Jin Yuan Chinese Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge

This restaurant is our favorite in Waterville. Always a friendly greeting. A very clean and spacious dining room, and restrooms quite meticulously maintained. The menu is also exceptional, with so many wonderful and exciting dishes. My husband and I usually choose from the «All day combinations» which include 2 choices of appetizers. I forgot to mention that they offer a complimentary chicken meat roll appetizer as well as a soup — choice of either egg drop or hot and sour soup included with the meal. We love the hot and sour especially during our chilly weather!
Always clears our heads and just so very tasty and spicy. My favorite is AC14 Yu Hsiang chicken so sweet but spicy with fresh veggies cooked crispy in the wok. Husband John loves the Egg Foo Yong especially, and the chicken fingers also. The sauces are never fatty and are quite delectable. Cannot say enough about this wonderful restaurant and their chef-​owners! So much loved and we wish them all success– they deserve it!

I have been going to J and Y for the last couple years and can’t believe I’m just now writing a review. It just so happened we decided to give them a try one night. We had just moved back into the area from New Hampshire. I Found them in the phone book, and gave them a call to just to see when they closed. To my surprise they asked if I wanted to pick up or have it delivered. Now granted I’m thinking to myself there is no way they will deliver to Clinton from Waterville. (Over 10 miles away) Well needless to say I was wrong. For a delivery fee of 5.00 they will deliver to Clinton and most other towns around the area. (Fee isn’t as much in Waterville) What’s even more impressive is the food is always to hot to eat when it’s even delivered that distance. Since that time we have never gone anywhere else in the area for Chinese!
The food absolutely speaks for itself. For starters when you enter the restaurant you are greeted with a smile and a welcome like none other. They truly love what they do. You then are given a free appetizer called a meat roll, with tea and drinks. They have a huge menu with endless options as well. I usually go though with their combination plates. Unlike other places in the area, you can actually decide for yourself what you want on the plate and not have to spend 1.00 for each substitution like all the other places. The one I go with just about every time is AC 14. It’s a chicken dish and you choose how you want the Chicken Style (Szechuan, Hunan, Kung Po, Yu Hsiang, Curry)
My favorite is the Szechuan chicken sautéed fresh vegetables (onions, green peppers, carrots, and my favorite fresh zucchini. Always perfect spice balance and the brown sauce is just perfect. Plus your choice of two appetizers and either pork fried rice or white rice. This meal also comes with soup before the dinner. Hot and Sour and Egg Drop are free (which are both excellent) or for an extra 1.50 they will give you Wonton. Which is so worth the extra money! I’ve added some pictures to actually show how good the food is, and this establishment. I would be extremely surprised they aren’t your favorite after your first visit. Oh and any place that will deliver to Clinton from Waterville!!! I mean come on.

This is my husbands favorite restaurant in Waterville. So I go with him once every few months. We are always welcomed by name, by our server Nicky. We trust Nicky enough to ask questions about the menu or drinks. She never makes us feel rushed and takes time to answer anything we ask. One time my vegetable fried rice tasted burnt and my husband told her it tasted like burnt Seasame Oil. She could tell by the smell that he was right and brought us a new order. She is always friendly and wanting to be sure we have a good experience. I love the quietness of the room, the large booths, the service, and the food. My husband’s favorite is the garlic chicken, my favorite is the ginger chicken. Everyone gets a free appetizer while they are reading the menu. I would have never tried a meat roll or scallion pancake otherwise and both are amazing! They do make their egg-​rolls right there. Yum. We used to order from the center of the menu and get egg rolls on the side, then we smartened up and started ordering from the all day specials that are listed on the back page of the menu and soup and appetizers are included. The prices for the product is excellent.

The wife and I order from here about once a month since discovering the place. Compared to the local competition, the food can’t be beat. Every time we’ve ordered its been hot, fresh, and quite tasty.
The dining room is spacious and clean, and the help has always been very friendly and polite. The location is a bit iffy having to share Temple Street with the Bob-​In, but it IS downtown and easy to get to.
The prices aren’t bad either — you can order from Jin Yuan’s for cheaper then the buffet up on KMD, and the quality up there is awful.

The good news: the dining room is spotless and tastefully decorated, and our server was very helpful. Portions are huge and prices, modest. We were treated to an extra appetizer, on the house. The hot and sour soup was exceptionally good, with lots of complex flavor and none of the musty scent you sometimes get. That alone earned the restaurant its third star. The bad news: my ma po tofu (tofu with ground pork sauce) was really disappointing, with yucky gristly meat, no particular flavor (it definitely wasn’t spicy as advertised), and worst of all, tough undercooked peas & carrots instead of scallions. So maybe that’s not their specialty. My friends got big heaps of fried food, with and without sweet sauces, which they enjoyed. If you stick to the Chinese-​American restaurant standards like kung pao or general’s chicken you’ll probably be OK, but I don’t recommend straying from the beaten path.

i really don’t care for the quality of the food here. the waitstaff is friendly and drinks are good but the food is really sub par and its lacking in atmosphere. i prefer Ming lee’s over this place.

Ok, this is my second review for Jin Yuan. The reason being is me and the wifey ordered the Orange chicken, which was flippin’ rad the last time we ordered it. This time NOT SO MUCH! Most of it was the consistency of jerky, dry, tough, some of it felt like I was eating wood chips. It was late at night and I didn’t bother to call until two days later because of the busyness of the few days. When we did call they said «If you would have told us that night we would have made you a fresh batch.» So, They did offer to make us a replacement, but only if we had called them that night? Hmmmm… DO you think I am being too hard on them or is this normal customer service Unilocalers?

Best darn chinese food I’ve EVER had! The menu is superb and I cannot get over how incredible my meal was. Talk about REAL food — WOW. You just don’t find great chinese food like this anymore — Thank you to the owners for taking the time to offer nothing but the best!!!

This terrific restaurant occupies the same space as the late, unlamented Asian Dragon. The interior’s been refurbished, the owners and staff are incredibly sweet and helpful, and the food is just superb.