China King

I have eaten lunch three times here. I always order the Kung Pao Tofu, so my review is based on one dish at lunch. My first time in I had the hot and sour soup with the lunch which was good, and the last two times I had a potato soup which was very good. The luncheon plate is a very good value for this area. The four stars is based on my limited experience, but if that changes and I broaden the dishes I order, I will adjust the ratings. The second time I was in the restaurant there was a large Chinese party. Of course there is a Chinese menu, and I would imagine there is a verbal menu for the Chinese that may change day by day, so we don’t see all the options in the American menu. The more Chinese people we see in the restaurant, the more confidence we will have about its long term durability.
When I have been in, the service has been fine. Of course if the restaurant were jammed, then they would have to add service staff. The physical restaurant is clean and in good shape, and I am sure there were recent renovations since they have not been open that long. It is a comfortable space fitting for this type of Chinese restaurant. There is no parking problem since they share a large space with other small businesses and the bowling alley.
This is a positive addition to the Asian restaurants in the general Goleta area,

We ordered take out from China King so I cannot speak about the atmosphere of the restaurant and the service of the staff there.
The lady that took our order spoke good enough English and mostly got our order correct. They mixed up the chicken with beef on one of the entrees but that did not matter too much for us. The delivery was quick! She told us it would take 45 minutes but the delivery person arrived in less than 30. We also lived in a weirdly arranged apartment complex and he was able to find out apartment without assistance.
The food was pretty standard Chinese, not too Americanized but still plenty flavorful and greasy. I wouldn’t say that this is the best Chinese you can get by any means but for the price and location, it is pretty good. I definitely would recommend this if you are in Goleta and IV, there aren’t too many better places in the area.

This is my favorite Chinese restaurant former mandarin place owner. Owners are very nice and they are always at the restaurant. Love it.

Yea, it’s more a 3.5 but I’m rounding up.
Pulled in, saw the banner that is the restaurant… (they ought to invest in a sign already!) Entered and immediately hated the décor: ugly, heavy salmon colors that don’t match some of their China reds, all boggin down my brains.
Small space, you just sit wherever you want and they bring the menus to you. Felt kinda enclosed, maybe cuz lack of windows. They should cover their walls with large mirrors to give the illusion of a bigger, airier space.
The complimentary egg drop soup came out and I was already discouraged. Tasted thrown together.
Well, good thing: the main dishes were delicious. The basil chicken was fab… I was expecting the white meat to be dry n hard but it’s actually tender n flavorful. My beef chow fun was really good too. I had to ask for chili paste n chopsticks to complete the meal.
The lady owner was pretty nice, sociable, brought out my iced tea refills. The other server wasn’t so helpful, kinda spaced out on our drink orders.
Anyway. Good place for lunch. Easy parking.

Meh. An average offering of American Chinese food. Nothing to complain about in the food itself. Nothing that stood out terribly much. Worth trying if in the neighborhood but not worth going out of your way.
Eggplant was cooked fine but not really living up to the Szechuan eggplant I’ve had in other communities.
The noodles were average for this type of restaurant. Muddled flavors and the noodles themselves were uninspiring. But they were cooked properly which is itself a rarity.
I did notice some patrons had a separate Chinese menu. No English translation and given the main menu already had Chinese on it I was left with the impression that it had items not present on the other menu. With no translation that makes those dishes inaccessible. Not cool if true.

Great new chinese restaurant in Goleta. I ordered a variety of dishes and ALL were delicious. The owner and staff are very friendly. Menu items are priced accordingly. Large portions. The Take-​out option is super fast. I will be returning several more times in the future.

The food was excellent! Only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was the food took a while to come out. General Taos chicken, Orange Peel Beef and Shrimp Chow Mein was perfect. Looking forward to going again. Much better than the other Chinese food options in Goleta

I loved everything about my experience eating @ China King. Exceptional customer service Great food Decent prices what more can one ask for!!! I haven’t been satisfied with anyone’s version of sweet & sour shrimp, except for China King’s. The shrimp was so plump & juicy, it kept falling off the fork. The tempura was light, not dried out. The sauce wasn’t overly thick & they cooked the veggies to perfection, not crunchy like so many others do!!! My lunch special came with so many other delectables, I felt like I had a dinner course. I’m adding this restaurant to my top 10 list!!!

This place is great. I have the Mongolian Chicken and it was quite tasty. Could have used a little bit more heat but I liked the flavors. I’ll be back.

My friends and I were looking for a Chinese place to get lunch, and we ended up here. We ordered four dishes; chicken fried rice, mushroom beef, General Tso’s chicken, and crispy tofu with pork. We got complimentary soup and rice, which was nice. The food was all well seasoned and well cooked. The wait staff was very friendly. I would come back here with my mom.

Tried this place out for lunch yesterday and it was a great experience. only reason didn’t give it 5 stars was that its a little on the expensive side. BUT the food was excellent and service was quick and friendly. Will certainly be back!

This restaurant is a hidden little gem next to Zodo’s Bowling alley on Calle Real in Goleta.
All I ordered for lunch was a Hot & Sour Soup… Simply the best I’ve ever had!
Can’t wait to go back for dinner with my wife.

I gave China king another try and it didn’t change my opinion. The restaurant was still woefully understaffed. The wait was long and one server plus one busser for the entire restaurant just wasn’t cutting it for the volume of customers.
This time I opted for the la zi chicken and mung bean noodle pork rib casserole. The la zi chicken was chopped into pieces that were way too large. The seasoning was off as it didn’t have enough Sichuan peppercorn or garlic. The usual fragrance of Sichuan cuisine was missing, and the few garlic slices and the dried chilies were also slightly burnt. The casserole was tasty and came with plenty of mushrooms, but I had to send it back for more mung bean noodles because the chef forgot to add it. He did however threw a handful of dried chilies into the casserole. Why? It’s very unusual to flavor a white broth with dry chilies. It seemed like an afterthought, putting whatever within his reach into the pot. My reaction to most dishes at China King so far goes like this, «Is this what i ordered? This is not what I am expecting». The chef likes to add extras to something traditional and so far none of them works for me. I was actually eyeing other tables’ Americanized Chinese dishes because they looked better than my sad looking la zi chicken.

We’ve been here twice since they opened about two months ago. Overall, the place is okay! We’ve tried a number of items (potstickers, walnut shrimp, chow mein, fried rice, mooshu, and a few other dishes). Nothing stands out as amazing or particularly memorable. But the staff seemed to be still learning the menu — both times we were there we asked the staff about some of the menu items and they didn’t seem to know what they were! Not helpful unless you want to order a mystery dish :)!

From my perspective, it’s definitely the Best Chinese restaurant in town. The decoration is very bright and modern unlike other Chinese restaurants. The taste is very authentic! And the service is outstanding! So respectful and attentive! A must try rating!

I’ve been here twice now for lunch and am not yet a fan. The first time I have the lunch special with Chow San Sein (veggies with shrimp, beef, and chicken). It looked very fresh and colorful but the sauce was a bit watery. The lunch special also came with a bowl of vegetable soup, which was good but I am used to egg drop or wonton, rice which was very good, green salad, egg roll and cheese wonton both good, and some white concoction I thought was ambrosia but was some sort of fluffy mayo/​veggie deal (no thanks).
The 2^nd time I had the lunch special but with Mu Shu Chicken which are kinda like wraps. They were alright but I wouldn’t order them again. The white mayo concoction was gone (good move) and a blob of jello replace it (once again, no thanks).
At lunch they only gave me the lunch menu. Next time I would like to just order off of the regular menu and just skip some of the lunch special items.

Come and check this new restaurant in town. It’s clean and nice. The food are so so so so delicious. We ordered spicy fish, eggplant and Kp vegan chicken. The restaurant is packed and many pickup orders, and the owner still take time to check on us. The service is excellent. I will definitely come back！！

Woah.
Look, I’ve only had one dish. It was the clay pot chicken Chinese style with bones. It came with rice and wonton chips.
I absolutely loved it!
Noticed my Unilocaler friends don’t agree. That’s ok. More for me.
I’ll be back.

Is there’s a new King in town? Maybe not.
The word is out the Chinese community that there’s a new family in town. With room for about 45, 15 were seated and was the only one with the English menu.
Fresh paint really brightens this place up and table cloths make it fancy. The look is simple with very little Oriental decoration.
I was only offered the Lunch Special menu and chose the Kung Pao Beef $ 8.95.
Comes with a soup of the day, a vegetable noodle, salad, egg roll, wonton and rice. There is clearly another menu available as the table next to me had large piles of meat in bowls, noodles and other delicious looking food. So did others. Look like I ordered poorly.
The food was fine. Not great but not bad. The lunch menu is It’s typical, Americanized, Chinese food. There are better lunch spots for this type of food in Goleta.
The service was quick and I was in and out in about 35 minutes.
Will I come back? Sure. But only for the full menu and not the lunch specials. The food is good but I want some authentic cooking now that I know they offer it. It will be tough to beat Lucky Dragon as some of the most authentic I’ve eaten in the States.
Best of luck to you China King. I look forward to reading more about you.

This new Chinese restaurant is run by Mr. and Mrs. Hong; who are the previous owners of Mandarin Palace.
I came here to try out their lunch specials and decided to order the Almond Chicken. For starters I was served the soup of the day. It had flat noodles and veggies. It wasn’t too bad, but it was very different from the traditional egg drop soup.
Next was my main meal the Almond Chicken. This was served on a large tray that included one egg roll, one cream cheese wonton, fried rice, salad, and some kind of weird white creamy concoction that looked like it had canned veggies. I was afraid to touch it, but it had my curiosity, so I took a small bite and yet I still couldn’t figure out what it was! So I asked the waitress «What is this exactly?» And she kindly replied «It’s the chef’s special». According to her it’s a traditional side dish that’s served in their family and they wanted to share it with the customers. It wasn’t bad but it was just kind of weird to me because I’ve never seen anything like it. Interesting is all I can say!
The Almond Chicken was pretty good and tasted fresh, there was nothing fancy about the fried rice but it totally reminded me of Mandarin Palace. Loved the cream cheese wonton! The salad was very mediocre. I’m not a huge egg roll fan but it was crispy and fresh.
Their dining tables seat 4 people, and mostly everyone dining here during lunch was solo. It was funny to see one person at every table that seated 4 people! Luckily it wasn’t busy but I can imagine if it had been busy then you probably wouldn’t find a seat.
Overall I would come back here again to try other items on the menu but for now I’m rating it 3 stars. BUT! I give Mrs. Hong 5 stars for her great customer service and warm welcome.