Lin’s Chinese Restaurant

From speaking to the original owners at Lins, The original owners sold the restaurant at the end of April and the famous chef has passed. I will surely miss his one of a kind amazing food and they wanted me to thank all their customers for their continued support through the years

My family have been going to this place for 12 years. It recently switched ownership I believe. This is our go to place if we don’t know what’s for dinner. I would say this is one of the best Chinese restaurant around. I personally dig the Szechuan Combo Pork Pot (五更腸旺) and Roast Chicken Sausage (五香雞卷), and their friend rice are not bad either. This place also have water spinach (空心菜)!!! One star off for lack of decore.

Really authentic Chinese food! Great service! We are so happy to stop by here. Best 夫妻肺片 in town

I’ve been eating at this restaurant since it was called China Master and was located where the current Sports Authority plaza is on 141! The variety of dishes they do well here is impressive. I’d recommend anyone to order out of their comfort zones, especially those who are used to Americanized Chinese food.
The intestines in spicy sauce with tofu is delicious to the point where I haven’t found any place that does it better in America or Asia! The beef noodles are pretty good as well, and the crispy string beans are always savory. The selection of soups is also a good call I’d you have a decent sized group.
Now on to the service, which is what most reviews I’m seeing on Unilocal bitch and moan about. A lot of reviews sound like they’re written by people who have never worked in the service industry. One review complained about the poor service while labeling waitresses as skinny and obese. Another one blamed their bad experience on assumed racism… seriously? The servers might not have the best English, so just be clear in what you want and don’t be afraid to call them over for refills or concerns. Kindness begets kindness.

I can only speak for their Korean side of the things.
Their foods are, generally speaking, good to great.
I stopped coming here because after a numerous visits to the restaurant, we had one incident where the server was just a flat out rude to us. We did mention it to the owner and she shove it off like she’s been hearing about it all the time and told us to just ignore.
Yes the food is good but when I am paying for the food and service, and lose an appetite because of the server’s attitude, it’s a big nono for me.
I stopped by few weeks ago, and it seemed like the specific server wasn’t around, and I sincerely do hope she is not around when I come in the future. If the restaurant can up their game on the service of the things, I’d happily rate the venue 4 stars.

We went to Lin’s after a couple of different Chinese friends mentioned it was really good, with authentic Chinese dishes. I lived in Asia from ages 6 – 18 (mainly Singapore with a short time in Indonesia) and my husband lived in Singapore in high school and goes back fairly often for work. So we enjoy good Asian food, whether it be Chinese, Malay, Indian, Indonesian or whatever.
We got there and got the menu and it was just the regular American Chinese stuff. I ordered the lemon chicken and my husband got Mongolian beef, I believe. Something with beef that was supposed to be spicy and wasn’t. The food was OK. I noticed that the other customers (it was pretty busy) were all Asian and were eating things I didn’t even see on the menu. Later when we were waiting on the check, another Asian family sat down near us and I could tell they received different menus. The photos were a big tip-​off. There was a pile of menus on a nearby table so I picked one up. Yep, they have two menus. If you’re not Asian you automatically get the westernized menu. We weren’t even asked which menu we preferred, I guess it was just assumed since we were Caucasian we couldn’t possibly appreciate or be interested in good, authentic Asian food.
We’ll be back because there were some really good-​looking items on the «real» menu. I’ve noticed the good ratings here on Unilocal appear to all be from Asian customers. Clearly they are getting much better food.
Service was just so-​so but the restaurant was about half-​full and they only had one waitress who was doing her best to keep up. The spring rolls were the best spring rolls I’ve had outside of Singapore. They were really wonderful.

We found this place initially from a Korean friend who is married to a Chinese guy, and we were told they have good Korean/​Chinese food. My wife got the jajangmyun as a result of that information, but when I saw the menu I decided that the Chinese food was far too delicious to pass up. We ordered steamed dumplings together and I ordered the qiezi bao (eggplant bowl), which was absolutely amazing. After four years living in China, I always use eggplant to measure a Chinese restaurant because it tends to be one of the hardest things to cook well. Lin’s gave us the best eggplant we’ve had in the Atlanta area so far, so we are itching for a chance to return and order more dishes!
The staff was very friendly, especially when I used my limited Mandarin to order. They were very attentive to our cups and were even amused by the white guy who ate seven bowls of rice. I’m a Nanchang guy, I love my rice. I was starting to get worried around bowl #5 that they might be charging by the bowl, but I had faith in my lao xiang that they wouldn’t charge for the rice. Thankfully, they didn’t :)

I may live OTP, but barely… So I had never even heard of Lin’s until my family was invited to meet up with another family for dinner up in John’s Creek. I was wary of the 3 star restaurant, thinking it was going to be a very Americanized restaurant. But looking back, I don’t know what I was afraid of. The flavors are very authentic Taiwanese — well as authentic as it can get in the United States.
Parking is no problem. There’s a huge lot reserved for the plaza. Seating also wasn’t an issue for Saturday night, which could also make one wary, but like I said, I was pleasantly surprised.
We ordered quite a few dishes «family-​style», sharing various dishes on the lazy Susan. One dish stood out, which was the only photographed dish, due to our late arrival and hungry grandmother. The «Wugeng Chang Wang», translated into Pig Intestines and Duck Blood Stew, is not for the faint of heart, but is a largely authentic dish in China and Taiwan. If you’re able to brave the blood and innards, give it a try.
Overall the meal was delightfully yummy, one of the most authentic Chinese restaurants I’ve had in Atlanta, both inside and outside the perimeter.

First, let me say, the food is excellent. My SO and I have been here twice, and the food was excellent both times. The first time we came, it was rather slow, and the service was excellent, even friendly. The problem, and reason for the lower rating, is the terrible experience we had on our second visit.
It was not crazy busy, but definitely busier than the first time we went. We immediately noticed something was off when the hostess sat us. She was blunt and rather cold, as if she preferred we not be there. Weird. Okay, so we sat down. And waited. And waited. Several people came in after us, ordered, and had food. Finally we were able to order and be fed. At this point, we had thought about leaving, but we were tired, and their food is SO GOOD. So we stuck around. I really wish we hadn’t. We actually had to ask where our food was at one point. Our drinks were constantly empty, and we were blatantly ignored by our waitress.
It was at this point I began to suspect what was happening. There is an unfortunate experience that is mentioned in reviews at Asian restaurants in the Gwinnett area. I have only experienced it here, and only when the rest of the clientele appeared to be of the more traditional nature to the food being served. This was xenophobia pure and simple. We were being shunned in favor of their regular clientele, which is such a woefully stupid business practice, that it took me several months to write this review (I was too mad to look at things objectively, I did not want to rant).
The saddest thing about our terrible second experience is how wonderful the first one was. I don’t know if we just got crappy waitresses that day or what, but we were so uncomfortable that the food is not worth the aggravation, and we will not be back.

I really enjoyed the dishes I ordered. I asked for extra spicy and it was really good. I would definitely go back.

Worst place ever. I ordered their noodles with brown sauce and there was no sauce. I asked for more sauce and they said that they could not give me more sauce. The owner said I should have asked for more sauce when I placed the order… Now how would I have known the chef was incompetent and would make DRY noodles? The place is dirty and smells bad. STAY AWAY!!!

Food: ordered jja jjang myun, uni jja jjang myun, jja jjang bap, fried dumplings, beef tang soo yuk. Taste is mediocre, beef was the best and uni jja jjang was the worst. Definitely better food elsewhere. I won’t be coming back here. 2 stars, only bc the beef was pretty good.
Service: seated at a table that was still somewhat dirty and I had to pull out my baby wipes to take off bits of food and smears. Cups were never refilled with water the whole time we were there, until we were paying the bill and it was half-​heartedly filled halfway. Asked for some more kimchee during the meal and didn’t get it until we were almost done. 1 star.

The décor is meh and the service is terrible but the uni jajangmyeon is fantastic! For a while it was not as good but it looks like they’ve worked it out and now this Chines/​Korean fusion noodle dish with pork and black bean paste is the tastiest I’ve had in Atlanta. I have no idea how the other dishes here are because I’ve only ever eaten this one.
There are other jajangmyeon dishes but this one is the best. I think it is N3 on the menu.
I’d give the dish five stars. And, really, that’s all that counts right?

This is one of the better authentic Chinese restaurants in the area. They used to be at the 141 and P’tree Industrial merge prior to this location. But, same owners and same quality. As authentic Chinese restaurants go, every chef has their own style and I have enjoyed their’s for a long time.
I recommend their:
Salt and Pepper Fried Tofu
Ma Yi Shang Shu ‘Ants climbing trees’
Spicy Garlic Eggplant

Jajangmyun and Jamppong are two of the most popular lunch dishes in Korea. They are called Chinese food and there are dishes that are similar to them in China, but in reality they are more a Koreanized version of Chinese food. There are very few Korean kids that do not like Jajangmyun (black bean sauce noodles), and it is a staple in the Korean student’s diet (in Korea, Jajangmyun is typically $ 3 – 5). The problem is, in the U.S. the «authentic» taste of jajangmyun is extremely difficult to find. L.A. has several that has this authentic taste (alas the best I’ve had was the old Beijing Restaurant on Olympic), but in Atlanta it has been near impossible to find such. There used to be a place in the food court at the H-​Mart Suwanee, but it was replaced by another place that isn’t nearly as good.
Lin’s has been around ever since I first moved here originally, back in 2008. For some reason however, my first try was just about a year ago. I was pleasantly surprised to find that both their jajangmyun and jamppong tastes very authentic. One thing I don’t like about many jajangmyuns are that they are full of onions. Here, there are variety of vegetables and meat. Plus, they have the best Korean-​style sweet & sour pork in the city as well. The meat is good quality not full of fat, absent of the gamey taste, and the coating is crispy and relatively light. The sauce is also a bit tangier which I like. I have also tried their other dishes, and all are good.
They speak Korean and Chinese, and even their Chinese staff understands the pronunciation of the Korean dishes. Service is better than typical, and décor is your typical Chinese/​Korean — nondescript and spartan. As I said this place has been around a while, but every time I come here it’s pretty empty. Typically 2 – 4 tables occupied. It should do better…
Table-​for-​1 Factor: Perfectly fine for one, even though the tables aren’t necessarily set up for it.

This is the best, authentic, Chinese food you’ll get on this side of town. The décor and ambiance is horrible, but that doesn’t deter me from going back again and again.
Favorite dishes are: Orange Beef (Chinese menu), Hot Boiled Fish (extremely spicy dish), Ma Po Tofu (ultimate Chinese comfort food), Sichuan Eggplant (not vegetarian), and lastly, the dish that has the tofu and chitlins Wu Gun Tzang Wong (sorry, not sure what the English translation is).

This is my second time here and I am really disappointed. The rice is not fresh at all… We ordered three dishes and they messed up two — there is no salt in Sichuan Eggplant, and the Green Pepper Beef is mostly green pepper with barely any beef. This restaurant is running down and I am not going back!

I’m going to be honest. It’s hard to impress me with Chinese food when my mom makes the best Chinese/​Taiwanese food. Ok, if her food’s not the best, it’s at least awesome. That being said, I don’t go out for Chinese food often because a) I get the good stuff at home all the time, b) most restaurants use a TON of oil in their food, or c) who knows if that plate of napa cabbage or greens on the platter was ever properly washed.
You’ve seen the reviews before and after me where everyone talks about what meat dishes to order. My experience at this place was a little different. Why? Because I went with a group of vegetarians.
For a table of 7, we asked the waitress to ask the chef to prepare a dinner of vegetarian dishes. She asked how many different entrees and we decided 6 should be plenty. Here’s what the chef churned out for us: stir-​fried snow pea tips, braised tofu with various veggies, julienned celery and bean curd stirfry, fried eggplant with basil, stir-​fried «kong-​xin tsai» (translated to «empty heart vegetable» — it’s kind of like spinach, but hard to find in GA) with bits of ginger and fermented tofu, and lastly stir-​fried chinese okra (it’s more like a squash with lots of liquid).
It’s great how the chef avoided onions, garlic and scallions which are often ingredients some vegetarians can’t (for Buddhist purposes) or don’t like to eat. However, as you can see from the list, there’s a lot of stir-​fried items. Everything is piping out so you can’t tell how much oil you’re consuming.
A custom menu like this from the chef is about $ 70 before tip. Remember, this was for 6 dishes, so each dish is probably about $ 10. Would I come back? Maybe, if I had to. I appreciate how accommodating the chef was in providing us a bunch of tasty vegetarian options… even though I really wanted some fried chicken badly after that meal.

Probably gets an extra star bc I haven’t had korean chinese food from a restaurant in about 3 months. Wasn’t spectacular, but definitely hit the spot.
Came here and shared a veggie jja-​jjahng-​myung and sweet & sour shrimp. One of the best combos since Guile’s middle jump kick, middle low kick, followed by a flash kick (Street Fighter TWO).
The noodles had plenty of sauce and veggies which is always a plus and the noodles were actually pretty good. The shrimps were a good size and cooked with lots of flavor. I’m a fan of this place and would come back again.
I liked the fact that the place looked like a spot where people knew the food was good. Lots of asian people eating and talking and having fun… I was as well because of my company! Service was congenial and anticipated my needs well (finished my meal but wanted to continue talking so they didn’t interrupt, the minute I wanted to leave they approached table with the check, etc.)
dmo out.

This review is ONLY for the szechuan beef noodle soup — (si chuan niu ruo mian), as I have yet to have anything else on their menu because this is sooooo good here.
This dish has the perfect amount of spicy in it’s piping hot beef broth. The noodles are the flat kind. The beef is tender and well seasoned. There is pickled vegetable in it as well, which adds as a great tangy addition to the soup. Drool.
Definitely my favorite go-​to spot for this dish.