Great China

I used to come here a lot when I worked for the university. It’s a popular spot and a lot of professors like to go here. That being said, at peak times (~5 PM) it will be very crowded. Prepare to wait or get a reservation.
My favorites are: pea shoots (fresh and never overcooked), Peking duck (crispy fatty goodness), double skin (cold mung bean noodles, assorted colorful goodies, and a spicy sauce), and crab meat with steamed buns (I ate this a lot when I was a kid, and they make it the same way my family did).
There are probably other good options, but I don’t eat them.

We ordered 3 items which were all amazing and we had food to take home. Portions are HUGE.
Peking Duck, Shrimp fried rice and Mongolian Beef.
I have had Peking Duck in many different restaurants and the crispy skin always has a layer of fat which I pull off before making my roll. Not here. The fat is crispy and fat free. Actually all the meat was cleaned very nicely.
Waited 30 minutes for a table at 8pm, It was a Friday night and they were packed. We knew there would be a wait.
Only reason not getting 5 stars is because service was «Fine» nothing great but nothing bad. If I could give 4.5 starts I would.

My new FAVORITE Chinese restaurant. Came here exactly when they opened to avoid the long wait and go seated right away. We had a table of 7, so we definitely took advantage of ordering everything we can! :)
We ordered:
Walnut Shrimp: Delicious and crispy. They make it a bit different here than your normal chinese restaurant, but I loved it!
Hot & Soup Soup: Very good balance between the flavors, not too spicy, just right.
Peking Duck: YUM YUM YUM, never can go wrong with crispy duck skin with pancakes, onions + hoisin sauce. LOVED it
Pork Dumplings: Very juicy, came with a good vinegar sauce.
Double Skin: RECOMMEND! Super good. Mung bean noodles, carrots, cucumber, egg crêpe, calamari, shrimp, sea cucumber, onions, mushroom, pork. Never had this before, but I LOVE IT.
Fish Filet in White Wine Sauce: Great taste and the wine really brings out the fish flavors.
Stir Fry Green Beans: Delicious side veggie dish
Garlic Fried Rice: OMG SO GOOD, I didn’t think it was going to be amazing, but they make it very good here. Rice is fresh and hot, highly recommend: p
Overall, I had an amazing experience, portions are big and prices are super reasonable! I couldn’t stop telling my boyfriend how much I liked this place after. I will come back here soon!

I visited this place before it was moved and remodeled, and didn’t remember it being this delicious and amazing. Now this is one of my favorite restaurant in Berkeley. (Chinese restaurant in Berkeley?! *gasp*) It certainly is busy, I would recommend making reservation if possible, or come early.
There are so many delicious and famous dishes, so I am not going to repeat what other had said, double skin is absolutely my favorite! Dishes are not too salty nor oily. The service is very attentive, fast and friendly.
(Even with all the nice, fashionable and modern décor and interior, they still use that kind of plates, which is a little hilarious to me lol.)

Saturday, 7:30 PM.
Quickie:
+ Food quality
+ Hygiene
+ Customer service
— Turnaround
+ Variety of sides
And then???
We left it to the chef to free-​style and make dishes of the day. They did not disappoint. Our entrées had different flavor profiles and avoided being too greasy. Good job Great China!
**********
Constructi

1÷9÷16: This place has been on our radar for a year. Our friends wanted to take us through Berkeley, which we can never get enough of, so finally we found ourselves here. A real true-​to-​its-​roots bonafide authentic Chinese place, with a touch of Western modern excellence, real American service, and a trendy hipster wood-​galore sitting area. Sounds just like what we’ve been dreaming of…
But when we arrived we were told it was like a 1.5hr wait. Dang. But it was all good – it was enough time to walk to a gastropub nearby and even pick up a cake at a bakery. And when we got back our seats were waiting…
It was amazing. One of the best Chinese restaurants I’ve ever tried. The place actually had more Caucasians than Asians, so I was quite fearful that it would be watered down, Americanized stuff. But no, do not be afraid, this is the real deal – sublime Chinese food prepared so expertly that even the least adventurous would concede that their fears have been abolished, and their souls awakened to pleasures of taste never before experienced.
Our meal:
1. Gowan’s 1876 Heirloom Cider — 500ml bottle $ 12: I just found my favorite cider. It’s like alcoholic Martinelli’s. Damn good. I think I saw an ad for this somewhere – hopefully Bevmo gots it! ¹⁰⁄₁₀
2. Double Skin Medium $ 21.95 (mung bean noodles, carrots, cucumber, egg crêpe, calamari, shrimp, sea cucumber, onions, mushroom, pork): The name is completely non descriptive – I mean, what kind of creature is a «double skin» anyway? Well, I can only assume it’s a translation thing, but in this case it’s transparent noodles that are chewy and awesome. Served like Korean bibimbap, they serve you a pretty plate of noodles surrounded by various colorful additions, and then without warning they destroy the whole thing in front of your eyes, mixing in 3 sauces they bring with them. Tastes really good though. ⁹⁄₁₀
3. Fried Wild Baby Pacific Oysters $ 10.95: A huge plate of batter fried oysters, and sauce. Ten bucks. Tastes great, tastes fresh, and totally cheap for the amount you get! ⁸⁄₁₀
4. Sauteed Crab Meat with Steamed Buns $ 26.95: I think this was the most mind-​blowing dish of the night. Everyone’s favorite. Comes with 4 steamed buns that are some of the most perfectly cooked I’ve had anywhere. But that pile of crab stuffs… man… topped with an egg yolk. Same deal as the Double Skin – they put it in front of you all pretty, then immediately after your mind just starts to appreciate the good looks, BAM, destroyed. But it tastes so good. Tons of crab in a really flavorful sauce. Goes really well with the naturally sweet and mild textured buns. Must get. ¹⁰⁄₁₀
5. Peking Roast Duck $ 37.95: So firstly I must mention that there is one truly remarkable component here: the wrap skins. My gf, the super Chinese chef, could not figure out how they made these things – machine perhaps? But she’s never seen the likes, even sampling all kinds of food after a lifetime in China. So thin. Like paper. Magical. Alright… wraps aside, I think that the actual duck & skin is not the best I’ve had, and not absolutely superior like much of the food here. Just about average in that regard. So, the wraps are ¹⁰⁄₁₀ themselves, but averaged with the ⁵⁄₁₀ duck, which btw I think is the most expensive Peking Duck I’ve ever had,… ⁶⁄₁₀
6. Mei Cai Ko Ro $ 16.95 (thrice cooked pork belly and pickled mustard greens): Braised pork belly. If you know me, you know I ain’t passing this up on my first visit to an acclaimed Chinese restaurant. I must say, this one looks totally beautiful. Mostly traditional, there’s the usual bed of mystery stuffs on the bottom, and the perfectly sliced chunk of pork belly on top. Plated perfectly. The flavor is good, but unfortunately I think the fat is overly soft. Though it’s like silk, I think personally the perfect belly is slightly firmer yet consistently soft, both fat and lean parts. Not quite as good as the very best I’ve had. But still damn good. Also, the sauce is a bit thin, and there’s no deep and rich finish to the skin. ⁸⁄₁₀
7. White Rice $ 2: This was on our bill.
8. Brown Rice $ 2: This too.
Thank you Great China for completing our wonderful night. You’re a food ream come true.
⁵⁄₅
#chinese

After hiking Muir Woods, we were heading back to Berkeley and my friend who lives around the area suggested we go here. We checked to make sure they were open, since they close between lunch and dinner, and we made it just in time! Lunch hours: 11:30 a.m. — 2:30 p.m.
Parking: street parking. We didn’t realize it was game day for Cal. So parking was a bit tough, but after circling for 20 min, we found a spot
Wait: Phil says this place is always busy, so be prepared to wait. We waited for 20 min and got seated next to a window, score:) (I like window seats haha)
We ordered:
— spring rolls (aka fried egg rolls)
— garlic fried rice
— honey prawns (which is honey walnut shrimp, the best dish on the menu!)
— za jiang mein (one of my favorite Chinese noodle dishes)
— Gen Tsao Chicken
— Kung Pao Chicken
— bill was around $ 75.00
All the food was delicious, and for 3 people we had a ton of leftovers. Only gripe I have is the Gen Tsao dish came out like 20 minutes after everything else came out. We kept wondering if they forgot to put that order in. But besides that the food was so good! I’d come back. I wanna try their duck next time!

There is such a hype about this modern, Westernized Chinese restaurant, but it’s undoubtedly one of the most overrated restaurants I have ever visited. I got there around 5:35PM for dinner on a Monday night (the restaurant opens for dinner at 5:30PM), and there was already a long line of people waiting outside. We ended up not getting a table, and they told us to either wait 45 minutes or sit at the bar. We chose the latter.
The service at the bar was awful. The waiter/​bartender hardly acknowledged us, and it took 15 minutes for him to get us water and tea. Among the three of us, we ordered the Kung Pao Chicken, Tang Soo Yook, Sauteed Snow Pea Leaves with Century Eggs, and Combination Chow Mein.
The portions at Great China are quite large. The Kung Pao Chicken included cubes of chicken sauteed with peanuts and bell peppers. It was slightly sweet and spicy. The chicken cubes were a bit on the fattier side. This was probably my favorite dish.
The Tang Soo Yook was a platter of battered and fried beef drenched in sweet and sour sauce. The meat to batter ratio was probably 1 to 5… I could hardly find any meat! The sauce was pretty rich. The little bit of beef that I tasted was rather tough.
The Sauteed Snow Pea Leaves with Century Eggs was not what I expected. I read the menu wrong and thought it said snap peas, but it was basically large stems of spinach with century eggs (preserved eggs) in rich gravy sauce. It tasted bland, and I wasn’t a fan of the stinky flavor of the egg.
Finally, the Combination Chow Mein consisted of egg noodles that were wider than usual. It was sauteed with chicken, beef and shrimp. Can’t really go wrong with chow mein.
Overall the food at Great China was mediocre at best, and I would certainly not wait that long to dine here.