My family and I had lunch at the Irvine China Garden in the very busy strip mall. We arrived and there was just a 5 minute wait and sat at one of the tables. It was a full house! During lunch you can have dim sum and or from their lunch specials. Our lunch order was: (1) Shu Mai, Fried Gyoza and Steamed BBQ Bun (2) Whole Small Lobster w/ Noodles This dish cost $8.99 and all lunch specials are served family style. The lobster and noodles were fresh and delicious! (3) Salt & Pepper Pork Chop This is my son's favorite Chinese dish and he enjoyed it. I had a piece and it was't oily and was yummy. (4) Orange Chicken Hubby selected this lunch entree which was fresh and a delight. (5) Chinese Broccoli w/ Oyster Sauce This is a must order dish with dim sum. Just fresh and goes with all of our lunch orders. We enjoyed our lunch which was delicious. Yes, you have to get the attention of the servers just like in any other Chinese restaurant. Therefore, we had a 3 Star Lunch experience. read more

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Worst service I've ever experienced! Very rude server, and it takes forever to order a food from their carts

I don't go out for dim sum very often, but when I do, I come to Irvine China Garden... sike!! This was my first time here, and I liked it a lot! Came here on a Tuesday right when they opened, so there was no wait, plenty of parking, and fresh, hot dim sum! I didn't find the service to be slow or poor and carts rolled around often and everything from the har gow to the shu mai tasted great. Come early cuz the lunchtime crowd filled up the restaurant rather quickly and there was no parking to be found when we left. read more

Customer service was EXTREMELY rude. Called in prior to going their to ask which forms of payments they took specifically Apple Pay. The worker said something in which it wasn't audible i asked kindly for them to repeat it. He repeated Visa/Mastercard and hung up. read more

Usually for great dim-sum I have to go all the way to LA or Rowland Heights, but for Irvine area this place is one of the better ones. Dim Sum is pricier but most of the individual items are bigger so not bad for value. My only knock is customer service needs a bit more work. Every time I order take out I feel like the person hangs up before I even get to finish my sentence (and somehow they never ask for your name either). My last order I asked if soy sauce was inside the bag and the person helping me said in a terse manner that I didn't ask for any. Ultimately the dim sum is still pretty good (which is what I care more about) and options here in Irvine are limited, so I would still go back. Just don't really expect nice friendly faces to greet you that's all. read more

ONE STAR because OF THE MOST RUDE SERVICE EVER. Came with a really large group of people (15ish) and we were ALL paying customers (about $10-$15 each in the end). Our tables could never get carts to come around to give us food, when we asked the waiters they said they would try to get the carts to come by and when 10 more minutes have passed and there were none, we asked the manager if we could just order food and he tells us, "No, you cannot order food, YOU HAVE TO BE PATIENT." (This isn't true since on week days all you do is order from the menu for dim sum, he just didn't like us at all). Alright, I understand, patience. We wait for 10 more minutes, no carts. We ask a few more waiters, but one of them decides to tell the manager again and he gets mad at us for asking. Seriously? How rude. He basically yells at us as if we were 6 years old and tells us to be patient again. My friend who speaks Chinese tries to talk to him in Chinese, but then he yells at her in Chinese for us to be "patient kids". We got our food eventually, but were probably at the restaurant for an hour longer than we wanted to just waiting for our food to slowly, slowly come. Ugh, no respect for this guy and establishment. If I ever come back, I hope he's not going to be there and only encounter the nice Hispanic guys there! I would gladly tip them. Otherwise, the food was alright the service just sucked enough for me to not want to come back for a while. read more

Meh! 2.5 Stars. I don't know what happened to China Garden. If I were to rate this place about 3 years it may have been a 4 or 5 star experience. What happened? Maybe I just discovered a lot of other Chinese restaurants in the area or they changed cooks. My favorite dishes use to be Honey Walnut Shrimp, French beef steak, and Fried Calamari. The Shrimp is no longer sweet and tasty, instead it is soggy and oily yuck! The beef is a bit rubbery and over cooked. The Fried Calamari is a bit chewy and lacks flavor you must add hot sauce to make it decent. The rice is always old and you will always wait for service no matter what time or number of people. For Dim Sum, you may want to try Royal Kitchen in Irvine instead. The only possible reason you would go here is if you haven't had Chinese for years and you go after 10 pm, because some items are 50% off. Is it really worth it to pay less for less quality? Maybe if you are from the IE and have limited choices. I really miss SF food. Maybe Rowland Heights or Alhambra can be closer. For now, make the drive and don't throw money away. Please skip on China Garden unless you want to fight for parking with students going to Yogurt land. read more

Front desk staff are ridiculously rude. Also place is supposedly open until 10:30 but they'll refuse service and say they're closed at 8:50

I haven't had much luck with decent dim sum in Irvine. Wanted to give Irvine China Garden a try since it looked pretty busy. Sadly, it was another trial and failure. Avoid the Siu Mai (sour) It was inedible. The tofu shrimp was battered unevenly with some thicker parts, the shrimp was also sour. Highlights include the seaweed asparagus shrimp wrap (not sour) and tofu ginger sauce : tofu fa I am really hoping it was just an off day. Two stars because even with the sour shrimp and pork I did not get sick. (Thank goodness) What you need to know: - When it's busy please go inside and request a number - Servers are friendly - Place is dated - Good for all size parties - You will get your push cart experience read more

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I'm Chinese and I've had authentic dim sum in Hong Kong, so when I say this place has good dim sum - it's good! Make sure to get there around 11 or earlier, or else you'll probably have to wait for a table and the food won't be as fresh. I recommend the sui mai, char sui cherng fun, and ja lerng (sorry if you don't know Chinese lol). The workers typically don't have great English skills, so it could make ordering difficult if you don't know Chinese and don't know what each dish is. There could be a greater variety of the dishes, but it's fine because I always leave happy and full. Three people were full for about $40. read more

Honestly I used to like this place. It was our go to dim sum place in Irvine. Unfortunately there's a young guy, around 20-30 with short hair cut and black frame glasses, who seated us that ruined our appetite. He was blatantly rude and pretended to ignore us when we asked for water. I couldn't believe how mean he was. I started the experience feeling kinda angry. Luckily some of the other people were nice, but he was so rude. It's really unfortunate that I will not recommend this place to anyone due to one event. He ruined the lunch time with my family and everything just didn't taste good afterwards because I was so mad. read more

Update. 5 stars in 2007. 3 stars in 2011. Came back and it was meh. Service is still the same - rude, but it's a Chinese restaurant so, yeah. The place was still the same shabby faded everything that I remember from years ago. Menu is the same. Food is not the same. Beef broccoli was half good, half bad. The broccoli was great and the sauce was too. Unfortunately, the beef was poor and the flavor was nothing more than soy sauce. Pretty disappointing. Chinese broccoli was good but over cooked. Mushy is gross. It's supposed to be super crunchy and the leaves should be firm. Nope. Mongolian beef was decent. Rice was dry. Too bad. Oh well. Will probably come back when I'm in the mood for shiny food but until then, look on the bright side - it's better than Sam Woo (and cheaper too). read more

My go-to Dimsum spot. Line gets long, so I recommend coming here early. They stop serving Dimsum at 3PM. I have no idea what the ladies who push the cart are saying. It's hard to communicate if you aren't Chinese. Try to get a menu so you show them the picture or the #, to have a better communication. Their lobster was bleh. Fried rice was bleh. I say stick to their Dimsum. read more

We had the two small lobsters for $14.99! Also the spicy clams with wine broth was delicious. We topped it off with half a roast duck which was very tender. We came on a Wednesday evening and it was not crowded and the service was really good. read more

China Garden - Menu Specials - Dim Sum Near Me - Irvine, California

This review is for Dim Sum only! I usually go on Sundays which is the perfect day for Dim Sum. Get there by 10:30am to avoid the line! I always bring a Chinese-speaking friend to expedite the process since he knows my favorite dishes. My favorites: Chinese broccoli, Steamed and Baked BBQ Pork Buns, Shrimp Har Gow, Pork Shiu Mai, Chive Dumpling, Sticky Rice, Shrimp in Rice Noodle, and Egg Tarts (sooo good when they are hot!). Steal the egg tarts first since they are always out by the time you want dessert! Service is always spotty but my friend is a regular here so we get treated pretty well. If you come in a big group, its a pain since they don't take reservations and your entire party has to be present to be seated. Other than that, good dim sum for Irvine. I had better elsewhere but for Irvine, there's only here or Capital Seafood. This rating is based on dim sum available in Irvine, not based on all dim sum in Orange and LA county. read more

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Price range: $3.25-$4.50 for dim sum items. Space: good for families and large groups. If you want dim sum in Irvine, I recommend Capital Seafood in Diamond Jamboree over this place. However, we came on a Saturday at 11am and there was no wait.. in fact, half the place was empty! I was pretty shocked because most dim sum places get packed out from the getgo. The place did start filling up around noon though and by the time we finished our meal there was a long wait. They have carts that go around and there was plenty of space between tables so it doesn't feel as cramped as Capital Seafood. As a parent with a baby, I was glad to see I could easily fit a stroller by my table without encroaching on others' space. The dim sum was alright - I felt like everything we got was lukewarm or on the cold side. It was oddly unsatisfying... and I left disappointed. read more

This place has pretty good Dim Sum. The carts move fast but they remember you the next time around, if they don't have what you want the first time. We went here for lunch for a coworker and the service was pretty fast. The prices for lunch are decent if you order the lunch specials. We also had 10% off our Dim Sum order today. Maybe it's a Wednesday thing? I don't know for sure but it was stamped on our check, "10% off Dim Sum." That beats paying full price. It's about $10 or less per person depending on what you order. We ordered a dish for everyone (served family-style) and ended up having leftovers to take home too. read more

Average dim sum fare in Irvine. Was super busy given the new year's holiday and not offering lunch specials either. They have all the standard dim sum dishes. The only unique item was a dessert which we tried. It looks like a pot pie from the outside but once you poke the bread crust you'll find a hot almond flavored soup inside. Service was average. We were seated in a side room since the main dining area was full so it took a while for the dim sum carts to make their way to us. Not as impressed with the dim sum. Their lunch specials are probably worth trying another time. read more

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This is pretty typical for Irvine chinese food, overpriced, small portions and.. well not that good. The restaurant decor is decent and fairly clean so that was good, the staff is pretty nice as well and helpful when ordering if you need help. They also have late night specials i think on weedays after 10pm so you can get in a late night bite for cheap, only complaint is that the food wasn't that great, and the portions were very small for what you pay for. They also messed up on our bill which really wasn't that hard.. might come back here for their late night specials but probably not for dinner or lunch read more

This place honestly has good food, but suffers from a lower rating only because it doesn't really fit into the whole facade of Orange County. If it was found in Long Beach or Downey, the place would do much better, but unfortunately, it's in a small plaza near Irvine Valley College. Still, whatever it lacks in flare and deco, it makes up for food. DECO: 3 stars The place is bigger than you think it would be and it shows. The seats are spread out, with white linen covering each round table. Tea cups and napkins are awaiting for use, while the dull hum of fluorescent lights loom overhead. Hand written menu items and specials are placed all over the walls, intermingling with the more professional posters. Add in a bare minimum of occupants in the restaurant and the place looks like a ghost town. Fine when bustling, but dying when slow. FOOD: 3 stars The food here is genuinely good, falling more towards traditional Chinese cooking than the Americanized, and bastardized, P.F. Cheng's or Pei Wei. As most Chinese restaurants, you don't wait long to receive the food you order and the food is steaming hot, straight from the wok. The salt & pepper pork chop is always a winner, as well as the walnut cashew shrimp. If you're eating with several people and several dishes, you'll eat well. However, if you're by yourself, you might want to order more than two dishes to satiate your appetite. Nothing is too spectacular, instead falling more to par of what you'd find in places like Monterey Park. However, being able to say the food is on par with MP, you'll know it won't disappoint sorely either. HOURS: 5 stars This is probably the best thing about this place. This restaurant doesn't close till midnight. That's right, MIDNIGHT! I can't think of any other place in or around Irvine that would close that late for Chinese food. I think China Garden is literally the only restaurant that would still be open at this time. If that doesn't seem good to you, you obviously hate life. Hater. CONCLUSION China Garden is very much a middle of the pack restaurant that just happens to both exceed and drop below the expectation of a restaurant in Irvine. Sure, the deco is whatever and the location is strange, but the food is satisfying and the hours are amazing. If you ever find yourself driving around late in Irvine wishing a restaurant was open to satiate your hunger, skip the Taco Bell and come here. It'll improve the quality of your life. read more

10pm-midnight LATE NIGHT SPECIALS = BOMB. Tired of BCD tofu soup everytime you got drunken munchies? China Garden has the best late night deals and the food is realllllllly good and definitely worth the price. read more

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Remember near the end of the first Matrix movie where Neo (Keanu Reeves) says in that husky voice calm voice, "No", when the bullets are coming at him? When you go to a dim sum place you're never going to say as many "No"'s in your life. Even if you're getting raped in the park by some guy while you are fighting tooth and nail to save your chastity, even then you're not going to say as many "No"s to the cart ladies. Also, you guys should check out Russel Peters on how Chinese people say "No" in his "Be a man" joke. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qtrAMK7_Qk Irvine China Garden's Score: 69 Points read more

Craving Chinese food, you are at the place. Quantities are extra large. Ordered 3 plates and soup and couldn't make a dent. Will eat it over the next few days. Taste of the sweet and sour soup was amazing. Beef, shrimp or chicken is great read more

Hands down the best Dim Sum in Irvine! There is always a wait here so try to send someone ahead to get there first to get a number. They have many tables to accommodate big parties! This place is reasonably priced, flavorful food and quick service! Can't go wrong with this place. read more

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Like other reviewers, I also don't get why this place has such a bad rap. It's definitely the best dim sum option in the Irvine/Orange/Tustin/Anaheim area (options are seriously lacking), and while it's not quite as good or as low priced as what you can get in SGV or even Garden Grove, it definitely does satisfy the craving you get for dim sum without having you feel like, gosh, I wanna redo that meal because it sucked. We went on a weekday, at lunch. They have carts and you can point at the options you want. On our particular visit, all of the waiters and waitresses spoke perfect English - so there was no struggle. I was actually scared because they put us in the room where all of the non-Chinese speakers usually sit, but I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to worry. Service was great, food was good - I got everything I wanted within the span of ten minutes. We had: - Spare ribs - Shu Mai - Har gow - Lo bak go - Dan tat - Shrimp fun - Xiao long bao All of the above food came out to about 40 bucks. I believe prices are fair for the OC area (Irvine). Parking can be a bit of a challenge. If I have a craving for dim sum while I'm in the area, I'd definitely come back to this spot. read more

I'll keep this review short and simple. Bad service. It wasn't even crowded. 10 minutes to wave down Hacao and Shumai cart lady. There were maybe 10 tables worth of customers in the restaurant! The waiters kept apologizing left to right and tried to give us the attention but ended up being super creepy. Yes, I'm just that hard to please... Will I come back? Hell to the freaking NO. read more

I came here for dim sum. It's hard to find good Chinese food and dim sum in Irvine. Irvine has great Korean and Japanese food, but you normally have to travel further to get good Chinese and Vietnamese food. I didn't want to drive far and wanted to give China Garden a shot. I've had the dim sum at Sam Woo's restaurant so wanted to compare. China Garden was not great. I didn't think any of the dishes were really good in terms of dim sum. I enjoy dim sum and got the usual things like shui mai, har gow, chicken feet, spare ribs, turnip cake, and some others. None of these were really good. All ok, but not really good. I think some of the dough was too chewy, the chicken feet didn't have the right taste and color, the spare ribs were also a bit bland. It took awhile to get har gow that day too, they were out for a long time and I was pretty full by the time it came around. Prices are about what you would pay elsewhere for dim sum but I wasn't impressed by any of the taste or quality. I've had better in other cities and even Sam Woo's in Irvine was a little better than here. read more

China Garden - Dim sum time! Spare ribs, Siu Mai, Sugar Cane shrimp. - Dim Sum Near Me - Irvine, California

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This is one of the better authentic dim sum places in the area. The staff was friendly and I would come back for both dine in and takeout!

After playing golf it was close to 3:00 pm and was damn hungry BC I had only a banana and a sports drink for lunch. I've been wanting to try China Garden after seeing how busy it was one Saturday night. I ordered the twin lobsters stir fried with ginger and scallions. The dish arrived and was gorgeous looking, piping hot and included the lobster heads so you know it's fresh! The flavor - very tasty and the lobster meat was soo sweet and tender due to that they were perfect in size. The combination of ginger and scallions gave the dish a yummy flavor and I especially enjoyed the lobster sauce over my steam rice. The other dish I selected was seafood with tofu. The dish had pieces of large shrimp, scallops, squid and fillet of fish combined with fresh soft tofu which also had a yummy sauce. I thought this dish was a tad overly salty but still enjoyed it. I would recommend China Garden for the food and would return again. The service is typical for an authentic Chinese place but overall it was good. MasterCard and Visa are accepted also. read more

My family has been coming to China Garden for years, and we prefer it over the Sam Woo in the plaza across the street. Most of the time, we come for dimsum, but on our most recent visit, we came with some family friends for dinner. It was a special occasion, so we ordered the Peking Duck ("three eats" preparation; i.e. the skin + buns, soup, and lettuce wraps). We also ordered a ton of other delicious Cantonese dishes. China Garden's soups (the bao3 tang1) are always phenomenal. China Garden can get pretty popular and busy at times, so be prepared for a wait. Other than that, it's your run-of-the-mill Cantonese seafood restaurant, with live seafood tanks in the back and male servers (the women always seem to run the cashier and push the food trucks for dimsum). Service is decent too. We all finished off the meal with our own almond tea w/puff pastry (xing4 ren2 cha2). This is one of my favorite things to eat, and it's definitely worth the wait (make sure to order it at the beginning of your meal)! =) read more

Yikes. Maybe its my high SGV standards, but dim sum was quite sad today. The hargow fell apart as we picked them up, there was a hair on the plate of our shrimp rice rolls and the bamboo rice texture was extra room temp and had a mushy texture. Id come back if I was in Irvine and desperately in need of some dim sum, but it doesnt seem likely. read more

Got a roasted duck to go, it cost us $43. Duck was about medium size. It is outrageous to charge customers this price.

Now, it might be the best dimsum in Irvine, but it's by far not the best dimsum in Southern California. For one thing, don't sit in the side room to the north of the building. The food carts never make their way there. As for the food, I've tried the siu mai, har gow, chai sui bao (both baked and steamed), cheong fun (shrimp), jeen dui (lotus sesame balls), ham sui gok, beef meatballs. It is all just passable. The only thing I'd actually say is good are the steamed char siu baos and the beef ribs (not the little pork ones). Plus, even with the 20% weekday discount (not weekend or to-go), it was still $47 w/o tax for four people. That's expensive dudes & dudettes. Maybe I should do what the next table did and order a big crab for 2 to share instead. read more

Decent dim sum with the ladies pushing the rolling carts. There was a wait on Sunday afternoon. Better than the two dim sum places I tried in Vegas. read more

also have dinner here, not crowded at weekdays, some sales Price dish you can choose. BBQ duck And fish is good. read more

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We came here because they were one of the few Chinese seafood restaurants who were willing to take a reservation for Father's Day. When we showed up and saw the huge crowd waiting outside, we wondered who wouldn't try to make a reservation???? Life's too short... The food is usually very tasty. On this particular day, our green onion and ginger lobster was a tiny bit underseasoned though still very tender and well cooked. I also highly recommend the steamed fresh fish (also sold by the .lb, market price) and Dungeness Crab (deep fried w/ garlic style). What this restaurant really lacks is consistent service. For a while, they will pay special attention to you, changing your plates upwards of 3 times. And then they are incapable of refilling your ice water even after having asked 2 different people. All in all, it's a great fall back place for us when we want to take someone out for a special occassion. The fresh, live seafood shocks and awes (or at least impresses) but it takes a bit of aggressiveness to get the service you need - don't be shy to stick your arm up in the air!! read more

China Garden is decent and will satisfy any cravings that you have if you don't want to drive too far. We got there around 11:45 on a rainy Saturday and it was very busy. We ended up waiting around 25 minutes. Be sure to go to the counter and grab a number! Everything we had here was decent. The service is alright. Some of the carts circulated very slowly. It took awhile to get all the items we wanted. Most of the workers don't really speak english. They charge for tea. $1.25 per person. read more

China Garden - Dim Sum Near Me - Irvine, California

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Went in for dim sum, ordered 4 dishes but billed for 5 dishes. Instead of apologizing for their mistake, they said they had no reason to overcharge us. They had a very bad attitude and horrible service. Definitely not going there any more after this. Beware of overcharge, be sure to check your bill as they are not honest. read more

My bf and I come here religiously on the weekends for their dim sum. It's not the best dim sum I've had but for $20.00 it satisfies our cravings. If you want REAL good dim sum, go to SF otherwise this place will do! Sometimes convenience makes the food taste better and this is exactly why we choose to come here. It's one of the better dim sum places in our area if you're not up for the drive to places like Garden Grove/Westminster. Sorry but I hate going down that area because it's DANGERIOUS. Asian drivers are insane! Ahahhaa. Amble parking as it's in a complex Spacious; There's always people standing outside waiting for their number to get called (if you go around brunch time) but the most we've waited is about 30 minutes which isn't bad at all Service is cool... you're at an Asian restaurant don't expect too much. Food is tasty! So overall this place is A-OKAY in my books. read more

Can't go wrong with their 鹵水豆腐, steamed live shrimp and steamed red rock cod. Their 上湯菜苗was not bad either. People rave about their puff pastry almond milk, but do not get it. The almond milk taste like the store bought ones. read more

China Garden - Dim Sum Near Me - Irvine, California