After my son finished his sports event in Irvine, we were near NorthPark Plaza. We saw a Chinese-Korean restaurant called Chai Lan Chinese Cuisine and decided to give it a try. They offer a simplified menu with six noodle options. We ordered the following: #1 Spicy seafood noodle soup with assorted vegetables ($16.99) #2 Spicy seafood noodle soup with vegetables pork broth ($16.99) #3 Black bean sauce noodles with pork ($13.99) My kids like the Jajangmyeon (#3), but I personally enjoy a bowl of half Jajangmyeon and half Jjambbong, although this option is not available. Advice to the Owner: Since the menu only offers six noodle options, customers may get bored of it. Please consider adding more creative choices like a bowl of half Jajangmyeon and half Jjambbong. Additionally, you can introduce a "Chinese-Korean Thali," similar to the traditional Indian thali, which includes a variety of dishes on a single plate. This will be an innovative way to offer diverse choices and attract more customers. read more

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This place is always a reliable spot to go to. The service is amazing, one of the ladies is super sweet and so attentive. Whenever we go, we get the jajangmyeon and the mapo tofu & fried rice -- which are both so good. read more

I prefer chai lan over the spot inside Hmart probably because there full service not a take out window and they also give you kimchi. They have bouncy noodles and the jjampong has a fire taste to it. It's delicious. I do feel like the prices are a little high but maybe you pay for what you get. Their tangsukyuk comes with the sauce on the side which is perfect for you dippers out there. Their roll bread is warm and soft and complements your meal as well. read more

Wow - This place is simple but each dish is made very well. I can't stop thinking about the mapo tofu with fried rice. It seems so easy to make but my fried rice at home definitely don't taste like this! Is it the wok, the rice, or the chef? Haha. I definitely recommend it for first time visitors. Luckily my food partner allowed me the honor to have one BIGGGGG scoop. The fried shrimps were so yummy too. We asked to have the sauce on the side instead of smothered on and no regrets there at all. So crunchy and full of flavor! And behold, the jjampong!! It comes spicy so unless asked to make it mild, those lips better come prepared. I love that it's light and huge!! When our waitress came out with the bowl, I felt like it could feed a family of 3! Prices are very decent for the amount of food and quality you get. I would love to come back again read more

Chai Lan - Jjampong - seafood noodles - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

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Noodles are soft and yummy covered in that thick black bean sauce--so good. My kids and I approve! The spicy seafood noodle soup is also good, clean tasting. Nice portions. It's not that spicy which is fine with me. You get pickled yellow radish and cute little radish kimchi as sides. We also got the battered and fried pork with sweet and sour sauce. It's meaty! I loved the ratio of lean meat to batter! Perfect crisp and the sauce was fun to dip! The steamed buns are yummy to dip as well! My kids especially love those. Service was fine, nothing really to complain about. The ladies are nice. The ambiance is also fine, cute inside. There's a cute little car that hold all the fortune cookies. There's also patio seating, and Hmart is conveniently a couple of stores down. read more

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Friend was craving jjamppong so we decided to go here. The restaurant was about half-full when we came for dinner, so we were seated and served almost immediately. We ended up getting the #1 and #1-1, both are spicy seafood soups one with noodles and one with rice. After seeing the portion, we found that one order could've easily been split among the two of us. There was plenty of seafood and veggies in the soup and the noodles were nice and chewy. Pretty good dinner and left feeling very full. read more

Chai Lan - #1 spicy seafood noodle soup and #1-1 spicy seafood rice soup - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

Service was good. Portion size was generous. Our favorite dish was the shrimp. The sweet and sour fried pork was kind of bland even with the sauce. The black bean noodle sauce turned watery the more you ate, which was strange. read more

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Very delicious Korean food if you find yourself in the Irvine area. I got the black bean noodles and sweet and sour pork because the two together are just a match made in heaven. The menu was very straightforward and it was in a cute little area with lots of other stores to walk around and enjoy. I would come every week if I lived closer! read more

Chai Lan - black bean noodles, sweet and sour pork, seafood fried rice - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

The food here was really comforting and warm. The staff were welcoming and friendly and we enjoyed our meal throughly. the black bean noodles were made just right and was my top pick of all the dishes we ordered. The sauce was perfect! read more

Chai Lan - these are usually the portions that are served from here; our group did family style. - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

It seems like the chef may have changed. The black bean noodles tasted quite too burnt and not like before. Also, the sweet and sour pork was sliced too thin, so it didn't have the same texture. read more

This restaurant is my go to in the area whenever I crave chinese korean food such as tangsuyuk and/or jajangmyeon. The food here is delicious and oily so you know its legit. Also, their sweet and sour shrimp is actually decent too and i order it sometimes when i'm in the mood. read more

My go to for cha cha myung and tansuyok. Family friendly pricing. I happen to frequent this place once a month

What the e. Found hair in my soup and i look over into the kitchen and no one in the kitchen is wearing a hair net. Disgusting

This Korean/Chinese fusion is so flavorful. Every bite was filled with a burst of freshness and tanginess in my mouth. It was the first time that I had black bean noodles. It fulfilled all my expectations of how I imagined it would taste. I wish there was a place closer to where I live. I can just imagine eating it this dish and watching my K-Dramas. Delicious in Dungeon. read more

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Apparently I discovered my new superpower here: invisibility. Too bad the staff were so committed to pretending I didn't exist, felt more like rejection than service. read more

The service is so bad;; terrible; I waited for my orders very long time while seeing others get their foods before me even though I ordered 15 minutes ago. Food is overpriced. read more

ordered the jajangmyeon w pork and it was really good, def good ratio of sauce to noodles

The black bean noodles are fantastic!!! Love the udon like texture of the noodles! The individual serving is large,such a good quantity. The sweet and sour pork was also great! Staff is friendly. Casual vibe. read more

Chai Lan - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

My friends and I took my mom here for her bday and ordered all the classics! We had noodles, rice, shrimp and a slew of veggies mixed in between. My mom loves the Korean inspired Chinese cuisine and this place didn't disappoint! read more

I feel like this place can be a hit or miss. I brought my friend here for the first time, and she did not like it at all. I thought it was okay. This place was recommended to me because apparently their jiajiangmian is really good. It wasn't. It honestly made me feel a bit queasy afterward. The dish had a lot of sauce and onions. I really wouldn't recommend it. The tofu and fried rice dish was better. I liked the tofu, but the fried rice wasn't that great. In terms of environment, the place was clean, but they do stuff as many tables as they can in a small space, which means you are dining pretty close to other people. It usually isn't a big deal, but there was a Korean mom with her family next to me who wouldn't stop staring at me, so that was a bit awkward. It was also difficult to get a hold of a waiter. It helps that they provide a pitcher of water on the table, so you don't need to ask for refills, but getting anything else pretty much requires you to stand and/or wave your arms for attention. I do want to try their other dishes, but I am unlikely to dine in again. They do have a giant tub of fortune cookies at the entrance, and you can take as much as you want on your way out, so that was nice. read more

Chai Lan - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

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The best, unbeatable Korean Chinese restaurant. Clean, professional service with quality foods. Been there at least 50 times including delivery and never disappointed read more

the food is so flavorful and delicious, one of the best bowls of jjajangmyeon (black bean noodles) i've had. it is a generous portion and is full of onion and pork. the tangsuyuk - sweet & sour pork - was really good too, i liked that the sauce is on the side. the servers were friendly and attentive. they didn't have aprons, but they gave me extra napkins to protect my shirt from the noodles! the food came out pretty fast, and there wasn't a wait on a friday night. there are plenty of tables inside, and it was a clean environment to eat. overall, this is my new go-to for jjajangmyeon in OC. read more

Chai Lan - Black Bean Noodles & Sweet and Sour Pork - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

Food: My first impression was that the food was average, but the more I ate, the more I thought the food was actually quite bad. My boyfriend literally said "the water is good" because we didn't want to keep eating the food. We ordered some seafood bowl that had way too much sauce and the vegetables felt soggy. In general, the whole dish didn't taste fresh and the quality of the ingredients seemed below average. The fried shrimp honestly felt comparable to Panda Express and had fried garlic on top which did not taste fresh either. I know the taste of fresh fried garlic and this tasted like it came from a box. Additionally, this place really upset my stomach and we decided to leave without eating the rest of the food since we truly couldn't eat it. I don't normally make reviews for restaurants but I felt the rating for this place was too high and people shouldn't be fooled by that number. Service: average Ambiance: I thought the lighting and wood wall art was nice, although the red bench could use some back support instead of just the flat wall. read more

I've only been here twice but had a great experience both times! We came during lunch time but it wasn't too busy so we were immediately seated. We got Black Bean Noodles and the Sweet and Sour Pork. The portions are pretty large and for a decent price! Black Bean Noodles - The meat was soft and tender, plenty of noodles and onions. I really like the sauce here as it is much more flavorful than other places I have tried. They also give sides of radish and cubed kimchi radish. The servers come around often to refill the sides too! Sweet and Sour Pork - Love the sauce here! Has the perfect amount of sweet and sourness to it. The pork pieces are crispy and airy. Will definitely be back soon for this dish! read more

Chai Lan - Sweet and Sour Pork - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

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Chai Lan feels like an average Chinese restaurant--nothing special, but not bad either. It's a decent spot for a casual meal anytime.

New to the area, so I figured I'd try out this place because it was so highly rated. I did take out, so food was obviously not what it would be if I ate in the restaurant, but the food was overall really satisfying! The black bean noodle sauce was more on the sweeter side, but still pretty flavorful. The noodles were also chewy! The kkanpoonggi was also really good and the portions were really big (but with it being almost $20, I'd expect a big portion haha). I ended up dividing this up to 4 meals! Pretty satisfied with this restaurant. I'll definitely be stopping by again soon! read more

Chai Lan - jjajangmyun/ black bean noodles - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

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Been coming here since they opened and introduced/encouraged many others to try BUT today marked as my last visit. Horrible outside dining experience where a large group of people waiting would be within 1 ft from your table. As expected, the food came out late to set the atmosphere from bad to terrible, and they even forgot to bring out an order so one of us could not dine. "I'm sorry. We'll not charge for the dish that didn't come out" was their dry apology and I don't anticipate to ever come back. read more

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The best and cleanest Korean Chinese restaurant in Irvine or Tustin in that matter. I have been to many Korean Chinese restaurants over the many years that I lived in Orange County and LA County. This jewel of a Mom and Pop restaurant owned by a locals is by far the best place to eat some of the finest comfort foods from Korean Chinese cuisine. Of course they have the required JaJangMyeon and better still Gan JaJangMyun, which is more expensive twice panfried black bean sauce with much more flavor and pork ingredients. Their Haemool Jampong (Seafood Hot Soup and Noodle) dish is by far the best of all in their menu. We tried a different dish today. It's a seafood over steamed rice. It was simply marvelous how the kitchen staffs prepared squid, shrimp, sea cucumber, different type of mushrooms in house sauce perfectly cooked in a sizzling hot wok. The dishes over the steamed rice with thinly sliced pork and seafood with plenty of vegetables were healthy and delicious. My Mukbang Friends-Go forth and taste the different menu items. There are plenty to choose from and all good. Five big stars again! read more

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This restaurant specializes in Chinese Korean food and specifically focuses on champpong (spicy seafood noodles), ja jiang mein (black bean sauce noodles), tangsuyuk (sweet sour pork), gamboggi (sweet and sour, spicy garlic chicken. It was a good and was slightly different. Keep in mind that Irvine has developed into an upscale Asian neighborhood, so restaurants have to stand out to be recognized in the community. There seemed to be a fair amount of Irvine locals that were dining here for a late lunch when we visited. read more

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Large and delicious portions. One item can certainly feed at least 2 people. Neither my dad nor I are Chinese or Korean, so the menu was a little confusing, but our waiter was very personable and really helped make the selections easier. Will definitely be coming back. read more

Chai Lan - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

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Food is great, but I definitely got confused when walking in because the sign outside the restaurant says Chinese Cuisine but all the menu and the wall menu is Korean. Nonetheless, food is food and this food was fantastic! We ordered three dishes. The jjampong was perfectly rich seafood broth and the noodles had perfectly chewy texture. We also got the black bean sauce with noodles and this was also *chefs kiss* with same chewy perfect noodles. The sweet and sour pork was the only item I wish was seasoned better. The sauce was great but I wished the pork itself was seasoned. The service was great and our pickled Dikon and radishes were being topped up. I will def be coming back to eat here!! read more

Chai Lan - Jjampong - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

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This is a pretty good place for Korean/Chinese fusion food! There was a wait when we went, so this place is quite popular. All the food was great and I would definitely come back to try the other foods in the menu ! read more

Chai Lan - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

Its korean chinese. Pretty good but for me personally the noodles are too thick. Jjampong flavor is spot on. Jjajjang myun has huge chunks in the sauce which I actually liked. Mapo is solid. Crispy dumplings are good. The only thing for me is that I want chinese style canbage kimchi when I eat this type of cuisine and didn't get any but its probably one of the best in OC. read more

3.5 stars is the 5 stars of Chinese restaurants. So you know Chai Lan is delicious. Something about the people who Yelp are too pretentious to appreciate the true deliciousness of Chinese food. If you see a 5 star Chinese restaurant that's a red flag. They would probably have $30 dishes and do Chinese food tapas style and have good service. If a Chinese waiter is polite to you then is it even a Chinese restaurant? But actually this place is pretty clean. I do wish it was organized better where you would feel more separated from the people you're sitting next to because it's kind of just jammed together in this tiny little square. Dividers would help, but that might cause them to lose out on some seating. Idk it's just a bit awkward being right next to everyone. Also there was this screaming toddler there and it just silenced the whole restaurant because it was like an echo chamber or just a really loud baby. So maybe a sound system or some background music would help. Food though. So bomb. We had to get jajangmyun (black bean noodles), yusanseul (seafood vegetables), garlic fried chicken and pan fried dumplings. Wow everything was so good. I could do without the seafood vegetables because you know I'm a dude. But the wife and baby liked it so it's all good. Everything was so good and wow I want to eat this place again! read more

My family and I love ordering noodles from Chai Lan for our some Korean Chinese food. Our favorites items from their menu are: #1 - spicy seafood noodle soup - the soup is delicious and the portions are generous #3 - black bean sauce noodle - always a favorite! #16 - deep fried pork with sweet & sour sauce read more

We love your fried rice and Garlic shrimp, they are amazing! Thank you so much for offering these great food in Irvine. It is hard to find a decent Korean- Chinese food in our town. read more

I've been here twice now and the food is always delicious. Fast service and great ambiance. I recommend the black bean noodles, seafood noodles, and spicy fried chicken! read more

Chai Lan - Black bean noodles, seafood noodles, and spicy fried chicken - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

Most tasteless noodles I have ever had. The noodles are so thick and undercooked and zero seasoning. This place use to be ok but now it's absolutely garbage. So bad... read more

Chai Lan - Tasteless - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

Went here for my favorite - Mapa Tofu. It must have been an off night because my tofu was sour, the fried rice was old, and the whole thing was barely warm. It was brought to me almost immediately after ordering, but the rest of my party had about a 10 minute wait. I guess mine had been sitting around at room temperature waiting for someone to order it. This is my only bad experience here, and I've been 4 times. I really hate giving them such a low score, but I'm literally laying here praying I don't have food poisoning. Also, no one gave us the usual thanks and bye when we left. Sadge. read more

Chai Lan - Mapa Tofu - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

Pretty authentic Korean. I observed many Korean elder generations and mothers and their children dining here while I was here. Noodles with seafood in bean paste (double serving) 4/5 - Really hit the spot for that Jajangmyeon craving but didn't blow my mind. The noodles are LONG so definitely have to cut the noodles once down the middle or maybe even twice. Deep fried shrimp in hot pepper sauce 5/5 - a MUST, bouncy, fresh shrimp tossed in a tingly, crispy and slightly sweet sauce. So delicious Sweet and sour pork 4/5 - thick pieces of pork. Fried lightly crispy. Sauce has a forward bell pepper taste but is sweet and sour not too much of either flavor Prices are more steep than other Korean-Chinese establishments I've been to but the ingredient quality and taste were top notch. All this food stuffed my date and I AND we left with leftovers! Although the fried items didn't quite keep the same so would recommend trying to consume those within the day or better yet immediately after serving read more

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