3.5 stars. Came here for my friend's bday dinner. Surprisingly even though we came around 7 and the place was small and filled they managed to get our party of 8 seated within 5-10 minutes which was great. My friend said this is like a Korean/Chinese restaurant so I was very excited to go since I haven't had Chinese in a while. It was definitely more Korean food. We did family style and were able to try many different food, but they were all okay. I ate til I was no longer hungry but that was it. It wasn't entirely satisfying. Our total came out to be a bit over $100 so it wasn't bad. We just didn't eat until we were content and went to get more food afterwards. read more

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So sad how places like this monopolizes the area with constant line out the door due to having virtual no alternatives. Hate to be one of those pretentious jerks that says "i've had it better in *insert area*", but honestly I can say if you are about 32152th ranked joongkukjip in Korea, you are better than this place.... Korean Chinese in Irvine vicinity have been thinning in the past 20 years and the only other option I can think of are Golden China (Tustin) which has been getting more and more disappointing, Chunha Jjampong inside University Park Zion market (purty good but meh setting) I give this place 3 stars because service was excellent, especially the host guy (manager perhaps?) Here was my findings: Jjajangmyun ($10) - sauce has almost no flavor with literally 3 cubes of tiny pork. Noodle and sauce dont really mix well, pretty lukewarm in temperature. Bokeumbap($12) - extremely bland. has expensive seafood that have 0 taste for some odd reason. I can't name $8 fried rice at any Viet, Thai, Chinese restaurant in Irvine that I could deem worse than this. Jjampong ($11) - jjampong was the only saving grace. another reason for my 3 stars. Had pretty flavorful soup and had fairly good amount of veges/seafood and noodle. Growing up in Irvine and now residing in MV, I used to drive up here for Chinese Korea, but I give up at this point. Will prolly just make a trip to GG next time to Peking Garden or something for jjajangmyun.. cries... read more

One of few Korean Chinese restaurants serving Jjajangmyun in Irvine. Definitely satisfies that craving after you've just watched a jjajangmyun scene in a korean drama. My family usually does takeout but make sure to call ahead during peak times. read more

Pretty decent Korean spot if you are craving for some jjajjangmyun and sweet & sour pork! We also tried their pan fried dumplings and they were pretty big in size and delish. Not gonna lie we were pretty skeptical as to why this place got only 3.5 stars. However after trying this place (it was the only place out of many Asian restaurants open on New Years), I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. Service was good and our food came out pretty quick. Portion wise, the noodles came in a pretty big bowl and I was only able to finish half. Not a huge fan of the sweet & sour pork as I've had better in Ktown, however it definitely still hit the spot. Will be back to satisfy my cravings once again! read more

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Jjajangmyun was pretty good. Jjambbong wasn't that great the noodles and soup didn't mesh well together. Knocked off stars because they didn't include rice with our rice orders when they were the ones that asked if we wanted rice. read more

My boyfriend and I were driving around on Christmas Eve looking for Mexican food and everything was closed so we accidentally found Chai Lan and we were so happy we did. We ordered the seafood fried rice and the spicy fried chicken. Both were very delicious and the lady who helped us was so nice and helpful with the menu. Definitely looking forward to eating here again! read more

I always love coming here! Everything is delicious...except for maybe the crispy pork. The pork is a little too tough. I been getting take out from here almost every week and the food is always hot. They give you a decent portion so there is always left overs for tomorrow. read more

I dont really ever leave reviews for restaurant but seems so unfair that people give bad reviews without thinking of consequences. I guess that is how it works after covid, people feel entitled everywhere. All reviews are subjective and because someone doesn't like the food, that doesn't mean you wont. I'm a restauranteur so I know how difficult making consistent food is. With that said, this restaurant has solid Korean Chinese food if you know what to order. Not all restaurants make 100% most delicious food. Some are awesome, some not. My family dines here at least twice/three times a month including takeout. There is a reason why I come here all the time. I recommend the black bean noodles (I ask for the onion and black bean sauce free side dish and add some of the the sauce into the noodle dish to make it more umami flavor), garlic fried chicken or shrimp (this dish is the best I have ever had at any korean chinese restaurant), the beef with scallion/onions. The seafood fried rice is under seasoned so ask for some salt and use it. It taste much better. Its better than being overly salted. You can always add but you cant take out. I don't prefer their mapo tofu or any fried pork stuff but again taste is all subjective. BTW, forgot the fried pork mandoo. Best! and home made. Other restaurants sell frozen junk, but not here. You really have to appreciate when food is made fresh and not frozen. I sincerely hope that people read this review and think before leaving an unfair review just because you didn't like it. read more

Service is a joke. The lady with the short hair paused for a good five seconds and glared at my mom when my mom asked when one of our dishes would come out. That lady not only glared at my mom but answered in a super rude tone, "It will come out. We only have one 'machine' that makes that dish." The only reason why my mom asked when the other dish would come out was because we were more than halfway done with the other dishes we ordered. That server had the worst attitude. On another note, the food is OK. Portion is small and the food was barely warm. Overall, I would NOT recommend this place due to the reallyyy poor service. read more

Jjajanmyun is pretty good. Spicy chicken with pepper is sometimes good and sometime bad. I would recommend if someone is really craving for JJajangmyun. Customer service is good enough. It is not so crowded with customers overtime I go so I don't think reservation is required. read more

a big fan of chai lan for korean/chinese food! their noodles are very thick and moist, and the noodles absorb the sauce very well. It is also a good price for jjajangmyeon and jjambong and not too expensive. I got the fried pork with vegetables on top and it was delicious!! i think it's better than the tangsooyuk because the chicken is crispier and lighter, and the onions on top complement it very welll. The jjambong also has a ton of seafood on it and the broth is not too spicy but very rich and i can tell they use a lot of fresh seafood unlike some places who give minuscule pieces of not so fresh seafood. love this place! read more

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When I miss jajangmyun while in Irvine, this place hits the spot. The tangsuyuk and noodle combo never gets old.

I had been there 4times for eating korean-chinese food. Chai lan is not that good for food and service, but actually there is no other place for the korean chinese food(no choice) in Irvine that I know. So whenever I miss korean-chinese food, I just went there. But today is going to be the last day, and I won't go there anymore. I felt the food is getting worse and worse when I go there. Today for jjajangmyun it was the worst, and food was very cold and sauce of jjajangmyun has taste nothing. It was just like a watery noodle in a dark brown colored water. We ordered two jjajangmyuns and Tangsuyook for two people. The complains about food was not only from us today. People beside us also ordered jjajangmyun, and they just stopped eating suddenly left without saying anything. Their food was also all left. Also Tangsooyook seemed like they fried over and over again with the left over ones. It was very hard to bite and pork inside flour smells awful!!and not fresh. Even though I did not expect that much, I am so disappointed! Also the servers,, whenever I go there, I feel like they are not enoughly trained yet and they do not know exactly what to do to customers. It is the worst place for the korean-chinese food. read more

If you're craving chachang mein / jajang myun / black bean paste noodle and you don't want to drive far, Chai Lan is the place to come to. But service was off this time, the first order of the noodle dish, apparently they forgot since we placed an additional one later on and they only brought one dish out. It literally took about 20 - 25 min before the noodle dish came out. I'm sure they're still working their kinks out but I don't think it should take that long, especially when you have a hungry toddler waiting for his food. It's pretty overpriced food in my opinion, but it's probably because of Irvine Company's steep rental fees. On avg it's about $10+ per dish when Garden Grove or Korea town in downtown LA has it for half the price...again that's if you're willing to drive up to LA. Yes I'd come back if I was feeling lazy and didn't want to drive as far...but their service needs to improve. read more

Its not easy to find a place that cooks the ingredients perfectly and I feel lucky to have found a place that does so. The ingredients are fresh and tastes natural without the heavy msg. I cant understand why this place has bad reviews, maybe they just came at a bad time. My favorite chinese place was Young Poong in Garden grove before the owners sold it. This place isnt as good as Young Poong but Its still definitely one of the best chinese places in OC. read more

This place has the worst service. Honestly food is ok. I recommended so many people here, and within two weeks we have frequent this place, but every time I was here, I thought the service was poor, but today reached another level of terribleness. I think If they keep this up, they will close down soon. The cashier scolded us for their mistake and kept telling my friends to wait outside for their orders (take out) then they ended up giving out our friends orders to other people, even admitted that they did so, but no remorse. The whole ordeal left us with such bad taste in our mouth. We hope to come back and enjoy food and service in the future. read more

I love~~~ Korean Chinese food. Jjamppong and jjajjangmyeon is music to my ears. This place has really good and nice chewy noodles, which can be hard to come by from different Chinese restaurants. The owner and the servers are very attentive. I would come here again to eat bomb food. read more

I'm really sorry to say this, but food was very underwhelming and service was one of the worst I've had in awhile. Lately the trend for restaurants have been focused on quality and outstanding service. But this place has neither. I know my review won't really do anything as far as the people that will go to this restaurant, but I hope the management really works with their servers on what the expectation for working in hospitality is like. Sorry not sorry :P read more

Chai Lan - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

So I get the fuss about the service, but I'll focus on the food and the atmosphere only in this review. The menu is your standard Korean-Chinese cuisine. Food is great, and I like the menu, which isn't too expansive but has enough to have something you like. The atmosphere is pretty good, too, considering the size of the restaurant. They did a good job with the decoration and whatnot. read more

Your typical JjiaJiangMien and Jjampong noodle soup (we call it Chau Ma Mien in Chinese) restaurant. Today is not the first time we visited this restaurant but what prompted me to write this review is our wonderful server John. John is probably the most hard working young man I've seen working at any restaurants we have been too. Before we left, I had to ask his name for this review. A young man with glasses. I think they made him handle a lot of tasks. Not only he had to attend the guests arriving at the door, he also seated people, took orders, brought us extra napkins, running back and forth between kitchen and dining area, took care of our receipt at the cash register. It is amazing how much he has to do for his job but still remains pleasant and courteous. What I also like about their food is I do not get any reaction from the ingredients they use. My body reacts to food from restaurants that use poor ingredients or sauces with chemicals. We will definitely come frequent Chai Lan more often in the future. read more

Restaurant is not large but I like its simple deco and floor plan for tables. Tasty Chinese-Korean food.

Yummy Chinese Korean Food joint in irvine. Very clean. Service is nice too. My hubby loves the seafood soup here. read more

This is the go to place for Korean style black bean noodles and tang soo yook (fried pork?). What I appreciate about this place is quality control. Every time I go, it's good. I've also had the Mongolian Beef, Mapa tofu, Jjam Bbong, Fried rice, and The Shrimp. I've never had a bad experience here and I think it's because I've seen the manager that used to be at BCD in Irvine, when it was at his peak, now at this restuarant... read more

I'm really happy that a jajangmyun joint has opened in Irvine! I know there are a couple other places nearby (Lunar, Golden China, etc) that also offer Chinese-Korean cuisine, but those places have seemed to have more misses than hits as of to date. I came here for lunch with Lisa S. and to my horror, she had never tried jajangmyun before!! We both ordered a bowl and an order of the tang sooyuk (sp??), which is the deep fried sweet & sour pork. I'm glad the jajangmyun was good here, cuz it would've sucked if Lisa's first experience with it was poor! Everything tasted pretty good. I mean, I had no complaints. I did notice that the kimchi wasn't brought out automatically. I looked around and noticed that the Korean patrons had it, but non-Koreans didn't. Hmm. I had to ask for it but the server gladly brought it out. I think they operate on a don't ask, don't tell policy with the kimchi here. But the daikon and onions come out, so there's that at least. Service is a bit spotty. If they can just improve on that a little bit, then we've got a winner here. I hope you don't close down Chai Lan! read more

Food is okay. Decent chinese food. But the service was really nice. I will definitely go back there to eat if im in the area

Dining here once was once too many. Food was terrible and service was even worse. Like fast food places, you order at counter and pay for food upfront, including the tip. read more

This place is much better than paik's - not as salty and less greasy and msg. I've been going to paik's but not anymore.

The fundamental basics of the korean chinese such as Jjambong, jjajang and fried rice are very, very!! good. Dishes are hit or miss.

Was wonderfully surprised they opened a ja jang Myeon restaurant in Irvine. So I checked it out, to find that this place was delicious. Here's the pros and cons: Pros: 1.service is fast 2. Jajang myeon is delicious 3. Fried Sweet and sour pork (tang so yook) is delicious 4. Price: very reasonable Cons: Uh, hmm, eh.... the temperature could have been one to two degrees cooler?!?! Overall: great food, great service, great experience read more

This place isn't bad...isn't great. Prices are a little steep, but the portions are relatively substantial. Black bean noodles: noodles are good and chewy. The sauce is mostly onions with only a few pieces of meat. The sauce is decent, but I felt it was slightly weak, watered-down flavor. Not bad, but it didn't leave me satisfied with robust black-bean flavor. Sweet and sour pork: the pork was cooked nicely. Light and airy-crisp on the outside, moist on the inside. However, the pork had absolutely no flavor to it and was very very bland. The sauce was good, but even if I drowned the piece in the sauce, it just didn't pack enough flavor. Mapo tofu: Slight bit of heat to it and good flavor. We liked this one. They don't give you steamed rice unless you ask for it. The service is a bit rushed and sporadic. I'm not sure, but I think they had one woman serving all the tables, so everything was just quick-quick-go. Like I said, it wasn't bad. But, I think I'll keep searching for a better korean-chinese restaurant. read more

Pleasantly surprised. Was craving jja jiang myun and the brother in law found this place. To be honest, we didn't have high expectations (we're Korean and we're biased to LA ktown eats) but this place hit the spot. Highlights: Fast service Clean The tang soo yook (the sweet and sour pork) was crispy and the sauce had a subtle bit of ginger which was a really nice twist --the favorite of tonight The jjam pong (spicy seafood noodles) was really fresh and the noodles were slightly al dente which is not usually my style but they were tasty The jja jang myun was on par with other places Staff refilled water and side dishes quickly We came around 5:30pm so we beat the crowd, but I'll definitely come back here in the future read more

LOVE this place. Always get the jjajangmyun, seafood fried rice, and kung pao chicken. It's so good and it's always so crowded!

Chai Lan is the only chinese korean restuarant that I go when I'm craving jjajangmyun or jjampong. Their kungpao shrimp and fried rice menu are delicious too. Place is clean and their food never disappointed me. Call ahead to pick up your order. It usually takes 15mins. read more

Happy to discover a new Korean-Chinese restaurant in OC. It's pretty small inside but we dined around 5p on a Friday and it wasn't crowded at all. My husband and I ordered and shared two ja jang myung noodles and an order of spicy chicken. the portions for the kkangpoongki was decent especially for $15. it definitely was not spicy at all. My 4 year old was able to eat it! The ja jang myung was a good size and had a nice ratio of sauce to noodles. The noodles didn't seem like they were hand made like some other Korean-Chinese restaurants, but they were cooked perfectly. the waiter mentioned their jam-pong(spicy noodle soup) is a popular item but decided to pass this time. There's only one bathroom with a toilet and urinal. It was clean but it is a tight space since the area also has storage items. The side dishes were spicy radishes and yellow radish. Both were replenished without us having to ask which is always nice. Overall, a good place for a casual dinner. Parking is plentiful since it's park of the shopping plaza. read more

So got really excited to find out that there is finally a Korean-Chinese style restaurant opened up in Irvine. I mean there are some out in the near vicinity but nothing worth revisiting. Wanted a reliable place to cure my occasional jja jang (blackbean noodle) and champong (spicy seafood noodle soup) needs. I really hoped to find that place in the south O.C., then found this place on Yelp with the hot & new sign! Place is new, modern, & clean. Menu is not too big but has all the essential Korean-Chinese food. Easy to see & understand. Kitchen is sorta open with windows all around. Service was meh. They took the order, brought out food, & gave the check at the end. This is not by any means an upscale place. They cater to the residents in the neighborhood. For the neighborhood (although they're located in Irvine), their pricing seems little too high (let's say their rent is also ridiculously high!). I know that the food (except for the noodles) are family style and meant to be shared but I just think their price is high for the average food. The jja jang was good @ $9 - not too high, considering that a food court place jja jang costs $8.99 @ Zion Mart. But it was missing protein as per my hubs. No. 22 Stir fried glass noodles with vegetables and steamed buns $17- either the description is wrong (no glass noodles or not much peppers) or the chef didn't have the ingredients for the order? It should be also served with some rice because it was very salty! The buns won't be enough to finish the dish. No, they didn't bring rice with the dish. I should have asked for one but then no one came by to check to see if we needed anything. Looks like they will be on my list for emergency jja jang place to go to but I'd still need drive out to Northern O.C. or Garden Grove for my Korean Chinese food cravings~ read more

Chai Lan - Jja jang myun - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

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I love this place, delicious,fresh and fast the food. Good service !!! .... I definitely have to go back to this restaurant. read more

I'll be the first to tell you I have really high expectations for every new thing that dares open its doors to the public here in Irvine. I was excited for this place because it has a really inviting interior for hanging out, grabbing some Korean beers, and chomping on some yummy spicy food. We ordered three things for takeout to test the waters here: 1. Seafood fried rice in special sauce. They really needs to spell out what seafood is contained in this dish. There's like 8 things in here, three of which are new textural nightmares my mouth never needed to experience. There's one thing in here I cannot even offer up a guess about what animal it might be. Also the rice isn't fried. It's possible it has been lightly sauteed as there's a hint of a buttery taste, but if that's the case just don't even do it because the difference between this and normal rice is undetectable. 2. Fried chicken in spicy sauce. This was pretty okay and had a good flavor. I think the price is a little unreasonable and would much rather make the extra drive to Chan Chan down Culver for better taste/value. 3. Pan fried dumplings. These have a good appearance and I was expecting deliciousness, but taste like store bought pork & chive dumplings. Would have benefited from some dipping sauce that was not supplied. Also weighing in at over $1 per dumpling these are not a good value at all. If you're craving this type of food, I'd personally head elsewhere or hope that all I experienced was the growing pains of their first two weeks. It's also possible I don't have the right palate for this place but considering I enjoy other similar places around here much more, I'm not ready to fault my mouth for this one. read more

Terrible services!!!! Tastes even not good either. No greetings, never setting up the table for the guests entering, no watercups, chopsticks, spoons and things until asking one by one in need, even though there were 4 servers at the hall. Each server's attitude towards the guest is impolite (not educated well as a server). Overall, rating 1 star is even too much for this restaurant. read more

Not particularly impressed. I got seafood & fried rice. The dish was large - 99% rice, but lots of it. There were three shrimp and something that might have been eel - not sure. The rice wasn't the texture that I normally expect from fried rice; it was rather oily and slick. There were large chunks of egg which put me off - I expect the egg to be well mixed. I probably won't return. I thought the price rather high for a large plate of rice. read more

I didnt have a place to go for good Korean-Chinese in Irvine, so would drive up to either Garden Grove or Fullerton to fill my cravings. Now, I don't have to go that far whenever I crave it as this would be my go to place. Thank you for opening up in this neighborhood and hope their taste remains the same! read more