China Max Dumpling House — Restaurant in San Diego

I'll just start with there is a typo in their claim, "BACK & BETTER THAN EVER". Although they are BACK, they are "BADDER" (WORSER). The owner is different and so is the chef (like so many have already mentioned). Then I just wonder, why keep the same name? The quality for the price is terrible compared to other nearby places. Don't know why I kept seeing $25 for AYCE when it came out to be $30 for AYCE not including the tax or tip yet. There are MUCH MUCH better places to eat in Convoy. Shouting MUCH because it's so loud in the restaurant with the music playing (in certain areas). It feels like a club, but there are also MUCH better clubs than this.

We avoided their soft opening hoping it would get "better" based off of the reviews. I came here with my colleagues and we decided to wait in their 2 hour+ line. Eventually at 7pm, an hour they stop seating people, they announced that they would stop seating at 8pm. By that time, we have already waited 2 hours. I wish they told us earlier while we were in the line.

What I was kind of surprised by was the ostentatious preferential treatment. One of the people standing at the end of the line knew one of the waiters. Jon/John(?) let them skip the line and that party went upstairs. That guy made it obvious and even gave the server a call. Although it doesn't technically take a "table" away from someone, it does take away some of the food that people waited 2 hours+ in line for (just because you know an employee). Then come back another time. I also found out that if you are in the second round of the 90 minute interval, you are left with fewer options and most of the food has run out by then. What they should have done is limit on certain dishes. Like pecking duck (2 max per person) or something similar. 90 minutes is also not enough time if people spend half that time ordering/waiting for their food.

I was not a fan of their XLB. There was no soup in the three rounds we ordered. Not sure why they have a hole at the top, maybe that's where all the soup evaporated to. The XLB potstickers we ordered had some soup. I would recommend that as well as the sesame chicken wontons.

Definitely not worth the wait and hype. I did notice that they love to hype themselves up. There's no waiting list or reservation, there's a physical line along the curb in the cold. This is not very ADA friendly. The building is surrounded by windows, so you can see inside and out. Some people eating would be taking their time (90 minutes, which they are entitled to) but with no food on their tables. Some would even be pointing and laughing. Four seaters would have two people occupying the tables. Some inside would be laughing at those outside in the cold and those outside would be staring down the ones inside. This was not a very positive experience nor a positive atmosphere. A lot of negativity here.

Highly unlikely I'm coming back here for their food. After a two hour+ wait, of course people are going to say the food is amazing if they are starving. What they could have done is offered coupons for those who didn't make the cut or offered some sort of incentive to come back to try their store again while it's not AYCE.

BUT shout-out to that one little dude server who kept being the receptionist. That is a VERY tough job! You did great, never saw you stop running around. Also shout-out to Natsuki for great service. Only one that I saw who wore a name tag! But the other girl with the lantern pants and blonde hair, I was not a fan. She put the receipts on my food and she kept bringing me repeat orders. Thank you to the guy with tattoos on his neck for correcting her mistake and saying there was an error with the system.

Side note: bathroom is pretty clean. They have trash bins. Not too fancy. But surprisingly clean for the amount of people that go through it. Not an environmentally friendly place. Lots of food waste and they don't seem to recycle. Saw all the bottles and cans in the trash where they threw...

I had an incredibly disappointing experience at ChinaMax, and I feel compelled to share my frustration. First, I was drawn in by their Instagram ad on March 16th, advertising a $24.99 AYCE menu, with the tagline "promotion ends in April, so come soon!" However, just a week later, on March 22nd, they released a new advertisement for a $29.99 AYCE menu, claiming it was due to "popular demand." It was clear, though, that their prior ad already indicated the promotion would last through April. This price increase seemed more like an excuse to raise the price by 20%. When we arrived, we were told the wait would be about an hour and a half, but ended up waiting over two and a half hours. We were stuck standing by the window, watching other customers inside struggle with long delays between dishes and difficulties getting attention from the clearly understaffed waitstaff. Upon sitting down, we were appalled to find our spoons were dirty, with visible chunks of brown food stuck to them. To make matters worse, we were seated near the bussing station and the computer, where we could clearly hear staff conversations. One particular moment stood out: an elderly blonde waitress with a silver headband was overheard mocking the customers waiting in line and belittling them. This kind of behavior is completely unprofessional and off-putting. As for the AYCE experience, we were told we'd have 90 minutes to order, starting once we placed our first round. We were informed that three items were sold out, but everything else was available. However, 25% of our first round of dishes were either forgotten or overlooked. After placing a second round, we were told that "last call" was happening at 8:11 PM just 30 minutes into our allotted 90-minute window. By 8:17 PM, we were informed that the kitchen was out of all food and that last call requests could not even be honored. To make matters worse, when I requested a discount to reflect the incomplete experience, the staff offered only a 20% discount, despite the fact we were cut off much earlier than promised. Additionally, as a nearby table left, the same elderly waitress loudly complained about the customers leaving food behind, calling them "jack-asses." This kind of attitude towards paying customers is unacceptable. The head staff member, who was featured in an Instagram ad claiming, "hopefully through service, we could create a new generation of ChinaMax goers," failed to deliver. The service was atrocious, and their mission statement about valuing quality over quantity couldn't have been further from the truth. The food was greasy, over-salted, and burnt. The XLB had no liquid inside. This was one of the worst dining experiences I've had, and I would not return even if there was no wait and the meal was free. The service was appalling, and the overall experience was a letdown. I wish I could give 0 stars. The only positive aspect was that our personal waitress, younger blonde lady, was very nice and tried advocating for compensation for her tables with her stingy manager. Unfortunately, her efforts didn't seem to make much of...

I had not been to China Max since 2009 when I went with a co-worker when we worked in Kearny Mesa. Since they reopened early this year, I finally had a reason to go--to treat my friend, who lives in Kearny Mesa, to lunch for doing me a huge favor.

I made a reservation on their website for 1pm, so we missed the lunch rush, and I got parking easily.

We were greeted right away and escorted to our table. Immediately, I noticed the chairs had unusually tall and "straight" seat backs, and they did feel stiff. I asked our server, Esme, about it after our meal, and she said they have received similar feedback. There is another section of the restaurant that has different "relaxed" chairs, and they open that section when it gets busy and on weekends.

There were two ladies making dumplings behind a glass window on the left side of the restaurant. Esme said they make dumplings 24/7.

Esme explained the options of all you can eat and ordering a la carte. If we order at least four items each, it's recommended to choose the AYCE option. If we eat at least half of the item, we would not be charged full price for the item, and leftovers could not be taken home. We could order two items from the first two pages of the menu per round.

I started with the cucumber salad, and I asked if it was spicy. Esme said they can put the dressing on the side. I also ordered the sweet & sour baby back ribs. The cucumber salad was delivered with red dressing. I told the male server that I ordered it with dressing on the side. I tasted it, and it had it made me cough, so he took it back. The order with no spicy dressing was really good, with a mild sweet flavor. They ribs were really tasty, too. I think I could order these two items a la carte for takeout in the near future.

Next round, I ordered the pork and cabbage pan- fried dumplings and pork Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings). I was surprised it didn't come with condiments as other dumpling places serve them with. Both dumplings were delicious.

I also ordered the chicken steamed dumplings and braised beef noodles. I was getting full, and I decided to pay full price for the braised beef noodles, which were really flavorful, and the beef very tender. I thought the chicken dumplings tasted good.

Last round, I ordered the taro balls and self-serve ice cream. The taro balls were served hot, fried crispy, and filled with taro paste. They tasted like small sesame balls without the sesame seeds. Yummy. Also yummy was the ice cream. I had both flavors--pistachio with nuts, and pistachio, cranberry, and chocolate with dried cranberries. So good.

Esme was very attentive, responsive, accommodating, and helpful. She let us know when they were taking last orders as lunch service was closing at 2:30pm. We did not feel rushed at all, which I really appreciated.

I'm excited to go back with my daughter, and hopefully be seated in the overflow room with the...