Top Chinese Restaurant in Santa Barbara
Meet Up Chinese Cuisine
2251 Las Positas Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, United States
Best chinese food in Santa barbara. Dont miss this restaurant.
Szechuan Restaurant
1994 Cliff Dr, Santa Barbara, CA 93109, United States
We have been eating here for over 27 years. We love the food and the staff is great. We even had them cater our wedding rehearsal dinner. You won’t find a better Chinese restaurant in a Santa Barbara.
ShangHai Restaurant
830 N Milpas St, Santa Barbara, CA 93103, United States
I live in SLO County and there is no longer decent Chinese food- at least not in SLO or North Coast. I had to go to Santa Barbara for an appointment and I have been craving Chinese food for over a year since the one good restaurant closed. HOLY MOLY!! My mom and I both agreed this was the best Chinese food we have had in a very long time. The owner was so sweet and explained things really. Shes from Sichuan and thats always been my favorite type of Chinese food. They had authentic mapo tofu. It came out almost boiling in a clay pot. I learned the ma part means numbing from the Sichuan black pepper. It was AMAZING!! She let us try a pepper and what a strange sensation! Every time I need to go to Santa Barbara...Im going here!!!
Madam Lu Chinese Restaurant
3524 State St, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, United States
Madam Lu is definitely the best Chinese restaurant in the Santa Barbara area! Their food is very tasty, reasonably priced and very authentic Chinese food. The lunch buffet has a wide variety of food including my favorites orange chicken, string beans and fried dumplings. Ms. Lu is normally available to greet you at the door with her beautiful smile. She is always willing to offer you her recommendations. I highly recommend Madam Lu as the #1 Chinese restaurant on the central coast. You wont be disappointed!
Mandarin Palace
3955 State St, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, United States
Ate at Mandarin Palace for dinner tonight. Such a great restaurant with the best Chinese food there is in Santa Barbara! And Im telling you, being born and raised in Bangkok Thailand, you can really distinguish between American Asian food and Asian Asian food. Mandarin palace serves REAL, delicious Asian dishes and its a go to restaurant for every time I want to eat Chinese food in SB.
Panda Express
3849 State St, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, United States
Chow Mein was cold, had to wait 20 minutes for orange chicken, could have gotten better food faster at a real Chinese restaurant.
Panda Express
605 Paseo Nuevo, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, United States
As a Chinese person, I am always critical about food. But Panda Express is OK. As fast food, it tastes no less than the real Chinese restaurants.
China Pavilion
1202 Chapala St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, United States
This place aint no Panda Express! This is one of the better Chinese restaurants in Santa Barbara. Very well made food. The selection is vast yet somehow not overwhelming. You can choose from Authentic Chinese cuisine or your American classics! I decided to go the authentic route and started with scallion cakes and ended with peking duck. Unfortunately the scallion cakes did not even compare to the ones I had on the streets of China. I shall compare. I believe it was the base they used. Somehow it was glutenous and therefore, came out chewy and almost tasted stale, while the one in China was light and fluffy, yet was surrounded by a crispy exterior. Good news is, the one at China pavilion still came out slightly crispy, but I think it was a bit oily as well. What helped was the sauce it came with. It was almost like hoisin, but more ingredients added. Next was the peking duck, this also required a crispy taste. I remember coming here the first time and to my recollection I believe it was done right and to perfection, but this time around, again with the oil. There was just too much grease. I feel like if the greasiness could be cut out then this dish would deserve five stars. I feel like it can be done. Perhaps there was a chef change since the last time and the first time I came in. I still give it a 4 star overall because it is definitely better than the majority of Chinese places I have tried.
Top other services in Santa Barbara:
SB Pho
1221 State Street Suite 10, E Victoria St Lot 5, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, United States
Cute restaurant but the pho is far from authentic, sort of picked up on some hint when on the menu under pho the options were beef, chicken or vegetables instead of choices on the beef slices (tai, flank, tripe etc). The pho itself tasted off, very oily, with very thin and tiny portion of beef slices despite the $15 for a small (this price will get you an XL size combo pho at most Vietnamese places). The veggie on the side looked so sadly sparse. But I can accept a higher price for its location.Thing that I had a harder time accepting is how they prepared their tea. Ours was made by the cashier, without handwashing just dug hands into a lose leaf tea jar, grabbed a handful, put in a pot and dump a whole bunch of hot water in. Unsanitary.Re: owner's reply - maybe hiring a PR team would be good when engaging with customers online.
The Granada Theatre
1214 State St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, United States
Was so excited to see jersey boys. The show was fantastic. That's the best part I could say about the Grenada experience.Check in at the door they want ID & vaccination cards no problem then you have to wear a mask the whole time? Why? I'm told because it's a big event. The Super Bowl much bigger & there were no masks there. OK fine we'll wear a mask. It's so hot & stuffy sitting with a mask on in our seat.Intermission comes, we're thirsty, because it's so hot and dry. They're not serving any drinks in fact there's no bar, there's nowhere to get water except for a drinking fountain. Interesting there's a line of people touching the drinking putting their mouth on the button but that's OK and it's not being sanitized?But people are walking around with a mask? Don't you realize that Covid spreads by touch and hands not because of a mask?The mask mandate was lifted!!!!!Until they fix this flaw I will never go back again .I don't care what show is playing!