First of all, incredible service from the moment I walked in. Secondly, the food was amazing, authentic, and very professional. Came out quick and in large portions. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone in Boothbay Harbor. read more

Plenty of parking. Plenty of seating either in the dining or at the bar. Service was great- "A" is super nice and very personable. Food is great, with good size portions. read more

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Got to-go food from them. Awful. We ended up throwing most of it away. Fried Rice was very dry: rice and soy sauce only. Shrimp and vegetables had minimal shrimp and was drenched in brown sauce. Other dishes were similar. We would not recommend. read more

We got there pretty late. Maybe 30 minutes before closing, but we're welcomed with open arms. Food was absolutely fantastic. Had a scorpion bowl and really took our time and there was no rush from the staff. Sorry to read some reviews that they felt pressured. This was one of the cutest Chinese restaurants I've ever been to. Very comfortable and would definitely go back again. read more

Had the Shanghai lobster and some beef chow fun. It was delicious, would go back to try the Chinese focused dishes.

A solid choice for food in Boothbay Harbor. Ambiance: classic American Chinese restaurant decor, clean tables, comfortable seats. Service: very friendly, fast, and genuinely cared about why I didn't find the meal perfect. Food: We had boneless ribs, teriyaki beef, pork fried rice, and gai poo lo mein. The ribs were well cooked, not overly sweet, with a slight smoky flavor too. The teriyaki beef also was delicious, and solid sections of meat. The fried rice benefited from a touch of soy sauce at the table, but that's better than coming out too salty. I was about ready to declare this a perfect meal, but then I found that the lo mein is made with spaghetti noodles. You could tell the noodles had been prepared entirely separately from the rest of the dish as they had no flavor. This marred an otherwise desirable dish, with good size chunks of lobster, shrimp, beef, and chicken fingers all mixed with vegetables and sauce. Overall, I'm still confident in this restaurant and would recommend them. read more

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I am so glad we decided to eat here before reading any reviews! This was the best Chinese food we have had in quite some time! The egg rolls were fresh and delicious. The crab Rangoon were crisp, creamy, and had a taste of crab. The Sweet n Sour Chicken was crisp, perfectly cooked and the sauce was a great mix of sweet and sour. The Cashew shrimp was very fresh and delicious! Our waitress was very nice and friendly. We will go back. read more

China by the Sea - Crab Rangoons - Chinese Near Me - Boothbay Harbor, Maine

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Just ordered 2 Mai Thai's, tasted like orange juice. Waiter was kind enough to bring us each a shot of dark rum. But didn't really touch it. Still didn't taste like a Mai Thai. Ordered orange Chicken not sure about that either. Very Mooshy. Didn't maybe too much soy. Just not happy read more

I really wanted to like this place. I'd heard some positive things, but had failed to check rating on Yelp. My mistake. Keeping this short and to the point. Let me start with what I liked: -The sauce wasn't too salty, yet it was flavorful. This concludes what I liked. Yikes. The rest: -1 star: $14 Hon Sue Gai - no soup, no fried rice, nada. For that price, I want a side, like most places would give. Veg size was OK, chicken, less so. -1 star: Vegetables were old, discolored (especially broccoli) and tasted "off" (ESPECIALLY broccoli). I am used to saying, "well, at least the vegetables were fresh", when eating poor Chinese food. I could not retreat to that mantra here. It was nice that they are willing to exclude things one doesn't like (mushrooms): not every place can and will do that. Still... -1 star: see pic, not only were the chicken fingers scanty in quantity, the actual amount of chicken in each finger was smaller than a AAA battery. I actually laughed, rather than get upset or disappointed. It reminded me of when Apu went to an airport Quick-E-Mart, saw the inflated prices and said, "You magnificent bastard, I salute you!" The sheer chutzpah to put out a product like this! Well, judge for yourself. I always seem to say that this is the last Chinese I will try. Here we go again. read more

China by the Sea - Squint, and you'll see the chicken - Chinese Near Me - Boothbay Harbor, Maine

This is a nice place to eat. The parking is tight so you may have to park somewhere and walk Good food kind staff read more

The wait for takeout was quite long and the food that we were given wasn't good. We ordered Sesame Chicken and it tasted like chicken nuggets soaked in ketchup - not at all close to authentic or what we're used to getting. The Chicken Golden Triangles were tasty though. Unfortunately, both my son & I, who ate the "Sesame Chicken" ended up going to bed with GI troubles too. In all, a disappointing meal. read more

The food is amazing, absolutely the best Chinese food I've ever had. I've eaten Chinese in DC, NY, and a few other places. Amazing spare ribs, delicious cocktails, and friendly server! read more

If you have not eaten at this restaurant, you were making a huge mistake. It is the best American Chinese food you will get up and down the East Coast. It is consistent. The food is amazing. My favorite is the Gulf of Siam the fried shrimp. He does a nice salmon with ginger and scallions, and if you looking for the best cheeseburger in town they've got it you have to be a little patient. Sometimes they are a little short staffed. The drinks are amazing. I used to work there very long time ago. It's probably the cleanest kitchen in town one of my favorite spots to go. read more

It has been 4 years since I wrote a review on China by the Sea... I will begin by saying 2020 is a tough year for anyone in the restaurant business but like many they have made the best of it. The food quality is very good and always fresh. They are only doing takeout at this point but they do it very well. One of our favorite meals is beef with vegetables in black bean sauce, not on the menu but they will make it for you if you ask. I like the house fried rice as well, no bad selections I know of. Family owned and good folks. Enjoy! read more

Middle of the road fast food Chinese, in my opinion not good not bad the service was friendly and fast!

The food was okay, overall did not seem very authentic and the waitstaff was not very attentive or kind

Unbelievably disappointed... the website says they're open until 8pm. We showed up at 7:30 and they literally turned the "closed" sign over as we're just about to walk in the door. When we asked, the hostess just said "it's what my manager said to do" but that we can order take-out. Needless to say, we walked away and went elsewhere. Talk about crappy service and work ethic!! We should've asked for the manager because turning a 7 person party down a half hour before closing time is horrible for business. read more

The Chinese food honestly sucks wonton was greasy and pad see ew was bad vomited after came back home goodbye forever!

The restaurant is clean and the service is good and fast, but the food isn't as good as I would expect it to be for the prices ($14 for pad thai). The food is below average for similar Chinese places. The flavors were very strong and not in a very good way. The beef with broccoli, pad Thai, and pork fried rice were all only decent. The location is convenient and parking is readily available. read more

China by the Sea - Wonton soup - Chinese Near Me - Boothbay Harbor, Maine

I am so glad we didn't read these reviews before going here. We are not from the area and chose the restaurant because of its close proximity to the Boothbay Opera House where we were attending a concert. We started with the wonton soup and it was literally the BEST we've ever had, filled with fresh vegetables, plenty of wontons, strips of meat. We tried the Triangles for our appetizer and loved them. My husband had the chicken chow mein and was very pleased......lots of fresh, crispy veggies in it. I had one of the special "dinner for one" offerings which included the soup, my entree of cashew chicken with fried rice, a delicious egg roll that was crispy and fresh, and boneless spare ribs. The special was a great choice and under $20. And we both left with plenty of food for another meal. Our waitress was very busy but available when we needed her and was very good. It seemed like she was covering the entire restaurant with one helper and she did it graciously. The ambiance was nicer than we are used to with Chinese restaurants, including white table cloths and real napkins! read more

I work down the road and probably eat here about once a month (either take-out or a quick lunch with coworkers). Their food is consistently solid, and as far as small town Chinese places go, this is the best I've ever had. There's never any fat or gristle on the meats (which I find you run into all the time at Chinese restaurants) and their prices are very reasonable. All of the appetizers that I've tried have been great, and I really enjoy their chicken with spicy garlic sauce and chicken and broccoli. I have a friend that swears by their soup too. Also, oddly enough my husband and I both agree that their french fries are amazing (I know - not what you'd think your go-to would be at a Chinese restaurant. I'd highly recommend trying them - they're addictive. read more

I have had better - and I surly have had worse. The atmosphere of the restaurant was what i was expecting and the service was good as well. The chicken fingers were better than normal and the String Beans were surprisingly fresh and cooked so they were still a bit crisp. The rest of the meal was on par. If you are in the Boothbay area there are better places to get food ... if you are craving for Chinese food specifically ... then it would be worth a stop. read more

Worst Chinese/Thai I have ever had. Drunken noodles, has no noodles was a weird flavorless stir fry. Red curry was yellow and had a just wrong taste I can't place. A whole meal was missing from our order. Even my 6 yr old hated the chicken lo melon. Save your money and taste buds, just order pizza. read more

My wife and waited 45 minutes to get in. They sat us at a table and we sat there for another 20 minutes before they even asked if we needed any drinks. We got up and walked out. We put China by the Sea on our ( BIG C LIST ) SEE YA NEVER AGAIN!!! read more

Nice clean place and friendly service. Won Ton Soup was good. Crab Rangoon's were big and filled with crab, they were really good and so was the Egg Foo Yung.The Rangoon's and the Egg Foo Yung were the reasons for the 4 stars, they really were yummy. We have had better curry. Not the best but was good for a change from all the Maine seafood eateries. We would go there again. They charge you for chili sauce never saw that before but the tea is free read more

This is one of the worst meals I have had in years. The rice tasted old, everything was over cooked. Just awful.

After being away for some three years, just got back into town. Ate at the restaurant this evening, and ordered the pad Thai. Even though the menu said the pad Thai came with white rice, the dish was delivered to the table without the rice. The taste of the pad Thai was pretty bad ---- it tasted like no other pad Thai that I have ever eaten. The $14.50 price is outrageous -- especially considering the poor taste and "missing" white rice. Then I got home and had diarrhea. In summary, overpriced, really poor food that gave me diarrhea.........I'll never be going back. read more

We recently moved to town and really wanted to like this place. We gave it three chances -- and it got progressively worse. The service is fine, and it never seems to be busy (understandable!), but the food ranges from mediocre to awful. They cannot even prepare the most simple appetizers well -- tough, overcooked teriyaki; greasy, overdone fried shrimp and chicken fingers; chewy boneless pork, and so on. The Lo mein is always soggy and flavorless, and the main courses seem to have been cooked by someone who has never actually had decent Chinese food. Very disappointing. We're still looking for decent Chinese food closer than Portland! read more

When you are first served a large dish of 'fried wontons' that consist of wonton skins expertly formed to resemble the wontons you are familiar with and find that the deep fried, golden pockets are filled with....nothing, you get an idea of what's to come. Those wontons are an excellent representation of this restaurant; looks good, but severely lacking where it counts. The rest of our lunch was as bland and misguided as the wontons. The one exception was the steamed "Beijing Ravioli" which were pretty good. Of course "Beijing Ravioli" were just standard Chinese steamed dumplings, but China by the Sea seems expert at culinary slight of hand and couldn't just call them that on their menu. read more

The dishes my husband and I ordered were terrible. I ordered a Pad Thai and he ordered a beef and veggie dish. Pad Thai tasted like vomit, I ate a quarter of it, beef in his dish was tough and the flavor was off. The waitress never took a drink order. The spring rolls were pretty good, but on the greasy side. read more

Good selection of Asian fare. Fast service offering locals a choice. Like the crab Rangoon, chicken and beef teriyaki. The egg foo young I have had mixed results making my review a 3 star. In general, offers reasonable fare at reasonable prices in a clean environment. read more

Food is always mediocre . Staff generally rude, non caring. But my latest visit the bar tender , I think his name is Shane, was so rude that I will never go back. read more

Food was awful. Greasy spring rolls, tasteless shrimp fried rice, egg foo young should always have the sauce on the side. This was swimming in it and it wasn't the usual sauce, it was just thick and brown. Normally it has some soy and really makes the dish. I've never had fried dumplings like that. They are one of my faves and I was so disappointed they weren't good. The outside was rather gummy though we order then fried. Wait staff acted like they all took Valium or just didn't wanna be working. Never ever eat Chinese food where there are no Asians cooking. I'm sad that I'll have to go a couple towns over to try and find decent Chinese. read more

Meh. Overpriced and overly sweet. Compare to most other strip mall take-out joints. Fast and polite. Ample parking. read more

It's hard to be a vegetarian in a lobster town! We headed to China By The Sea with the hopes of finding non-meat options and weren't disappointed. There is parking out front (a rarity in the area), a clean dining room, free computer/internet access, and a standard American Chinese menu just like you have at home. Nothing spectacular, just functional dine in or carry out. read more

I mean, it's greasy American Chinese food, it hits the spot but it isn't gormet ;) the bar has all the polinesian drinks you want, which is always fun. I am in love with curry and theirs was ok. The only place for Chinese in the area. read more

Overall, a pleasant experience. The food didn't wow me, but then again I was eating American-Chinese food in a place known for it's seafood. The menu offers the standard fare. The service was efficient and friendly, and the restaurant was clean. read more

For those discriminating diners who look for more than your typical Chinese spot, this is the best you will find in the area. Menu has solid selection of well prepared delights that go beyond the range of ordinary. Service is top notch and prices are surprisingly affordable. read more

Pleasant, relaxing atmosphere. Exc. service, large portions of delicious, well-prepared food. I'm a regular! Pros: food; Cons: drinks.

This is a very popular Boothbay area restaurant and perhaps that is why they seem to thumb their noses at customers. The food is adequate, but the service leaves much to be desired. We have done take-out only to find that it was so poorly packed that it had leaked out all over the bottom of the bag and onto pants of the person carrying it. My husband refuses to eat there anymore. As I said, it IS a very popular place locally though...often the parking lot is full. The lunch menu consists of combination plates that give you an entree with egg roll, fried rice or ribs or other combinations, at a very reasonable price! I think that their popularity has them believing that they can get away with faux pas that other establishments mightn't....like spilling take out all over customers!! My husband has found foreign items in his food as well....(hair). The waitress seemed surprised and didn't offer to take the item off the check. So, we paid for a food item with extra protein!! Behind the register they had names of people who had had checks bounce at the establishment which might be a violation of privacy? It surely would keep me from going back, but I guess I'd be pretty embarrassed to go back after bouncing a check too! My husband opts to travel a half hour rather than go there now. read more