China Sea

NEW OWNERS & NEW NAME! This place is no longer China Sea! :/​The old employees are not there, the food is different and the place just isn’t the same. I’ve been going here for over 10 years and I was extremely disappointed when i ordered Egg Drop Soup for Take Out today!
I asked the guy if they changed the soup and he said not the egg drop, only the hot n’ sour. «We wouldn’t change anything if we didn’t think it would make it better» he said, but he lied! They changed the egg drop soup. It now has corn in it and is really salty! :/​
Oh, and about the serivce. The guy who took my order was friendly enough (although he lied to me), but the girl that was there had an attitude. I called and told them that the soup was extremely salty and (oh btw, she answered the phone «China Sea») she said «Well we are no longer china sea so you’ll just have to get used to our soup and food.» Are you freaking kidding me? how about I never come back to your establishment!?! For a new business who is trying to retain the customers who LOVED china sea, her customer service is, well non-​existent.
To give them credit, I haven’t had any main dishes yet (as i only ordered the soup) but I her attitude was enough for me not to go back!

China Sea has been an old standby of ours for years. We have eaten in the restaurant a few times, but usually pick our food up to go. They have your basic Chinese dishes and all are good, if not remarkable.
If you live in the neighborhood, definitely make this one of your regular stops. If you’re not in the Northwest Hills/​Far West area, there’s no real reason to make a special stop here since you likely have a restaurant exactly like this one within 5 – 10 minutes of your house.

I go here because its close to my house, they have great hot &sour soup & fast take out. When you walk in its your usually tacky Chinese-​american restaurant décor. Warm greeting, its almost always busy in here. Food is so-​so & average.
Great pointer: Its open late!

Wow we have been going here for going on 6 yrs now. This place is so cool, I can say that it feels like visiting a cousin’s Mom’s house for lunch/​dinner.
They have the absolute BEST beef kabbob-​sticks, and I dont even like beef all that much! I’ll eat beef maybe once or twice a year, & when I do, it’s HERE, because it’s always so tender and tasty.
I’ve even ordered the plate of sauteed greenbeans by itself on top of a bed of rice, before and this entrée was still full of awesomeness.
It’s rare that you bump into an Asian cuisine that tastes so good and yet doesn’t use MSG! This is one of those rare finds. And the food always comes out fresh AND fast. How can it be?
As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been frequenting this establishment since 2006 and so I’ve obviously tried almost everything on the menu here, yet they have not disappointed. From wonton soup, to meat to veggies, this hidden gem on Far West is one of our faves. My 5yr old daughter and I are in love. They are REALLY good with children & everytime I ask her where she wants to eat, China Sea is her first pick, gauranteed.
The icing on the cake is the wonderful customer service. They really do make you feel right @ home here. AND they are open until 10pm? This review is long overdue.

7:30 PM on the 4^th of July. I am hungry for some Chinese delivery. I call my ‘go to’ delivery place… CLOSED. Shit… Hop on Unilocal and start searching for anywhere else that delivers to the neighborhood. Call one… Closed. Call two… CLOSED! Call three… CLOSED!!! Oh man, this is not looking good. China Sea came up in the search results… I call… «Hello, China Sea,» a voice on the other end says. HOLY SHIT THEY ARE OPEN! «Do you deliver?», I ask. «We do, but it’s Dine on Demand». Damn. That crap is too expensive, I will pick it up myself. I order my usual delivery meal: Chicken Lo Mein, Sweet and Sour Chicken (sauce on the side *don’t want it to get soggy*), Crab Puffs, and just to mix it up, a few Egg Rolls. I arrive to pick up my meal and the super friendly lady takes my credit card… I give a tip because they were open, and she was friendly. Get back in the car, it smells like everything I have ever wanted. Like magic in a plastic bag trapped by Styrofoam. Gotta get home quickly. Going 50 down Mesa… probably not a good idea. Get home, open bag, make plate, EAT. Annnd… angels did not fly into my mouth and make love to my taste buds… But it was a solid meal.
The Crab Puffs actually tasted like crab, the S&S Chicken was high quality (although the sauce was über thick), the Egg Rolls were crispy and tasty, and the Chicken Lo Mein was just OK (the noodles were too mushy). I will be eternally grateful to China Sea for being open when seemingly every other joint in town was closed, but the food was just «A-​OK».
Pros: OPEN ON THE 4TH!, Good S&S Chicken, Nice Crab Puffs, Friendly Staff
Cons: Chicken Lo Mein Was Mushy, Dine on Demand Delivery is Lame

So just got back from lunch there. Lunch special is the
! 7 bucks for entrée, soup, rice and egg roll. Can’t beat that! The hot and sour soup is some of the best I have had, very tasty. I had the Chicken and Broc, which is average-​good, nothing super tasty, but I think its just a dish that taste the same everywhere. Same with egg roll and rice, both good but not great. Over all good food for a great price!

Ive driven by this place for about 20 years. recently I got on Unilocal through my ipad and pulled up the map of places close to home. I read the reviews and tried it out. THe servings are HUGE. enough for two and the quality and taste was excellent. The price?! Pretty amazingly affordable
. I won’t be driving to Chinatown (which is over the top gourmet fabulous BTW) and paying twice as much for Chinese everytime I want good Chinese food.

I have always based my experience on customer service and if you have not been to this restaraunt, you have to try it. The place is owned by a very sweet lady who is just adorable, she goes out of her way to help you. She always remembers a face and talks to you with such delight and just a pleasure to visit with. The servers are just as sweet and efficient. The food is fantastic and the service is unbelievable! Good job China Sea!

This review will be short, but satisfying.
Great hot & sour soup.
They make shrimp egg fu yung for me (not on the menu) and it is
delicious: not too spongy, with lots of crispy bits on the edges.
Very friendly service, sweet people.
Super convenient.
Good neighborhood Chinese restaurant.

Great prices, tasty basic food.
The booths are perfect eating and reading a book if you’re dining solo.
The owner is absolutely adorable.
Also, they will prepare your chicken dishes with all white meat if you so request.
A consistently yummy lunch stop.

The 2 stars directly correlate with the price I guess. $ 5.95 for Sweet and Sour Chicken, egg drop soup, an egg roll and fried rice. The food was okay but it tasted like reheated food.
Now the service was great I’ll have to admit. Usually at some Chinese food restaurant the service is terrible but not here.
So if you’re in the mood for cheap and decent tasting Chinese cuisine come here.
It’s in a shopping center if you get lost and can’t find it.

I come here often for lunch because the the lunch prices are so darn cheap! I’ve tried many things here and its always generous portions. My favorites are chicken fried rice (I know I’m boring) and the chicken lo mein. I’m not that courageous to try new funky things, but my friends I come with always love their choices as well. $ 5.95 gets you a choice of soup, 2 dumplings, eggroll and a lunch plate. Can’t beat that. I’d never had dumplings before until I started coming here and seriously I could just order some dumplings and eat those as a meal. SO YUMMY! Always love coming here because it is family owned and service is always excellent! They make you feel like you’re at home and are so friendly. And the little asian lady that co-​owns it is just so darn cute and funny. She reminds me of Ms. Swan :]
This place is worth checking out if you’re in the Far West area.

Whyyyy can’t we find decent chinese in Austin? Why oh why? We ordered 2 family meals– 1 with sesame chicken and the other general chicken. They tasted identical. The only difference was a sprinkle of sesame seeds on one. The chicken was shoddy quality and the whole thing was just bad. Bad. Baaaad. I hate saying this, but seriously– I’m so jaded by my several horrible chinese take-​out experiences that next time I might just have to go corporate and go to P.F. Chang’s. Yeah, I said it.

Okay, i really wasn’t impressed with this one. And was kind of let down by the high rating on here. Maybe it was just an off day or something???
So the only reason that I’m giving them 3 stars is because of the Crab Rangoons. Otherwise it would’ve been a 2. But the Rangoons were pretty darn good. I was wishing for plum sauce, which they didn’t have, but that’s not all THAT unusual. I got the Kung Pao Shrimp, and was pretty let down. It wasn’t spicy at all, and while the portion was pretty big, there really weren’t all that many shrimp in it. Mostly celery and waterchestnuts — which I have no problem with at all, but if I had wanted Kung Pao Celery with some shrimp, I would’ve asked for that. My dining companion had the Orange Chicken, which he said was just «meh» as well.
Décor/​location = meh.
Food = mostly meh.
Jasmine tea = yum.
Overall = yeah, a 3.

We recently tried China Sea after looking over the other Unilocal reviews, and we were pleasantly surprised with our dinner there.
Based on the food alone, I would go with four stars. We ordered the spring rolls, General Tso’s chicken and chicken fried rice. The food was flavorful, and I was a fan of their having brown rice for no extra charge (unlike some other places in town where I feel like there is a tax on trying to be healthy).
However, the super friendly service by members of the family that owns the restaurant earned an extra star in my book. They even gave our daughter a little present to take with her when we left — a sack of fortune cookies and a cute little toy. She was delighted, and so were we!

China Sea is exactly what you’d expect from a Chinese place in a strip mall next to a Mr. Gatti’s; not that great, tons of food, and heavy on the meat.
We got the moo goo gai pan, sesame chicken, and spicy green beans as the main entrees. They were all just meh, especially the green beans which were mostly flavorless and had a rough texture. The egg rolls were ok, but I suspect they came out of the same box that every other Chinese place orders from. I did enjoy the hot and sour soup, but there are certainly better places out there for it.
Pros: Lots of food (you’ll have leftovers), okay price, very fast on takeout.
Cons: I think Panda Express might be slightly better.

I have continued to go back to this place after moving away from Far West 8 years ago. We even came by here during our trips to Texas while we were living in Atlanta and then Chicago.
Yes the décor is odd and sometimes it is really quiet in there but the mom and dad that own the place are so darn cute.
My husband and I love the sesame chicken. The lunch special is great with an egg roll, soup and an entrée. I get the wonton soup and ask for crispy noodles to put in the broth… sooo good!
The food is always fresh (freshly deep-​fried) and tastes great. If you are looking for an upscale «real» chinese place this ain’t it. We are in America and Americans love their fried food so this place delivers exactly what I expect.

My husband and I were feeling lazy last night. So largely on Christine A.‘s suggestion, we tried China Sea… and we were not disappointed.
From the moment we walked in, the service was top notch. We were quickly welcomed, seated and had our first beer within minutes. Since I always do my Unilocal homework, I knew the General Tso’s chicken was good here. My husband already had that picked out. He ordered off the «family meal» part of the menu, which includes and eggroll and soup for $ 9.95 (a good deal, in my mind). That means the menu was free reign for me because he promised to share. I ended up ordering the shrimp with vegetables and black bean sauce off the family menu as well.
The eggroll and the won ton soup were both delectable. I have to admit that I enjoyed my husband’s General Tso’s chicken better than my own meal, but not by that much.
My husband rated this place four stars, but I give it five. I’ll tell you why. Because it’s family owned. I have a soft spot in my heart for independent, family owned, hard working businesses; so I will continue to patronage this lovely establishment and have many more happy evenings with their tasty General Tso’s chicken in my tummy.

I love General Tso’s chicken. I’m pretty sure no one eats it in China, but I just can’t get enough of that Americanized dish. When I need a fast, reliable source to feed my addiction, I call China Sea.
As far as I know, this is the closest Chinese restaurant to my house. Consequently, I’ve gotten take out quite a few times. The ample portions and fair price ($ 8-​$ 10 for a meat entrée that makes about two servings) make for a winning combination. To-​Go orders are ready in about 10 minutes, so the convenience factor works in their favor as well. While the food quality exceeds Twin Lion’s, it doesn’t reach any sort of gourmet level. But it tastes just fine for a regular weekday meal.

The location is great for me – within walking distance! We have enjoyed meals dine-​in and take-​out from China Sea for years. Linda (she greets), her husband (he cooks) and son (he takes your money) own this restaurant. Linda who is Cantonese has told us stories about having her feet bound when she was a child. She is very hardworking and is open every day of the year except Christmas. You will see her shuffling through the restaurant and she typically checks on you at least once.
I like the spicy tofu with vegetables, crispy duck, basil chicken or beef, spicy green beans and eggplant. Years back, before all the Asian restaurant competition arrived in A-​town, China Sea would get top honors in the Austin Chronicle restaurant poll. We ate there last night and I still think they are good.
A relative who works for Brown Distributing (Budweiser Beer) delivers to China Sea. He told me you could eat off the kitchen floor. I was so glad to know this and to learn that I will not be crunching on half a bug here as I did at another unnamed Chinese restaurant close by.