Gen Lai Sen

I have been coming this restaurant since 1997. The food was great. I am sad to hear they have closed. They had the best fried rice and BBQ spare ribs.

Best mutha flipping Chinese food in San Diego hands down. It’s so good omg mouth watering… The shrimp fried rice and chicken fried rice will make you want to slap your mother… No your grandmother…
I don’t like orange chicken but their orange chicken I tear up!!! My personal all time fav Is the shrimp noodle soup it’s

Everything is always fresh and last but definitely not least is the speak English lol

What a shame that this fine family restaurant has closed. I know the family personally, and have been getting tasty take out from them since 2000 – 2001. Actual Chinese people in the kitchen. The best fried rice I’ve ever had. Good meats, tasty and real noodles. I sincerely hope that the family decides to reopen at another location, since I’m fairly certain they sold to the developers building out new condos in the area across from City College. Remember that a lot of people would love to see you back!!!

I drove by this afternoon and I’m afraid it’s true. They are closed and the entire parking lot has what looks to be about a 6 ft fence around it. I didn’t see any signs posted indicating a remodel or that they were relocating. If anyone finds out any news regarding a change of location or reopening in this location or has any updates, would you please post it?

Closed and out of business… was at City College today and noticed…

I’m sad — Gen Lai Sen is closed. Tried to go for lunch today and the tables were gone. I was told the land was going to be developed for apartments.
I really enjoyed going to Gen Lai Sen all these years. The food wasn’t fantastic but it was good. The servers were always nice. I wish them all well.

Today is the last day they are going to be open! I will miss the hell out of this place… Owners are retiring so I’m going to have to find a new Chinese lunch spot…

This is one of those food places that you come to when you have the munchies. I do not consider this a must-​go but if you’re in the area and in dire need of greasy oily food to soak up the toxins in your stomach to avoid any headaches the next morning– this is it.
I had the chow mein & veggie stir-​fry. Both dishes came drowning in a sea of oil. This is definitely not gourmet Chinese food– you’re better at pf changs.

My husband and I drove by this place the other day and were intrigued by the yellow façade. Read some reviews on here and decided to try it out as we just moved downtown and hadn’t found a chinese place yet. Apparently its been in business for eons and we can now see why.
This place was awesome. Don’t let the sketch exterior and outdated interior décor steer you away, the food is amazing. We ate in the dining room, which was mostly empty, but it seems that this place does a ton of business for takeout.
My husband had the kung-​pao chicken, it melts in your mouth it was so yummy! I had the sweet and sour chicken which was just as delicious. We both also had the won ton soup which is pure heaven. Give this place a try, you won’t regret it!

A lot of people don’t understand fortune cookies.
Matty Bloodbath and a few of us were at Gen Lai Sen and a buddy asked why he didn’t get a fortune cookie after the meal.
I told him that they didn’t like his attitude.
It was an old Chinese Confucius tradition thing.
He said it was not,
that it was just some gimmick that an American made up.
Pssshhhhh…
Having to deal with feeble-​minded individuals gets so tiring, god.
So I began Chinese History 101 with him
and explained that the fortune cookie was something Confucius made up
to get his ideas and wisdom out there.
He was also quite the trickster. He knew what words were in what cookies.
The cookies back then were rigged.
It might have been the early 1800’s but that guy was some sort of smart.
His disciples were the ones who brought marked cards to the west in
San Francisco’s ol’ heroin dens.
Anyways…
If someone had a negative aura around them,
he would give them one that would just say «Go f^@! Yourself» or «I don’t like you» hahahahaha… That guy…
Such a comedian, way before his time,
but he also cared and would give us wise sayings like:
«If you want top shelf; reach for it» «Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance» «You can’t pluck the needle from a haystack without trying» «Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star» etc. etc
So yeah,
We had a great meal over the conversation consisting of various dishes that I can only find at this spot. Stuffed tofu is the ultimate winner; the simple warton soup is super good as is pretty much every damn thing I have ever had here.
And the family at Gen Lai Sen is always super cool,
with me at least.
Maybe I don’t have a negative aura about me.
Maybe.

You know, this place is not too shabby. For about 8 $ you can get a very large lunch combo that is delicious. Almost daily there are about 2 – 3 charter busses FULL of Asian tourists that fill up nearly the entire restaurant. This may be some kind of deal the restaurant has with the company. If you notice the busses be warned that it is near impossible to get service because of the demand for food.
Beyond that towards the night time it empties out and is nice. Only thing that would make this place amazing would be dinner time combos because sometimes you really don’t need to pay 11 – 15 $ for each plate of food if you are craving just a little bit of everything.

Not much to say about this place except that it is a is a mediocre chinese food spot. If you are looking for fresh light food, this is not the place. The one thing that is pretty consistant is the chicken fried rice.

A San Diego treasure! This is THE place to get excellent, authentic Chinese food in San Diego. It is hole in the wall. Who knows when they last fixed up the inside (it is clean, though). But the food is so great that they don’t need to worry about ambiance. A lot of people probably get take-​out, anyway.
The poo-​poo platter is excellent. I always order kung pao chicken with all white meat (a little extra). The quality of the food is excellent. I’ve seen vans full of Chinese tourists pull up and eat there. What better indicator of authenticity could you have?
You are missing out if you don’t try this place.

Although it wasn’t the cleanest restaurant I’ve eaten at, the food was pretty good, authentic. House fried rice was really good; as was the eggplant! Squid w spicy sauce was good also, not very spicy but squid was soft. But the three meat chow mein was just soso. The chicken breast was bland. I think next time I’ll try the noodles w black bean sauce instead. Definitely worth take out. Good Chinese for downtown.

I have to confess that the only reason why I took my friend Anna, visiting from Denmark and missing Chinese food, to Gen Lai Sen is because I have been very curious during the months a friend of mine lived across the street and I could see the cool retro sign from the balcony. To me, this place is like out of place, «waiting to be bought» as my friend would say, considering the new buildings being built in hipster/​homeless East Village. This restaurant with the ‘60s look, popcorn ceiling and faded colors looks like an anachronism in an area that is evolving so rapidly. However, something was telling me that this was just not a décor for tourists in search of Chinese-​American vintage look. Hordes of Chinese coming out of buses is what I have seen from that balcony for a long time. That many could not be wrong! And no, they weren’t: this family owned restaurant brings you the plate (a lot to choose) fast like a ray. Cheap prices and enough quantity to satisfy a normal palate. Smiles all the way and a clean place even if that green-​hospital of the chairs would need a revamping. Or maybe not. That it the charm, and the food is not bad at all.

Came in for a 2^nd visit after a long day at the zoo. If you didn’t already know, Gen Lai Sen is just down the street from the SD Zoo/​Balboa Park.
Walked in and was seated right away. Didn’t order the specials this time but went for the family style ala carte items with rice and noodles (I didn’t have any rice or noodles this time though).
The ala carte items are pretty big. They’re tasty and fill. We had the beef with Chinese broccoli, chicken and mushroom, wonton mein, and fried calamari. Everything was cooked fresh. For downtown SD, Gen Lai Sen hits the mark for Chinese food. Good stuff!

On search for good chinese in SD. Don’t think i found it here, but its aiiiite.
Walked in on a semi-​busy sunday night. We weren’t acknowledged of our presence for a good 5 minutes.
All i wanted was good Hong Kong style noodle soup. I did not get it here. The flavor just wasnt there, and the quality in the food was seriously lacking. My bf got the kung pao chicken, nothing to note here. Overall it wasnt terrible, but there wasn’t anything great or even good about it.
The prices are decent, but i think it would be a stretch to say this was far better than say… a panda express.

2.5 ish. Think I ordered the wrong thing. Was really craving some good Chinese soup like some chow fun or duck soup. They only had the more American default soups and menu items. I thought with the messaging on the outside it would be more traditional.
I went with the Westlake beef soup. It was ok. Pretty bland and hardly and beef with frozen vegetables in it. The egg and tofu in it was good. I got the fried wontons and they were decent. They did bring out some great tea off the bat.
I’ll go back to give it another shot and try some of their other dishes. Nice people working there but seemed to be a little overwhelmed with hardly anyone in there. Thought it would be much better from the reviews. The inside is a little dirty and old. The sriracha and chili on the table looked gross and kind of old. Hopefully it was just an off day.

I’ve been a resident of Downtown for 3 years now and I couldn’t help but look with confusion to this place when I’d be at the stop light on Park. The sign is multilingual with Chinese, English, Spanish, and who knows what else I’m forgetting. The place has never once had a car in the lot that I’ve seen. Kind of like the mystery Restaurant eatery on Park and Broadway. I had always wanted to try it but I’ve been a little nervous to… luckily I found some courage.
On this particular night I went in the lot was filled with cars which is a sight I’ve never seen.
Walking up I enjoyed the «No Smoking Sign» that had Chinese characters written underneath. Authenticity, I’m into it.
Once inside, Oddly enough the inside of the restaurant had maybe about four tables being served, total. Small tables. Clearly users of the parking lot were not diners.
Uh oh…
Putting fear aside, the server looked like she is the mom of the place with whom I assume to be Grandpa up in the front greeting customers. Family operated, I’m into that. We were brought hot tea immediately without ordering it. Complimentary is what I’m thinking because I don’t remember seeing it on the bill. Awesome!
We ordered a bowl of egg drop soup which to our surprise was the largest most enormous bowl filled of my most favorite soup in the entire world. We split the bowl and we both had three full servings. After tackling the giant bowl we were ready to call it a night as our stomachs became an egg drop soup fun house pool. I can’t believe we found the space in our tummies to order a rice dish and two meat oriented dishes.
The food is plentiful enough to share and defeated the both of us. We ended up taking the left overs home and had servings for two more nights of full dinners for ourselves.
Ambiance wise, It’s a bit like the twilight zone in here, but that’s alright… who needs commotion?
My only issue was with only four tables being served, the other previous three customers tables could have been bussed away. Wasn’t too appetizing to gaze at the leftovers and trash of other folk.
Gen Lai Sen is definitely a diamond in the ruff (their sign) and should not be feared. You will only find fabulous food, friendly and quick service, and fair prices.
And they do take out too!
Definitely going back.

I tend to get random cravings and today was no different. I’ve been coughing all week so my throat is shot, and I wanted nothing more than hot & sour soup. I was initially going to go to Wangs in North Park because I love their hot & sour, but the place doesn’t open until 4. So I remembered about Gen Lai Sen, the random Chinese restaurant with the big yellow sign, that I would see whenever I left downtown to go home. I looked up their menu and thankfully they serve lunch til 4.
When I sat down I was immediately given hot tea and was so happy because it felt fantastic on my throat. I ordered the orange chicken combination lunch and had to pay $ 1 to hot & sour soup instead of egg drop. I thought the food was good and considering it was a lunch special, the portions were great. My food came out fast!
As others have said, this isn’t the fanciest place you’ll go to, but I enjoyed it. It’s definitely not the best Chinese food I’ve ever had, but it satisfies the craving at a good price.