The China Room

The last time we were there is was terrible. Although full the service was lackluster, at best. I had to get up and get a menu, and they waited and waited, till we just felt is was a waste of time to eat there. We have put China Room on the list of places not to return to.
We understand it is closed for some reason. We would not return but it appears its gone. No loss

«Closed for remodeling» sign has been up since just before Thanksgiving. They’re probably out of business for good.

was curious about China Room’s use of organic chicken, fresh ingredients, etc.
checked their website which stated: «closed for remodeling until further notice»
dailed phone: «We’re sorry, you have reached a number that’s been disconnected or no longer in service…»
googling china room shows no news.
guessing using organic chicken and fresh ingredients isn’t a sustainable business model. …

My partner and I wanted Chinese and decided to go to the China Room because she has known and loved it for years. Guess things are changing…
When we arrived, we almost left because it looked like it was closed. No visible signs of life or lights that were obvious from the outside. But it turns out there were people in there after all.
My partner suggested the green onion pancakes as an appetizer based on prior experience. They sounded great but turned out to be heavy, greasy and relatively tasteless. Very disappointing given the anticipation.
My mu shu chicken was just OK. barely acceptable, and the green beans in brown sauce lacked the lively, fresh tangy taste I usually find at other Chinese restaurants when I order them.
Service was not great, either. As a former waiter from my college days, I am usually over-​understanding about service. But the place was only half filled, and it was past main dinner hour. Nevertheless, after waiting quite some time for someone to take our check and payment, I finally walked up to the cashier and hand delivered it.
Had to wait another 7 – 8 minutes for my change! Unaccpetable for people who are clearly ready to leave. We even stood at the table for several minutes to give someone the hint, but it didn’t help.
Apparently this place used to be good, but is not doing as well these days. Looking at the more recent reviews, it appears there are more dissatisfied diners. Hope management gets the message.

Take-​out took FOREVER. I called it in and the woman on the phone said 40 – 45 minutes, then five minutes later she called me back and said it would be more like 1 hour!!! One hour for an order for 2?!? Once I got there I continued to wait 20 minutes and there where also 4 others waiting for orders.
I waited because at that point I had no option, but never again.
I guess if you go in it doesnt take that long, I just dont understand how an order for 2 took over an hour and twenty minutes. The thing that killed me when it was all said and done there was no acknowledged of the huge delay.
Lets just say you have been warned about the take-​out.

I’m 100% Chinese and I think this place serves terrible terrible food. How did they even get 4 stars? We ordered a chicken and beef dish and they used the same exact sauce on both with a lot of ginger. I felt like I was eating orange chicken and beef orange chicken. The chow fan we ordered smelled like ASS. I’m in shock right now. I’m going to Panda Express instead. I feel like Panda Express has more authentic Chinese food than this place.

Growing in San Francisco I was able to find good Chinese food just about everywhere I looked, so I knew it was going to be a challenge when I moved to Santa Rosa. For Chinese food in Santa Rosa it’s pretty good, but for what I’m used to, not too authentic.

Don’t let the uninspiring name or strip mall fool you – the food here is awesome! A friend swears by their lunches, and our dinner was some of the best Chinese food I’ve ever had. Three of us had dinner there. Everything tasted fresh & vibrant. They seem to pride themselves on using things like free-​range chicken, organic ingredients, etc.
We split the Vegetable Dumplings (they took a while to come out – I’m guessing they have one chef/​cook, who prepares things to order, so things come out a bit staggered). Our entrees were Braised Tofu with Vegetables (a palate killer at some restaurants, but we ordered it extra spicy, and boy, was it good!); Seafood Fried Rice (perhaps the least successful dish, but nothing wrong with it); and the South Sea Scallops – my mouth waters just thinking about them. Nice presentation on the complimentary after-​dinner oranges & fortune cookies.
The only down sides – the erratic service – tables that arrived after us were served well before we got our appetizer – and at least four flies the size of small house pets buzzing around in the men’s restroom. The food more than made up for it!

Update: Now closed and not surprised. They used to be my go to Chinese restaurant but once their chef left, they rapidly declined.
Original Review:
My standard go-​to restaurant for when I want some good Chinese food! This place is great not only because they don’t use MSG, but they use free-​range chicken! I am a huge free-​range fan and wish that other restaurants would use more free-​range poultry and meats.
My favorites:
–Pork Buns: Amazing! I crave the China Room’s pork buns. I always make sure to get a few each time I place my order!
–Vegetable Chow Mein: Lots of veggies and a good sauce, not super greasy and good price. One order can get me through dinner with a ton of leftovers for lunch the next day.
–Orange Sesame Chicken: A little bit spicy, a little bit sweet, really tasty!

A restaurant that consciously uses no MSG in their food makes me an immediate fan; simply because they’re trying to be outside the norm and can you imagine that it means being relatively more healthy than most other restaurants. And when it comes to food as good as theirs, there’s no MSG needed one bit. This is a great local Chinese restaurant.
Chow mein: Not greasy or oily like many others but full of flavor and big chunks of chicken and pieces of onion. There’s also plenty in a to-​go box so you’re guaranteed to have leftovers.
Fried rice: Again, nothing to complain about here. Just a great standard fried rice and a perfect side dish.
Beef with broccoli: Excellent mushy broccoli (no, trust me, it’s good and tender) and the beef was soft and flavorful. There’s also a good beef to broccoli ratio and they don’t skimp on anything.
Chicken lettuce wraps: Crack in a wrap. It’s the crunchy won ton strips that make it the best «healthy» wrap you’ll ever have. You know how usually restaurants serve this dish with a side of thick sauce to pour on top of the chicken? No need for that here – the flavors and texture need no cover up. It’s a fresh and fulfilling dish.
And best of all – no heart palpitations afterward. Just delicious, satisfying food.

It looks scarey
It’s in a stripmall
It’s pretty much nowhere
It
Is
A M A Z I N G.

The details many of you NorCal residents would want to know:
Free range chicken from Petaluma poultry, no hormones or antibiotics.
Uses filtered water, sea salt, 100% natural vegetable oil, seasonal organic vegetables. No MSG or food colors added. All this information is freely mentioned on the front of their take out menu. So obviously people around here ask.
I loove their potstickers. Doughy enough for me and each piece is big. I’ve also tried their chicken wing appetizer. Lightly flash fried and served with a sweet & sour like dipping sauce. Request their hot sauce and double dip with the sweet. It’s good. Their hot sauce is not the oil junk or typical vinegar, it’s a creamy textured, kind of chunky reddish colored dip. (Not talking about Sri racha either) Good stuff. I’ve done a night of just appetizers here and liked them greatly. Paid somewhere around twenty something dollars for three or so appetizers which is a bit costly but relevant to Sonoma county. On average, takeout for one consisting of an appetizer & entrée I’ve paid somewhere around twenty five dollars plus. (EGADS! I know).
I tend to think that dining here and enjoying their food would be better than getting delivery or take out. The containers they use and the way they garnish the entrée needs more thought. Takeout doesn’t need garnish and with a few of the entrees I feel like it ruins the dish. Hot, spicy, crispy Szechuan wings to go weren’t in their best form, the wings have a crispy batter coating and are adorned in a sweet, chunky honey like sauce. Didn’t love it but would order it if dining there. Also tried the Wor won ton soup which just means they give you a mixture of sauce with beef, chicken and shrimp to add to the won ton soup. Good stuff and hits the spot when dealing with a bad cold. As far as their egg roll, not awesome. Santa Rosa does not have a decent egg roll, anywhere. They pass off home made variety of spring rolls as egg rolls, it’s a travesty. China room does offer a «Rocky’s» chicken roll which is essentially their egg roll with that branded Petaluma chicken inside.
In all, as far as décor and ambiance, to me, it’s a shoddy strip mall Chinese restaurant that aspires to be more. The hospital like colors of the walls, tables and art, just get lost in the blandness of it all. I wish they spent as much time and effort as Goji Kitchen has in style and décor. Regardless, China room can be packed on most occasions. Weekends it’s hella busy and through the week they do fairly well. There is an obvious following that has loved this restaurant for the many years it’s resided in Rincon valley.

Good food — we got a crispy chicken entrée that was outstanding /​excellent — really super impressed, it will bring me back here — although, I did get delivery. Also ordered a crispy beef with ginger and garlic — also quite delicious — you get much more food than at Gary Chu’s and it taste much better.
The House fried rice was good, and the prawns app was great — 8 shrimpys. all quite delicious —
my only BITCH here is the delivery service gets $ 4.00 and there’s a 15% tip on it — so an already high ticket of $ 52 becomes $ 62
— that’s $ 11 DOLLARS FOR DELIVERY —
I always tip the drivers well which translates into 4 or 5 bucks, they’re happy if you give them 2 or 3. But ripping me for 11 bucks really sucks — what’s the 15% tip on top of the 4 dollars for — we’re not sitting at a table getting served all night.

There are two things that are pretty unique about China Room:
1. The Art on the Walls
2. Classic Chinese dishes with Lamb
First, the art.
Being someone who likes, appreciates and even owns some serigraph art pieces from the popular Yunan School of Chinese painters popular in the late 1980’s and 1990’s, I immediately recognized the many beautiful pieces on the walls of this restaurant. Although this building is a little old strip mall in sleepy Santa Rosa and looks blasé from outside, stepping within it is pretty nice, with white table cloths and traditional decorative themes.
Except the Art.
Instead of traditional Chinese paintings of dragons, carp and other symbolic themes, there is modern Chinese art.
All the pieces are by Ting, a popular and successful artist of the Yunan School, who combined the stylings of the father of the Yunan School, Jiang, with the art deco influences most closely associated with Erte.
The Yunan School, as it became to be known, was a group of painters who took the inspirations of ancient cave drawings discovered in the Yunan province, and stylized it to modern interpretations, mostly using hidden and indirect anti-​communist themes, like free birds on the wing, or nude women and running horses, like the popular series Jiang made. I happen to own a limited edition serigraph of the Jiang piece called «Running Horses», which I love.
TIng’s work is more stylized and Art Deco, reminiscent of Erte’s work, with usually a single female subject in flowing lines, but clearly part of the Yunan School. Many of these artists left China and moved to California, and got rich on the fascination of their work.
The Food.
Not to be overlooked, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the ingredients and the delishness of the flavors. It is a bit unusual to find a Chinese Restaurant in a sleepy Bay Area suburb near wine country to offer Lamb in several dishes that would be more commonly found with flank steak beef. Hunan Lamb, Mongolian Lamb, Garlic Lamb with Mushrooms, are all on their menu.
They have a large selection of by-​the-​dish favorites that will please most anyone, with emphasis on the regional favorites from Hunan, Schezuan, and Mandarin cuisines, but also Cantonese favorites, too, and a few Americanized invented-​in-​San-​Francisco for Caucasians dishes, like Egg Fu Young.
They have lunch specials mostly under $ 10 with soup and appetizer, and they offer Combination Dinners, too, such as Mandarin Dinner $ 13.95/person, Peking Dinner $ 16.95/person, and House Special Dinner, $ 23.95/person.
The restaurant has been around since 1988, right about the time the Yunan School artists were flourshing in American Art Galleries. They use only Free Range Chicken with no hormones or antibiotics from Petaluma Poultry processors. They use seasonal organic vegetables, and flitered water. They also use sea salt and 100% vegetable oil. And they use no MSG or food coloring in any of their dishes.
Drop by and enjoy the food, and the art.
I did.

I saw alot of great reviews so i had to try it out. you can say that was a mistake. i should have known better for a place thats located in a strip mall type location right next to the dry cleaners.
ordered the combination dinner with the generals chicken. got hot and sour soup with it which was more like lukewarm and sour soup that was infested with mushrooms. you better be a mushroom fan to like this remotely if you can get past the fact the soup room tempurature.
came with spring rolls that were ridiculously greasy on the inside
the generals chicken wasnt really generals chicken. it was more like lemon chicken deep fried and overcooked with these red peppers that were very chewy and didnt break down very easily.
i mean even the steamed rice wasnt good we’re talking about the rice! thats usually a fail safe food, but china room found a way to screw up a sure thing.
cost around $ 20 including the tip and tax which was needless to say not worth it in the slightest. haha even the music was too loud and horrendous. it was old american soft rock in a chinese restaurant? really?
haha i suppose you could say that george does not approve

We managed to get reservations for eleven on my niece’s Graduation night in the same part of town, thanks to the ease of the Unilocal app.
The place was slammed, and they got the beer and hot sake to the table pronto. The food took a while.
The real reason for editing this, I didn’t mention steamed sea bass. It’s great, It’s the favorite with several of us at the table. The meat is not dry, it’s thick, flakes apart, with just enough sauce (oyster?) and a generous size piece with some green vegis on top.
We have been patrons here for at least 18 years. This my be the first time experiencing rough service. The food was great.

I’ve been back here a few times since my initial review. Tried 5 or 6 other dishes. Nothing was as bad as the disastrous meal I had the first night here, but the food in general just isn’t very good. Everything is WAY too salty. When a restaurant is salting their food this much, it’s either to cover something up, or because the cooks can’t or don’t taste their food properly. Last time I had more than a couple of meals at a restaurant where the food was this salty, it turned out the chef was a heavy smoker and literally could not taste the food he was putting out. I don’t know what the deal is here, but somebody needs to have a serious talk with the people in the kitchen.
With that said, the barbecue pork buns and the coconut curry chicken are both pretty decent. The sweet and sour pork here is the best thing I’ve tried on their menu. The steamed dumplings aren’t terrible, but I’ve had much, much better.
If somebody from the restaurant is actually reading these reviews: please COOL IT with the damn salt. You’re killing your food. Seriously. Use about half as much as you’re using now and your food will be so much better — and healthier.

Always consistent, fresh local/​organic veg, Petaluma chicken. WON TON SOUP!!! i dream about it. Try the Orange chicken, pot stickers, Mongolian lamb.
perfect takeout.

I’m Chinese and I grew up in a really Chinese town. So when I had a craving for Chinese food, the boyfriend told me to not have high expectations for this place. However, the food turned out to be much better than expected.
When we placed our order, the waitress wrote in Chinese. Good sign. We ordered the Mushu pork and Garlic scallop clay pot. Both turned out to be quite delicious. The mushu was not overly sweet, the veggies were crunchy. It’s not quite mom’s cooking but I still enjoyed it. My only complaint is the wrapper was dry and broke easily. The scallops were plentiful and delicious, and was smothered in a delightful sauce. The scallops were not quite as fresh as it could be, but what do you expect.
Overall, good experience, would come again.

When I was craving Hot and Sour soup and I was sick and it was too late to get anywhere else, China Room was still open. Thank God for that.
The soup was the perfect amount of hot and sour intensity, but was chock full of huge mushrooms. I hate mushrooms. Hate them. I don’t mind the little strips most hot and sour soup dishes contain, but this must have had something like 30 mushrooms cut up into huge pieces and included in the soup. I still ate it, just strained them all out. But overall, it was an eh kind of experience. Not bad, but not phenomenal either.
They gave me three fortune cookies with my soup though, so that was awesome.