China 1

Was in Rochester for an annual checkup and decided to try this place before heading back to the…read morecities. It's out of the Mayo area and right by Apache Mall and a new Residence Inn. It seems to be a newer area and because it shares a lot with Residence Inn, there's plenty of parking. We arrived early for dinner so only one table was occupied. Service was great, very friendly, courteous & helpful. Ambiance has a moderm but cozy feel with lots of wood mixed with metal elements. Menu was pretty straightforward. We had the Cumin beef, dandan noodle & Lanzhou Beef Noodle. Everything was great and did not disappoint- comparable to similar restaurants in the cities. Dandan had a great peanutty flavor, lanzhou beef had just enough thinly sliced beef shank & the noodles were perfectly chewy. We were so full could barely eat the cumin beef which takes a bit longer to make than the noodles but worth the wait. Will definitely come back if in the area.

We walked into First Meeting Noodle for a late lunch on a Sunday at 1PM and there was surprisingly…read morea line of customers waiting for seats. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes before getting a table. Beef Burrito ($9.50) - We ordered with cilantro on the side as one of the people in our party has the mutated OR6A2 gene. It's a pretty simple dish. I'm not sure if they make their scallion pancake in house or not. It's rather dense and not really that flaky, salted well and has the thick hoisin sauce to boost the sweetness and saltiness. The beef is relatively tender roasted beef shank, sliced thin, dressed simply. Most of the flavor here is from the hoisin. (4/5) Oil Splashing Noodle ($10.50) + Beef (+$3.75) - Starting with the pulled noodles - these are excellent. Pulled long with very consistent thickness, so everything cooks to the same delicious level of bounce. The hot oil sauce, unfortunately is sub par. It's far, far too sweet, almost like eating a dessert, and while there's a balanced amount of vinegar acidity and some nuttiness, there's no heat at all despite the redness of the oil. There's also a good amount of chopped garlic and peanut right on top, but they get lost in the sweetness. Ordering with beef just adds some sliced beef shank, the same as used in the burrito. It's a fine addition albeit not very exciting. (2/5) Taiwanese Tomato Beef Brisket Noodle Soup ($13.50) - Again, the noodles are excellent here, although they get softer the long they sit in the soup, which is to be expected. The broth here is also far too candy sweet, although this a bit more flavor complexity here from the beef braising spices, the beef itself, and some tomato umami. There's just enough flavor that the broth doesn't feel bland, but it's still very weak compared to a good Taiwanese beef noodle. There's a couple of slices of tomato, an almost invisible amount of pickled mustard (suan cai? zha cai? I can't tell given how little they give). Finally the beef brisket which is also quite weak. It's lean and I believe not braised for long enough, resulting in it being very tough and stringy. (2/5) I feel like these dishes have been adjusted too far to suit the Midwestern American palate. The food served at First Meeting Noodle is far, far too sweet for my tastes - it's a bad sign when a dish that's supposed to be spicy and umami foremost, then tangy, has sweetness as by far the strongest flavor. Then again, this is probably the only hand pulled noodle place within an hour drive, so maybe I should give them some slack. Bathrooms - Two individual rooms, one for men, one for women Food: [2.66/5] Service: [ ] Other: [ ] Final Rating: 3/5

Kitchen

ChongQing spicy noodle soup

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Wontons in spicy chili oil

Hunan Bistro

4.6(44 reviews)

0.5 mi

Fabulous food, service, and atmosphere. Very good…read more I eat a lot of Chinese food and this place is a stand out of the places I've been to. Highly recommend.

As you enter the restaurant, the atmosphere is very warm and inviting. The menu consists of many…read morefood choices. Once you have made a selection, you will be amazed at the portion sizes and the taste. I ordered the Shrimp and Broccoli dish for lunch. It was amazing! Our waiter was very friendly and helpful. It's definitely worth a visit.

Cream cheese wonton

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Great Wall

4.0(34 reviews)

1.2 mi

Great Wall is a great pick if you are looking for takeout Chinese food in the Rochester area. I…read moreordered a variety of dishes and ended up enjoying all of them. The dumplings were really good both steamed and fried, and the beef and broccoli was also solid. Everything tasted fresh and satisfying. I got the food to go, so I cannot really comment on the inside of the restaurant, but the food stayed hot all the way back to my hotel, which I appreciated. I would definitely recommend giving this place a try if you are in the area.

Best fried rice ever!!!! Better than 5. A 10. Great service, price and portions! Definitely…read morereturning.

80. Sesame Chicken芝麻鸡

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New China

3.8(31 reviews)

3.3 mi

Food was cooked fresh & very hot. Large portions. Both meals lacked flavor. I will not go back…read more Atmosphere was not good. Boxes of trash bags on top of the garbage. other boxes (empty looking) on the floor in small dining area/hallway. only a couple small booths. In direct line of a cold blast of air when a customer opens the door.

A few weeks ago, I was shopping in the southern part of Rochester. Kohl's and Five Below are my…read moreusual places. As I parked to visit the latter, I noticed New China. It intrigued me. Having Chinese food in Rochester is still foreign to me. I didn't order any when I was a resident. It's funny how I now have an interest returning as a visitor. I looked at the reviews and they were decent on Yelp. I decided to check out their online menu. One thing led to another. I ended up placing an order for pickup on New China's site. You don't pay through it, but you are prompted to create an account and specify your phone number. You order takes roughly 25 minutes to complete, which was more than enough time for me to shop at Five Below before picking up my order. Their food caters to both Americans who may feel intimidated by Chinese food and, surprisingly, to Chinese folks who want authentic food. My pain point was seeing cream cheese rangoons (wontons) on the menu. First, I can't see my ancestors taking out a rectangle of Philadelphia cream cheese to replace the traditional pork filling in wontons. Second, I find it gross seeing them on a Chinese eatery menu that I will not touch them if they were the last food item available on this planet. My rant is over. The menu item that gave me a glimmer of hope for some authentic Chinese cuisine was the shrimp with lobster sauce. I went for it. I drove over to the eatery after I was done shopping and parked steps away from it. The restaurant is next to a radio station blasting country music. There are stairs and a ramp for those who require accessibility help. You can dine in. I saw a couple eating when I walked in. Dining spaces looked limited. I was immediately greeted by a woman. There were four women in the kitchen literally cooking up a storm. I said my name and she found my order that was already packed. I asked if this place accepted credit cards. Yep, every credit card imaginable is accepted here. I paid and all was great. She handed me my food. I thanked her. She wasn't the friendliest. Come to think of it, they were probably more focused on cooking the food than being friendly. They were highly efficient, though. I drove an hour back to Eagan. My food was still hot when I got back to my hotel room. I was impressed. I got the following items: - Steamed dumplings with garlic soy sauce - Shrimp with lobster sauce on roasted pork fried rice - House special lo mein with roasted pork fried rice Each meal came with an egg roll. Everything was packed carefully. The egg rolls were yummy. They were crispy and packed full of filling. They were perfect. The steamed dumplings were authentic and delicious. They didn't have any fancy crimping. Each filling was packed full of flavourful pork filling. The garlic soy sauce worked well. I had roughly half of the two meals for dinner. Perhaps less than half because I ate all the dumplings. The shrimp with lobster sauce was so comforting. It reminded me of a Hong Kong-style dish where you know there's fried rice, but you can't see it because it's drenched in flavourful lobster sauce. The shrimp were perfectly done. I love barbequed pork in fried rice and it was fabulous. I liked the cubed carrots and pork, peas, onions, and more. I would get this dish again. It was delicious. The house lo mein was a winner. It had chicken, shrimp, barbequed pork, and veggies. The noodles were true lo mein ones. It was different having the lo mein paired with fried rice, but I didn't mind. It was such a carb-heavy, yummy meal. I had leftovers for lunch the following day. It was perfect staying in my hotel room working remotely and not having to think about what to get for lunch. The leftovers were equally as yummy a day later. It was a pleasant surprise taking a chance on New China and discovering that it offers authentic Chinese food. Just avoid the cream cheese appetizers. I'd return for more when I'm back in my old neighbourhood. (26)

Cross-section of my egg roll

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Egg roll

Golden Wok

4.0(17 reviews)

2.4 mi

Had a hankering for Asian and this was convenient. Very tasty lemon chicken. Great veggie fried…read morerice. Attentive service. Huge portions

My Kung Pao chicken tasted like the cook had burned the pot and tried to serve the unburnt portion.read more

Ordering station

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Imperial Wok

3.3(34 reviews)

1.9 mi

The Food is fresh and delicious imperial wok is my go to Chinese restaurant. 10/10…read more The Service is fresh and fast no more the 10 minutes wait time. 10/10 The Vibes need some work it look sad every time I order take out. 6.8/10

This was our first time ordering from Imperial Wok in Rochester MN and we were very happy with the…read moreoverall experience. My son ordered Lo Mein, The wife and I had the Szechwan Shrimp & Chicken and an order of Rangoons. The service was fast and friendly and portions were plentiful. The flavoring was robust but not too overbearing and the rice is some of the best we've had. We were visiting from Chicago and will certainly be back again when in town.

C30 Hot & Spicy Beef

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Pho Chau

4.0(478 reviews)

0.9 mi

5 stars isn't enough. I would sell my kidneys to taste their cheese wontons again. I close my eyes…read moreand see them. Absolutely splendid job. Compliments to the chef.

This is one of my favorite spots in all of Rochester! I crave their spring rolls! We have both…read moreeaten in and taken out more times than I can count, and I am never disappointed. The staff is wonderful, even when they're slammed. The service is excellent. The restaurant is clean, the food is always so fresh. Seriously a gem in Rochester.

Oxtail and rib pho with chili oil

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China Star

3.3(47 reviews)

2.8 mi

The food. Got to orders of different things. Beef and…read morepeppers. Got fried rice with it. The beef was burnt, I mean burnt. The fried rice no taste at all and dry. Second order was, sesame seed chicken. With rice. Same thing no taste in anything. Fried crab rangoon's were just ok. Will not be getting anything from there. The price was close to others Chinese restaurants.

Great food and large portions. Order always right! Lady that works the front desk is very nice…read more This has been my go to place for Chinese food takeout in Rochester for many years. Love the egg rolls and crab ragoons.

D25. House Special Chow Mei Fun

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Hunan Garden

3.7(69 reviews)

0.2 mi

Amazing service as always by our longtime favorite and one of a kind waitress Thai, her smile is…read morecontagious!!! Delicious appetizers, my favorite is their chicken wings, crabrangoons and sesame balls. Beef chow fun was also yummy!!! Thank you for a nice evening!

Fried shrimp done right but no hot mustard or red sauce. Mu shu pork didn't have plum sauce.read more

Owusu from Ghana enjoying his first Chinese Christmas dinner

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Hundreds of millions of reviews are posted on Yelp, and our automated recommendation software works in the background to showcase the reviews that it …

5 reviews that are not currently recommended

The reviews below are not factored into the business's overall star rating.

Crystal S.

0

1

0

11 years ago

This place is great. Super friendly and always willing to go the extra mile to make sure it's fresh. Plus, they're super affordable for an all you can eat buffet! read more

olivia l.

0

1

0

9 months ago

We order from China 1 while stuck in hotel in a blizzard! Food was great, warm, service quick and tons of food! We will order again!

Sarah H.

0

15

0

7 years ago

We have been going here for years and are never been disappointed. Friendly family business with good food served fast :)

Woodrow S.

0

11

0

5 years ago

The owners were very nice. The food was excellent and it was a large portion for a good price.

Dave P.

19

17

0

9 years ago

Absolutely awesome food and great service

China 1 - chinese - Updated September 2026

People who viewed China 1 also viewed

Great Wall

4.0

(34 reviews)

Great Wall is a great pick if you are looking for takeout Chinese food in the Rochester area. I…read moreordered a variety of dishes and ended up enjoying all of them. The dumplings were really good both steamed and fried, and the beef and broccoli was also solid. Everything tasted fresh and satisfying. I got the food to go, so I cannot really comment on the inside of the restaurant, but the food stayed hot all the way back to my hotel, which I appreciated. I would definitely recommend giving this place a try if you are in the area.

Best fried rice ever!!!! Better than 5. A 10. Great service, price and portions! Definitely…read morereturning.

Golden Wok

4.0

(17 reviews)

Had a hankering for Asian and this was convenient. Very tasty lemon chicken. Great veggie fried…read morerice. Attentive service. Huge portions

My Kung Pao chicken tasted like the cook had burned the pot and tried to serve the unburnt portion.read more

China Star

3.3

(47 reviews)

The food. Got to orders of different things. Beef and…read morepeppers. Got fried rice with it. The beef was burnt, I mean burnt. The fried rice no taste at all and dry. Second order was, sesame seed chicken. With rice. Same thing no taste in anything. Fried crab rangoon's were just ok. Will not be getting anything from there. The price was close to others Chinese restaurants.

Great food and large portions. Order always right! Lady that works the front desk is very nice…read more This has been my go to place for Chinese food takeout in Rochester for many years. Love the egg rolls and crab ragoons.

Imperial Wok

3.3

(34 reviews)

The Food is fresh and delicious imperial wok is my go to Chinese restaurant. 10/10…read more The Service is fresh and fast no more the 10 minutes wait time. 10/10 The Vibes need some work it look sad every time I order take out. 6.8/10

This was our first time ordering from Imperial Wok in Rochester MN and we were very happy with the…read moreoverall experience. My son ordered Lo Mein, The wife and I had the Szechwan Shrimp & Chicken and an order of Rangoons. The service was fast and friendly and portions were plentiful. The flavoring was robust but not too overbearing and the rice is some of the best we've had. We were visiting from Chicago and will certainly be back again when in town.

China King

3.7

(33 reviews)

Nice fast service first time here can't wait to try it out. Will definitely come back.read more

Been going here since a teen, great owners, great food, great atmosphere. (Personally, I would…read morerecommend the Mei Fun )

New China

3.8

(31 reviews)

Food was cooked fresh & very hot. Large portions. Both meals lacked flavor. I will not go back…read more Atmosphere was not good. Boxes of trash bags on top of the garbage. other boxes (empty looking) on the floor in small dining area/hallway. only a couple small booths. In direct line of a cold blast of air when a customer opens the door.

A few weeks ago, I was shopping in the southern part of Rochester. Kohl's and Five Below are my…read moreusual places. As I parked to visit the latter, I noticed New China. It intrigued me. Having Chinese food in Rochester is still foreign to me. I didn't order any when I was a resident. It's funny how I now have an interest returning as a visitor. I looked at the reviews and they were decent on Yelp. I decided to check out their online menu. One thing led to another. I ended up placing an order for pickup on New China's site. You don't pay through it, but you are prompted to create an account and specify your phone number. You order takes roughly 25 minutes to complete, which was more than enough time for me to shop at Five Below before picking up my order. Their food caters to both Americans who may feel intimidated by Chinese food and, surprisingly, to Chinese folks who want authentic food. My pain point was seeing cream cheese rangoons (wontons) on the menu. First, I can't see my ancestors taking out a rectangle of Philadelphia cream cheese to replace the traditional pork filling in wontons. Second, I find it gross seeing them on a Chinese eatery menu that I will not touch them if they were the last food item available on this planet. My rant is over. The menu item that gave me a glimmer of hope for some authentic Chinese cuisine was the shrimp with lobster sauce. I went for it. I drove over to the eatery after I was done shopping and parked steps away from it. The restaurant is next to a radio station blasting country music. There are stairs and a ramp for those who require accessibility help. You can dine in. I saw a couple eating when I walked in. Dining spaces looked limited. I was immediately greeted by a woman. There were four women in the kitchen literally cooking up a storm. I said my name and she found my order that was already packed. I asked if this place accepted credit cards. Yep, every credit card imaginable is accepted here. I paid and all was great. She handed me my food. I thanked her. She wasn't the friendliest. Come to think of it, they were probably more focused on cooking the food than being friendly. They were highly efficient, though. I drove an hour back to Eagan. My food was still hot when I got back to my hotel room. I was impressed. I got the following items: - Steamed dumplings with garlic soy sauce - Shrimp with lobster sauce on roasted pork fried rice - House special lo mein with roasted pork fried rice Each meal came with an egg roll. Everything was packed carefully. The egg rolls were yummy. They were crispy and packed full of filling. They were perfect. The steamed dumplings were authentic and delicious. They didn't have any fancy crimping. Each filling was packed full of flavourful pork filling. The garlic soy sauce worked well. I had roughly half of the two meals for dinner. Perhaps less than half because I ate all the dumplings. The shrimp with lobster sauce was so comforting. It reminded me of a Hong Kong-style dish where you know there's fried rice, but you can't see it because it's drenched in flavourful lobster sauce. The shrimp were perfectly done. I love barbequed pork in fried rice and it was fabulous. I liked the cubed carrots and pork, peas, onions, and more. I would get this dish again. It was delicious. The house lo mein was a winner. It had chicken, shrimp, barbequed pork, and veggies. The noodles were true lo mein ones. It was different having the lo mein paired with fried rice, but I didn't mind. It was such a carb-heavy, yummy meal. I had leftovers for lunch the following day. It was perfect staying in my hotel room working remotely and not having to think about what to get for lunch. The leftovers were equally as yummy a day later. It was a pleasant surprise taking a chance on New China and discovering that it offers authentic Chinese food. Just avoid the cream cheese appetizers. I'd return for more when I'm back in my old neighbourhood. (26)

First Meeting Noodle - Southwest

4.7

(253 reviews)

Was in Rochester for an annual checkup and decided to try this place before heading back to the…read morecities. It's out of the Mayo area and right by Apache Mall and a new Residence Inn. It seems to be a newer area and because it shares a lot with Residence Inn, there's plenty of parking. We arrived early for dinner so only one table was occupied. Service was great, very friendly, courteous & helpful. Ambiance has a moderm but cozy feel with lots of wood mixed with metal elements. Menu was pretty straightforward. We had the Cumin beef, dandan noodle & Lanzhou Beef Noodle. Everything was great and did not disappoint- comparable to similar restaurants in the cities. Dandan had a great peanutty flavor, lanzhou beef had just enough thinly sliced beef shank & the noodles were perfectly chewy. We were so full could barely eat the cumin beef which takes a bit longer to make than the noodles but worth the wait. Will definitely come back if in the area.

We walked into First Meeting Noodle for a late lunch on a Sunday at 1PM and there was surprisingly…read morea line of customers waiting for seats. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes before getting a table. Beef Burrito ($9.50) - We ordered with cilantro on the side as one of the people in our party has the mutated OR6A2 gene. It's a pretty simple dish. I'm not sure if they make their scallion pancake in house or not. It's rather dense and not really that flaky, salted well and has the thick hoisin sauce to boost the sweetness and saltiness. The beef is relatively tender roasted beef shank, sliced thin, dressed simply. Most of the flavor here is from the hoisin. (4/5) Oil Splashing Noodle ($10.50) + Beef (+$3.75) - Starting with the pulled noodles - these are excellent. Pulled long with very consistent thickness, so everything cooks to the same delicious level of bounce. The hot oil sauce, unfortunately is sub par. It's far, far too sweet, almost like eating a dessert, and while there's a balanced amount of vinegar acidity and some nuttiness, there's no heat at all despite the redness of the oil. There's also a good amount of chopped garlic and peanut right on top, but they get lost in the sweetness. Ordering with beef just adds some sliced beef shank, the same as used in the burrito. It's a fine addition albeit not very exciting. (2/5) Taiwanese Tomato Beef Brisket Noodle Soup ($13.50) - Again, the noodles are excellent here, although they get softer the long they sit in the soup, which is to be expected. The broth here is also far too candy sweet, although this a bit more flavor complexity here from the beef braising spices, the beef itself, and some tomato umami. There's just enough flavor that the broth doesn't feel bland, but it's still very weak compared to a good Taiwanese beef noodle. There's a couple of slices of tomato, an almost invisible amount of pickled mustard (suan cai? zha cai? I can't tell given how little they give). Finally the beef brisket which is also quite weak. It's lean and I believe not braised for long enough, resulting in it being very tough and stringy. (2/5) I feel like these dishes have been adjusted too far to suit the Midwestern American palate. The food served at First Meeting Noodle is far, far too sweet for my tastes - it's a bad sign when a dish that's supposed to be spicy and umami foremost, then tangy, has sweetness as by far the strongest flavor. Then again, this is probably the only hand pulled noodle place within an hour drive, so maybe I should give them some slack. Bathrooms - Two individual rooms, one for men, one for women Food: [2.66/5] Service: [ ] Other: [ ] Final Rating: 3/5

Hong Kong

4.1

(14 reviews)

The ambiance was cozy, the service was good. And the food was delicious. Now I will say chinese…read morealso tends to be greasy, and high on sodium but this place was surprisingly not any of those things. The sodium was low. So you can eat it just like that or add a little soy to your liking. The veggies were a game changer because they tasted fresh and were sautéed to perfection, they still had a crunch and you can taste them vs being submerged in the flavor or the food you ordered. Their curry was absolutely delicious as well as their pork fried rice. As well as their homemade iced tea

Food and Service is excellent. I don't need Ambiance. My orders are usually take out orders.read more

Wong's Café

3.0

(41 reviews)

Wongs food is out of business. Now others have taken it over. Not as friendly prices really jumped…read moreup. Smaller portions and doesn't taste like Wongs. Really miss Wongs. What could change??? Waitress or hostess could smile, be friendlier. Get the old cook back. He needs to teach the new ones how to put their magic in the food.All-in-all we would go back if we were

Wong's has history as the oldest Chinese restaurant in Rochester, and it is cool to see it still…read morehere today. Service is wonderful and the folks running it are friendly and helpful. Food wise, it is serviceable and not the most impressive for American Chinese. It gets the job done and there are a few dishes like the pork fried rice and pineapple stir fry, but I would skip the saucy chicken dishes given the blandness. Overall, give it a try and enjoy a blast from the past.

New Hunan

3.7

(22 reviews)