China Bistro

I’m super surprised that this restaurant has closed. This is probably the only Chinese restaurant I knew in this part of town that served lamb, a meat that’s not commonly found in American Chinese restaurants.
This restaurant has been here for as long as I can remember, I ate here when I was in middle school. Now to see it closed is a huge shock to me
The lunch specials here were the best deals ever. Great tasting food, generous portions, and a price that can’t be beat.
Now, it’s all gone and it sucks that I’ll never have it again.

I ate here with my mom on the day they were closing, so today (July 1, 2015) they are probably closed already. While we were there, there was only another group of two there so it was very quiet and you could hear the food cooking. Our order came quickly, which I enjoyed! The food was really good and not very expensive like other buffets, and the lady that greeted us was nice. Overall, China Bistro is a very good restaurant, but it’s sad that they’re closing!

they are closing their doors june 31 so better go now. parking lot going in/​building going down. owner retiring. james is cool!
avoid beef – too tough. best egg rolls ever. been here 400 times. some dishes still good but others bad now. much of it is great. lamb in garlic sauce was good!

Welcome to shitty wok. Home of the nonexistent service and no refills. The food was ok. There is a reason why this place hasn’t been voted number 1 in 15 years.

Tried it the first time and will not be back. meats are too dry and sauce are too sweet.

This isn’t the place to go for authentic Chinese food but it is a very good Americanized Chinese food. It is a better version of panda express. The prices are pretty decent for the portions and the food is ready within 20 min of ordering. My only complaint is that they were going to charge me for teriyaki sauce but even so this is still my go to place for Chinese food in Escondido :)

as other comment review below… Ditto!!!
«If you’re expecting authentic Chinese food, this is NOT the place to go, even though the servers are Chinese…»

Pretty awesome place! We went in on a Thursday evening around 4:30ish and were greeted right away. Kind of quiet at first since there was only one other couple there. About 5mins later 2 more couples come in and you have the whole restaurant ro choose where you want to sit. Our waitress was Judy, and might I say she’s pretty awesome! Great personality! She was great helping us decide and the food was delicious. We had the shrimp and baby bok choy with chicken fried rice. The shrimp and bok choy is a dinner itself; it came with egg drop soup (my fave) and a side of steamed rice. Delicious! Then my boyfriend had the chicken fried rice with a soup as well. Everything was great and fresh. I loved the tea, and my bf had 2 Sapporo beers. (Japanese) but tsing dao is also pretty good (Chinese). All in all it was a nice first experience. We will definitely be coming back

Great place, owner James is very nice! Came out and greeted us, asked how our food was! Everything was delicious, fresh vegetables, large portions. Clean establishment and staff was very friendly. If your looking for authentic Chinese food, help out a small family owned business before heading to a chain! It’s worth it!

Went for the first time. Arrived at an odd hour 3:40 p.m. Too late for lunch, too early for dinner. No patrons inside. I almost left. Glad I didn’t! A welcome voice rang out. Ordered my meal. Yummy! Excellent food prepared perfectly. Never had fried noodles ! Going back for more. I have heard not many dinners. What a shame. I hope some how the word gets out the China Bistro has quality food & excellent service, with reasonably priced selections. Give it a try you won’t be disappointed.

Upon entering, we were promptly greeted and led to a table. On this particular night, it was completely empty except for our group, which was made even more unsettling with the lack of ambiance music. If it wasn’t for our chatter, the dining area would have been eerily silent.
The food however is very delicous, better than most Chinese sit downs I’ve been to. And that says a lot. From the starters, all they way to all four main courses, none of the dishes left us disappointed. The portions are also very generous for the prices.
I can definitely see myself dining here in the near future.

Lots and lots of bad food, what a disappointment!
I did not eat in the restaurant, I made the mistake of ordering my food to go! Decided to try the shrimp in lobster sauce and the sweet and pungent chicken.
The shrimp in lobster sauce was very plain. For a second I thought I got the wrong order because it was in a soup container and very soupy. My dish looked and tasted like egg drop soup with shrimp, mushrooms and peas. I am still not sure if the dish is a soup or not but looked, tasted and had to be eaten with a spoon so go figure…
The sweet and pungent chicken. There was too much breading and even though the chicken wasn’t burned, it certainly tasted burned and old. I am not sure if it was deep fried in old oil or what had gone wrong but nothing tasted right, it was inedible and had to be thrown out.
I think one star is too much for this place, it was a waste of money.

We eat here all the time. We order the same dish — honey walnut shrimp. Only once we did not like the hot and sour soup… it seems either cold or it had a jelly like broth. We had them change it for a wonton soup

Ok I’m going to leave it at a four star because of the food… crispy honey chicken is pretty amazing and you can’t find it that good everywhere.
With that said I have to say that it’s an odd little place. Very quiet, too quiet. I mean every time I go there I feel as if I have to whisper.
The husband and wife duo that run the place are interesting. I’ll leave it at that.
In a synopsis, if you feel like having good Chinese and talking quietly, head on down! Lol much love and
Happy eating!!!

I had lunch at this place about a month ago. Nothing extraordinary as far as the food or venue goes. They had a good selection of lunch menu at good pricing. Quality of the food and service was good, although there was a little bit of communication issues (server didn’t speak much english).
I was checking out the Unilocal reviews while waiting for my food, and I wish had not done that. A couple of the recent reviews spoiled my appetite, so I only finished half my food.
I guess certain things could also happen in other restaurants… but nevertheless, in any restaurants, I think quality control should be #1, and the chefs and kitchen staff should always be super sensitive & attentive about the ingredients and foods that they serve.

This restaurant is not very close to where I live so I don’t get there very often, but it is one of the best Chinese Food restaurants in San Diego. Everything is good and the service is always good. I love their wonton soup, eggrolls, and every one of their entrees that I have tried has been very tasty!

I have been to the China Bistro about five times over the last couple of years. It has been about three star quality until last night. My daughter’s boyfriend bit into a small stone that was in his hot & sour soup. The tea was cold and some dishes were served luke warm. The restaurant had very chilly air as well. As a group of 7 we all decided we will not be returning to this restaurant.

Mainly love this place for the chicken egg foo young, but most dishes are decent and prices are great.
Great service also.

If you’re expecting authentic Chinese food, this is NOT the place to go, even though the servers are Chinese… We ordered stir fry dishes and pan-​fried noodles, and everything tastes like American Chinese food to me. But I guess I can’t expect much from Escondido, right? For example, the pan-​fried noodles was served on a sizzling plate. Sounds appetizing! But they used the wrong kind of noodles as opposed to the real deal which is crispy thin yellow egg noodles served on a normal non-​sizzling plate. Their bird’s nest is made of thin, deep-​fried wonton skin as opposed to the traditional mesh of yellow crispy noodles. I’m Chinese and have had many Chinese meals throughout the years, and this is the first time to see how these traditional dishes were presented in interesting ways… if you know what I mean…
OK, authenticity aside. The dishes taste only average, being too nice, I should have said sub-​par. We ordered a seafood stir-​fry plate and the shrimp and scallops were cold! EWWWW!!! We asked our server to recook it for us and then it came out okay… The sauce of the pan-​fried noodles was too thin and soy-​saucy. It’s too homemade? lol
However, service was excellent. Our server was very nice, courteous and attentive. But this is definitely not enough for me to revisit.

Probably the best Chinese in Escondido.
Nice service and some unique dishes (Fruit chicken) make China Bistro worthy to try if you’re in the area. They do a brisk take out business, but a few people were in the mostly empty dining room the night we were here.
Fruit chicken — Trust me on this… It’s better the next morning! Think Chicken and Fruit salad.
Chow Mein — Star of the evening. Very tasty.
Orange chicken. A bit too saturated with syrup. They used thigh chicken meat for the orange chicken. Very stringy and not the most pleasant texture.