The Best Chinese Restaurant in Every State

Mr. Chen’s has all the Chinese-American classics like General Tso’s chicken and egg foo young down pat, but the real specialty here is authentic Chinese dishes like spicy pork intestines in hot pot, boiled fish with bean sprouts in chili oil, and mapo tofu. (There are also a few traditional Korean dishes on offer.)

Charlie’s isn’t just a great Chinese restaurant; it’s also one of Anchorage’s best bakeries. This frequent “Best of Alaska” winner in the Anchorage Daily News is beloved for its wide variety of dim sum, including jewel-like har gao and several varieties of housemade siu mai, but their cakes, breads, and traditional Chinese pastries like egg tarts are worthy of renown all their own.

This big family-friendly place is a longtime area standard. Expect all the usual dishes, including Peking duck, chow fun and chow mein, and kung pao chicken (but also prawns, fish, calamari, and beef), along with an extensive selection of seafood (including whole steamed striped bass with ginger and scallions) and several multi-course “gourmet dinners.”

Located next to an Asian market with the same owners, Mr. Chen’s has become a Little Rock staple for its high-quality ingredients and modern takes on classic dishes. You’ll find the usual lineup of sesame chicken, Mongolian beef, and the like, but don’t pass up the wide variety of authentic fare including seafood clay pot, spicy beef tendon, Taiwanese-style braised pork, and salted crispy frog legs.

Tucked away in Rosemead, an L.A. County city with a significant Asian population, Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant is a sprawling gem that commands long waits on the weekends for its stellar array of dim sum. Regulars rave about the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf, radish cake with assorted preserved meats, and BBQ pork buns, with steamed caramel sponge cake for dessert. There is also, not surprisingly, a dazzling array of seafood dishes, including jellyfish with spicy sauce, steamed rice noodles with shrimp, and sautéed Chinese broccoli with minced dry flounder.

Denver’s Fortune Wok to Table is a bi-level space with something for every mood. Feeling casual? Sit downstairs, where house-made dumplings, Shanghainese street noodles, fried rice, and rotating specials are made fresh with seasonal ingredients. Want something a little more upscale? Then sit upstairs, where a nine-course dinner with wine pairings is served at a chef’s table. Accolades include being named one of the best restaurants in Denver by Eater and home to the city’s best dumplings by Zagat.

West Hartford’s sleek and stylish Song is the brainchild of Chengdu-born chef Xingyu Huang, who offers a wide variety of “Chinese tapas” from all regions of the country. The majority of the items on offer are shareable small plates, and experimentation is encouraged: Branch out and sample items like mala bamboo shoots, braised beef tendons in soy sauce, sliced jellyfish with black vinegar, and Chengdu pork dumplings in a spicy garlic sauce, and you won’t regret it.

Dining at this Delaware standby is indeed like dining in mom’s kitchen — if your mom happens to be an incredibly talented Chinese chef. Dishes like pan-fried pork or shrimp dumplings, sesame chicken, and scallion pancakes are all essentially perfect, as are the wide variety of soups and spicy pots, and specialties including sizzling beef short ribs, braised pork with preserved vegetables, and spicy stir-fried lamb with cumin.

Located in a strip mall outside Fort Lauderdale, Silver Pond roasts authentic Hong Kong-style duck and chicken, as well as producing masterful takes on Sichuan fare that let you control the heat, all the way up to “extremely hot.” Traditional dim sum are also worth seeking out, along with house specialties including chicken and conch with ginger and scallions, hot and spicy squid with black bean sauce, and even a deep-fried T-bone steak with oyster sauce that regulars swear by.

Buford Highway just outside Atlanta has no shortage of incredible Chinese dining options, but La Mei Zi sits atop the pack. The chefs here prepare fish, lamb, beef, tofu, and vegetables both Taiwanese and Sichuan style. Taiwanese salt and pepper chicken with basil, clam and ginger soup, walnut honey shrimp, and lamb with cilantro and leeks in hot bean sauce all win plaudits from diners.

A Honolulu staple since 1990, Legend Seafood Restaurant is a low-key dim sum joint by day and a seafood restaurant by night. Lines can be long on weekends (diners are advised to arrive by 10:30 am), when crowds flock there for mochi puffs, lotus seed buns, shrimp dumplings, seaweed seafood rolls, and plenty of other dim sum classics. Salted fish and chicken fried rice, Peking duck, and lobster with ginger and green onion are among the standouts on the dinner menu.

Yummy House is an old-school, low-key Chinese restaurant dishing out large portions of all the classics. Hong Kong style chow mein in half a dozen variations is a specialty. There are also numerous seafood dishes, many of them involving shrimp, in addition to well-made versions of such popular fare as fried wontons, General Tso’s and kung pao chicken, and Mongolian beef.

Master chef and Lao Sze Chuan founder Tony Hui opened his original restaurant in Chicago’s Chinatown in 1998, and hasn’t stopped since. Today there are 10 branches of his restaurant in Chicago and vicinity (with an 11th on the way) as well as outposts in Champaign, Illinois, and in Connecticut, Texas, Maryland, and Ohio (with Georgia coming soon). Whichever Illinois location you choose, you’ll find superb renditions of Sichuan cuisine’s signature spicy, tingly, mouth-numbing flavors on the immense menus, as well as representations of dishes familiar and unfamiliar from other Chinese regions. Must-try specialties include lamb with cumin, sole fish filet with mapo tofu flavors, and Tony’s special frogs’ legs Zi Gong style.

The comfortable and unassuming Wu’s is home to what has been repeatedly hailed as Indiana’s best Chinese food. Gather around a large round table and load up the lazy Susan with a wide assortment of Chinese-American classics, dim sum, and authentic Chinese fare like shredded fish fillet in ginger soup, Yushang pork, and sliced beef in hot chili oil. Come for lunch and you can choose from a variety of generous lunchtime specials, served with soup or salad, rice, and a chef’s choice appetizer.

The menu is absolutely massive at this Iowa City standby, and it’s full of dishes that you wouldn’t expect to find at your everyday Iowa Chinese restaurant. Nearly a dozen Chinese stews are on offer (for instance, pork rib with winter melon) to warm you up on a cold Midwestern night, along with hot pots, barbecued meats, and even traditional Chinese breakfast dishes including preserved egg congee and cream custard buns. But of course, if you’re looking for classics like orange chicken, crab Rangoon, and egg foo young, their versions hit the nail on the head.

ABC Cafe is an easy-going restaurant specializing in authentic Chinese dishes including shrimp-and-pork-stuffed tofu skin, chicken feet with black bean sauce, ginger and onion salty chicken, salt and pepper soft shell crab, and eggplant hotpot. If you’d rather have something more familiar, though, don’t worry: ABC also offers the likes of spring rolls, egg drop soup, chicken or beef chow fun, and beef with Chinese broccoli.

The inviting, pagoda-shaped Oriental House is a Louisville area mainstay for Hunan and Sichuan specialties, as well as expertly made dim sum and other appetizers — such as fried jumbo shrimp, pot stickers, BBQ pork buns, and steamed spare ribs. Be sure to check out the “Authentic Chinese” section of the menu, however, where you’ll find a profusion of noodle dishes and such specialties as duck braised in oyster sauce, whole crispy skin chicken, and wok-seared whole flounder.

Located just blocks from Lake Pontchartrain on the outskirts of New Orleans, China Rose is a low-slung, spacious destination for both Chinese-American classics and more authentic fare. Don’t miss the eggplant with pork in hot garlic sauce, crispy scallops in ginger sauce, China Rose special duck (braised, sliced, and sautéed with bell peppers), and only-in-Louisiana crawfish fried rice, Lunch specials, served with shrimp fried rice and fried wontons, are very reasonably priced.

Cozy and unassuming, Evergreen Chinese Restaurant is a hidden gem for in-the-know Portlanders. The expansive menu boasts a large selection of lunch and dinner specials, generous family-style dinners, and for entertaining at home or the office, 100-plus-piece party platters. Along with standard appetizers and a good choice of chow mein, lo mein, chop suey, and egg foo young dishes, the menu offers specialties like seafood hot and sour soup, shredded chicken in spicy Szechuan sauce, and ground pork in lobster sauce.

Hubei-born Peter Chang is one of America’s foremost Chinese chefs. After stints cooking for the Chinese president and at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., he opened his first restaurant in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2011, and a James Beard Award nomination soon followed. Q by Peter Chang, which debuted in Bethesda in 2017, is his chic and modern 8,000-square-foot flagship. Chang classics like scallion bubble pancakes and cumin lamb chops are on offer, along with lunchtime dim sum platters, Peking duck, braised lobster with jade noodle, crispy pork belly, and wagyu beef lo mein. The menu impores diners to “embark on a grand culinary adventure,” and Q is just the place to do it.

The proprietors of the Yunnan noodle restaurant in Brighton called South of the Clouds opened this South End elaboration in 2022, featuring a wider range of fare from the southwestern Chinese region called Yunnan. The cuisine, also known as Dian, features such seldom-seen dishes like pea jelly salad, Yunnan potato pancake, stir-fried beef with mint leaves, and a Dian signature dish, boiled pork in chili oil.

This unassuming restaurant boasts a long menu with a huge selection of both traditional and Chinese-American classics. Do as the regulars do and ask for the Chinese menu and you’ll be rewarded with a slew of noodle soups, braised meats, stir-fried meats and vegetables, and specialties including pork rice noodles, fish with red chili, sesame tofu, and spicy ginger and garlic vegetables.

This cozy Cantonese mainstay, promising “Knockout Cantonese and seafood,” has been a Dinkytown staple since 1990. The seafood includes standouts like hot and spicy baked lobster with five spice salt, deep-fried oysters, scallops with Chinese broccoli, and, because this is Minnesota, several preparations of walleye. If seafood isn’t your thing, don’t miss the roast meats, including pork, chicken, and Peking duck.

Mr. Chen’s is Jackson’s one-stop shop for all things Chinese, as one half of the space is a traditional Chinese food market and the other half a spectacular restaurant. Roast duck noodle soup, whole steamed fish with black bean sauce, and artfully plated steamed head-on garlic shrimp are specialties of the house, while other popular dishes include crystal shrimp dumplings, salted crispy oyster, and Taiwanese-style wonton soup.

The first Hong Kong-style Chinese restaurant in the St. Louis area, Wonton King boasts a huge menu with something for everyone. Don’t miss the wonton soup or fried wontons (the restaurant’s name won’t lead you astray), but be sure to sample such dim sum offerings as steamed ribs in black bean sauce, deep-fried salted meat dumplings, and sticky rice in lotus leaves — and don’t miss the variety of Hong Kong-style braised noodle preparations.

With hanging Chinese lanterns, plenty of greenery, a full beer and wine list, and cozy tables separated by wood-paneled dividers, China Garden just looks like the kind of place where you’re going to want to stay a while — and for nearly 30 years, Missoula locals have done just that. Hong Kong-style chow mein variations, nine different noodle bowls, kung pao tofu or chicken, and beef with oyster sauce are popular choices.

Located inside a strip mall in Omaha’s Elmwood Park neighborhood, Blue & Fly offers two menu options — American Style and Traditional Style. The former is chock-full of well-executed renditions of classics like scallion pancakes, hot and sour soup, sweet and sour pork, and even an intriguing-sounding dish called peanut butter chicken. The Traditional menu, however, is where Blue & Fly really shines. Go bold with dishes like shrimp and seaweed soup, Chongqing chicken with roasted chili, braised spare ribs in soy sauce, and clams with fermented soy beans.

Located inside the Wynn on the Las Vegas Strip, Wing Lei was the first Chinese restaurant in North America to earn a Michelin Star. The Chinese jewel box-inspired dining room is gilded and ornate, the perfect setting for dining on high-end fare from chef Ming Yu, including tableside-carved Imperial Peking Duck, poached Maine lobster, truffle soup dumplings, and Japanese Wagyu with heirloom sweet peppers. Live seafood options include Australian coral cod and Washington Dungeness crab, and for the high-rollers there’s a five-course $188.88 tasting menu.

Harry and Sophia Ku’s Lilac Blossom has two locations in Nashua, just over the Massachusetts border. Tuxedoed waiters keep a watchful eye over the elegant dining rooms festooned with fresh Burgundy lilies. Each of the House Specials indicates which region of China it originated from, with standouts including sizzling chicken pot (Shanghai), seafood in bird’s nest (Canton), and lilac spicy crispy whole fish (Hunan).

Just outside of Trenton, Szechuan House has been lauded as the Garden State’s best Chinese restaurant by New Jersey Monthly. One look at the menu and you’ll see that this isn’t your everyday takeout joint: Appetizers include diced rabbit with Sichuan peppercorn vinaigrette and jellyfish with scallion oil, and a section of the menu dedicated to Chengdu specialties includes dan dan noodles, shredded tea smoked duck with onion and red pepper, and fried yam cakes with sesame paste for dessert. There’s also a stellar Peking duck.

The long-running Ming Dynasty claims to be “the only restaurant serving authentic homemade Chinese dim sum in New Mexico.” The choices in that regard range from chilled mango pudding to pork sausage taro cake to shrimp and scallop dumplings. Sample dishes on the regular menu include crab meat with fish maw soup, hot and spicy fried chicken wings, and spicy shredded duck.

From the original restaurant , which opened in Flushing, Queens, in 2005, Xi’An has grown into a veritable empire, with five locations each in Queens and Manhattan and three in Brooklyn. Xi’An is a city in Shaanxi, in northwestern China, and the menu largely concerns itself with dishes from that region, including “cold skin” noodles, pork and lamb “burgers,” and above all “hand-ripped” noodles graced with things like spicy cumin lamb and spicy and tingly beef muscle.

This chic-looking establishment, just outside Charlotte, offers some of the standards American diners expect from Chinese restaurants, but also ups the ante with such dishes as salted fish and diced chicken with eggplant, steamed salmon head with preserved chili, and five-spice soy chicken. The bar pours specialty cocktails like the Lycheetini — and a unique king crab feast, for which the chef prepares four dishes out of one gigantic crustacean, is available by advance order.

Tucked away inside a Fargo strip mall, Shang Hai keeps locals happy with a massive variety of dishes both Chinese-American and traditional Chinese. All the classics are represented on the Main Menu, from pu pu platters to kung pao chicken to generous combo and lunch platters, but don’t order before asking to look at the Authentic Chinese menu. It’s here you’ll find regional favorites from all over China, including mapo tofu, Szechuan braised fish, and beef brisket casserole.

Located in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Sichuan Bistro is another restaurant that offers a combination of familiar crowd-pleasers like pot stickers, egg foo young, and sesame chicken and also an array of more authentic Chinese fare — red dry chili fish filets, beef tendon stew, stir-fried pork liver and kidneys, spicy sizzling tofu, and much more.

Tulsa’s modest China Garden is a must-visit for locals on the hunt for an authentic taste of China. A variety of dry pot dishes (including vegetable choices), home-style soups, and house specials including double cooked pork, ma la sirloin, and salt and pepper squid keep the regulars happy. Braised pork, six kinds of fried rice, and homemade dumplings are also favorites.

Duck into Portland’s hip and buzzy Duck House for some seriously authentic Sichuan cuisine, as well as other Chinese specialties. Start off with a wide variety of house-made dim sum, including various buns and and dumplings (don’t miss the xiao long bao, or soup dumplings), then follow up with a spicy hot pot, Chongqing prawns or chicken, twice-cooked pork belly, and/or dan dan noodles — and if you’re an adventurous eater, there are five dishes involving pork chitterlings (intestines).

Ocean City is Philly’s destination for dim sum, served in the traditional style by roving carts. Regulars swear by the shrimp dumplings, BBQ pork buns, turnip cakes, egg custard tarts, and chicken feet. There are also lots of elegant seafood preparations on offer (prawn and squid in hot garlic sauce, pickled chili fish filet), as well as meat options (deep-fried salted and spiced pork chops, oxtail with bean curd skin), poultry dishes including a superlative Peking duck, and such vegetable choices as braised black mushrooms with bamboo fungus and okra and eggplant in hot garlic sauce.

A favorite of local chefs, Asian and otherwise, Cheng Du Taste specializes in Sichuan food, including such dishes as spicy cellophane noodles with minced pork, Sichuan pickled vegetables, and Chongqing chicken. Lovers of fiery food will also appreciate such options as beef and OX tripe in chili sauce, hot sour shredded potato, spicy whole fish, and fried lamb with cumin.

The best Chinese food in South Carolina can be found about a 15-minute drive from downtown Charleston. The family-owned Old Li’s offers a wide variety of Chinese and Chinese-American favorites. Order spring rolls, egg drop soup, or kung pao chicken if you desire, but don’t ignore the seafood section of the menu — a real standout for such dishes as salt and pepper shrimp skewers, garlic crayfish, sea oyster pancake, and fish filets in chili oil.

When the residents of Spearfish, a small city located just up the road from Deadwood, are in the mood for well-made Chinese-American classics, they order from Golden Dragon. Regulars rave about the kung pao beef, shrimp and pea pods, fried wontons, and cashew chicken.

Nashville’s elegant and spacious Lucky Bamboo dishes up authentic dim sum and Cantonese and Sichuan cuisine in the heart of Music City. Regulars start their meal with appetizers including pork or chicken siu mai, wontons in red chili oil, and xiao long bao (soup dumplings), then flip over to the “Chef Recommended” section and dig into crispy Chongqing spicy chicken, honey walnut shrimp, and Peking duck. An array of dim sum is served at weekend lunchtimes.

This friendly, casual place has fun naming its dishes. Offerings on the comparatively brief menu include “Garlicky ‘Not Dan Dan’ Cold Noodles” (a customer favorite), “Hands-Folded Sichuan Wontons,” “Twice as Nice ‘Twice Cooked Underbelly Pork’,” and “The Tea Quacker ‘Tea-Smoked Duck’.” The cooking is serious, however, with spice levels that are assertive but not aggressive, and an obvious passion for using great fresh ingredients.

With its traditional red and gold color scheme, high ceilings, and exposed wood beams, this place just outside Salt Lake City is a perfect spot for a traditional Chinese meal or banquet. Dim sum standards like steamed BBQ pork buns, siu mai, and turnip cakes are available at any time, and family dinners for four to five people cost only $80. Take a dive into the “Authentic Chinese Food” section of the menu and you’ll be rewarded with dishes like beef stew in Macau-style curry, deep-fried seafood in spicy XO sauce, deep-fried crispy chicken, and sizzling pork chops in black pepper sauce.

A Single Pebble isn’t just Burlington’s best Chinese restaurant; it’s one of its best restaurants, period. Taipei-born chef/owner Chiuho Sampson’s menu is full of dishes that have become local legends, including her mock eel (made with crispy shiitake mushrooms and hailed by Alton Brown on “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”), crispy beef wontons in black bean chili sauce, and red oil chicken. Can’t decide? Opt for the nine-course family-style tasting menu.

Serving Northern Virginia since 1978, and a longtime favorite of top Washington politicos, Peking Gourmet Inn is a welcoming, white-tablecloth restaurant that prides itself on its made-to-order family-style entrées made with fresh, high-quality ingredients. Groups can choose from set dinners or up to 10 courses or with their way through the expansive menu. Peking duck carved tableside, Chinese winter squash and sea scallop soup for two, crispy Sichuan beef, Peking-style lamb chops, and walnut chicken are the specialties of the house.

This bright and lively Vancouver favorite sells tons of pot stickers, General Tso’s chicken, chow fun, and Mongolian beef — but locals also crowd in for meat-filled “hot and spicy” pots, beef tripe with chili oil, deep-fried fish fillet Sichuan style, cumin lamb, and the house dessert of sticky rice balls in sweet rice wine with osmanthus flower.

Located on Charleston’s bustling Washington Street, Main Kwong is exactly the kind of place every town needs. It serves consistently good, well-made Chinese-American classics, with egg rolls, wonton soup, General Tso’s chicken, Mongolian beef, crispy chicken, and roast pork lo mein as standouts. The combination platters, which are served with an egg roll and pork fried rice, are generously portioned and inexpensive.

Wisconsin’s best Chinese food can be found in an unassuming strip mall in West Allis, about a 15-minute drive from downtown Milwaukee. As the name implies, traditional Sichuan fare is their specialty, and regulars rave about the dan dan noodles, mapo tofu (alone or with ground pork or fish fillets), spare ribs in garlic chili sauce, and cumin pork knuckle. Those looking to get a little more adventurous can opt for pork kidneys with Sichuan peppercorns, sautéed pork intestines, and ox tendon and maw in spicy chili sauce.

Cheyenne locals are grateful for Good Friends, a low-key and dependable Chinese restaurant that’s great for both take-out and dine-in. All the Chinese-American classics you’d expect to find are on the menu, and are served in large portions. Popular standbys include kung pao chicken, sweet & sour chicken, pork-filled fried wontons, pork fried rice, and lo mein.