Yan Can Asian Bistro & Bar

How did this place get in to the airport??? Top Ramen is way better then anything this place has to offer.
Whats up this the small plops of week old food they put on your plate? Really San Diego Airport Authority? You can’t get something better than this in Terminal 1? Even a microwave and a vending machine would be an upgrade!!!

We got to the airport early and were expecting to get some food inside the terminal, only once we got through security we found out that Gates 1 and 2 were blocked off from the rest of the terminal during construction and only had prepackaged salads and sandwiches. So, we came back out looking for «real food,» except the only options were Yan Can and Chili’s. Having fond memories of watching Martin Yan on PBS when I was a kid, I thought I’d give this place a try.
Big mistake. I wonder if Martin Yan ever comes to try the food at his restaurants. I think there needs to be some serious quality control here. I ordered the vegetable lo mein. It was greasy and salty — the kind that leaves a gross film in your mouth and smeared all across the black plastic plate. It just wasn’t edible. Vegetables were spotty amidst the greasy noodles — some green onions and mushrooms.
With the name of an esteemed chef and educator behind this restaurant, I expected a lot more. I wish whoever put these chain restaurants together would stop and watch some of his shows and learn how to cook. I think only Yan can cook… definitely not the cooks behind this place.

Honestly the worst food. Beef fried rice. Beef was weird like it was reconstituted. Rice had an icky sweet something on it.

Why oh why did I eat here. I ordered the beef low mien. Beef was tough as hell, noodles had a weird texture, and everything was doused in this salty sauce. This place makes Panda Express seem like gourmet Chinese. If you find yourself hungry at SD’s airport, you’re better served heading to McD’s. Avoid this place at all cost.

Similar to just about every other reviewer — pretty blah food, especially for the price. It’s not french fries and it’s not drowning in grease like any food you get once you get past security, so there’s a plus. Enough food to have a decent meal but not enough for leftovers or sharing which is fine.

Mystery meat in the chicken salad. This is the same stuff my room mate buys for his cat. It comes in a bag, it’s some kind of processed chicken bologna made into strip shapes. Even then they are pretty stingy with it. They fill up the box with lettuce though. Oh, and the mandarin oranges came out of a can. Yuck. Yan can’t cook.

Fresh, bland Asian food. Chicken fried rice was ok. Not much goin’ on, but… plenty of it.

Even for airport food, this is a solid Meh. Potstickers were crispy all around, like they had been deep-​fried instead of pan-​fried. Chicken fried rice, which is supposed to sizzle off the pan according to the description, was totally overcooked and bland.
Avoid unless one desperately needs food and the other choices in the airport are closed.

Asian food would do for dinner, I can avoid pizza/​sandwich.
But the noodles were worst than cup noodles!

Horrifyingly bad. Martin Yan should be ashamed of the product being generated out of this kitchen. First off, I’m concerned by the cashier with the plastic gloves. Does he cook and handle the money? He used his gloved hands to enter my order, then took them off to take my credit card. What the what!!! Got the Mongolian beef. Chewy pieces of beef in a gloppy, over-​salted sauce. There were too many onion slices and 4 (thin) slices of mushroom. The promised green beans were hard as a rock and cold — I’m assuming frozen. Lady ahead of my got the orange chicken and I watched the cook (not the cashier) pour frozen chicken pieces out of a bag and into a fryer. I know it’s am airport, but you can do much better!

The only thing my bf and I could eat were the veggie spring rolls. Everything else had meat or eggs in it. The spring rolls and the cabbage slaw were pretty damn good!
The slaw was spicy, fresh, and so flavorful! The spring rolls were very greasy, but piping hot with a nice crunch. It’s definitely not healthy, but it’s a decent snack.
Service was quick. We asked if they could make the fried rice without eggs, but I guess it’s pre-​made. They said no. :(

It being the only place I could see to buy a late lunch (aside from buying M&Ms at the newsstand across the way), I decided to give Yan’s a shot and ordered some potstickers. But these were some darn weird potstickers. They were deep-​fried, long enough to turn them quite tough. And they were also pretty much tasteless. I think they were filled with chicken, but it was hard to tell. I hate to imagine what the Kung Pao Chicken must be like.

OMG, I got the best veggie fried rice here ever. It was delicate, yet flavorful, with the added bonus of fresh ginger in the mix.
You don’t have to go through security to eat here. Next time I am in the general area, I am going to call in an order to go and then drive to the beach to eat it.

Tried the beef lo-​mein today with the crispy pot stickers. The crispy pot stickers were extremely small in size and were simply deep fried and served with a side cabbage law and «spicy soy sauce.» I think my sauce was just plain soy sauce. The beef lo-​mein had more beef than I expected, but the lo-​mein noodles were nothing special. Just soft cooked chow mein noodles. I expected wide noodles and more vegetables. Also, no Asian beer offerings on tap.

Stopped here for a quick bite before hitting the oh so long security line for gates 3 – 8 ie Southwest Airlines. should have walked a few steps further and I would have spotted chilis Too restaurant. Ordered veg lo mein which was delivered on a smallish square plastic plate for 7.99.Went to sit down and was promptly told by the bartender that I was sitting in the ‘restaurant section’.although the tables are EXACTLY the same, the only difference is that the ‘restaurant section’ has a menu tucked betweeen the salt and pepper shakers. Apparaently the bartender, who was more interested in watching the SD Chargers game and rearranging the chairs, never took a customer hospitality course. The place was near empty, which should have been a sign…

Ok all I got was a drink and 8 crispy dumplings so I can’t rate the entrée type food. All I can tell you is that I just needed a little something to eat and being Chinese I tend to gravitate towards the Asian offering whenever choices are limited. It was fast and decent, which is what I was expecting. I mean, it’s not like I expect a 4-​star or 5-​star restaurant — I mean, people, you are in an airport!

This was a day of suck for trying to find something to eat.
My aunt and I spent 10 minutes in front of the counter here TRYING to order some lunch.
I got to spend 10 minutes listening to the THREE ladies at the counter scream at each other in Tagalog.

The new Yan Can Restaurant is located just outside of the secured area at Terminal 1 of the San Diego Airport. While I am a big fan of Martin Yan and have watched many of his cooking shows on PBS over the years, I cannot really recommend this Airport version of Yan Can, based on my recent dining experience.
As compared to other Yan Can restaurants, this Airport version has an extremely limited menu. I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken with rice (about $ 8). The food did not arrive in an attractive way — as one lonely square plastic plate was placed on top of a black cafeteria tray. Instead of a colorful dish, their version of the Kung Pao Chicken consists of mostly brown and white colors. Peanuts were very generously used, while vegetables were lacking. The worst quality was that the rice tasted like it’s been cooked and then sitting there for hours.
Bottom Line: I believe that Mr. Yan could definitely do better and hate to see his good name ruined by poor execution. Zài-​Jiàn!