The Yin Yin

This is my most favorite place to eat in Livermore. I’ve been patronizing this restaurant for over 40+ years. They have managed to keep the same recipe for fried prawns, which I adore. All of the food is good and plentiful. Walnut chicken is one of my favorites, but I like it all and alway have. Staff are right there if you need anything and the food is served piping hot.

This is the go-​to spot for celebrating birthdays on my mom’s side of the family hahaha. We always end up here whenever it’s my mom’s bro’s birthday or in-law’s birthday for some reason.
This place can tend to be a hit and miss, but this last time we went the food and customer service was excellent.
There were about 15 of us, so of course we ordered a bunch of food to eat family style. From what I remember, we ordered (and usually order):
–Combo fried rice
–Wor wonton soup
–Combo chow mein
–Szechuan Beef
–Honey Walnut Prawns
–Salt and Pepper Calamari and Fish
–Beef and String Beans
–Fried Chicken Wings
I’m sure there are several others I failed to mention, but needless to say, we had ourselves a delicious meal.
The only thing I have to say about this place is the fact they have to share their bathroom with the bar adjacent to them. To access the bathroom, you have to go towards the back of the restaurant and open the door that leads to the bar, and towards your left is the bathroom. It’s really awkward walking through there cuz you have a bunch of old dudes already drunk at 11 in the AM staring at you while you walk to the bathroom. Ick. Haha, but whatever, I’m there for the food, not the gawkers.

Order the shrimp fried rice and it got here on time and really hot! Delivery guy was polite too. The food we order was just delicious! Highly recommend ordering from here!

For a place being so packed I can see why people love this place. The portions are huge but the quality is so so. We got take out and we definitely got our money’s worth since we had leftovers for days.

Ok, been here before and it’s been ok. Today, WTF! I ordered my two go to dishes, tomato beef chow mein and ma po tofu. My wife brought the orders home and to my astonishment, No BEEF in my order of chow mein… SERIOUSLY??? Then opened my wife’s order of tofu and it was not full, like ¾ full. I called the restaurant and the person that answered said sorry, but what do you want me to do about it? Um, they do deliver, right? They could have offered to deliver a new order! They said I could drive down and get a new order. Obviously, customer service is not their vocabulary. This was a huge miss today. With all of the other options in town, I will not be coming back here!

Wow, me and 3 co-​workers came here for lunch a few days ago and I was very impressed with their food. Being an ex-​chef and having culinary school under my belt, seeing this level of food at this price is a real treat. Every dish was cooked to perfection– delicious General Orange Beef, Honey Walnut Prawns, Chow Mein Noodles, and asian-​style lamb that came out sizzling on a hot skillet (the name slips my memory, but the flavor does not!). The food came out on time for a work day lunch and was properly seasoned, cooked with great textures and high heat wok-​style cooking. It had complexity, originality, and love in it. Please give this place a shot, they are really top notch as of my visit!

We had our food delivered. It was timely but only warm.
We love yin yin and our new favorite is walnut chicken. Yum!

My husband and I were there for dinner on a Friday night around 5:30pm. The staff was already overwhelmed and running, and it wasn’t even that busy yet! The servers were not especially friendly and the food was VERY mediocre and bland, the «spicy» items were not spicy at all. The prices were reasonable. The bathroom situation was a bit strange, it was next door in a bar and it served both the restaurant and the bar, a bit of a wait at times. Don’t think we’re coming back anytime soon, too many other places to try.

I have ordered from Yin Yin online before and received decent (not great, but good) food quickly with no problem… this evening I placed my same order and never received confirmation. I called the restaurant and was told they didn’t receive my order. I called back after seeing that my credit card was charged. I was told the company they use for online orders had no record of my order… uh hello! they charged me!
I am extremely dissatisfied and will not be ordering from them again

Super fast delivery, but the food was just OK. I would have waited another 15 minutes for stellar food.
I ordered princess prawns, steamed brown rice, mixed veggies, and pot stickers.
The portions are fantastic. This meal could have fed 3 people.
However, the breading on the prawns was soggy, which gave them a weird texture. They were out of brown rice, so I had white instead. The veggies were great.
I would order from here again, but I would order the items that other reviewers have suggested.

We love this place, this is probably my second review. Now I will be honest it was shaky during the transition from the old to the new guard (I really want to know where the ladies went there were there before!). Anyways that seems to have been smoothed over and things are back to normal.
Food never did suffer during the transition.
We love the food, I love the people, we love the pricing (lunch specials Cannot be beat, just can’t), the quality, quantity and price, come on!
I will eat here by myself, I will eat here with family and or friends.
I always get the Mongolian Beef extra spicy (their menu states that items are spicy but I don’t taste it, so I ask for some extra spice, makes the dish that much better.
My son love the Orange Chicken and until last night I thought it was okay. The biggest issue is it would never be finished and thus much was tossed since you could not really reheat the orange chicken without having mush…
But omg omg omg, the old guard advised me before to order the sauce on the side and I didn’t try that until last night. Holy crud, the orange chicken turns into a wonder plate of finger food, the orange sauce on the side is perfect. Soooo even if you are already a fan of the orange chicken, try to order it with the sauce on the side, the chicken by itself is tasty and then dip or pour some of the orange sauce over it, w0w, it brings the orange chicken to another level and you can flavor it how you like. OMG it’s amazing that we are still talking about this. So give it a try «orange chicken, sauce on the side» Heck you could walk down town eating this like lil chicken strips (but better).
So I’m glad the food and prices have not changed it’s a staple and I’m glad they are in Livermore!

Honestly, the food is nothing terribly exciting. However, it is good. You REALLY can’t beat the prices here. 6 bucks for a really good sized lunch is where it’s at. I got the honey walnut prawns which (as a lunch) came with chow mein, fried rice, and an egg roll. Service was nice, I wouldn’t say they tried to get to know me per se, but they were nice enough. I would definitely come here again when I’m looking for cheap Chinese food.

I am so in love with The Yin Yin. When my fiancé and I realized we love the same place, we called for delivery and fell in love all over again.
Must have their EVERYTHING
#1 honey walnut prawns !!
#3 salt & pepper calamari
#4 sweet & sour pork
#5 wontons with sweet and sour sauce
#6 beef chow fun much fun
The price is right!
The portions are great!
The location is perfect!
They know my address for delivery
Service has never been anything to complain about
They have awesome lunch specials that come with soup, fried rice, chow mien and an egg roll
Yin Yin for life! Best affordable Americanized Chinese food

Love this place, good Chinese food that’s not too heavy on MSG. Priced well and great for kids.

Went here during the Honey Wine Festival so I was surprised that it was pretty dead inside.
To use their restroom, I had to exit the restaurant & go next door because the door adjoining the two places was closed for some reason.
The bar next door was poppin’ I waited for a while because it was a one stall bathroom.
Came back & ordered the Vegetable Chow Mein.
My friend ordered Orange Chicken, it doesn’t automatically come with rice, fyi.
The chow mein was okay, I’ve had better, tbh. I still ate the whole thing because we went beer tasting prior & sampled 15 beers :) So I was Happy Camille.
The service was good, we were one of 3 people in the restaurant so I would hope it would be good :)

For the price, I can’t give this place anything but a 5 star rating. The food isn’t world class or anything, but it’s definitely good and for the $ 6.25 price tag on most of the lunch specials it can’t be beat! The staff is pretty attentive at filling your water every 5 minutes or so which I appreciate. The food comes out super quick but tastes fresh and is hot. Everything I’ve ordered is pretty good and like to meet here with friends when I’m trying to save some money. The dinner special is also a great deal with a TON of food for about $ 10 a person.

Food is decent and cheap, and portions are huge. If you were thinking about going to Panda Express, don’t! I much rather have table service and a delicious plate of food, on a real plate, real silverware, with hot tea, for less than what I would spend at Panda for lunch.
The only thing I didn’t care for was the Hot and Sour soup, it was neither spicy nor sour, but it was fine as an accompaniment to the lunch plates.
Looks like a family run enterprise, with cheerful, hard working employees.
Wish they had more vegetarian options on the lunch menu.

Really not to bad. We ordered hot and sour soup, Szechuan chicken, and crispy pork chow mien. I don’t have any complaints; but nothing to be super excited about.

I’ve been to the Yin Yin many times in my 28 years living in Livermore so this Unilocal review is long overdue!
I don’t usually eat Chinese food very often but my husband and I decided last night that it must be my pregnant craving. We’ve eaten Yin Yin 4 times in the past month and a half compared to the 1 or 2 other times we ate Chinese food in all of 2014!
We love that you can order delivery online free of charge and that delivery is always very quick. We also ate in the restaurant last night and couldn’t believe how fast the service was!
My favorites on the menu are the hot and sour soup, foil-​wrapped chicken, and pork fried rice. They are consistently delicious every single time!
If you’re looking for good Chinese Food in Livermore, Yin Yin is definitely the go-​to spot!

Good selection of standard menu items. Hot and sour soup was very good. I’m having sesame chicken and the plate is huge. Bring an apatite for lunch, the servings are large. The food is quite tasty here. Here’s another spot to bookmark.