This Scripps Ranch establishment offers a wide range of traditional Hunan specialties, along with comfort food favorites like shrimp fried rice. The fish fillet with pickled vegetables topped with sliced hot peppers and scallions along with the tender beef and broccoli are popular. Another popular item is the marinated lamb with cumin, served on a sizzling iron plate to keep the meat piping hot and crispy. 

This Mira Mesa establishment has undergone a revival with Chinese banquet specialties, dim sum, and regular jazz performances and recently expanded with a second Chinese restaurant, Diamond Palace, in the College Area. Its all-day dim sum includes all the greatest hits, like pork siu mai and shrimp har gow dumplings; expect lines for weekend dim sum but they take reservations for parties of eight or more. 

This traditional Chinese restaurant in Sorrento Valley is popular among the lunchtime tech crowd and families who’ve been coming for years. The fish fillet in hot and spicy gravy is scrumptious and can be ordered with beef as well. The dry sauteed string beans are crunchy and tender on the inside. Chef Gao’s Special Tofu is a scrumptious mix of firm tofu and jalapenos, covered in a tangy sauce. On the weekends, the restaurant serves a Northern Chinese dim sum menu of soup dumplings and Jingdu pork pancakes. 

The UTC outpost of this hugely-popular chain specializes in a personalized, entertaining customer experience. To start, the server prepares a bowl of soup for each diner to taste; you can choose up to four bases for your table, from Sichuan spicy to tomato soup. The Dancing Noodle dish is hand-pulled at your table by an expert noodle master, dressed in a traditional Chinese costume with a face-changing mask. 

Branching out from Los Angeles, the noodle joint focuses on provincial dishes not commonly found in many Chinese restaurants. House-made noodles are found in the cold liangpi noodles and hot spicy wonton noodle soups. Their Guilin noodle soup (named after the picturesque Chinese city with looming mountains above pristine lakes) is a favorite with generous portions of tender beef shank, pickled vegetables, and lily flowers.

This fast-casual establishment, located in the 99 Ranch shopping plaza, offers quick buffet-style dishes along with the highly recommended homestyle Hong Kong dishes cooked to order in their kitchen. Along with their roast duck and barbeque spare rib dishes, their shrimp with scrambled eggs is a Cantonese specialty that leaves you craving for more.

This longstanding restaurant in Kearny Villa serves a wide range of dishes, from seafood to sizzling beef with black pepper sauce. Popular favorites include Peking duck and shrimp with honey-glazed walnuts as well as whole steamed fish and lettuce wraps filled with minced chicken.

The Hong Kong-style eatery on Convoy Street gives customers plenty of options for seafood and roast meat specialties. The roast pork belly is a standout with crunchy crispy skin combined with tender, juicy meat. Another popular favorite is the lobster, cooked as you like it: ginger and scallion, pepper garlic, or salt and pepper with butter. The add-on noodles round out the entree to balance the aromatic flavors.

This homegrown popular Convoy Street establishment focuses on comfort cuisine. It’s hard to go wrong with any variation of the tasty morsels of dumplings on offer; boiled, steamed, or pan-fried are all good choices. Choose a drink from their extensive list of craft beers, whiskeys, or cocktails, like Mule in a China Shop, from the adjoining 1920s-style Shanghai Saloon.

One of the iconic mainstays in San Diego, Jasmine’s longstanding reputation as the flagship Chinese restaurant on Convoy Street is well deserved. Its spacious dining area fits the bill for large groups, banquets, and steaming dim sum with rolling carts. Dim sum highlights include seared taro cake and sweet rice wrapped in lotus leaf. Try the elaborate chef specialties like sweet-and-sour rock cod filet and Peking duck. 

Chinese Uyghur dishes come from the Xinjiang province where Chinese Muslims have combined a mix of Chinese and Turkish flavors in their homestyle cooking. They only serve halal meats, and their lamb is especially aromatic and tender. Try the Uyghur kebabs or the Uyghur plov — a subtle rice dish simmered in a cauldron of broth and topped with stir-fried meat mixed with carrots and onions. The hand-pulled Laghman noodles are springy and scrumptious, especially in the spicy fried noodles made with housemade spicy chili oil that you can purchase in jars to take home. 

The Convoy Street restaurant has been on the strip for nearly a decade, serving up traditional dishes along with modern favorites. Standouts include the beef with king mushrooms and dried red pepper chicken, made with small morsels of crispy chicken thighs spiked with scallions and hot Szechuan peppers.

The Shanxi region in northern China is known for its knife-cut noodles and vinegary flavors, and this establishment stays true to the traditional cooking methods. With a toothsome, bouncy texture, the house-made noodles are what make this spot special. Biang biang spicy hand-ripped noodles is the star dish, and can be ordered with spicy cumin lamb or beef brisket. 

This longtime staple in the Little Saigon district has been dishing up traditional Chinese-Vietnamese cuisine since 2004. The same owner, rhef Phat Vuong, runs Dumpling Inn and Shanghai Saloon on Convoy Street with his two daughters. Favorites at Minh Ky include wonton noodle soup and roast duck noodle soup, chock-full of protein and homemade egg noodles with scallions and chives in a bony broth.