not so good, but the BEST chinese restaurant in Ann Arbor. Here is not New york city, Right? We went here so many times that tried all the appetizers and half menu entrees cold dishes are good . beef tripe (红油肚丝）, sliced beef （五香牛肉），beef tripe mixture(夫妻肺片），cold spicy chicken (麻辣鸡丝），cold noodle ( two type: 宜宾燃面 and 四川凉面） we like yi bin noodle more. and all the other items on cold menu are also worth trying. You can find fish-smell-herb (折耳根 aka Houttuynia cordata）here. Very traditional Sichuan cold dish. Though I do not suggest non-Chinese try this herb, It is herb anyway. It has a STRONG smell . The hot dishes are nothing surprised us, very normal appearance . We always order a pot and a green. Pot, in my opinion, try intestine pot ( 肥肠锅it is spicy） or dried intestine pot ( 干煸肥肠锅 it is hotter) ,in winter fish and lamb pot is a smart choice (鱼羊鲜） It comes with Gogi and ginseng . As for green , dried spicy green bean (干煸四季豆）is a good choice, also chinese mustard. Ypbor Yan is a real restaurant. Not a to-go place as King Shing or China gate. In fact it is a chained restaurant, you can find 3 Ypbor yan in Michigan. We went to another one once bypass. The dishes are similar but not same. Price also. link www.usbgfood.com read more

After reading through some reviews, I feel compelled to write an update. When we say this is an AUTHENTIC Chinese restaurant, it is exactly that. YES you will be hurried to place your order, NO you may not fully understand the waitresses or be fully understood, and YES the main dishes may come out before the appetizers. This all comes with the experience of authenticity, but the food/flavor will knock out any standard take-out fare. Ali Wong was spot on in saying (in jest), that you should leave [the restaurant] deaf and feeling verbally abused. If you want "good" customer service, go to PF Changs. read more

some good and some bad. my family ate here after we moved my brother into the dorms. my dad spent most of his life in sichuan so when we hear about an authentic sichuan restaurant, we almost always try it. we all share everything of course, but we all get to pick something to order. my dad always gets the yu xiang pork. it's his favorite dish and the one he will judge the restaurant by. the one here was a little too sweet and really heavy on the bamboo. so much that it was a little overwhelming. i didn't think it was awful, but he didn't love and neither did the rest of the family. my brother has pretty american tastes so he got the hot and sour soup and general tsao's chicken. the hot and sour soup was some of the blandest i've ever had. i wouldn't recommend getting it here. the general chicken was pretty decent. crispy and sweet, hot and not overbreaded, decently juicy, would have liked it to be just a little tangier. but i was surprised by this one since it was pretty good. my mom always gets the cold kidney and tripe dish. i love this dish too and it was really good here! super authentic (kind of pointless to make an americanized kidney and tripe dish i guess). it was really flavorful and spicy, the meat was tender, the tripe wasn't overcooked, it had a lot of heat and the appropriate numbing from the peppercorns. if you come here, i'd really recommend getting this appetizer! i picked the sichuan lamb and this too was really great. spicy tender lamb, can't really go wrong with that. overall we had a pretty good lunch. mostly a four-star experience, but had to take one away for the yu xiang pork because it's so important to my dad. oh and the terrible soup. but service was good, our food came with rice. also, i hate the name of this place. i guess it's ypsi and arbor, but how do you even say it and how are we supposed to know what kind of food it is from the name! i'd come back but probably not go our of my way to eat here. read more

Their Sweet & Sour Chicken is awful and so is their Almond Chicken. The hot sour soup was decent and the wanton soup was great but needed more wantons in it. The friend rice was edible, nothing special. The egg roll was OK, I wish they made it with bean sprouts instead of cabbage. The service was terrible, thank goodness the male american waiter showed up and helped us even though we weren't his table. I won't be returning. read more

Ypbor Yan - Hot and sour soup....pretty good - Chinese Near Me - Ypsilanti, Michigan

Really really awesome, authentic tasting sichuan dishes. Reminds me of my grandmother's cooking (if she were from Si Chuan). Favorite dishes are the Salt Miners Diced Chicken, Yi Bin Fire Noodles and Fish Fragrant Shredded Pork. Definitely think the Salt Miner dishes are the best and most unique part of the menu (though all other sichuan standards i.e. mapo tofu are very good). My mom accidentally ordered one of the vegetarian chicken dishes and it was actually pretty tasty. Really dope seitan. Haven't tried any of the american-chinese dishes but disregard the reviews of angry gringos who didn't like their sweet and sour chicken. That's like being pissed your crunchwrap supreme sucked at a mexican restaurant. I've brought a couple of my white friends here and they got down with it though. Service is pretty good. I work in the service industry so I'm pretty understanding, but they treat me really nicely (but probably cause I'm chinese, a semi-regular customer and not a dick). In summary: If you want really awesome sichuan food this is the place to be. If you want general tso's chicken with an egg roll, I think they have that shit but you might as well order from that place next to the liquor store you normally go to. read more

Terrible service for carry out. Didn't start order until we arrived, forgot an egg roll, gave us wrong dish AND gave us a foul smelling soup we didn't want for the long wait. When I called to report, their excuse was: we're busy tonight. NO excuse. There are better options that don't mess up your order and take so long. read more

This is the best authentic place for Chinese food. Great service great experience. Excellent food.

I stopped here with a coworker for dinner. I assumed with all the good reviews in Yelp, it must be good! Nope. First off, this restaurant is dingy and pretty icky looking inside. The tables and booths are dirty and falling apart. But I guess there are some good greasy spoon restaurants where their decor didn't match the food. The food matched the decor in this instance. This place does have an "Americanized" Chinese menu and then an actual Chinese menu. My coworker ordered off the Americanized side, I ordered off the actual Chinese menu. We ordered some steamed veggie dumplings, the sesame chicken and the salt and pepper shrimp. Neither of us were impressed with our food. The dumplings were pretty decent, so no real complaints there. But my coworkers' sesame chicken was down right disgusting. Thankfully, they put the sauce on the side. So my coworker ate deep fried, breaded chicken pieces over rice -- sans sauce. Dry, but it was the only way it was palatable. She ended up asking for sweet snd sour sauce instead. It made it better, but still sad that we had to do it. My salt and pepper shrimp would've been decent if the shrimp wasn't grossly over cooked. And they weren't cleaned properly, so some of the shrimp had portions of the vein (poop chute) in it. The sauce was decent and the veggies with it were good, but the shrimp were a huge let down with being very over cooked and sorta nasty from the lack of cleaning. The service was okay and they kept our tea refilled. The waitress didn't speak English too well, either. Normally, I wouldn't mind (it's a sign of authenticity, right?!), but it was a hassle to get anything done since the language barrier was so huge. I'd refrain from going. I wasn't impressed at all. read more

Favourite chinese food in AA. The two saiced fish is the best and green peas is good too! The staff cannot speak English much but her service mind is respected. The amount is big, match with the portion given. Visit there several times, taste is the same read more

We were waiting for over two hours before we received our appetizers, and we were ignored several times as we tried to ask our waitress when our order would be ready. Other tables around us seemed to be in the same situation. Our table was missing basic amenities, such as water and napkins, and we ended up just grabbing these from nearby empty tables out of frustration. Our appetizers arrived cold (they weren't supposed to be) which was irritating, since they must have been sitting around quite a while before they were brought out to the table. About half an hour after we received appetizers, we received our entrees all together. The food was alright, but it didn't make up for the poor service. We enjoyed the pork belly and bamboo dish, but the stewed lamb left a strange aftertaste. I was in a small group (4 people), but gratuity was added automatically when we split our bill. This was frustrating, as I was not planning on leaving a tip at this point. Although the food was decent, this deceptive policy combined with the poor service made it a wholly unenjoyable three-hour ordeal. read more

I've eaten in probably hundreds of Chinese restaurants including many in Ann Arbor and my new hometown of San Francisco. At Ypbor Yan, we had two soups and five entrees, mostly mainstays of Chinese-American cooking. The hot and sour soup was tasty with a pleasantly spicy and salty flavor. The won tons in the wonton soup were good, though the broth was a little bland. The cashew chicken, Mongolian beef, Sichuan pork, and shrimp with snow peas were all very tasty with good flavor and fresh, tender ingredients.. The Amazing chicken had nice and generous pieces of chicken, though was a little bland. My only negative comment was that we ordered two dishes medium spicy and they still had no kick at all (my 85 year old mother who has zero tolerance for spicyness could eat everything). One humorous thing: even though the sign outside says Ypbor Yan, the menus still say Emerald City (the prior restaurant in this space) on the cover. Seven of us ate for under $70. The decor is medium-upscale Chinese restaurant schtick. Definitely recommended. read more

I stopped by for a late lunch after class on a Monday. Unsurprisingly it was very slow. What did catch me off guard however, was the lack of care put into my meal. The service was acceptable, although I did have to bring up to my server that the soup was lukewarm at best- she didn't ask. I had the vegetable chow me in lunch special and my girlfriend had the king pao chicken. Both dishes were bland but not to the point of not edible. I won't be back because their are so many better options in the area. read more

Ypbor Yan - Empty at lunch - Chinese Near Me - Ypsilanti, Michigan

Being a road warrior for the past six months, I need rice at least twice a week to compensate the loneliness of being on the road, lol. This is where Chinese food comes in handy. Ordered Mongolian beef and Chicken fried rice. Although my reviews will be biased based on my home-base of San Francisco Bay Area, their menu satisfied my cravings. Not too bad but not great either. Until next time... read more

We have ordered carryout from this restaurant twice recently because we had some gift cards. The food was amazing, but the nightmare around the gift cards ruined the experience. For context: we had 4 $25 gift cards we had received as a gift. Usually, gift cards are same-as-cash or at worst you have to use it all at once. The cards say "gift card" on them and don't have any other restrictions, though they do say that they expire kinda soon, which I thought was not allowed with gift cards. Anyway, we spent a little over $50 on carryout, thinking we would be able to use two of the cards. Nope, "you can only use one at a time." That seems shady, but fine, whatever. So, we order some lunch a week later, this time only spending $47 and expecting to use one of the cards. NOPE. "You have to spend a minimum of $50 to use this". Mind you, it does not say anything of the sort on the card. "This was explained when you bought the cards." We didn't buy the cards, they were a gift! It's a good place for authentic sichuan food, but don't even think about buying gift cards there. They are rude and seem to make up rules on the fly. read more

I've been searching for a local restaurant that serves traditional Szechuan dishes with no luck until now. I'm sure the American Chinese food is good but you can get that anywhere. If you like traditional dishes this is the place to go. I've been here a few times and it keeps getting better. read more

I love their food ! Especially the yi bin noodles!

The food is as good as ever but the service has gotten very, very slow. The new menus are confusing, and there are very few meal combos. A meal that cost us $25 2 years ago cost $40 this time. read more

Don't waste your money. Looks unclean, food is all salt in a bland manner, buffet is hit-or-miss hot or cold food.

Awesome, authentic Szechuan Chinese food with a TON of variety on the menu. The food tasted really good, arrived in good time and had a distinct, original taste. We ordered some dishes spicy and were pleased by the level of spice! :) All in all, a very pleasant experience. And oh, their ambience inside is very good as well. read more

I visited this place with my Chinese friend. We had 小煎鷄, 魚香肉絲. I really enjoyed them. read more

Authentic asian food! Good prices and nice people too! I was the only caucasian diner in the restaurant and it was packed so that says a lot for the food! Large portions of food. They don't take AMEX though! But other cards or cash will do. read more

We went here tonight with some friends and were pleasantly surprised. The squirrel shaped fish and the cumin lamb were our favorites, with the green beans with vegetarian pork coming in a close second. I normally just avoid Chinese restaurants since so often it is just Americanized crap, but they had a wide selection of authentic and tasty dishes. Also 90% of the clientele there were Asian which is always a good sign. The service was a little slow, but with so much tasty food, we didn't really mind. read more

This is by far my favorite sichuanese restaurant in the Midwest. The steamed ribs and lamb is to die for. The spicy fish soup is the best I've tasted for years. The service is very good and food is on your table within 10 minutes. If you go with the group, the tip is only 11% and included in your bill. read more

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A group 18 people from work went here and it took an hour and a half to be served our meals. There were asian people that were there both before and after our group that were treated appropriately. Served food, waters filled, appetizers served all in an a normal amount time. Our group ordered at 7pm and not one plate touched the table until 9:45. When I asked what was taking so long the waiter said "The chef has an issue with American clientell" I couldn't believe it! I would NEVER advise ANYONE to go this restaurant. read more

This place is pretty good. The atmosphere seems like a very typical chinese restaurant, and the food is really good. I usually order the beef stew, the fried fish, and the duck. read more

They have the worst customer service ever. Our table tried to call the waitresses for over 20 minutes and none of them will come near us. We have also waited over 1 hour for the food to come. But the food was decent. Other than that, order the pot stickers. read more

The dishes are a hit and miss. I do like the "ko shuai ji", it's in the appetizer section and it's like cold chicken? It's good enough for me to go back. Pretty much for just that. So I sometimes call for that to go. The reason I give it two stars is because of the service. Not very nice and always caring about customers they recognize. Such a turn off of the service read more

I went there for lunch and tried the lunch buffet. I was very disappointed. There was limited selection on the buffet, and much of the hot food was not at the proper temperature, although most of it still tasted pretty good. Furthermore, the temperature of the restaurant itself was much too cold. I might be willing to go back and order off the menu, but I won't be going to the buffet again. read more

Best Chinese restaurant in the area--at least way better than the ones near campus, which set the standard quite low. As a result, there's a big chance you'll see Asian people you know there i.e. we saw our professor once. One of their specialty dishes is the "squirrel" fish dish, so named because they cut a slice of fish to have protrusions like a fluffy squirrel tail and then fry and drown it in sauce. Overall, their food tends to be a big greasy, but I'll take what I can get in terms of Chinese food in this locale. read more

It is so hard to find authentic Chinese food in US restaurants, and I'd only had authentic Chinese food when I've had friends or coworkers make it. So, when I heard others talk about how this place had authentic Chinese food, I needed to check it out. Here's my overall impressions: Atmosphere: It was pretty slow on Sunday afternoon, which was nice. The decor is pretty busy and reminded me of Chinese Bennagins, which is kinda fun. But there were a lot of fruit flies that kept pestering us before and during our meal, and the mens restroom smelled pretty awful. Service: Service was quick, though it was a slow day, so we definitely benefit from that. We had two servers... one was very nice and attentive, but our main server was overbearing and actually kind of rude. She asked us if we were ready about 3 times in fewer than 5 minutes, even though we told her that it was our first time and we'd need sometime to look over their menu (which is huge, btw). Then when I ordered the Zigong beef, she kept telling me I should get it mild (instead of hot, the way it's shown on the menu...), I guess the idea there is that I'm not Chinese so it's too hot for me? While I totally get servers making sure patrons know that a spicy dish really is indeed spicy so there's no surprises, I shouldn't have to say three times when I order that I want it made the regular way. And then after I got my food, she came up to my table 2 or 3 times laughing and asking if it's too hot, which I found pretty damn patronizing and really annoying when I'm trying to eat. Food: The menu is HUGE, and they have a lot of unique dishes you won't find at Americanized Chinese restaurants, such as rabbit, duck, pig intestines, and jellyfish. We weren't exactly jellyfish-level adventurous... The food was decent. Pot stickers we fine - the filling was kind of generic, and the dough was a bit doughier than I prefer, but they were fried well. Crab rangoon was ok, though it mostly tasted just like cream cheese and they were fried a little too long. I got the Zigong style poached beef slices, which was ok - it was tender beef slices in spicy red broth (red chilies and chili oil, it seemed) with chinese cabbage and bean sprouts topped with cilanto and I think green onions. The flavor was pretty one note with mostly just flavor from red chilies and chili oil, whereas the cabbage and bean sprouts were overcooked so they had no texture, and didn't even impart any flavor into the soup/stew. The beef was tender and had some good flavor, but, again, the overall dish was just too one-note for my liking, and lacked freshness which would've got the spicy, fatty broth. My fiance got the gong bao chicken (off the authentic part of the menu) was decent - chunks of chicken, zucchini, and chilies. Price: Price was I'd say par for the course as far as Chinese restaurants go. Our appetizers ranged from $5-$7, and our most expensive entree was $14. They only have canned soda ($1.50 each!), so our total bit was about $43 for 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and 2 cans of soda. Overall: I've heard so many people rave about this place, so I feel odd rating it 2 stars. If I hadn't been annoyed by one of our servers, I think I would've rated 3 stars, but servers are the face of your establishment and that's how it is. The food was just OK to me and my fiance, which surprised me. I don't know what to make of that. read more

Worst dining service ever! Long waiting time! We ordered four dishes. The fourth dish didn't show up more than an hour after we placed the order (we actually finished the meal already and asked the waitress multiple times during dinning!) The in-store promotion says free appetizer after $50 expenditure. But at the check-out, the owner insisted to charge us the appetizer because she wants us to pay the bill in cash. It's never been communicated to us. When I tried to explain what happened, she blamed me for not knowing their rules... When I showed their own in-store March promotion on the wall, she replied me with really bad attitude and insisted to charge me the appetizer! Shame from them to be in the service industry! read more

Giving it 5 stars because it's the only good Chinese food located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. If you're comparing it with other Chinese restaurants across the United States, you'll probably give it only one or two. Two things: 1. Never expect service from a Chinese restaurant, sorry, get over it. I hate that too but it's it, I choose to accept that and it helps. Chinese restaurants, unlike American ones, do not assign one single server to your table. Every servers help every table and they share all tips received. 2. If you are an American who absolutely love AMERICAN Chinese food (shits like General Tsao Chicken or others), stay away from this restaurant. Only good authentic Sichuan food provided, not authentic American Chinese food. I had no choice because there's no decent Chinese food in Ann Arbor. I've been to California (different cities), New York, and Chicago. They all have great Chinatowns with great Chinese foods. So, accept it, the reality says that it is the only good one. If I could I'd love to go to Chicago every week just to have some decent Chinese food. read more

as long as that vietnamese chinese waitress is still there, it will stay at 1 star. She will secretly charge customer 15% tips while I am willing to pay 20%.... but that is her choice to take less tips! read more

Truly meh. Ingredients don't seem fresh, overpowering peppers, chicken dry and not very fresh tasting.

While trying to figure out what our top ten dining experiences ever were this past weekend, my partner and I agreed that the Salt Miner's Poached Beef here was definitely towards the top of the list. We stumbled on this place by accident about a year ago. I went the typical stupid American route and ordered something dumb like Sweet and Sour Chicken the first time, and my partner ordered the Salt Miner's Poached Beef on a whim. Who cares about the Americanized list-- do not order from that-- order from the Salt Miner's page and the House Specialties. The Salt Miner's Poached Beef is one of the most unique meals we've ever eaten. It comes in a ginormous pot, and the broth is absolutely one of the best aspects of this option. It is heavily seasoned with sichuan peppercorns and god knows what else (definitely hot chili peppers, cloves, ginger) and every time we've gone, the vegetables they throw in are different. The broth numbs your mouth and makes your lips tingle (because of the peppercorns). It is very spicy-- I usually have a coughing fit somewhere along the line, which is slightly embarrassing, but I don't care because it's so delicious. We usually both go to town on one pot, and have to take the rest home-- the leftovers usually FILL the giant container they give us. This time around we tried a new dish, which is called the Squirrel-Shaped Fish with Two Flavors. I don't even know what they do to it, but it is so wonderfully flavored, and maybe (?) lightly breaded? Whenever we go it's so hard NOT to order the Salt Miner's Poached Beef, but we are excited to expand our horizons the next time we go. Don't be put off by the reviews on here about the Americanized food. Do yourself a favor and order something more adventuresome. And as for the service, well, yea, it's not the greatest. I sometimes do feel unwelcome or like my presence is a giant shrug to the wait staff. I. Do. Not. Care. I will do whatever it takes to eat that dish, man. read more

I have been there twice and the second time wasn't as good as the first. Their beef appetizer was delicious, but that's about it. Ordered fish with pickled vegetables, not authentic at all. Two noodle dishes were mediocre at best. I remember having a chicken dish that was ok the first time I went though. read more

If you want to eat lamb and not Mediterranean or Indian then this is the place. It's very difficult to find places which cook lamb correctly and this one surely does know how to do it right. Schezuan lamb is really good and has the perfect level of spiciness. Buffet wasn't exciting but not bad. Entrée are definitely a better choice. They could improve a lot on the fried rice. read more

This is the best authentic Chinese restaurant in Ann Arbor . I love this place. There food is awesome and the pricing is also very affordable. I am so glad to find this place . This place is one of the best places to eat in Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area. They have a free parking area also which is a big plus . But I must say that if you are going to have a great meal then order something authentic Chinese not American Chinese . You might get disappointed . But from my experience in eating in various places I can say that the food they serve are hugely appreciated and affordable. They give really large portions which is great to share with four people( more or less) .our favorite dishes are twice cooked poached fish in sauce (very spicy), cumin lamb, jalapeño pepper with shredded pork(very spicy), chicken wings. The service is not always very prompt but if you go there passing dinner time mostly you will get more attention. The servers are very nice but not always they understand English but they are very polite and they try hard to understand and serve the best . Food was always fresh and hot. It's my all time favorite. If you love Asian food or Chinese food you must visit them . read more

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Now it's officially my favorite Chinese restaurant in Ann Arbor. Don't get fooled by their weird name (which is hard to remember even in Chinese), they provide authenticate and delicious Si Chuang dishes. To name a few dishes I am impressed: and and . read more

I've asked around quite a bit for recommendations for Chinese food in greater Ann Arbor. Most people come up blank when asked where to go for good Chinese. I found reviews of Ypbor Yan on Yelp and decided to give it a try. The food was pretty good--I've definitely had spicier, more complex mapo tofu, but this was pretty good. And the green vegetables ('seasonal vegetable') were quite good, too. Service was slow but not bad. Basically, this place seems better than most of the other options in the area. If you're looking for a better than average, go-to Chinese restaurant, this might be it. read more