The Absolute Best Chinese Food In The US

Pop quiz: are there more Chinese food or McDonald's restaurants in the United States? If you guessed the latter, you'd be wrong — way wrong. There are over 45,000 Chinese food restaurants in the U.S. today, according to the Chinese American Restaurant Association (via BBC). McDonald's has just a fraction of that with roughly 13,200 stores (via ScrapeHero). In fact, if you combined all McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's U.S. locations together, it'd still be well short of the total number of Chinese restaurants in America.

While the abundance of Chinese restaurants is great news for anyone with taste buds and an appetite, it does make narrowing down the best of the bunch a tall order. But that's why we're here! From the big coastal cities of New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to tucked-away hidden gems in Vermont, Arkansas, and Montana, here's where you will find the absolute best Chinese food in the United States.

Opened in 1920 as a tea parlor and bakery, Nom Wah Tea Parlor is the oldest restaurant in New York City's Chinatown (via The New Yorker). You'll get that sense when you walk into a dining room that appears decidedly dated. But the aesthetic is a design choice, and if it's good enough for the Met Gala, which hosted a pre-party there at Nom Wah in 2015, it should be good enough for the rest of us.

Once you sit down to eat at this legendary dim sum outpost, you will quickly see that the restaurant is thoroughly modern — and the food utterly delicious. Unlike many dim sum establishments, Nom Wah Tea Parlor does not roll carts of food around the dining room floor. Instead, guests order a la carte, the way Hong Kong restaurants operate today (via New York Magazine). Speaking of ordering, according to New York Magazine, Nom Wah Tea Parlor has some of the best dumplings and dim sum in the New York, no small feat in a city with a thriving Chinatown neighborhood. Another must-order dish is the original "OG" egg roll, prepared with an egg crepe wrapper and vegetable filling that includes a touch of Shaoxing wine (via Thrillist). The end result is a bright, crispy, delicious egg roll unlike any you'll get at your local takeout joint.

When you think of Chinese food, you likely do not think of Burlington, Vermont. But hidden away in the Green Mountain State is one of the absolute best Chinese restaurants in the country: A Single Pebble. Chef and owner Chiuho Sampson grew up in Taipei, left a career in photojournalism to enroll in culinary school, and eventually settled in Burlington, where she opened her critically acclaimed restaurant. By combining authentic Chinese ingredients imported from New York City's Chinatown (via Gayot) with locally grown and sourced products, Sampson recreates the traditional Chinese food of her childhood with a slight New England twist. 

The highlight of Sampson's menu is the mock eel, which is actually a plate of deep-fried shiitake mushrooms. Celebrity chef Alton Brown raved about the dish on Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate," claiming it could keep him a vegetarian. Other standout offerings, according to Gayot, include the ginger eggplant, tangerine-peel chicken, crispy sesame beef, and mapo tofu (fresh bean curd, minced pork, and chili peppers served with a spicy Sichuan sauce). What's on the plate is just one part of the Single Pebble dining experience, however. To best create the familiar nature the restaurant was founded upon, all meals are served family-style and guests are asked to silence their cell phones.

If you're looking to set your taste buds aflame with flavor and spice, book a table at Chengdu Taste and thank us later. The Southern California hotspot (which also has a location in Las Vegas) specializes in Sichuan cuisine, which is known for its liberal use of a type of fiery peppercorn that turns the heat level up to 11 (via The Infatuation). But at Chengdu Taste, that heat is served side-by-side with an intense amount of flavor that will make any tongue singe well worth it.

According to many experts, the restaurant's pièce de résistance menu item is the toothpick lamb, a heaping pile of cumin-rubbed lamb bits, each speared with their own toothpick. Eater LA loves the plate so much they named it one of the essential meat dishes in all of Los Angeles, as well as the single best plate of food in the restaurant's San Gabriel Valley neighborhood.

But lamb is just the start. Unlike the Americanized Chinese food at your local takeout place, Chengdu Taste serves up some authentic Sichuan dishes like rabbit, frog legs, and mung bean jelly. If the heat and these meats have you a little apprehensive, fear not. Chengdu Taste's extensive menu is fit for all taste preferences.

The oldest continuously operating Chinese restaurant in the United States has to be in New York City, San Francisco, or Los Angeles, right? Not quite. Believe it or not, that particular Chinese eatery is in a town you'd never expect, one located closer to Canada than any of those major American cities: Butte, Montana. Pekin Noodle Parlor opened in Butte over a century ago and hasn't slowed down since.

Butte might seem worlds away from the popular Chinatowns of the East and West Coasts, but serving as home to a historic Chinese restaurant shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. According to the National Park Service, Chinese immigrants began moving to the region in the late 1800s to work in mining. In 1911, businessman Hum Yow, a first-generation American, founded Pekin Noodle Parlor and it's been family-owned ever since. Today the restaurant is run Jerry Tam, whose father Danny purchased the establishment from his great uncle in the 1950s, according to Only In Your State.

Pekin Noodle Parlor isn't just a tourist attraction, it's a legitimate culinary destination — after all, you don't stay in business that long by serving bad food. The historic restaurant is best known for its wide array of chop suey offerings. Other fan-favorite menu dishes include sweet and sour shrimp, pork fried rice, and noodles, according to CBS. As if all this wasn't impressive enough, Pekin Noodle Parlor's hospitality has been recognized by the James Beard Foundation.

The first thing that jumps out at you about Pagoda restaurant isn't the food, it's the location — the Chinese restaurant is in North Pole. No, that's not the site of Santa's workshop at the top of the globe, but rather the tiny Alaskan town found on the outskirts of Fairbanks.

Pagoda is a downright trek to get to if you live in the continental United States, but the food is so good that Guy Fieri journeyed to Alaska not once but twice to feature the Chinese restaurant on his hit show "Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives." The spiky-haired chef was particularly fond of the Alaskan king crab legs with ginger, walnut shrimp, and black peppery Pagoda Steak. Those are just some of the highlights, as Pagoda's vast menu has dishes for everyone. There are familiar items like sesame chicken, beef and broccoli, and crab Rangoon. Then there are some restaurant specialties including Shanghai velvet shrimp, mussels in black bean sauce, and shrimp and chicken Peking style.

If after all this, you're still disappointed to not be visiting the "real" North Pole, you're in luck. The town of North Pole celebrates Christmas all year long. You'll find holiday decorations up throughout town and even a Santa Claus House attraction. Did we mention Pagoda is located on Santa Claus Lane?

Lao Sze Chuan opened in 1998 as a standalone restaurant in the Chinatown district of Chicago. It has since grown to include locations throughout Illinois, as well as Connecticut and Minnesota. Clearly, the restaurant is doing something right.

Lao Sze Chuan specializes in Sichuan cooking, a type of cuisine originating from China's Sichuan Province that is known for its high heat and spice levels (via Serious Eats). And Lao Sze Chuan offers an impressive sampling of the cuisine with a dizzyingly immense menu. Within it, you'll find plenty of spicy dishes, the perfect antidotes for braving the Chicago cold. In fact, Eater Chicago ranked Lao Sze Chuan's three chili chicken dish as one of the best in the city for doing just that.

As an authentic Chinese restaurant, Lao Sze Chuan offers a number of meats typically not found on American menus. Pig kidneys and ears, frogs, and pork intestines are all there, ready to be ordered. Whether you stick with the familiar or try something new, your meal at Lao Sze Chuan is bound to impress. The restaurant has been recognized by the likes of the Michelin Guide, Travel & Leisure, Zagat, Time Out Chicago, and the Chicago Tribune, just to name a few.

Southern cooking is known for its fried chicken, shrimp and grits, gumbo — the hits go on and on. We might soon need to add dumplings to that list because there's a fast-casual Chinese restaurant down in Little Rock, Arkansas getting people's attention.

Three Fold opened in 2015 as the brainchild of mother-daughter team Lisa Zhang and Rebecca Yan (via The Rock Soiree). The restaurant's beauty is how it has distilled a complex Chinese cuisine into a decidedly straightforward menu. "Turning a fine cuisine into a fast-casual menu item isn't easy," Yan told The Rock Soiree. "We want to provide quick service without jeopardizing the quality and carefulness in handling each dish." To keep this balance, all of the dishes, including the dumplings, are made from scratch using traditional methods. On the other hand, there aren't that many items to choose from — Three Fold's menu includes nine "bowl" options, almost all centered around dumplings, noodles, or steamed buns. "Our menu is based off of this traditional, daily food consumed by people in Northern China," Zhang said. "We've kept the traditional flavors but have invented a new work/service flow and threw in a few business secrets in the mix."

The secrets are working as Three Fold has been a hit. "To be honest, it's been a surprise for us that we've been welcomed so well," Zhang said. "As a foreign cuisine, I thought that it'd take a while for people to accept and become fans."

In the 1940s, George and Alice Chan fled their native China for a new home in San Francisco. In 1958, the couple opened the 35-seat Yank Sing restaurant. A few years later, they expanded to a second location and the business has been family-run — and flourishing — ever since.

Yank Sing is famous for its dim sum, a traditional Chinese meal consisting of plates of dumplings and other small, snack dishes. The restaurant has a menu, but you won't need to look at it. Instead, waiters roll plate-filled carts around the room for you to grab what you please. It can almost get a little dizzying at dim sum restaurants, but if there's anything worth getting overwhelmed over, it's food. Yank Sing's offerings include a wide variety of dumplings, from seafood basil to chicken mushroom. Some other popular items, according to Condé Nast Traveler, include steamed BBQ pork buns, honey walnut prawns, and egg tart.

There are plenty of places to enjoy dim sum in San Francisco, which has the largest Chinatown outside of Asia (via Chinatown San Francisco). But, in awarding Yank Sing a Bid Gourmand for good quality and value cooking, the Michelin Guide notes it is "arguably the place in town for dim sum."

If you find yourself hungry in New Orleans but tired of gumbo and beignets (if that's possible) take a quick drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Waiting for you on the other side will be some of the best Chinese food in Louisiana and beyond. Nestled among lush gardens and waterfalls is a building reminiscent of Chinese palaces. This is Trey Yuen.

The restaurant was opened in 1971 by the Wong brothers, all five of whom were born in Hong Kong (via Great Chefs). The brothers bounced around the continent upon moving to America, working at restaurants from Vancouver to Amarillo, but they always did so together. "[My mother] told us, 'If you do go into the restaurant business, you have to stick together," Tommy Wong told Nola.com. "The five of you individually can bend like fingers. Together you're as strong as a fist. Go make something of yourself and make us proud.'"

The frequent relocating allowed the Wongs to get used to acclimating. That skill is on full display at Trey Yuen, which has a menu that combines traditional Chinese dishes with some New Orleans flair. We're talking dishes like Szechuan spicy alligator and tong cho crawfish. You know what they say — when in Rome.

Almost immediately after opening its doors in 2016, Duck House was named the "Gamechanger of the Year" restaurant by Eater Portland for delivering what the city's culinary scene desperately needed: a reliably good Chinese food spot. Eater wasn't alone in its excitement. Duck House also quickly earned praise from the likes of The Oregonian and Portland Monthly. One thing you'll find in all these rave reviews is universal praise for Duck House's dumplings, with most outlets agreeing that these tasty bites are some of, if not, the best in the city. Fortunately for diners, Duck House has several varieties of dim sum and buns to choose from including wontons, fried buns, pot stickers, and xiao long bao (soup dumplings).

The dumplings may be Duck House's main draw, but they're not the only draw. The restaurant has an expansive menu covering everything from hot pot and squid with pickled chili, to more familiar Americanized Chinese plates such as General Tso's chicken and Mongolian beef.

Like many Chinese food restaurants, Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church, Virginia has an extraordinarily large menu. But if you visit this delightful eatery, just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., you're going for one thing and one thing only: the Peking duck. In 1978, China native Eddie Tsui wanted to open a restaurant that specialized in northern Chinese cuisine, with a menu centered around Peking duck. More than 40 years later, people are still packing the tables at the Peking Gourmet Inn to get a taste of this delicacy.

And when you get your seat, you won't be disappointed. To start, the bird is roasted just enough to create a crispy, glazed skin while keeping the meat tender (via Washingtonian). Once the duck is cooked, the real show starts. According to Arlington Magazine, the dish is brought to you and carved tableside. The server removes the skin and cuts it into bite-size pieces, then carves thin slices of meat. The restaurant takes this custom so seriously that servers have to practice for months. "First they learn how to slice duck in the kitchen for two to three months," owner George Tsui told Arlington Magazine. "Once they have perfected the skill, they are ready to serve tableside."

The dish is served with homemade pancakes, hoisin sauce, and spring onions to make your own duck rolls. The dish — and the restaurant — have been a hit with actors, athletes, presidents, and other notable names including Food Network's Duff Goldman, who said the Peking duck was "the best thing I ever ate. Period."

It may be hard for Chinese restaurants to stand out in San Francisco, but certainly not impossible. R&G Lounge accomplishes this task largely thanks to one single item on its menu: salt and pepper crab. The signature dish has been praised by the likes of USA Today and Fodor's, to name just a few.

You're probably asking yourself, "What goes into this popular seafood plate?" According to Condé Nast Traveler, a live crab is plucked from a tank, fried in-shell, and seasoned with salt and pepper. The result is crab so delectable, Eater San Francisco includes it among the best in the city. If deep fried isn't your cup of tea, you can get crab prepared eight other ways at R&G Lounge. Speaking of options, you'll find plenty on the restaurant's menu should you hunger for more than just crab. The Infatuation, for example, recommends the Maine lobster with garlic and onions, shrimp with scrambled eggs, and fresh rock cod.

Pro tip: Call ahead and place an order for lo mei gai (the off-menu must be ordered in advance). The hassle of picking up the phone will be well worth it when the dish arrives at your table. Lo mei gai consists of a whole, deboned chicken that is fried and then stuffed with rice, vegetables, and Chinese sausage. It's a pretty iconic meal.

Sichuan Impression opened in Alhambra (minutes from downtown Los Angeles) in 2014 (via San Gabriel Valley Times). Just a few short years later, it was already anointed by Eater as one of California's essential restaurants. Sichuan Impression has vaulted itself to the top of the culinary heap by adhering to traditional Sichuan recipes and methods. The chefs have also shown the uncanny ability to balance the fiery heat Sichuan cuisine is known for with the bold flavors we look for in great Chinese food. Speaking of food, the restaurant's menu spans the spectrum from kung-pao chicken and sweet and sour shrimp, to smoked pig ears and fried spicy intestine.

If it's good enough for the Michelin Guide, it's good enough for us. The prestigious restaurant reviewer awarded Sichuan Impression a Bid Gourmand, stating the eatery is a "paradise for diners seeking a culinary adventure." This is assuredly an adventure worth taking.  

Xi'an Famous Foods first opened in 2005 as a tiny, hole-in-the-wall food stall tucked into a shopping mall basement in Flushing, Queens. It claims to be the first restaurant to bring the unique cuisine of Xi'an, the capital city of China's Shaanxi Province, to the United States. But Xi'an Famous Foods' hidden location prevented it from becoming a well-known entity. That all changed when, in 2007, the restaurant got a visit from Anthony Bourdain ( via Eater New York). Once the celebrity chef sang the restaurant's praises on his hit show "No Reservations," Xi'an Famous Foods' business boomed, pulling the eatery out of the basement and into the penthouse (so to speak).

So, what exactly had Bourdain so excited? He waxed poetic about the restaurant's lamb burger, a flat-bread like sandwich of lamb seasoned with cumin, chili seeds, peppers, onions, scallions, and garlic. Another signature dish is the cold-skin noodles, long ribbons of wheat flour noodles served with bean sprouts, cucumbers, cilantro, and house-made gluten. Eater New York, meanwhile, claims Xi'an Famous Foods' spicy cumin lamb noodles is one of New York City's most iconic dishes.

Fantastic plates like these have turned Xi'an Famous Foods into a household name in New York City. The restaurant currently boasts nine locations across three boroughs and has plans to expand even further.

The legend of Din Tai Fung begins nearly a century ago, when a young Chinese man by the name of Bing-Yi Yang fled to Taiwan, where he opened a shop selling cooking oil and homemade steamed pork soup dumplings, known as xiao long bao. The dumplings became so popular, Yang ditched the oil business and opened a full-fledged restaurant. From those humble beginnings, Din Tai Fung has become nothing short of a culinary empire, with locations spanning the globe, including more than a dozen right here in the United States.

Din Tai Fung has been able to expand to such lengths because its xiao long bao really are that good. Artisanal crafted, these bite-sized, broth-filled dumplings pack an unmatched punch of flavor. Forbes anointed them the best dumplings in the world. Famed restaurant critic Jonathan Gold once referred to them as "small miracles," while declaring Din Tai Fung one of the best restaurants in Los Angeles (via Los Angeles Times). But none other than Anthony Bourdain may have put it best when he referred to the restaurant's xiao long bao as "pillows of happiness" (via CNN).

There are plenty of other items on Din Tai Fung's menu, including noodles and assorted cold appetizers. But with three different filling options — pork, pork and truffles, and pork and crab — we suggest you save your appetite for the world's best xiao long bao.

Texas is known as a hotbed for food from across the globe, particularly a cuisine with a south-of-the-border flair. But the Lone Star State is also home to some of the best Chinese food in the United States, including Plano's Sichuan Folk. 

The Dallas area is big on steaks, brisket, and burgers — pretty much anything you can cook at the tailgate before the football game. But Sichuan Folk has broken through and become a popular destination for hungry locals. Not long after it opened, the praise came pouring in. The restaurant got rave reviews from the Dallas Morning News, D Magazine, and the Dallas Observer, which, in 2022 named Sichuan Folk as one of the top restaurants in the region.

So, what should you get? The Dallas Observer recommends starting off with the spicy wontons before diving into any of the spicy fish options. D Magazine, on the other hand, suggests the Szechuan spicy noodles as an appetizer before enjoying a hot pot with the table. So many options, so few ways to go wrong.

If you haven't experienced the wonder that is hot pot, you need to fix that immediately. For the uninformed, hot pot is a social dining experience popular in Asia in which guests cook various meats, seafood, and vegetables in a shared pot of simmering, seasoned broth. There's no better place to try hot pot for the first or thousandth time than Haidilao. The international chain started in China in 1994 and now boasts a whopping 1,600 stores around the world, including many right here in the United States from coast to coast.

What makes Haidilao stand apart from other hot pot outlets is its variety. The restaurant offers up to eight different soup bases to choose from, including pepper-flavored, super spicy, and Thai sour and hot soup. Add to that the restaurant's onslaught of dish options: meats like spicy marinated beef, steak, and lamb (as well as pig brain, duck intestine, and blood tofu); and seafood plates of crab sticks and black-tiger shrimp. Don't forget about the sauces, the last step of your food's journey. Haidilao has flavorful sauces for every taste, from sesame to spicy to garlic.

All this has made the chain so popular that it's not uncommon to experience lines up to several hours long, according to Los Angeles magazine. The good news is that Haidilao comes prepared for such situations. It offers waiting guests free snacks and refreshments, and even magazines and board games to help pass the time.

Nobody knows an area better than the people who live there, so it was no small accomplishment when readers of 425 Magazine voted Facing East the best Chinese restaurant in all of Seattle's Eastside. The locals aren't alone, either. Eater Seattle ranks Facing East among the area's best restaurants of any cuisine.

What has everyone buzzing about the Bellevue, Washington hotspot is the restaurant's mastery of Taiwanese cooking. As Facing East points out, Taiwan's complicated political history created a blending of cultures on the island, which makes its way onto the restaurant's menu. As such, you'll find it imbued with both traditional Chinese and some Japanese influences. Focusing specifically on classic street food, Facing East's list of dishes is extensive. Eater speaks highly of the Hakka-style chow fun and prawns with honey mustard mayonnaise, while Seattle Met recommends the beef noodle soup. Both outlets, however, praise the restaurant's Taiwanese pork burger — marinated pork with cilantro, peanuts, and hot-and-sweet sauces sandwiched between a bun.

The "flatbread" in the name of this popular Boston eatery refers to its pork and lamb flatbread sandwiches. As good as these tasty bites may be, if you're going to Gene's, you're going for the cold-pulled noodles. According to Food Network, these signature noodles are hand pulled by chef and owner Gene Wu to replicate the ones made in Xi'an, China. The garlic-infused wheat noodles are so flavorful, they're perfect on their own — simply topped with some cayenne peppers, scallion, and cilantro.

Still not sold? Well, then know that Eater Boston listed these cold-pulled noodles alongside classic New England food like lobster rolls, fried clams, and Boston cream pie, as one of Boston's most iconic dishes. It's one of the reasons the publication also included Gene's among the city's essential restaurants as well as the best affordable meals. Not to be outdone, the Chinese food hot spot offers other delectable eats, such as spicy cumin lamb skewers, Xi'an cold noodles, hot sour dumpling soup, and the aforementioned, eponymous sandwiches. All this goodness was too much to contain in one store, as Gene's Chinese Flatbread Café has expanded to three locations throughout the Boston area.

There is something so special about a quaint, hole-in-the-wall Chinese joint, but the large restaurants can bring some pretty spectacular eats as well. China Gourmet in Northeast Philadelphia is known for its enormous size and its epic, everyday dim sum. China Gourmet doubles as a walk-in restaurant and a venue for large and small gatherings. While not quite as large as the building itself, the menu here is pretty lengthy as well. Though the restaurant offers various styles of dim sum and other specialties, the quality remains right where it should be. In addition to being Philly's largest Chinese restaurant, China Gourmet is often thought to be the city's best spot for dim sum and other Chinese dishes.

The dim sum is the obvious hero at China Gourmet, with many variations of the bite sized flavor bombs to choose from. There's a lot to know about dim sum, including that an authentic experience involves the dish being carted out to diners. This is the case at China Gourmet, and the selections roaming the dining room allows for diners to try many types of the traditional dish.

In addition to dim sum, China Gourmet offers a regular menu that is loaded with seafood specials. From lobster to jellyfish, you'll find a wide range of seafood options on the menu. Hot pot has a place on the menu as well, so come hungry and open minded to authentic Chinese experiences.

While you can't always trust review sites when it comes to the quality of a restaurant, it's hard to argue with a food spot's legitimacy when it has unwavering reviews across platforms. Hong Kong Station near Denver is one such Chinese restaurant, with over 1,000 Google reviews, 700 Yelp reviews, and many individual critiques working in agreement. Guests not only rave about the in-person meals there, but the ever-tricky takeaway and delivery orders as well.

Hong Kong Station delivers both Szechuan and Cantonese dishes to the homes and tables of their patrons. It isn't only the dishes you'll find on every other Chinese takeout menu that get made in this kitchen, though. Hong Kong Station does carry Chinese food you won't actually find in China, but the restaurant does also have quite a few traditional dishes that will blow away even your favorite Chinese takeout.

While most menu items here have at least one review that calls it out, a few stick out that you should try. Try the hot and sour soup to start and then go for the pork belly or Hong Kong french toast. Make it a triple by adding the Hong Kong milk tea –– it really doesn't seem like you can go wrong here no matter what you order, though.

When most people think of Chinese restaurants, they picture the standard take-out menu you can trust to be nearly identical from restaurant to restaurant. It's a different story for authentic Chinese joints, which have traditional dishes that have not been Americanized. In completely NYC fashion, Uluh is something else entirely. The sleek restaurant is a modernized Chinese spot that puts unique spins on traditional dishes, manipulating flavors and aesthetics to create art in food form.

There will always be traditionalists when it comes to cultural food, and you shouldn't come to Uluh for a completely authentic Chinese experience. One of the beautiful things about food, though, is that creativity can flourish in the kitchen, and Uluh is the result of ideas building on a solid foundation of already delicious Chinese food. Rainbow dim sum, rose lychee panna cotta, and, surprisingly, slurpies can be found on the menu. More classic dishes like phoenix feet and Peking duck are there, too, though.

There are a few signs that tell you that you're in a good Chinese restaurant, one of which is the presence of good tea. Uluh passes this test with flying colors, as the restaurant offers a range of Chinese and Taiwanese teas to choose from. Uluh is upscale without the overly inflated price, and modern without taking much away from traditional Chinese food. It is a great balance for someone wanting to freshen their love of Chinese food.

One test of a stellar Chinese restaurant is if they can craft dishes that stand out and are also still as tasty as take-out. Fat Dragon in Richmond, Virginia fits this bill. The many Ramen and fried rice options here are killer whether you dine in, take them to go, or get them delivered. This is one reason the restaurant won the city's best Asian inspired restaurant in 2024. Pretty much anyone can eat well here, too, as gluten free and vegetarian options are plentiful. Try the green bean stir fry or curry rice noodles, and you won't look back.

Sometimes it doesn't matter how far you've traveled in the world, you'll find some of the best cultural food in a small, random city. This was certainly the case for one Yelp Elite reviewer, who tried many dishes at Fat Dragon and was floored by the flavor of each. Though he has traveled to foodie cities throughout the world, this little Chinese joint jumped to the top of his favorite restaurants list. Another Elite reviewer praised the happy hour, which is valid considering the discounted appetizers can act as a lunch themselves. A high quality meal paired with a beer can run around $10 on happy hour, which is tough to beat anywhere.

Miami is a mini cultural melting pot with Cuban and Haitian restaurants making big waves in the food scene. Chinese culture doesn't have much representation here, but Kon Chao makes a great play at pushing traditional Chinese food into the 305. The biggest problem with Kon Chao is that the menu is enormous, and this is only an issue because it's impossible to try everything. The thought of missing out on any of the Chinese food at this restaurant is a catastrophe, because there are rave reviews for seemingly every menu item.

Kon Chao has well over 1,000 reviews on Google alone, and everything on their menu seems to be someone's favorite. Don't leave this Chinese joint without trying at least one of the dim sum options, and then order at least one other menu item to round out your meal. You'll likely want to come back for the same meal, but attempt to branch out and try some of the other delectable food Kon Chao is cooking up. The pan fried noodles or shrimp stuffed green peppers is a great place to start your journey working through the menu.

One sign of a decent Chinese restaurant is having a focus on one region of China for cuisine influence. Urban Hai does the opposite of this, but in the best way possible. This Atlanta based Chinese restaurant does visit many Chinese regions on its menu, but does so with a longstanding professional chef at its helm to influence flavor and execution. Founder Chef Hai has traveled the world in his pursuit of his cooking craft – the majority of his life has been dedicated to getting creative in the kitchen.

Locals praise Urban Hai as being one of the very best Chinese restaurants in the Atlanta area, and reviews leave the eatery with an impressive 4.4 stars on Yelp and 4.6 stars on Google Reviews. According to most, you can clearly taste the quality ingredients and extra effort that goes into each dish. The soup dumplings, vegetable fried rice, and the bubble pancakes are favorites. The Peking duck is another must-eat at Urban Hai. The Peking duck reviews practically sing about the duck and Chef Hai specifically boasts his ability with this iconic dish.

Some of the very best restaurants are hidden gems that stay in the same building for decades without much growth, but other worthy restaurants branch out to serve more foodies. ChiliSpot is one such restaurant, now with four locations spread out throughout the states. While all four locations have their merit and have over a four star rating on Yelp and Google Reviews, we're giving "best" status to the St. Louis location. This location not only has one of the highest star score of all the ChiliSpots at 4.5, but it also has the most reviews backing that score up.

Whenever anyone is looking to Reddit for recommendations in St. Louis, ChiliSpot is one of the first mentioned. Not only is it referred to as the best Szechuan spot, but sometimes even the best restaurant in the city all together. You can expect spicy dishes from this traditional Chinese restaurant, but the chefs can lower the heat profile at request. Szechuan food is described as having a "numbing" heat, with a tingling mouthfeel and if you've never had it before, it's best to come prepared. Quality Szechuan has a balance of flavor throughout dishes, though, and ChiliSpot seems to be a safe bet. The dandan noodles and Szechuan wontons are just a couple of tried and true favorites here that you can't really go wrong with.

In a city like Las Vegas, there's some steep competition to be the very best. This applies to Chinese food too, but we have to give some major credit to Big Dan Shanxi Taste. When you find a restaurant inside a cultural grocery store you know you've hit gold, and this Chinese joint is located inside of Shun Fat Supermarket. The somewhat hidden gem of Vegas has been recognized for greatness with a James Beard nomination back in 2022.

Unlike a lot of Vegas spots, Big Dan Shanxi Taste's hype has little to none to do with its online presence. The restaurant has no website and might as well have no social media at all, yet the spot has been lauded as one of the best in the neon city. This is a rare gem in the 21st century, especially in a city like Vegas that runs off of flashy signs and bright lights. Rated an impressive 4.6 on Yelp, it seems like anything involving the hand pulled noodles is a major winner at Big Dan.

Detroit isn't exactly the first place you think of when considering stellar Chinese food. There is a significant Chinese presence in the Motor City, though, even if there is no official Chinatown. Just north of metropolitan Detroit is Trizest, a not-so-hidden Sichuan gem. It is referred to as the best Chinese joint in the area or even Michigan more than once. This little Chinese restaurant serves up authentic dishes that will make you feel as though you're in your own little pocket of Sichuan halfway around the world.

Try the spicy boiled fish or squirrel fish for a hearty seafood meal. If seafood isn't your thing, though, worry not! Trizest's menu is pretty large and features noodle-centric dishes as well as soups, chop suey, and hot pots. The Chinese spot is so good that people don't mind venturing out of the city to visit.

Trizest is particularly great if you have a sense of adventure. The menu does not include much by way of descriptions, which for some is a source of contention. However, if you know what kind of protein you'd like and are comfortable basing your order off of a couple hints in the item title, you'll likely walk out happy. There are very few negative words for the food at Trizest. Even lower star reviews on Tripadvisor leave glowing remarks about the restaurant's authenticity and high quality food.

While a lot of Chinese restaurants strive to bring guests an authentic and traditional experience with the food they offer, Hu's Cooking takes a different approach. Chinese fusion is this Houston restaurant's game, which means the dishes there are crafted with creative flavor profiles with tradition still in mind. You don't have to take our word for how good this fusion is, because Hu's Cooking was named the best Chinese restaurant in the state by LoveFood in 2025. This declaration isn't a one-off, because this delicious Chinese spot maintains a star score of at least 4.5 on all major rating platforms.

Like many Chinese restaurants, Hu's Cooking has a lengthy menu. The quality doesn't decline with how many dishes they serve up, though. The over 1,000 reviews on Google Reviews and Yelp praise various items on Hu's menu. Walnut shrimp, spicy fish bites, and anything with duck come highly recommended. Dry pot, which is just hot pot without the soup, is also available and is spoken highly of here.

If you're familiar with Chinese restaurants, you know the lunch special is where quality meets affordability. Hu's Cooking has a relatively large lunch menu that covers all the basic protein bases, meaning you can eat well while staying on budget.

It's very possible to find some stellar Chinese restaurants that simply serve up the classics, but there's also something special about those that dare to create their own recipes. Sumiao Hunan Kitchen utilizes both of these approaches, respecting traditional Chinese dishes while crafting unique and creative dishes in homage to those classics. You'll find more than food here, as the regularly scheduled live music and vibrant ambiance creates an experience that only alleviates the thorough menu.

Hunan cuisine employs quite a lot of peppers in its dishes, so expect a good amount of heat in the majority of menu items. Some items are available in a less spicy version, though, as denoted on the menu. Those who forego meat are in luck here, because their menu features quite a large range of vegetarian and vegan options. While some dishes are able to be made into vegetarian dishes, others are built that way.

The menu is extensive, and the typical diner could come here and try many things they've never tasted before, like bullfrog or lotus root. A group could come here, all order something vastly different, and all leave raving about the food. In fact, more than one 5 star review of Sumiao Hunan Kitchen claim just that.

It's a real feat for restaurants to get a near perfect 5 star score on Google, and both Petals of a Peony locations have achieved a 4.9 on the reviewing platform — which is about as close as you can get. The Memphis location has achieved this score with over 1,000 reviews and the Cordova location with over 700 reviews. This is a massive amount of reviews for such a high score, so let's dig into what makes these two Memphis area Chinese restaurants so great.

Most reviewers seem genuinely overjoyed with the food here. The dumplings, both the chicken and the pork, are mentioned countless times as must-haves. While the dumplings and the sizzling chicken dish are mentioned often as favorites, it would seem that a good bulk of the lengthy menu is impressive. Impactful sauces and well thought out flavor profiles are found throughout the menu, with diners raving about everything from kung pao chicken and garlic ribs to a duck blood and beef tripe dish.

Take it easy here if you're sensitive to spice, because quite a few of the dishes pack a mean pepper punch. As everything is prepared fresh to order, the chefs may be able to tone down the spice on request. Whether you want a tried and true Chinese dish or something you've probably never encountered, your next trip to Tennessee should take you to Petals of a Peony.