Great China — Restaurant in Berkeley

Being a Chinese immigrant who moved from Taiwan to Houston, Texas at the age of 9 and living with a Caucasian family, my expectations of Chinese food is atypical of most Chinese Americans. So the first time I went to Great China, I went by myself, and I ordered their Kung Pao Chicken lunch special served with a soup, spring roll and salad for $16. I soon realized that by opting for this comfort zone choice, I completely missed what makes Great China one of the best Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area.

Motivated to amend my previous experience, I returned with a party of ten, and we were poised to immerse ourselves in a truly authentic Chinese culinary journey. Our order reflected this, as we curated a bonafide feast reminiscent of the vibrant foods found throughout China, from the street vendors of Xi'an to the upscale restaurants in Beijing.

The meal kicked off with a serving of Spicy Cold Skin Noodles (Lian Pi), a popular Northwestern Chinese street food. These noodles, simultaneously springy and chewy, were quite a departure from traditional Italian pasta. Served cold atop an array of vibrant veggies, succulent shrimp, and perfectly cooked egg, it was a refreshing salad-like appetizer that set the tone for the meal.

Their Hot and Sour Soup was next, a ubiquitous offering in most Chinese restaurants, but here, it felt like tasting the original blueprint. The balance of sour to savory was perfect, as was the ratio of vegetables and egg to broth, resulting in an ideal consistency. This was clearly hot and sour soup as it was intended to be.

The Peking Duck, the house specialty and what a lot of people associate with Great China, did not fail to deliver.

The oft underrated component of Peking Duck is the wraps. If it's too doughy, it can ruin the dish. At Great China, the wraps are executed to perfection. They are so thin as to be almost translucent, yet they retained their firmness throughout the meal, allowing us to savor the dish at our leisure without worrying about the wraps hardening.

The Honey Walnut Prawns were a revelation, crispy despite being drenched in a sticky honey sauce. This dish eclipsed any fast-food equivalent I've ever had - Panda Express has got nothing on this :)

Accompanying our main dishes was the Ong-Choy (Water Spinach) with Fermented Tofu Paste. The freshness of the water spinach was evident, offering a crisp contrast to the robust flavor of the fermented bean curd.

Our seafood indulgence included two crab dishes. The Ginger Scallion Crab with Noodles, a Cantonese classic, was followed by the equally delicious Cantonese Pepper Salt Fried Crab. Comparing the two would be an exercise in futility - each had its unique appeal, and both were winners that complimented each other.

Finally, we had the Steamed Surf Clams. The clams, paired with fluffy sticky rice soaking up all the flavorful juice, made for an exquisite finale. The delicate flavor of the clams was complemented by the crunchy scallions, adding a layer of unexpected texture.

Even though I was raised on a diet of Americanized Chinese food (beef and broccoli still holds a special place in my heart), my palate, unsophisticated as it might be, was still able to appreciate and savor the authentic Chinese flavors that Great China brings. This establishment truly provides a culinary experience that bridges cultures, making the richness of traditional Chinese cuisine accessible and enjoyable to West and East alike. It has mastered the art of authentic Chinese cuisine. I now know where to take my Taiwanese mom for a feast when she visits, and it's a place where both of us can...

We decided to place our weekly big dinner order from Great China. Since their only ten minutes away from us here at Alta Bates. When I arrived I parked in front, waited in line then went to pay for my food like I normally do. It took the cashier a moment to appear & this time it was a young guy I've never seen before with dark curly hair wearing a hat or hoodie with a mask on. I smiled at him went to give him my credit card & he immediately demanded do I have a mask. I told him I didn't know I needed a mask to pay for my order outside. I rushed here on my dinner break to pick up a large order for my co-workers & myself. He said I can't let you pay for your food without you wearing a mask. I told him since when is it law that I have to wear a mask when I am standing outside on the public sidewalk and your safely behind protective plexiglass inside the store wearing a mask. There's no possible way you can get anything from someone that is standing away from you out on the sidewalk while your safely behind protective glass inside the Restuarant. I told him it would take you only a second to take my card, pay for my food, place the bag of food into the opening where I always pick it up no where even near him in a matter of seconds. But he said no I can't let you pay for your food. I can understand if I was going inside to sit down and eat without a mask would make sense. But for me just quickly paying for a huge order and I am no where near him while he is safely behind glass doesn't make sense what so ever to me. So I left. I didn't have time on my lunch break to ask if the Manager & my friend's Linda, Tai or any of the other original staff & owners that are very close friends with us since their old building that burned down next to the California Theater. This young man just took it amongst himself to try to force some law against me that I can't pay for my food without a mask. I was just there on Thursday and payed for my food on the sidewalk without wearing a mask & the cashier was very friendly and gave me my order without a problem. Now all of a sudden this guy I have never seen takes it upon himself to try to enforce his own beliefs which is not law. I work at Alta Bates Hospital and we haven't had a single patient come in concerned about having Covid. We have been going to the Great China for the last 20 years and are like family to the original owners & staff. I have never felt disrespected until dealing with this young man that was working as the...

So happy that Great China is open again for indoor dining! They open at 11:30 and we arrived at 12. Thankfully the line wasn’t around the corner like pre-pandemic but we still had to wait about 50 minutes for a table of 8. The wait wasn’t so bad since it was great weather and half of our parties were running late.

We were seated closer to 1 pm but it did take a while and us trying to flag down a waiter a couple of times before being able to put our order in. We ordered, 2 Peking duck, a large sizzling rice soup, sautéed crab meat with steamed buns, Mongolian beef, mandarin chicken wings, sautéed Ong-choy with garlic, combination fried rice and combination chow mein. Sizzling rice soup was clean and refreshing and a great start to the meal. The Peking duck came out one at a time (probably due to the limited table space we had) but they were perfect. The duck meat was not fatty at all and the skin is -chef kiss- perfect! Our friends who were first timer in eating Peking duck and/or first time at Great China went wild on the Peking duck and cleared the two orders pretty quickly. Next up was the sautéed crab meat with steamed bun. This was the perfect combination and a must try! The crab meat is mixed with egg yolk and some sort of soy sauce that can be a bit salty if eaten by itself but if paired with the hot and soft steamed bun, it was perfect! The Mongolian beef, sautéed Ong-choy, fried rice and chow mein were also good. However the other star of the day was the mandarin chicken wings! The wings comes out on a bed of sauce hut somehow still stayed crunchy/crispy and the sauce packs a ton of flavor for it.

The service as mentioned early on is a bit slow at times but picks up and is attentive in parts of our time there. I think it could just be the fact that everyone is understaffed and when we had little service/attention, it was when the restaurant was packed. During these times, I would encourage everyone to be a bit patience as the service industry as a whole is understaffed and they are doing the best they can.

Overall a great experience and the food is still as amazing as I remembered it pre-pandemic. We also got some of our friends to try different types of Chinese food than they were used to and they loved it! Highly recommend this place. Pro-tip: you can reserve a table on Yelp or on their website if you plan a bit in advance to visit here. We didn’t because we decided to come here around the time...