The 20 best Chinese restaurants in America 2024

 In America, Chinese cuisine has become a beloved and integral part of the culinary landscape, weaving its flavorful tapestry into the diverse fabric of American dining. From the bustling streets of China towns to suburban strip malls, the tantalizing aroma of freshly prepared dishes beckons food enthusiasts. Americanized Chinese fare, with its fusion of traditional flavors and local influences, offers a symphony of taste experiences. Whether savoring classic favorites like General Tso's Chicken or exploring regional specialties, indulging in Chinese food in America is not just a meal—it's an exploration of culture, a celebration of diversity, and a delicious journey that transcends borders. 

The popularity of Chinese food in America can be attributed to a combination of factors that resonate with diverse tastes and cultural openness. First and foremost, Chinese cuisine offers a rich tapestry of flavors, from savory stir-fries to delectable dumplings, satisfying a broad spectrum of palates. Additionally, the accessibility and affordability of Chinese takeout and restaurants make it a convenient option for a quick and satisfying meal.

The widespread immigration of Chinese communities to the United States has played a crucial role in introducing and popularizing authentic flavors. As Chinese restaurants adapted their dishes to local tastes, a unique blend of traditional and Americanized Chinese cuisine emerged, catering to a wide audience.

Moreover, the communal and shareable nature of many Chinese dishes aligns with the social dining preferences in American culture, making it a popular choice for group meals and family gatherings. Overall, the appeal of Chinese food in America lies not only in its delightful flavors but also in its ability to adapt, diversify, and become a cherished part of the American culinary landscape. 

      Best Chinese food in America

1.Nom Wah Tea Parlor

New York, New York

Pretty soon, Nom Wah will be celebrating their 100th birthday, which is a feat less likely than winning the lottery. They’ve been serving dim sum to Chinatown since way back when, but the dim sum classic really hit its stride when the original owner’s nephew took over, tightening up the interior and going from rolling carts to a la carte. Go for the turnip cakes with XO sauce, shrimp and snow pea leaf dumplings, and the rice noodle rolls. And of course, some of that good tea.

2. Mister Jiu's 

 San Francisco, CA

As the only Michelin-starred restaurant in America categorized as Chinese, the impact Mister Jiu's has had on the country's fine dining scene since it opened in 2016 can't be overstated. Chef/owner Brandon Jew opened the groundbreaking restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown that previously housed a legendary Chinese banquet hall and restaurant, Four Seas, and began pushing the boundaries of Chinese American cuisine. Ever since, the restaurant has received well-earned praise, including receiving one Michelin star. Last year, Jew changed the menu from a la carte item to a set, five-course tasting menu. Diners can also add a banquet-style entree(including his signature Liberty Farms Peking-style roast duck.) If you're looking for a more casual option, head upstairs to Moongate Lounge, a cocktail lounge offering a curated food menu.

3.Sichuan Impression

Alhambra, California

The opening of Sichuan Impression, along with its contemporary Chengdu Taste, signaled an explosion of interest in Sichuanese food in Los Angeles. The restaurant brings the region’s deep cuts into the foreground, with enough faithfulness to the originals to make a Sichuanese old-timer weep. Try the Leshan city specialty bo bo chicken, an array of skewered meats in a florally spicy chicken broth, or the spicy stir-fried pork trotters. If you’re the heat-seeking missile kind of diner, the boiled fish with rattan pepper will give you that numbing feeling you crave.

4. Din Tai Fung 

 Los Angeles, CA

There is a go-to restaurant for every kind of Chinese dish in Los Angeles—Beijing’s xiangbing (meat pies), Peking duck, cold noodles—but for xiao long bao (soup dumplings), we go to Din Tai Fung. Now, with locations in L.A., San Diego, the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, New York, and Vegas, the Taiwanese dumpling house is a favorite among both tourists and locals for slurping down pork dumplings (pork and shrimp is another popular option) for lunch or dinner. While xiao long bao are a must-order item, don't skimp on the many other fan favorites, from wok-fried noodles to wontons to desserts like the Sesame & Mochi xiao long bao. 

5.Peking Gourmet Inn

Falls Church, Virginia

This 40-year-old banquet hall set in a strip mall is home to one of the most beloved dishes in the area: the roast Peking duck, carved tableside and served with delicate pancakes, strips of scallion from the family farm, and hoisin sauce. Thin sheets of duck meat and skin are deftly separated and fanned out on a plate, so if an all-skin wrap is what you’re into, you’ll be happy here. In addition to the great duck, the place also prides itself on being a favorite of celebrities and politicians alike, with framed photos of their notable guests all over the walls.

6. Xi’an Famous Foods 

 New York City, NY

Chinese food fanatics have rejoiced in recent years as Xi'an Famous Foods, a Flushing chainlet, rapidly expanded, opening four shops in Manhattan and three in Brooklyn. (Queens is now home to five, and the brand released a much-lauded cookbook in 2020.) On offer here is the cuisine of Xi’an, an ancient city in North Central China that was once a vital part of the Silk Road trade routes. The cumin-spiked "lamb burgers," tangy liang pi cold noodles and warm tofu submerged in crimson chili oil are all must-haves.

7.Trey Yuen 

Mandeville, Louisiana

North of New Orleans, the Wong brothers are applying their Hong Kong sensibility to Louisiana ingredients, and it totally works. Operating out of their palatial restaurant, Frank and Tommy Wong serve local crawfish, pecans, gator, soft shell crab, and speckled trout when the season allows. Turns out the local ingredients fit in quite naturally with their style of cooking, making them a huge favorite in the region. The brothers are also open about adjusting the spice levels to their customers’ tastes: everything’s a little bit hotter down South.

8. Yank Sing 

  San Francisco, CA

The aromas coming from the steamed and fried dumplings at Yank Sing are so tantalizing that you’ll likely gobble them down before finding out what’s in them. Exceptionally fresh and flavorful dim sum keeps this longtime restaurant thriving in an unlikely corner of a massive office complex. Ordering is half the fun at this trolly-service dim sum institution: Just point at what looks good as the waiters roll their carts past your table. Favorites include Shanghai dumplings with pork, scallion, ginger and a shot of hot broth, stuffed crab claws, and goldfish dumplings filled with crunchy shrimp and bamboo shoot tips.

9.Mei Mei

Boston, Massachusetts

One of Boston’s best restaurants is this casual food truck-turned-restaurant started by three Chinese-American siblings. Come for the Double Awesome, their classic egg & cheese sandwich served on a scallion pancake with local greens pesto, and stay for the magical kale salad and creative array of handmade dumplings. In addition to their tasty, genre-bending food, Mei Mei is also known for their commitment to creating positive change, practicing profit sharing with their employees and holding the honor of being the first food truck in Boston to serve only locally raised and sustainable meats.

10.Facing East 

  Bellevue, WA

A David to the Goliath of chains like Din Tai Fung and Boiling Point that keep sprouting up around Seattle, Facing East derives its staying power from owner Yu-ling Wong’s deeply personal approach to the food of her homeland, street eats in particular. Noting that, per Taiwan’s complicated political history, its cooks have incorporated "a lot of different cuisines" (Fujian above all, with “a little bit of Japanese influence”), Wong brings her own modern sensibilities to bear on the classics, whether exchanging caul with tofu sheets or using beet juice for coloring. As a result, staple comforts shine lighter and brighter, from the cracklingly crispy Tainan shrimp rolls and soulful pork-belly stew over rice to specials like bamboo shoots with salty egg yolk and garlic or shaved ice with fresh mango in season.

11.Duck House

Portland, Oregon

Since opening in a former pub just two years ago, Duck House has earned a legion of fans who wait faithfully in line (as Portlanders are wont to do) for their hot chili oil-soaked wontons, xiaolongbao, dan dan noodles, and cheffy takes on Panda Express stalwarts. And of course, their Peking duck is worth the hassle of calling ahead to make sure they’ve still got some available. Pair all of that with a frosty glass of local craft beer and a Timbers game and you’ve got all the makings of a very Portland-style Chinese feast.

12. Chengdu Taste 

| Los Angeles, CA

After running a successful restaurant in China and working at the Panda Restaurant Group in Los Angeles, Tony Xu opened Chengdu Taste in 2013. The San Gabriel Valley—and the rest of Los Angeles—quickly took notice, and the lines haven’t let up since. Fiery Szechuan dishes fill tables with intoxicating smells and an overarching red hue that indicates an intimidating spice level. Start slowly, perhaps with cold mung bean noodles slathered in chili paste, then move to more grandiose items: boiled fish in green pepper sauce, stir-fried pig’s intestines, lamb on toothpicks with cumin. A green peppercorn here and there will sometimes numb your mouth, but the flavors at Chengdu Taste are all intense, wonderful, and worth the wait.

13.Mee Sum Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge

Fall River, Massachusetts

The history of Chinese American cuisine isn’t all about orange chicken and crab rangoons: there are smaller, more regional stories that are fascinating in their own right. Go to Mee Sum, located in a small town on the border of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, to experience the local, cheap eats innovation that sustained factory workers and students since WWII: the chow mein sandwich. Mee Sum’s version is widely acknowledged as the best take on this old-school dish that stretches the definition of “sandwich,” with perfectly crispy fried noodles and brown sauce served in a hamburger bun. It's a beautiful mess and totally worth it.

14. Noodlebird 

 | Chicago, IL

Formerly known as Fat Rice, owners Abraham Conlon and Adrienne Lo (formerly the duo behind Chicago supper club X-Marx) are cooking the food of Macau, a former Portuguese colony along the South China Sea. As such, the menu at Noodlebird is heavy with influences of both Portuguese (bacalhau, salt cod) and Chinese (pot stickers, Szechuan peppercorns), not to mention any other forays toward which Conlon, the chef, is guided. If this convergence sounds like "fusion," what’s remarkable is it certainly doesn’t taste like it: The food—especially the paella-like wonder that is the signature "fat rice" and the comforting crock of tofu, pork belly—is vibrant, personal and natural.

15.Taiwan Cafe

Boston, Massachusetts

There’s always good stuff happening at this low-key Chinatown eatery, where spicy beef noodle soup, braised eggplant, and xiaolongbao fly out of the kitchen in mere minutes. Of course, they have a fantastic selection of Taiwanese dishes, like soft oyster pancakes, fried pork chops over rice, real-deal stinky tofu, and braised pork buns with fermented mustard greens. Their diverse and uncompromising selection of tasty offal — duck tongues, pork blood, and kidneys — makes it seem like the whole restaurant was airlifted to Boston from Taipei.

16. Lao Sze Chuan 

| Chicago, IL

Tony Hu uses plenty of Szechuan pepper, dried chilies, garlic and ginger to create flavors that are incredibly addictive. Our favorites at Lao Sze Chuan are Chengdu dumplings, crispy Chinese eggplant with ground pork, twice-cooked pork, mapo tofu, Szechuan prawns and "chef’s special" dry chili chicken. There are venues throughout the city and suburbs (and with recent interstate expansion to Connecticut, Texas, Maryland, and Ohio)—and trust us, whichever you pick, you won’t be disappointed.

17.A Single Pebble

Burlington, Vermont
At this Burlington landmark, former photojournalist-turned-chef Chiuho Duval presents classic Chinese cuisine paired with a devotion to local ingredient sourcing. The menu leaps between the provinces of China and really nails its landings, especially in dishes like the mock eel (made with shiitake) and the dry-fried green beans. If you’re really in the mood to strap yourself in and let Chinese Jesus take the wheel, bring some friends along and order the nine-course family-style tasting menu. Duval, a native of Taipei, also serves extremely craveable takes on Taiwanese street food at the restaurant’s food truck.

18.Ma's House

Laguna Hills, California

Of the halal Chinese restaurants in the US, Ma’s House reigns supreme. They do wonders with the specialties of Northern Chinese cuisine, expertly churning out flavorful beef, chicken, and lamb soups, stir-fries, and braises for their rabid following of Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Its sesame bread — imagine naan but riddled with toasty sesame seeds and stuffed with scallions or red bean paste — is a highlight, as are the  chewy knife-cut noodles with aromatic lamb.

19.Uyghur Bistro

Houston, Texas

The history of the Central Asian Xinjiang province is tightly wound up with the Silk Road and the constant movement of spices, technology, and religious thought. Accordingly, the region’s food has evolved from those fortuitous meetings, characterized by spiced mutton kebabs, fermented dairy, pilafs, and long, hand-pulled noodles. Uyghur Bistro is serious about spreading the good word about the regional halal cuisine, and they pull it off extremely well. Definitely try their tender and savory polo, or rice pilaf with lamb shank and carrots, which will have you smacking your lips from the richness of the lamb, braised so close to melting.

20.Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao

Queens, New York

It makes sense that the place for the platonic ideal of xiaolongbao lies in the Chinese food lover’s paradise of Flushing, located in the borough of Queens in New York City. For die-hard fans of Shanghainese food, this place is a compulsory first stop after touchdown at LaGuardia Airport. They come for the soup dumplings, with their juicy pork meat enrobed in a delicate steamed wrapper, their savoriness enhanced with minced ginger and just a few drops of black vinegar. Obviously get those, but wouldn’t it be lonely by itself? Might as well get an order of scallion pancakes and shenjianbao, the underrated, crispy-bottomed pork bun living in the shadow of its celebrity cousin.