is wonderful. Typical Chinese dishes.

i was told that this place is worth a try if you’re absolutely craving for decent chinese food but don’t want to drive up to LA for good chinese food.
Came here on Sunday for lunch and they have lunch special menu offer for customers. I ordered a Wonton Mein because it was cold that day, definitely needed for some hot soupy noodles. And of course i ordered a beef chow fun (which is my control dish to see if they can make it good).
Wonton Mein comes with 6 wontons and a handful of noodles — portion wise is good (filling for one person) and the price for lunch special is $ 7+ which i think is a bit too expensive. However i need to remind myself that i’m in san diego, not LA. The broth was heavy in chicken broth; that was all i can taste. The wontons were not bad, they were a good size of wonton, the taste is edible. it’s not gross nor is it excellent — it was just okay. But the whole dish itself was not the same i’m used to eating. It didn’t have that rich cantonese style wonton broth flavor that’s made with dried flounder, pork bones, and dried shrimp. It was literally chicken broth. The noodles were not the same as i was used to as well, the color of the egg noodles were SUPER yellow. again, i’m being too picky… overall it was just an okay bowl of wonton mein in which i probably won’t need to order again but at the same time i won’t mind eating it again if someone had given me a bowl of it.
As for the beef chow fun — hmm. to me it was rather small (portion wise). The flavor was bland, it needed more soysauce for sure. The dish was loaded with onions and bean sprouts with very little rice noodles and beef. Again, they can do much better. The main reason i ordered this is to see if there’s «wok hey» in it — that firey /​hot wok flavor as they toss those ingredients into the wok. Nope, not there. yes it was hot but it didn’t stand out. But i did note that they didn’t burnt the noodles. Some places i’ve tried in SD, there’s a burnt flavor which is a big no no for me.
We also ordered a combination plate lunch with the choice of CharSiu (bbq pork) and Siu Yuk (roasted pork) — to me both were not the best. The bbq pork looked so different! where’s that honey glazed? where’s that bits of burnt crusty goodness of the bbq pork? it looked like they did bbq it and then sliced up and reheat. The roast pork, thin cut. i was expecting a big cube like chunk of meat with super crispy skin. The skin was so pale, it wasn’t the usual dark brown crispy golden color. yes it was crispy but it was just not the same. THe taste was lacking too — i didn’t taste the 5 spice flavor.
The restaurant is clean and the service is good. the waiters there speak english, mandarin and cantonese. Would i come back? probably. given the lack of choices in SD, this restaurant is decent enough for me to go back and order other dishes. i just hope they improve their cooking skills and amp up that flavor! dont be afraid to add more flavor!!! it is much needed.

Best Hong Kong BBQ is San Diego for sure !! Roasted Dark and Roasted Pork Belly is the best. Besides bbq, French style beef is tender and juicy. All the dishes are above average although the price is a little high

I’ve tried several Chinese restaurants in SD so far. And Noble Chef probly the best Chinese restaurant inSD. highly recommend their BBQ pork

Still awesome. Shrimp pumpkin taro braised in a light coconut infused broth.

What a hidden gem!
It’s not fancy, but the food is wonderful. No, it’s not cheap, as one other reviewer mentioned; however, the highest quality ingredients are used and everything is cooked to order and served piping hot.
The waiters are very attentive and the portions are large. We took home enough leftovers to make another complete meal.
I’ll definitely be back.

Living in San Diego, it is so hard to find the best Chinese food joint. I gave so many a shot and this being one.
I ordered four items:
Shrimp fried rice
Honey walnut shrimp
Salt and pepper pork chops
Bbq pork
All for $ 60. (Soooo overpriced)
They charged me for shrimp and bacon fried rice when I ordered just shrimp fried rice and cost about 14 – 16 I believe. Then the honey walnut shrimp I was told, would feed 3 people which is why it’s 16 – 17. No, it didn’t :(then the pork chops were too salty. Lastly, the bbq pork tasted like ham and was not good at all. It was chewy and the insides didn’t look cooked at all.
Would I recommend this to a friend? No
Should they update their menu online? Yes
I went there thinking it was updated which is why I ordered so many but ended up being surprised with my bill.

Its impossible to get their infamous turnip cakes :(i tried three times :(first time i found out they were only available during lunch, second time the table behind us ordered the last one, third time called in and they just said WE DONT HAVE THE TURNIP CAKE! Ive tried the other dishes like the scallop and beans the bbq chicken and pork and chow fun with shrimp and was not impressed by anything they had there. I am not planning to come back.

Best ever!!! Amazing waiters, great food!!! A little pricey, but it’s all worth it!!!

This place changed hand and now under a new owner. It was the same again. No more good stir fry, and no more tasty ginger oil chicken.
Menu has changed to be your normal American Chinese restaurant like everywhere else. One time my friend ordered a stir fried noodle (chow mein) and they bring out the pan fried noodle. When we ask about the order, the waiter told us that was the stir fried noodle. Then I ask him whats the difference between stir fried and pan fried, he said he cannot answer that… In short, customer service is non-​existent.

Authentic Cantonese food apparently. Fried rice was great, so was a lot of other stuff. A little pricey though.

Came here for a late lunch. Hubby wanted to try this place out. As we enter, we were seated right away.
I noticed the waiters, mostly guys, were dressed in black slacks and white collared shirts. Nice touch. We were given oolong hot tea which I am a fan of. The place was pretty pricey for three items. We got slices of honey bbq pork, pieces of duck and pork with the skin which was very thin. The pork pieces were mostly fat. Everything on the dish was greasy. I drank the oolong tea to wash down the grease but ugh. I don’t like eating greasy food as it clogs your arteries. The egg rolls were filled with veggies. I did not care for them. The chicken wings were good but I can taste the old frying oil on the chicken. We were served a cup of steamed white rice. I did not even get a refill on my water. They serve the sodas by the can as they don’t have a soda fountain. How cheap.
The service was okay. I wish the waiter would have refilled my water. I was thirsty. I guess our waiter could tell when we were done. I really wanted to like this place but they give you so little for an expensive price. I might as well be eating somewhere else for the same price. I don’t think I will return after having consumed so much grease.

This is my favorite restaurant, and I was super excited to find out they now have delivery. Good for my taste buds, but bad for my wallet. I order off their menu at least twice a week now. The sweet and sour chicken and mongolian beef are just incredible. The portion sizes are huge. I always have enough for lunch the next day.

Location:
It’s in the same location as the ihop. The complex next to CVS. You can enter from the street in the back.
Décor:
Traditional Hong Kong style restaurant. It doesn’t have the white table cloth, but the waiters are in dress shirts and they food comes out really quick.
Food & Drinks:
We got 5 dishes total (my chinese is terrible so my friends had to order). We got Chicken and corn soup, Fish fillets in black bean sauce, combination seafood clay pot, beef and snap peas, and green beans with garlic. These all sound very plain because that’s what was written in english so I stuck with that. The food was great though. Like most chinese places, the food is oily so drink lots of tea!
On a side note the pricing is extremely weird here. The vegetable dishes are insanely expensive ($ 13+), but some of the meat dishes are like $ 11-​$ 12. I would give this place a 5 if it wasn’t so expensive. Apparently, the portion sizes have shrunk too, but I didn’t dock any points because its my first time.
Chī de kāixīn w de péngyu (Happy eating my friends)!
(Sorry if I messed up the Chinese!)

I’m finally deciding to write a review after coming to the «new» Noble Chef about 4 – 5 times.
For the sake of comparison, the «old» Noble Chef was a modest establishment that served decent quality Cantonese/​HK food with a home cooking feel. It was run by a Cantonese/​Vietnamese family, and what made it good was really the modest prices and the portion/​taste of the food. The restaurant used to feel like a hole in the wall kind of place where you could get your quick Canto/​HK style food fix for a low price.
With the new one, they kept the English name and changed the Chinese name. I don’t know if the owner is from HK, but now it definitely gives off an HK style diner feel with it’s refined interior and employees in their white shirts and black ties.
The times I’ve been here have all been hits and misses. They only offer those classic fried noodles and soup noodles types of foods during lunch. Dinner portions are sorta small and ok tasting. Overall though, it is expensive for what it is, given that the only other «cheap» HK style diner competitors in SD are Sam Woo in 99 Ranch and A Café next to Tap Ex.
The main reason I’m giving it a 2 is because of what happened today. I ordered Beef Lo Mein, which is a dry noodle dish, and they got my order wrong with another type of noodle soup. They later brought out the «Lo Mein» but it was obviously the same soup noodles with the soup taken out now just on a plate.
I was with my grandfather who’s one of the best Cantonese cooks I know and he ended up mildly telling off the cook for mocking him with the dish and making him look like a fool who wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
If we weren’t in the US, I’m sure the waiter would have argued with my grandpa but given the fact that we’re in SD and not HK he just ended up taking it off our bill.
That was nice of him but given the spotty feel I get from this place I don’t think I will come here again after this.
In conclusion, this place is expensive, food takes forever to come out and just tastes ok, and in general it’s inconsistent in service.
Go to Sam Woo instead if you want HK style food.

New, remodeled, and quite different.
Nice lights, tables and a more quiet environment. Drove all the way from SDSU to here.
Disappointed of the change. Last time I came here it was still the old people.
Came in with one ignorant waiter who could not get my order right even when I repeated it 3x.
Can you get my order right. Or nah.
Next I get hot tea in the hot weather (92 degrees) then requested two waters.
First water forgot to bring them so a second waiter was called to get our water after 10mins…
Jesus how long does it take for some water.
Waiters who love to talk shit too.
Water of my wonton soup is so bland.
Never will I order this again…
Sigh bring the old place back!
Good presentation for shitty tasting food!

Lunch special here is a fantastic deal with most dishes coming in under $ 10!
I love all of their noodle dishes, especially their beef chow fun. It’s not too oily, and their beef is awsomely tender. If you like crispy noodles check out their seafood crispy noodles.
Other than their lunch specials, they have the best roast duck in Convoy, beating out Sam Woo by light years, and Sieu Sieu BBQ by miles. The duck has a ton of meat, and doesn’t taste gamey at all.
Dinner is on the pricey side, more in line with what you would see at a big chinese restaurant like Golden City.

Came here on a random night with a party of six. Noticed it was remodeled and new staff. I asked if it was the same owner and they told me it wasn’t. The menu is completely different but I wasn’t mad.
They were able to seat us right away which I was surprised because it looked like a full house in this tiny place. We took the bigger back table and was served free appetizers right away.
The menu was a pretty big selection so we kept it simple with the family meal for six. This included beef fried rice, bean curd with intestines, tofu and shrimp soup, house chicken, pork belly, house special shrimp, steamed lettuce, and daily dessert. The daily dessert for today was cantaloupe.
The food took a while to come out but the appetizers kept us busy. I don’t like tofu but I really liked the tofu and shrimp soup. It was almost like an egg drop soup with those two items added in it. The bean curd and intestine came out on a small pan over fire and I can’t say I loved it, but it was something new to try. Pork belly is always good but I loved the crispy skin on it. House chicken was like any chicken dish but the side sauce was delish. The house special shrimp was battered and deep fried. The shrimp was big and juicy top with tons of garlic which was soo good. Have to say I enjoyed that the most. The beef fried rice was nothing special of any other fried rice. And the cantaloupe was… well, cantaloupe.
I gave it four stars because the daily dessert was just cut up cantaloupe. I was kinda excited to see what else they had since the rest of the food was pretty amazing.
All in all I liked it and I think i’ll be coming back. Good food, great service, and the price was reasonable for the family meal.