Loved the place! Awesome history and atmosphere. Good Chinese food, nothing crazy fancy but it tastes good and gets you full and feeling good. Best thing I got was the Szechuan chicken which I'd recommend. Good fast service and overall good place in Butte. read more

Used to be a place to get good Chinese food that was also very unique. That was 20 years ago. Being from Butte it's sad to see how bad it has gotten. We won't go back. read more

If you like chop suey this is your place.. if not.... Stay clear.... It was not edible....sorry... I love my Montana sisters and brothers but, this is a no go for this Montana girl read more

Do not go for the food. Seriously. Go for the history and the environment. Rated two stars just because it's not like any other experience you'll ever have. The food is so bad and the environment so bizarre but you can't help but kind of enjoy the bizarre nature of it all. read more

Ok, this is not "Chinese" food, this is classic baby-boomer, Chinese food your mom probably cooked back in the 1960s. Like Chung King canned, crunchy chow mein noodles with celery and onion gravy. My heart is swooning with memories and nostalgia, the whole scene erases the years and I can see my mom and dad and family sitting around the table with me... down to the Formica tables and fortune cookies. I will definitely be back, to relive the past and roll in the "feels". Maybe even order a Harvey Wallbanger. This place is totally awesome! read more

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This place is amazing, and a national landmark being the unlikely first Chinese restaurant in the US, and preserving a very rare archetypal restaurant style from the turn of the last century (Philippe's in Los Angeles is another example but they rare today) . The individual dinning booths are so fitting for this era of covid, and makes you wonder if they weren't designed with that in mind; given that the flu of 1917 and pre antibiotics (1950's on), made society very aware of the threat of tuberculosis and other things. You must go for a beer and leave a big tip at minimum (good point other one star rater, appreciate a little grace at least). Otherwise, it's hard not to respect the intrinsic value of having THE oldest Chinese restaurant in the United States still operational and standing. (If you seek fancy Chinese food, go to San Francisco, LA, Seattle, Portland, NY- how challenging must it be to run a food business in Butte Montana for a cuisine that relies upon vegetables and stir fry techniques?? biscuits and gravy or roasts are easier in non mainstream supply chain cities). Respect for each other and our history is really important. Anyway, the food is good for Butte MT and being a part of history is an honor. Do Ze Pekin Inn! 多謝 read more

Extremely overpriced for mediocre food at best. Found a bug in my noodles and took forever to get waited on.

The food was so gross, the curry chicken didn't have any curry and tasted like chicken bullion, the broccoli beef was over powered by lemon, and the chicken chow mien was covered is gross processed and possibly canned chicken. The service was terrible, we could barely pay to leave. read more

Pekin Cafe and Lounge - Chinese Near Me - Butte, Montana

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I am afraid the only reason people come here is for the history. But you can't eat history! The dishes were all over cooked. The pork fried rice was dry, there was no filling in the fried won-tons, the noodles were bland. They were incredibly busy because they had only 2 waitresses. I am deeply disappointed. read more

Very disappointing meal. It was cold, had all the style of freezer section, no name brand Chinese food. It has lasted this long because of no competition, probably. If you have ever eaten excellent Chinese food in San Francisco or Los Angeles or any city with a strong Chinese presence, you should not choose this restaurant. In addition, the restaurant was dirty..floors, light fixtures had dead insects illuminated. This is a Must Miss... read more

I must preface this by saying I am a Montanan (though not a Butteant), and have grown up eating at the Pekin Noodle Parlor. So I must confess some bias that encompasses not only the food, but the restaurant's odd history, decor and location in Butte itself. That said, if ever I was forced to pick one "Chinese" restaurant above all others, it would be here. The food is Americanized in a very odd style with it's own flavor that becomes incredibly addicting after a few visits - my best guess is it's the subtle hint of Butte's infamous antique wood-piped water supply. It's not even close to the most authentic Chinese food you'll come across (even in Montana), nor is it the freshest. But it is cooked in massive woks by chefs who are nothing if not vocal and served by waitresses who look hurried even when the place is empty, and tastes all the better for it. I have never seen the menu change in all my years eating there, and as far as I can tell, it's served on the same plate with the exact same presentation. In fact, the walls, furniture, paintings, surrounding buildings, employees, adjacent lounge, fenced cashier booth and dimly-lit starway up to the restaurant all seem nearly identical to my memories of the place since childhood. And as far as I know, very little has changed at the Pekin since the 1960's. The kitch factor is pretty high. There is a certain oddity that pervades the Pekin - also known as Danny Wong's to locals of a certain age - that adds an undefineable quality I've only ever experienced in the cramped, out-of-the-way restaurants of San Francisco's Chinatown. When sitting on frail wire chairs in a pink-walled booth stained lightly with years of smoke and grease, the food can't help but taste good. Don't get me wrong: the place is clean, it just has a feeling of being stuck in time that can't be painted over. Butte has had a surprising infusion of Chinese culture and the town reached it's heydey some 90 years ago, so a lot of history is wrapped up in the place. The Almond chicken, Chow Mein, Pork-Fried Rice and Mu Shu Pork are a few of the more amazing dishes, but everyone seems to have their own emphatic favorites and experimenting will never lead you astray. The fortune cookies are usually stale and often contain confusing pronouncements. Also note I have personally never seen signs stating "No MSG" or "We filter our tap water." Perhaps two secrets unknowingly revealed? Of course, I may have just overlooked those facts in anticipation of the food. Still, I can't recommend the Pekin enough. read more

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Service was quick and food came quickly and right temperature. The only problem was they now charge a service charge for credit card use.

This was far and away the worst food I've ever had in a restaurant in my life, and for many years I ate out 3 or 4 times a week. A run down of our meal: The egg rolls were oddly filled with stewed celery and the fried shrimp was just weird; they had a kind of thick and cake-like breading that was not appetizing. The chop suey was simply stewed celery in a bland gravy with some kind of prepackaged tasting ham strips scattered on top. The szechuan chicken was, as far as I could tell, unlike any Szechuan dish I've ever had before. I can't be entirely sure on this point though as I couldn't taste much aside from salt. The texture and what flavor I could get from the chicken made me think it had been boiled. :-/ The chow mein noodles were served plain and unseasoned in bowls of water. The ginger beef was okay, not great, but compared to everything else on the table it was phenomenal. I filled up on that and the rice that was served on the side. The one bright spot of this horrendous dining experience was the service. Outstanding, friendly and prompt. 5* for service, -5* for food. read more

Amazing setting, replete with orange booths and a lounge that seems to be the place to be for young Butte hipsters. Unfortunately, the food is inedible. I mean, easily the worse Chinese food I have ever had. All that equals 1 star. read more

This is by far the worst slop I have ever had the displeasure of attempting to consume. I may have preferred a raw piece of chicken or a moldy slice of cheese to this disgrace because at least that is food I can recognize. The only thing edible on my plate was the fried shrimp because it was presumably a prefabricated item. At an established restaurant I would never expect to be served canned mushrooms or low quality deli meat chunks on top of my "chicken and mushroom fried rice". I wouldn't even expect that of a hospital cafeteria...In fact, I've had immensely better food at a hospital cafeteria. The chow mein either came out of a can or sat out for many days because it was gray and didn't resemble vegetables. On top of that, my meal was lukewarm at best. That being said, the facility itself was a trip and our server was very sweet. It was everything I could do not to laugh at her when she brought us boxes for the piles of food left on our plate. Do yourself a favor, walk in and look around after you've had a decent meal somewhere else. Then walk directly to the bar for a drink because that is the only thing they do right. read more

I have no idea why the reviews are as high as they are here. Full disclosure- I like quirky restaurants. I know sometimes a restaurant is more about the experience than the food. But even with that, I will not go here again. I love Chinese foods of all types and styles, too. I don't even think this stuff counted as Chinese. The place is dirty (like old greasy dust around the bottom of the floorboards, not just a little dirty- like, hasn't been cleaned in a LONG TIME). I'm not a neat freak but it skeeved me out. The service was mediocre. The booths and history are interesting and I did enjoy those parts. I'm a Montanan, and I think most Montanans appreciate some colorful history. But, then the food came. Oh my word. The soup was the first thing- and it looks like 3 types of soup mixed together. There were alphabet noodles, a random floating pea and carrot, it was brown, a couple rotini noodles. Looked like vomit and tasted not much different. I got a fried rice dish, and my husband got something with chicken in it. The chicken was actually COLD CANNED CHICKEN. Not even kidding. Now, there's nothing expressly wrong with cold canned chicken, but it's not what you go to a restaurant for! The mushrooms were canned. The whole thing with flavorless, as much out of a can as possible (not exactly traditional Chinese). And, one of the more interesting things- it's not like it is crazy cheap or something. You're paying for the experience, but the novelty of being in an old whorehouse wears off when you are eating cold canned chicken and cold canned mushrooms. Glad to have eaten here once, but we will not be going back. read more

A turn of the century brothel gone chop suey joint, Pekin was my first meal in wonderful Butte. The menu looks like it hasn't changed since the 1920s when this place opened... a different time when Butte was a bustling mining town and chinese immigrants flooded in. Having eating chinese food since I was a toddler everywhere from New York to Chicago to San Francisco, I am pretty adept at ordering. Still, the special seemed to be the safe bet and everythign was made so weird, very, very americanized. It tasted better than it looked and the waitress (who got in a hilarious 10 minute fight with the chef) was prompt too. The best part is that you sit in these stalls that use to be the rooms for the ladies to "do their deed" back when it was a functioning brothel! The jukebox has a pretty good mix of stuff and we were the only people in there at 9pm. read more

Pekin Cafe and Lounge - special #2 - Chinese Near Me - Butte, Montana

This place is absolutely shambolic! The food is horrendous in every way possible. Imagine slimy noodles and microwave chicken and you've found the Pekin. I tried this place a few weeks back with some friends and we all had the same expression on our faces, disgust! For some reason, locals here seem to love this place, probably because they've never had real Chinese food before. The only positive I suppose would be the decor which is sort of very old school, and gives off a very historic feel to it. But overall, take it from this local, stay clear and go somewhere else! read more

We finally made it too our first destination city. Butte Montana. After hours and hours of driving. We chose this place because it was recommended by the hotel for the building historic past. Which was. Built in 1909 as a gaming parlor. 1916. From what I have read on the internet it became a brothel and opium den. The restaurant and lounge are on the second floor. Sorry no elevator. As you go up the steps it's just like a brothel I have toured in the past. Once you enter it does make you think that are at s brothel. The tables. Are in a 6x6 ish room. The wooden walls look old with multiple layers of paint. There's a curtain rod that is not in use and hooks on each side were you think this is where they hung the clothes. Upon asking the server about its history and if these are the actual rooms. They are not. As far as the food. There are better places lots of sodium in the food. The server is really nice and treated us read more

In town for a short vacation from San Francisco and got a recommendation from a college friend to come check out this Butte institution. Went to the Lewis and Clark caverns today and capped off tonight with an hour in the bar and then a table full of awesome food. Szechuan beef was a little different than I'm used to but had great spice and the sweet and sour chicken was freshly prepared and gone before I could get seconds. I'm not a seafood eater but my friends liked the shrimp dish we had. All in all a great dinner! read more

Pekin Cafe and Lounge - Cool neon sign outside - Chinese Near Me - Butte, Montana

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WorstChinese food of my life. My mom wanted to go here so we indulged her BUT man wish we hadn't. $97 for 5 people. Every dish was brown! The chow me in had sliced deli meat and canned mushrooms on top! Ewe! Diabetic nightmare! The Sweet and Sour sauce was brown and in everything. Booths kind of cool and in a historic building. read more

worst Chinese food iv ever had. Flavor was not there. Place was dirty. Grime on everything Servings were rather large. I suppose if ur a whale an like to eat and DO NOT care about quality this is the place for U. I have only been here one time because a close friend of mine raved about it being the best. I couldnt even eat a quarter of my plate due to its lacking of taste . read more

Cool and historic place. Excellent food! The sweet and sour sauce is really good. Great service and the low price was a surprise.

Excellent food! History oozes from this place! Loved everything about it! Thank you for the experience!

So as a recommendation we came. We were seated quickly by what had to be the owner. We sat, and sat and sat. Finally we get menus. They bring water quickly. We need a minute to order since its our first time. Waitress was super nice.... And thats about it. We ordered and it literally appeared in 3 minutes. Sweet n sour chicken, pork chow mein, pork wontons and pork fried rice. The wontons were just 3 day old crunchy crust. The pork itself was just cold strips of ham. The sweet n sour was safeways left overs. The pork chow mein came without noodles, with strips of cold ham and celery soup. The celery was murdered and sat for days before plated. All the food was cold as well. Ive literally never had food this sad. The owner should retire or just revamp how business is done. There's no way safeway can have a better chinese selection than you and We dont even eat safeways deli food. read more

You know that Eminem song where he talks about moms spaghetti and how it ended up back on his sweatshirt? Welcome to Pekin Chinese

The outside of the restaurant is promising. A spiffy neon sign marks the entrance, and one enters the restaurant by climbing a steep flight of old-timey stairs. It feels like being transported back in time. The history/interior of the restaurant has been well-documented by the other Yelpers and by travel guides, so I won't detail it too much here. But, it is worth noting that the restaurant is divided into these little curtained booths where you can eat. Given that the decor hasn't changed much over the years, it is worth a look-see just for the interior design. Our table ordered vegetable chop suey, pickled onions, egg foo young, and mushroom fried rice. One of the meals came with a soup. Aside from the pickled onions, the rest of the food was inedible. The chop suey was by far the worst offender. It looked and tasted exactly like the La Choy canned chop suey that I was forced to eat as a kid. It even had the same canned mushrooms that the La Choy products have. If I were more cynical, I would assume that the kitchen just opened a can of the stuff and poured it onto the plate (pour being the operative word here. The vegetables, comprised solely of celery, green pepper, and canned mushrooms, were swimming in a slimy water-cornstarch-soy sauce concoction). Needless to say, with all of this liquid, the chow mein noodles dissolved into mushiness. The egg foo young was so over-cooked that it resembled a sausage patty. The fried rice was coated in grease -- almost sticky with it. The only seasoning in it appeared to be soy sauce and more soy sauce. The soup looked (and tasted) exactly like Campbell's vegetable soup with alphabet letters. It actually had alphabet pasta in it (along with some broken up spaghetti noodles). The only edible thing was the pickled onions, which were green onion tips pickled in some kind of brown wine/vinegar. But at 3.25 for 5 tips, they were exceptionally pricey. We left without eating our food. It was that bad. Others have commented here that the food is very "Americanized." Perhaps. But I think that using that word as a description gives both American-Chinese food and American food a bad reputation. I won't say that I'll never go back. I might give the place a second try, if only for the fact that the interior is so cool. But I'd stick to ordering simple things -- like egg rolls -- that are practically impossible to mess up. read more

This place is terrible. We waited a long time before we even got acknowledged by the staff. We also waited a long time before we had our order taken after we were seated. Then we waited an even longer time for the food to arrive. Then we waited some more to get our check. The food is not very good at all and just an overall disappointment. read more

Have had a lot of Chinese food over the years, from CA to KS to CT, MA, RI, NY etc. I can say with confidence that this was the worst Chinese food I have ever had. Typically with Chinese places, the quality of ingredients varies wildly, but even the low quality food at least *tastes* good. While the sweet and sour sauce was decent, nothing we ordered had any character. It was the most bland and soulless asian food; totally uninspired cooking. The chicken and mushroom noodles was basically plain chicken soup. The szechuan beef was mostly just onions and bell peppers in a salt gravy. Hardly any beef at all really, until we asked. Service wasn't terrible actually, but they're pretty stuck because they must know the food is terrible. They do what they can. Bottom line: the novelty of this place being in an old brothel is not nearly enough draw to make this worth your while. Over 100 years in business? This place should have been demolished years ago. read more

This is the oldest Chinese restaurant in the US. You're here to visit the history, not the food.

Not sure how this is open. The hands down worst dining experience I have ever had. Disgusting food, strange venue and iffy service.

Love this place, the bartender Rachel is so good! Love the food awesome!! Would go back any day!!

Disgusting! Dirty! The minute you walk up the stairs you get the smell of wet musty mildew and mold. You can hardly breathe. Our food had a burnt taste to it. Portions of sweet and sour chicken are very small. They must have changed the gravy for the steak rice. It was so thick and salty. Bring back the old recipe! Won't go back read more

The Pekin is in a category of its own. The quaint ambience of individual booths brings you back in time as you order from their large variety of dishes. Some of my favorites are the Chinese BBQ Pork, Pekin Fried Rice and Sweet and Sour Chicken. The staff was pleasant and efficient. It is always a treat to have dinner at the Pekin! read more

When I lived in Butte 5 years ago, the Pekin was fantastic. I dined there tonight and was horrified. I ordered the number 8. Shrimp Chow Mein, Fried Shrimp and Shrimp Fried Rice. The Soup was awful, too peppery and the rice in the soup was like mush. The entree portion was tiny in comparison to the days of old. The shrimp for the rice and chow mein was bay shrimp just sprinkled on top. It was also spoiled. I sent it back but was questioned on what was wrong with it. I had to explain it three times and then as a substitute was given chopped up weird bits of meat that was supposed to be pork. All they did was scrape the shrimp off the rice and chow mein. The chow mein noodles were canned and soggy. My order was supposed to come with hot tea and even though I asked for it several times, it never came. I ordered iced tea at the beginning of my meal and had to pester for a refill which came when we were leaving. It was served in a skinny tall cocktail glass. The water was served in a tiny short bar glass as well. I am disappointed and will never go back again. read more

I agree with the other reader that said "Only go here if you were born in Butte and have never set foot outside of it." the place looks cool, certainly historic, but the entire take out meal I got I trashed after the first bite. It is BAD. So maybe go there for coffee, drinks, or say a Chinese classic: fries or onion rings. read more

Don't go here!!! I have tried many dishes here and not once did I leave satisfied, the service is often bad and the servers are not very polite. The only thing the Pekin has going for it is the historic value of the building. Trust me don't go here if recommended by the locals they apparently don't know what quality Chinese food Is. read more

Service very slow. The food was very bland and colorless. Ive eaten chinese food in many cities around the world,including in China, and this place has the worst chinese food ever. I cannot understand why they are in business. The portions were small and mostly made of celery. the mushrooms they use were cold and from a can. The soup could have been dishwater. The pork ribs were pale and overcooked. The fried rice was hard and cold. I cant see how anyone can give this place more than one star. Your better off buying chinese food from Wal mart!... Save your money and go anywhere else! read more

Still love the Pekin. If you are a fan of traditional Chinese food and except to be blown away by their food, then don't go here. If you love quirky restaurants replete with history and character, then this is right up your alley. I'll admit that I'm not enamored with the food. There are only a couple of items I will order, yet I still go here about once a month. The sweet and sour ribs are pretty good, and I like the Szechaun beef. The rest is just OK. The place is quite unique, the staff is efficient and friendly, and the owner is as good a person you'll meet anywhere. Go for the history, go for the experience, ask if Danny is in, and enjoy the ambiance with friends, but don't expect the greatest Chinese food on earth. When you dine here you're eating at the longest running Chinese restaurant in the country. It was never a whorehouse. The booths were built for the restaurant. Not sure how that rumor ever got started. read more

I agree with another Yelper; the building and all was great and nostalgic, however, the food was the worst I ever tasted; I took a few bites and couldn't stand to eat anymore! This was known for its fresh noodles and when I got the chicken chow mein and it was made with those crispy chow mein noodles out of a can, I was flabbergasted. The food should not be called chinese food because it isn't; for people who haven't had chinese food out of this area, it's probably all they know, but I couldn't eat it at all. If you're from outside this area, I wouldn't recommend this for chinese food. read more