The Essence of China

This is a great local spot owned by a local family. Our kids love Chinese food and we have never been disappointed here. We enjoy the «Family» dinner you order by number of people. We always have tons of leftovers and the food is super fresh and flavorful. Really nice people and good service. And… they deliver locally in West Linn!

Amazing food!!! Get the family style #1 for 2… Yum Yum. Friendly and polite staff… New Fav place

We are new in the area from Los Angeles and tried other Chinese restaurants in the area but Essence of China was the first place we were impressed with. Thank you Unilocal reviewers! We ordered pineapple chicken and beef chow fun to go just to try this place out. They were so good that we are going to go back with my brother and sister-​in-​law. Even the fortune cookies were good and the people were extremely nice.

The place is very solid. 6.75 for a lunch special is very cheap. Plus you get tea and hot and sour soup with it. The soup was very good. If imin the area again i will definitely stop by.

When you walk in and they act annoyed that you’re there because it’s busy… no thanks. Walked out! Girl up front should be fired.

I ate here last weekend & was initially excited that they could deliver after 9pm. Unfortunately the food wasn’t good. I ordered the salt & pepper squid & a combination plate that came with Chow Mein, almond chicken, fried rice, sweet n sour chicken & egg foo yong. The chow Mein had no flavor & didn’t have any noodles. I truly hate this version of chow Mein & wish they let it be know the only noodles are the crunchy dried ones you put on top. The egg foo yong was cold & had a strange tasting gravy. They delivered salt n pepper shrimp, not the salt n pepper squid I ordered. The shrimp was soggy just like the sweet n sour chicken. Sucks when you order something battered & fried & you get a mushy consistency in each bite vs the crunch. Almond chicken was okay but not very flavorful. I would’ve given one star if they hadn’t delivered the food. I won’t be back unless I ate inside the restaurant to where the to go containers wouldn’t have a chance to change the texture of the fried food.

I’ve eaten here twice. First time we dined in with friends who recommended the place. Second time take out. Pictured are the take-​out items.
For a neighborhood Chinese-​American restaurant it is a solid 3 stars. The ingredients are fresh, seasoning is usually on the money (some items can be a bit salty — from overuse of salt not of soy sauce but this is the exception) and the service is friendly and efficient.
I’m upping it to 4 stars because they’ll let me order off menu and they do their best to make it. It makes me think that their limited menu is just a starting point so if you have some favorites, you should request it. Couldn’t hurt.
Here’s what I had so far.
Dining in:
–Orange chicken — real dried orange peels add a nice sour/​bitterness to an otherwise sweet dish
–Shrimp with walnuts — sweet and rich
Our friends ordered the 2 above dishes. While I don’t usually order them, it was a good chance to indulge the taste buds and waistline.
–Beef chow fun with wet sauce — very tender beef with wide rice noodles similar to pappardelle
–Chicken with green beans — hubby ordered as a nod to his efforts to eat healthy. The chicken was tender and flavorful and the green beans were perfectly cooked.
Take out dishes:
–Beef chow fun (came with dry sauce) — I forgot to specify wet sauce and the default dry sauce was okay but not as good
— Mu shu pork — another of hubby’s faves. It had more cabbage than I’m used to but it was good. Wish we could get more than 3 pancakes.
–Salt n pepper prawns — a bit too salty but the shrimp was cooked perfectly tender. It was batter fried, which was a surprise. I’ve had it dried fried elsewhere. Next time I’ll ask if they can prepare it that way.
–Fish fillet with ginger and onions — also batter fried with a light sauce. The fish pieces were big and satisfying — great to literally sink your teeth into so I didn’t mind too much that it was batter fried.
–Singapore style fried rice noodles — off-​menu item. Its a dry yellow curry noodle dish with pork (and shrimp but not included here) with vegetables that most Singaporeans will deny knowing. I don’t know why the Chinese call it Singaporean. I guess it suffers the same identity crisis as French fries.
With not a lot of Chinese restaurants near us, I am grateful that EOC is willing to make off menu items and be very accomodating. I’m looking forward to more fully exploring their menu.
By the way, I had a
discount for the take-​out but I think its a great value even without it.

Wow! What fabulous and authentic food. Trust me. We’re Asian and known rice snobs as well as like our food authentic, not «Americanized» like strawberry jello mixed with ketchup for the sweet and sour sauce at most standard Chinese places. This place recommends and offers off menu items to die for! The crispy eggplant was incredible! The best I have ever had and my new favorite dish. The rice was not your standard dried flakes but moist and flavorful. Fung Chow (also off menu) another to die for item, with broad and rice noodles mixed with fresh yummy veggies and your choice of meat. Kung Pao… another fabulous dish! Portions so huge, the five us us couldn’t finish them and were more than happy to take it home. The wait staff is quick and friendly as well as attentive. No more looking for a good Chinese place in Portland for us! Highly recommended!!!

What a gem! I didn’t expect to find really good Chinese food in a little suburb, but the food was great. I highly recommend the won ton soup and the hot and spicy eggplant. The staff are very friendly as well.

We ordered pork fried rice, general tso’s chicken, chicken and seafood combo and chicken lo mein entrees. A few different entrees tasted like they were cooked in beef bouillon and none of them were beef. The chicken and seafood combo was loaded with celery and onion with the odd pea and carrot here and there. If you like celery and onion, you might like that entrée. I picked out the meat and nibbled on that but the texture was kinda… slimy? The lo mein, although unusually dark, was the only thing I could tolerate. General Tso’s was also unusually dark, it appeared burnt although didn’t taste it; maybe they just needed to change their fry oil? I’m not sure if I couldn’t get around the dark look of it or if I truly didn’t care for their batter/​cook method. Also ordered crab puffs and the won ton wrappers tasted doughy and undercooked and there was barely any filling inside, they went to the trash immediately. I almost wonder if they used egg rolls wrappers and not won ton wrappers? Idk, they weren’t right though! I’ve given 2 stars because this place came highly recommended and maybe they were having an off night. If I ever go back, I’ll update my review. After this experience I was told to try their lemon or sweet n sour chicken so we’ll see!

A very good Chinese place is very hard to find. Have eaten here a couple of times… The owner is absolutely willing to please. The wait staff has been also great! Great help in creating a dish that meets your wants… And they also deliver! I am not just stuck with pizza any longer. I strongly recommend that you give this place a try!

Always good food and good service. Sat outside and thoroughly enjoyed the sun. I highly recommend this place.

Best Chinese food I’ve ever had how many places Chinese cooking all the food has different flavors and they make their own fried pork. Highly recommend this restaurant, you will not find a better place here in Oregon.

The BEST Chinese Food ever!
Family owned. The couple has worked at the restaurant since they opened.
Obvious pride on the food preparation, serving and flavor. Customer service and care. Politeness and kindness from owner and severs.
Magestically delicious combinations of flavors that dance in unison at each bite.
They nailed it! I’m in love with this place! I’m hard to please.
It’s a quaint neighborhood restaurant in West Linn… it’s sooo worth the drive!
Mongolian beef, yum!
Amazing Hot and sour soup!

We used our
coupon and had way to much to eat. We brought a bunch home. We had four different dishes; garlicky shrimp and scallop; tien fu chicken; cashew chicken and crispy egg plant. Each dish was tasteful and different. No mass production here. Our only complaint was that we, got our first three dishes, then the egg plant arrived and finally the rice arrived. We were about finished when it finally arrived. But we have plenty for leftovers and the servers were very pleasant.

Well… Good food. Just service needs to be better. They need to hire more staff that’s all.

Food is great, fresh and hot. This is original Chinese food, not Americanised. Place is small but worth the visit. They have the best fried pork I have ever had. Who ever says the food is bad because they only eat Chinese mall food.

My husband and I have lunch at Essence at least a couple times a month. The Kung Pao has a rich, flavorful sauce and service is always fast and friendly. Soup is always hot and tasty too. We’ve noticed the food tends to be better eaten there rather than for take out; but, maybe that is just the nature of Chinese food? The place isn’t fancy or big, but the food is consistently good and priced lower than other similar Chinese restaurants. It’s a family owned business with a hard-​working server. Try them for lunch!

The staff is attentive and friendly, though service can be a bit slow. The portions are generous. The steamed potstickers are delicious. The sweet and sour chicken was crispy and not over sauced.

Friendly, family run restaurant with huge portions. Food quality & taste are just OK.