China Palace Restaurant — Restaurant in Stockton

Update: Sunday, February 4, 2024, dinner

Nothing extra tonight. The best part of the dinner were the baked barbecued pork buns. These are excellent.

Sizzling rice soup had no sizzle which means the rice was probably not fresh. The broth did not have a lot of flavor.

The barbecued ribs were most likely left over from the last day or two in the refrigerator and they just reheated them in the microwave. They were kind of miserable. Last time I had them they were OK…this time they were not good. Cannot recommend unless they’re fresh. The service was OK. —————— Update: Saturday 7/2/22 Had a good dinner here tonight. Served up by my favorite server, JR (Jin rong)!

Had the barbecue spare ribs. They only have them on weekends and they do run out so if your dining late, call ahead and ask them to save an order for you. ($7.09)

Also had an order of the baked barbecued pork buns. I really like these. Quite a bit of meat inside. They’re not served warm but they will stick them in the microwave for you and warm them up. It works out well. ($5.45)

Had a small order of the sizzling rice soup without the bok choy. I hate bok choy. The soup had snow pea pods, crunchy carrot slices, chicken, shrimp, and the sizzling rice! Small size would usually feed two people. ($14.35)

I also had an individual order of steamed rice ($2.20) to go with the ribs. I wasn’t hungry enough to get fried rice although the fried rice is supposed to be good here. Maybe I’ll try it next time!

Thanks to my server, JR, he introduced me to an awesome dessert…egg cream soft cake. Oh boy these were yummy! So yummy I took an order home. (3/$4.65)

———————— Update: Saturday, April 16, 2022 Went here tonight specifically to try the bbq spareribs. Usually by the time I eat there late in the evening they have already run out for the day. So my excellent server, JR(Jin rong), told me to call earlier in the day and have them save me an order. I did that. The ribs were very good. Not the best I’ve ever had but probably next to the best. I would definitely order them again. They cut them up in a short little 1 inch pieces. I’d rather they didn’t do that. Maybe they do that because it looks like you’re getting more? I also ordered a small bowl of sizzling rice soup, $14. The small bowl is quite large and would feed two people. The soup was good but for my taste it I had way too much bok choy in it. Not a fan of that stuff. Next time I will order the soup without that. I also had an order of the steamed pork buns. They were just OK. Not a lot of the barbecued pork in them. I probably would not order them again. I also ordered baked pork buns and they were excellent…delicious! Lots of juicy bbq pork filling in the middle. I would highly recommend these. Last but not least I would like to recognize and give kudos to my excellent server, JR(Jin rong)! Very attentive and helpful. Give him a raise! :-) P.S. I posted photos of each item. For now, this is my go to spot for Chinese food. I ate Dave Wongs tonight and can’t wait to go back to China Palace!

I’ve been back a couple of times recently. What draws me back is the pepper salted chicken wings. I love them. Last time I was there I had two orders!

I’ve also tried the chicken salad. I would give it three stars. Nothing exciting. Just adequate.

I ordered the appetizer sampler plate. I don’t think I’ll order that again. The items on the plate were over cooked and the batter was quite heavy.

But I will return and try other items on the menu!

I have always had...

My family and I love eating at this place... have been for a couple of years. The food that we order on a regular are simple dishes. For example: sweet and sour pork, garlic chicken, house chowmein, pork fried rice, beef broccoli, and honey walnut prawns(our fave)!! Granted we don't order more exotic dishes, these ones are always good. I think the customer service is pretty good considering the Chinese culture. I'm not trying to be rude or offend anyone, all I'm saying is that, we the American culture, expect to be catered to. Smile, greeting, 'customer is always right' ect... but there focus I feel is more towards their tasks. They work very hard. And want to make sure that we get everything we ordered. They are never sitting down or just conversationting with one another unless officially on break. I think they are more worried about getting the food out than making their customers feel pampered. Not to say that they don't listen. They do very well. But you can tell that they have lots to do and are always multitasking. And I feel our American culture we are more accustomed to how we 'felt' or were 'treated' rather than how the food tasted. I do agree a little with some previous posts regarding the female employees in the front. They can seem rude but I think it's just the same idea. They are very busy and have lots to do. They are answering phones, taking orders, seating people, packing the to go orders... so I don't think they mean to be rude. Just that they are more focused on their long lists of tasks than how they come off sometimes. I think a couple things that would make this restaurant over the top would be: Cleanliness Making sure that all cooks are wearing hair nets, the dishes are spot clean, and the bathrooms are cleaned more often. Freshness I don't eat the fresh fish or lobster, crab that they have swimming in the front but I have noticed that they are in the worst of conditions. The water in the tank is always merky, fishes almost always have sores on them, they look very unhealthy and I would not want to serve that to my customers let alone eat it. Better system of order If everyone had One job to do this place would run a lot smoother. And would have time to be more courteous to customers. Ex. A hostess designated specifically to welcoming customers and seating them. A bus boy that went and cleaned up/off tables as needed. A server assisting the waiters/waitresses to serve the food and drinks. A server in the front to serve to go customers and package orders. And a person on the phone taking orders. Also one thing they could stand to use is a floor manager. A individual that's sole purpose is to make sure that things are flowing well. Customers are being seated, orders are taken in order of arrival time, food is being brought out accordingly, and that over all customers are happy. Updated decor I think the ceiling and walls testify to the essence of their culture and their restaurant but the furniture and flooring, as well as counter tops, bathrooms could use some serious TLC. Decluttering Lastly, decluterring the spaces that are visible to their customers. I've noticed open areas used for storage of unused items. I think this would really help to open up the space and help it to be more applealing to the eye and also more functional and appropriate.

Anyway, I'm no professional and this is just my opinion and honest thoughts. But I thought I'd share.

Best...

Before yesterday afternoon (September 26th 2024) we had not been back to CHINA PALACE in over a year and that's because, the broccoli ordered was delivered to our table "raw", on purpose -- so we gave them a "break"; but yesterday, our $91.00 meal was WORSE:

1. Egg-Foo-Yung "scorched" (on purpose) -- prepared/over-cooked in "old" burned oil;
2. Roast Duck "dried-out" (served, anyway) -- may have been "Wednesday's-Duck";
3. Steamed Rice "bottom-of-the-pot" dry (served, anyway);
4. Large "Golden" Prawns "frozen, scorched & shriveled" (on purpose) and were "hard" (chewing like old "onion rings" ) -- prepared/over-cooked in "old" burned oil; they looked NOTHING LIKE THOSE PICTURED IN THE MENU (served, anyway);
5. Sweet & Sour Pork ...but, NO PORK (on purpose) ...just "hardened, scorched, MEXICAN-like chicarrone skins" -- prepared/over-cooked in "old" burned oil; they looked NOTHING LIKE THOSE PICTURED IN THE MENU (served, anyway)
6. Shrimp-Fried Rice (served, anyway frozen & tasteless shrimp); prepared/ home-cooked in "old" burned oil;

(Best things: Noodles & pot of hot tea.)

I used to frequent the "old", original GAN CHY and BOW-BOW restaurants -- I know "good" Chinese food.

I felt "sorry" for the waiter ...so never said or did anything. (Was he in on it?)

If I DON'T hear back from the owner(s)? ...that's probably gonna be it -- got better food at STAR CAFE on...