China Palace

China Palace might be Omaha’s best Chinese place, but that’s not saying much since finding great Chinese food in the Midwest is a pretty difficult task.
On the plus side, the owners and staff are very friendly and attentive, and hold court over a space is a large enough to accommodate groups of most any size. And there are a few winners on the menu like their friend rice, wontons, and steamed buns. And their soups are pretty good, though typically bland. But their preparation of most everything else is just too heavy handed. And there is really no subtlety or depth to their entrees. The Egg Foo Young is overlooked, the stir fries use too much breading and oil, and their sauces are too salty. Basically, typical strip mall Chinese food. It’s what most people have come to expect from Chinese food. But it could be so much better. And given the food scene that’s emerging in Omaha right now, I’m hoping someone brings a proper Chinese place.

I went last night for the first time, after reading the reviews, I expected more. I ordered cashew chicken, an eggroll and 2 crab Rangoon. The chicken tasted ok, but it was huge pieces and breaded, like there was a big pan of it waiting to go into different items on the menu. The egg roll was very tasteless and sort of tough. The crab Rangoon tasted like it was just filled with cream cheese as a previous reviewer stated. As far as the «huggy lovey» feeling when you walked in, as stated in previous reviews… it was the exact opposite when I arrived and it a little like «hurry up and order». They acted hurried (and they weren’t busy) and sort of snotty. I will continue to seek out my favorite Chinese restaurant in Omaha, because this certainly isn’t it.

Love, love, love this place! They have their super American menu but also a traditional Chinese side as well. They never complain about customizing the entrée and dare I say the have the 2^nd best egg foo yum in the city! No complaints here. This is my go to on a take out kinda night

Exactly what we expected for a cheap Chinese restaurant. We had the combination platter which was great for two people and cashew chicken (not fried) & tangerine beef for dinner. Both meals were delicious! The tea at the table was a great plus as well!

This is a great place to stop for chinese cuisine.
Family oriented and very friendly.
The food is wonderful. not to thick on the gravy’s and fresh ingredients. The beef and chicken were very tender and perfectly cooked. The veggies in the dish were fresh and not overly cooked just yummy.
This stop has some of the best crab rangoon in town as well. Egg rolls are made in house and have some really good pepper seasoning to them.
Thumbs Up

The best cheap-​Chinese takeout place in Omaha! Their egg rolls are far superior to other places, crisp but also chewy wrapper while being fat with tasty filling. The portions are really big even for Chinese food, which I think the portions are always big. The sweet and sour pork is served with the sauce on the side, which I much prefer, so your food doesn’t get soggy while you take it home. They also have one of the hot and sour soups in town.

MomNot bad. Place is reasonably clean. Tea is bottom of pot tasting tea. Not bad not good. Wontons are good but broth is too sweet. Steamed dumplings have very fresh meat and very tasty sauce! Combo lo mein looked good but tasted ok. A bit oily. Big shrimp. Chicken breast meat. Plus beef. Not bad at all.
Service was pleasant. Fairly attentive and not intrusive. The water fountain and fish tank are a added bonus to the décor. In general the place is old but kept quite well. Prices are normal.

I went here with the BF and ordered wonton soup, crab rangoon, and sesame chicken. The soup came out quickly and looked good but the taste was not. There was so much salt in the dish it is all I could taste except for the bit of sweetness, I’m assuming sugar to offset the level of sodium. The carb rangoons were mostly cream cheese and lacked flavor. The sesame chicken tasted of generic Chinese food and not of sesame chicken. They serve tea with all meals but it is not the good green tea some place service, just hot Lipton, steeped too long. There are better Chinese restaurants in town.

I lived blocks away form this place for over ten years and never thought to go here. I always went to Rice Bowl across the street and never heard anyone tell me otherwise. I see this come up on Unilocal quite a bit and the reviews are good so I decided to try it out. I went on a Saturday afternoon and was immediately struck by the interior and atmosphere. The place has been there for awhile and the atmosphere is comforting to me in it’s unwillingness to move forward to the current century. The elevator music with long electric guitar solos (?) fit perfectly.
A friendly waitress brought me a pot of tea and took my additional drink order. I asked if I could order just two Crab Rangoon as an appetizer and she said that was fine and even made sure I wasn’t ordering one of the lunch specials that includes two crab rangoon with the meal. Got my crab rangoon which were hot and tasted excellent. Got the won ton soup which was also very tasty. What I got for the entrée was sweet and sour pork which is not the best meal to judge a place on… because they are just frying up some battered pork and putting it on rice with some fruit. Any dishes they may truly make from scratch may represent tChina Palace more. This was some of the worst tasting fried battered pork I have tasted. Something off about it and way over cooked. I ended up mainly eating the the rice and did not ask for a to-​go box.
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Will I try China Palace again? Certainly. I hope my entrée will hold up with the rest of the expereience in the future.

I have been eating here for over 10 years. It seems like it is locked in some kind of time warp where nothing changes. That can be good. That can be bad.
The good is the food is consistent. My favorite is the Mongolian beef with the sweet, red sauce. The dish is prepared with good, tender beef, scallions and onions. There is more beef than veggies.
We usually order the fried wontons with seasoned pork filling. I love these. We have also had the crab Rangoon and several of the soups. Again, all served hot and in good size portions.
My husband likes the Kung Pao chicken. My kids order the chicken fried rice and Imperial chicken. All are large portions. The inevitable leftovers are rarely left by dawn the next morning.
The table service is excellent! Our server even remembers what I order, right down to the hot mustard for the fried wontons!
The place does a very active carry out service too. There is always a very steady stream of people in and out. The guy who takes the orders tells everyone 10 – 15 minutes. But if you walk in and order, you have it in less than 10. Again, time ceases to be here.
The bad is time ceases here. The décor from the walls, dishes, menus and placemats have not changed one iota since I have started coming here.
If you are looking for ambiance, go somewhere else. If you just want good food in large portions for a good price delivered fast and friendly, go here.
Even 10 years from now, you won’t be disappointed.

I recently moved to Omaha from Seattle and was craving chicken teriyaki. Japanese food is a staple where I’m from with teriyaki joints on nearly every corner. After seeing a handful of good reviews and noticing teriyaki chicken was an option on China Palace’s menu, I decided to give them a try.
Worst idea yet, had I took into consideration that Omaha doesn’t have an ethnic food background like Seattle, I probably would have just cooked it at home myself.
My friend and I each got an order to go and we couldn’t wait to get home and dive in– so much so that we didn’t even sit down first. Standing at the island in my kitchen I took my first bite, and instantly turned right around to spit it into the sink! This meat wasn’t even edible and I highly doubt it was chicken. For all I know this could have been rat meat, it tasted an AWEFUL lot like cat food, even being somewhat chalky and it was overly rubbery. I still don’t understand how something can have both those textures going on. Oh, and the sauce? Far from even tasting like a traditional teriyaki sauce and it’s fine that they skimped on it, because it probably wouldn’t have made this dish taste any better.
After that first bite I was even turned off from eating the rice. As my friend watched in disgust, he was hesitant on trying the teriyaki for himself… however he did. It ended up right back into the box. We both ended up throwing the meals away, and it was a complete waste of $ 18.00.
The «Chinese» dishes at this establishment might be better, but I don’t think I’ll be back to give them a second try. They really should just take the teriyaki off their menu. I know were in the middle of the country, but oh how I wish Omaha was more culturally diverse and we had better options for Asian cuisine. Guess I’ll be sticking to over Americanized Panda Express or HyVee.
If I could give no stars, I would. However, the woman that took our order and rang us up was extremely friendly and pleasant. If she’s the owner, I hope for their sake and business they figure out how to make a better meal.

I’ve been going to China Palace for 10+ years and it’s easily my favorite Chinese place in Omaha. As others have mentioned the hot & sour soup is to die for. When it’s cold or I’m sick, nothing beats it. My favorite entrée is the curry chicken, they make it like no others in town. Good pieces of white meat chicken (none of those weird mystery meat pieces) with onion, green pepper and carrots, all super fresh. My husband likes the garlic chicken and orders it a bit spicier. The prices are decent and the staff has always been very friendly. Takeout is usually ready in 10 minutes. Highly recommended!

I love it here! I usually order chicken fried rice cooked extra spicy and have never been disappointed. It is fresh and I’m always pleased with the chicken– never any weird pieces you have to pick out!
My favorite part about this place is that you can order your meal without MSG!

We’ve tried several Chinese places around omaha and this is the one for us!
Moderately priced, but you get a lot of food for your money. And more over its good food! The lo mien was great, the sweat and sour chicken was fresh and flavorful, the fried rice had all the proper additives and was well prepared. Your classic american-​Chinese style food. The crab rangoon was crispy and crabby, and it was way more food then we could eat!
I ordered food to go, and it was ready when I arrived ten minutes later. Although I didn’t stay to eat, the restaurant seemed nice. We’ll have to go back. The owner was working the register and he was very friendly! Satisfied with the food, the price, the portions an the service. Our new go-​to Chinese place!

Fresh and very inexpensive!
Everything is so fresh!
This is my favorite Chinese place.
I only give four stars because I came here 1 out of 5 times– the food was not so good. So that isn’t consistent in my book!
Combo fried rice and combo lo mein… great flavor. Fresh.
The combo platter… ugh… Nice presentation but I wouldn’t order it again!

I decided to try out a local neighborhood Chinese restaurant. Upon my arrival, the owner or manager was quick to greet me and made a suggestion of the lunch special. The hot and sour soup was very good, very flavorful, and not too salty. the lunch special of the generals chicken came with a choice of a eggroll or two crab ragoons. The eggroll was a pork filled and fried well. It was very good and came out fresh. The generals chicken and fried rice are also very delicious. The meal was prepared nicely and tasted fresh. The atmosphere is very nice and the prices for lunch specials were very reasonable. I will definitely be coming back here to my local neighborhood restaurant soon! :-)

I hate to be so negative, but this was the worst Chinese food I’ve had in probably two decades.
We ordered two dishes: Buddhas Delight and Ma Po Bean Curd. They both had this pinkish/​reddish hue. Yes, the portions were substantial, but we both threw out two-​thirds of both meals because they were just awful and wrong in so many ways. I can only presume they mix in that cheap, red sweet/​sour sauce into their brown sauce. Disgusting. Ma Po Bean Curd is supposed to be spicy, but it wasn’t spicy at all. And it was overloaded w/​veggies like carrots and water chestnuts (!?). These vegetables NEVER belong in Ma Po Dofu. And the pork was cut in in big chunks; wrong again. Look at any picture of Ma Po Dofu (Bean Curd) on the net and you’ll see what it’s supposed to look like.
Also, we ordered a hot/​sour soup, and it was SWEET and sour. Again… disgusting.
If you truly enjoy delicious Chinese, please don’t make the same mistake we did. Canton House, Hiro or Gold Mountain leaves this place in the dust.

China Palace is great. It’s your classic American-​Chinese restaurant, complete with Chinese-​flavored muzak, astrology placemats and tacky/​tasteful décor. What really makes CP stand out among the countless other Chinese restaurants in Omaha is the actual quality of its food.
As other Unilocalers have pointed out, CP is a cut above the rest when it comes to staples like hot and sour soup and egg rolls, the latter of which you can tell is actually made FRESH beforehand, and not some frozen deal from the Sysco truck.
My recent favorite is the Firecracker Chicken, a sweet and slightly spicy dish of fried chicken bits in sauce with snow peas, water chestnuts and a few other veggies. Both the Mongolian beef and sliced pork/​chicken in garlic sauce have yet to disappoint. They serve hot tea (no charge) at the beginning of each meal, adding to that I-know-I’m-in-a-casual-Chinese-restaurant-yet-it-somehow-has-that-‘60s-throwback-feel-my-grandparen­ts-loved.
This place has been open for nearly 20 years. That has to mean something, right?

Best Chicken Lo Mein in the city IMO… I order it spicy!
This place is right near my house, as well as competing local favorite Rice Bowl. China Palace is worth the trip in the car, or the slightly longer walk for me. TO GO, or dine in are both great ways to try this place. TO GO is fast & always ready to go & the staff have always been super nice, attentive, & great! Portions are fantastic, when both my G/​F & I are in agreeance with what we hunger for we have been known to split an entrée and just pick up some soup &/​or an appetizer
For Appetizers we think the Wanton soup, the Dumplings, & Beef Teriyaki are our fav’s, and when you get the Teriyaki when you dine in, they bring out a little pot of fire for you to roast the meat on. In my book, that ranks pretty high =]
Chicken Lo Mein is my go to dish for testing out a new place, & while most others in Omaha fail, China Palace rises above and shines through the crappy ghetto strip mall that traps it within. A diamond in the rough…
I’ve also tried the RED Mongolian Beef that people have talked about on here. I thought it was really good! It was nice to have it a different way while still getting the same message across.
Price is pretty great too & the free hot tea on dine in orders is a hit with us as well as the bar.

Finally a Chinese restaurant that serves food that can be compared to the ones back home. I thought I had to fly home every time I wanted Chinese food. Maybe I can go to China Palace from now on.
Now, it still doesn’t serve the regional cuisine I love best but I have been told that it’s impossible in the Midwest. I have had better Chinese food in the South than here.
Anyway, it’s a very pleasant restaurant with excellent service. Most dishes were «Chinese American» in style but if you ask the right person the right question they can tweak things for you. Forget about «authentic Chinese food.» There is no such thing. Every family tweaks their recipes. Besides, crab rangoon is «standard» Chinese American food, not «authentic» Chinese food. Growing up, I didn’t know too many people who could tolerate cheese, let alone using them in a dish. It’s like fortune cookies. Don’t get me wrong. I like Chinese American food as much as I like regional Chinese food. I just don’t believe that you should judge a Chinese restaurant based on how «authentic» it is. I can’t always ask my grandmother to cook for me. I know I need to start cooking in my own kitchen again. That may help.