Ying Li Restaurant

Amazing. Chinese. Food. Every single time that we’ve eaten here, it never disappoints! We live about 30 minutes away, but we don’t mind driving all the way down to give them our business! We’ve dined in and also have ordered their party trays. Service is always friendly!
Their honey walnut shrimp is unlike any other served in all of San Diego! It comes with fresh, diced apples! So good! Another of my favorites is their beef with broccoli — always piping hot and flavorful. The roast duck is amazing — crispy skin, tender and juicy on the inside and their plum dipping sauce is the best. Salt and Pepper chicken wings are always a favorite — you can never have enough! Fried calamari, cream cheese wontons with sweet and sour dipping sauce, Mongolian beef, house fried rice, shrimp chow mein, BBQ pork — all so yummy. Their menu is extremely extensive, so many choices, so most likely, if you want it, they probably have it.
The prices are typical of Chinese restaurants — very affordable. You would have never known that this hidden, Chinese restaurant in a strip mall near the border would serve such great food. They even serve Boba drinks!
I would definitely recommend this place if you’re ever in the area looking for some delicious Chinese food. I may just have to call in an order for dinner tonight!

First time & last for us. We ordered takeout & really disappointed, BBQ pork appetizer super greasy & nasty looking, chicken with baby corn not good at all, sauce too thick, vegetable chop suey very watery. Surprised to see so many good reviews. Worse Chinese food we’ve ever had.

Surprisingly, it came out as a good experience for us.
Located near San Ysidro, while looking for late night joint on weekend, we found this next to our hotel. This restaurant is quite spacious and service is quick. We had Noodles and fried rice with Crab Rangoon. Would like to mention that the portions are too big and one dish is more than enough for 2.
A decent place to have Chinese food near Mexican Border.

They were pretty packed today but given its. Mothers day I understand there was this one waitress who was very rude when I asked her a very simple question.

I drive from Los Angeles sometimes just to get the spicy chicken lunch plate. Ridiculously good price and awesome tasting food.

This is the best «Comida China» in San Diego. I say «Comida China» because it’s Mexican style Chinese food. If you grew up eating Chinese food in Tijuana you will understand what I mean. Their food is absolutely delicious! It’s fresh and vibrant and is served steaming hot. The service is very attentive and all the ladies are always nice and accommodating. Not to mention that the place is sparkling clean! We live in Rancho Del Rey and the drive down to San Ysidro is definitely worth it despite the fact that we have about a dozen Chinese food restaurants surrounding us within a 5 – 6 mile radius.

Love the breaded shrimp. I saw everyone ordering it one time I came in and decided to try it. I have been visiting almost every payday. The owner is friendly and checks with customers. Good food and fast service!

I come here at least once a week for the lunch specials. Usually $ 6, plenty of food. The taste of the food is really good, quality of the ingredients not the best but it is still a favorite. Chicken is chewy (sometimes rubberish texture). None the less authentic mexican Chinese food, similar to the Chinese food they sell in Tijuana. Clean and consistent.

Order your food. Eat yourself into a coma.
AND you’ll still end up taking more food home than you were able to eat in the restaurant…

Really good Chinese food, prices and great service. I’ve been coming here for the past few years and does not disappoint.

Larger family style Chinese /​Cantonese food with a Mexican twist. This place is busy as hell and predominantly big tables for large groups. Huge menu. Got their signature war won ton soup, salt & pepper wings and an iced tea.
Iced tea comes out first and it’s some instant sweetened garbage. Got me worried. Then comes out the soup and my worries went away. Lots going on in the soup. Very good as a meal on it’s own. Broth is a little bland, but the won tons, pork, beef and vegetables were great. Shrimps were a little sad. The salt & pepper wings are no joke. Looked perfect and they threw on a pound or more of fried rice on the side with a grilled pepper like you get with tacos. Liked the rice but wish there was some sausage or pork to mix it up a little. Wings were perfect. Crispy golden exterior. Perfect temperature with some succulent amazing chicken inside. A little sriracha on these and they’re perfect.
Asked twice for a water, but no deal. This place is too busy. You get fast good food at a killer price, but don’t expect any real service or follow up. They throw the food down. You chow down and then you get up and hit the counter and pay. The best part of this place is hearing the Asian staff speak better Spanish than English.

We order menu for two people it was a lot of food but it was all old the only thing fresh was the salt and pepper chicken wings that we ordered as an appetizer and it was served after the main dish. If you want more soda you have to pay more there’s no refill and if you make faces to the server she will give you attitude from 1 to 10 they are probably 2.

Clásico … Simplemente delicioso y fresco el sazón de la típica comida china de Tijuana o Mexicali muy recomendable

I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by first of all great customer service. When we arrived my party and I where seated right away. We ordered the meal for 2 combo #1 plus a side of beef and broccoli. Our waitress suggested that we could switch the rice noodles for low mein. Which turned out to be a delicious option. We ended up taking the left overs home. Overall great restaurant. If you ever in Ysidro stop by, won’t regret it.

One of the better Chinese restaurant in San Diego. It’s typical American Chinese food but with a Mexican flare because it’s in the heart of San ysidro a Mexican/​Chicano community. All the workers speak Mandarin, Spanish and English just in case you only speak one of the above languages.

Since my local Chinese restaurant closed I have been in the hunt for another place. After looking around I decided to give this place a try, reviews seemed great.
Upon arrival I noticed place was packed. As we sat down the service was quick, friendly waitress’s. We ordered dinner plates, chicken Cantonese was a bit dry but decent, beef lo mein was by far the best, fried BBQ rice was a bit bland but good and the shrimp walnut was good, not too sweet just right.
I have to say this place has been the closest to taste as my favorite Chinese. Could be better, but for service and price it’s worth it.

What I like about this place are the exaggerated big portions they serve.
I also noticed, the set up of their menu, and indeed the portion size are made for the gorging Mexican. Funny thing as well, is to see the Chinese servers talking better Spanish, rather than English.
Kung Pao chicken is what I ordered. I would never go with their mexican style fried rice. Just didn’t seem attractive. I added broccoli, which came out of less than a hand full for an additional 0.75 cents charge.
I wasn’t going to tip, since Europeans usually don’t tip. However, I do but there should be outstanding service given which was not the case. But when I got the bill, the server gave me a pen to sign my receipt, and had his eyes right on top of what I was going to write as tip -,-” Which gave me a pushed feeling, and end up paying a decent tip which didn’t came from my heart.
Whatever, after all the food was ok, due to the portion sizes I was able to eat it as brunch for the next day.

I took a little adventurous ride on San Ysidro Blvd. thinking I would find a mom/​pop Mexican restaurant. My dining partner saw this place as we drove by and she used to know the owner so we stopped in.
I didn’t expect much and thought it would just be another americanized version of chinese food. However I found out that this is actually a Mexicali style restaurant.
Mostly latinos dining there as they like this style of chinese food.
I was actually surprised to see roast duck there so I ordered it $ 12.50.
Also was surprised to see clams in black bean sauce 10.50.
Got one more dish: fish tofu and vegetables for 9.50.
The duck was the biggest surprise. It was decent and better than many places in San Diego and a good portion. More duck than most places that give you a half duck cut up. It was crisp with the skin and not overcooked or dry at all.
The clams with black bean sauce had a lot of clams and the sauce was good with the garlic and black beans.
The tofu and vegetables was good, the vegetables were cooked and left crisp. The tofu was the packaged fried variety. Not a bad dish to complement the other entrees.
Overall this place is really not bad. Good portions, priced reasonably, and decent timing and flavoring on the cooking.
Better than most typical chinese restaurants in San Diego but certainly not on the scale of Emerald, Jasmine, or China Max.
About similar in quality to Beijing Mandarin in Eastlake for a comparison with the Mexicali flavoring.
Surprised me really, not bad almost 4 stars but I am a tough rating guy.

A la vurlta de mi casa. Comida China tipica estilo «Cantones de Tijuana» me gusta que hay lonches por si andas corto de lana. Me disgusta que si pides mas «churritos o refill en la soda» te cobran extra. Ricos chung kung. Pollo cantones y camarones enchilados.

Great spot– We arrived here as a group of 10 at closing time, and were initially concerned that we hadn’t made it. My son had just received his Confirmation at Mt. Carmel, and although it was late, everybody was hungry and thirsty. As we began to pile back into our cars, the owner came out and said «I can’t turn you away– Please come in, and if you don’t mind eating with my staff, we’ll be happy to serve you.» We were shocked but happy, and all sat down. They locked the doors, and proceeded to make 10 of the best Mexican-​Chinese dishes I’ve had outside of Mexicali (if either of those references are lost on you, this may be the wrong spot). Hot and fresh, bubbling with flavor and spices, the dishes kept coming out, and despite the staff eating and alternately leaving to go home, they continued to serve us like kings. I was stunned– What good people. It was surreal– We ate in a lively atmosphere with the off-​duty cooks and wait staff, them at one long table and us at another, with locked doors and amazing food. It was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had as a foodie in my life.
STAFF– THANK YOU SO MUCH, FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS– Your people were the kindest and most skilled I’ve seen in a while, and although I don’t live close by, I will come back soon. Thanks so much– You made my son’s night!

This is the best Chinese food I’ve had in SD, it’s more like Mexican Chinese. And the prices are good & there portions are very big! I’ve been coming here since I was a kid & they have really done a good job on fixing this place up, it looks real nice. The staff is friendly. It can be a little slow when it’s busy but for the most part the workers are friendly. The chicken Cantonese is on point very good! And I love how they know Spanish better then me & I’m Mexican! My whole fam loves it here. Everyone has there fav dish, mine is the «Duck soup» with noodles with no bones & a side of white rice it’s on point! I love it! And there portion is good even when it’s to go there portions are big! Been coming here for 25 years & I’ll continue to come, great FOOD!

Stopped by here at about 8:30 pm on a Saturday (a couple of weeks ago) for a late dinner after coming back from a trip to Mexico. It took 2 hours to cross the US-​Mexico border which made us tired and hungry. Found this Chinese restaurant on the Unilocal mobile app which was sill opened and decided to give it a try.
Most, if not all the customers were Hispanic, which wasn’t surprising at all. The menu was in Spanish and English. (That’s right, I put Spanish first.) Totally understandable based on the demographic here. There were only 4 Chinese characters on the menu — the name of the restaurant in Chinese. Don’t get me wrong though, the interior decorations definitely make you feel like you are in a Chinese restaurant, if that’s where you want to be. And let’s not forget the staff.
The foods here are, of course, Americanized and Mexicanized/​Hispanicized. We ordered fried rice, green leafy vegetable and soup. The portions were pretty huge and they tasted pretty good. There was also a free appetizer before the main course. I forgot what it was though. It was something crispy…
The owner was very nice. While we didn’t pay too much attention, I think he went to every table to greet his customers and to make sure everything was alright. A lot of customers seemed to be repeat/​return customers.
The owner did come to our table as well and we had a very nice conversation. He told us that he had been here for more than a decade already and knew a lot of his customers.
The staff was nice as well and attentive to our needs. They didn’t have their own late dinner until like 9:30 pm.
By the time we were leaving, the restaurant was about to close and some of the staff had already left. A couple came, who knew the owner, asked him if they could still order something to go. The owner said yes and joked that he would only do this for them. He definitely cares about the relationship between him and his customers.
We probably won’t be here again for at least some time because we don’t live nearby. However, we had a memorable experience and we are glad that we came.

Mi lugar favorito de comida china, me encanta encontrar la consistencia en la comida y aquí siempre encuentro el mismo sazón, lo recomiendo ampliamente, por varias razones; esta muy limpio, la comida riquísima, los precios razonables y muy buen servicio. Cualquier platillo que pida estara muy sabroso, por mencionar algunos de mis favoritos: camarón cantones, pollo kung pao, chop suey con camarones.