Da Lian

Double check the prices before ordering (if price is a concern). Online menus may be off in terms of prices. This place just raised the price of one of our favorites from $ ⁸⁄₉ to about $ 15. It lost our business when my husband picked up tonight and was so shocked, he asked them if I had accidentally ordered two of the same dish. Nope. They just raised their prices by a lot basically overnight. The food was okay, but not that amazing. It was worth $ 9 per dish. It is not worth it anymore.
Here’s a review the of food we ordered on a regular basis for years… and again, the food was fine for the prices we used to pay! But I get much more picky when the food is close to $ 15 per dish.
The chow mein noodles were sometimes good, but sometimes bland/​greasy. We don’t normally order meat at restaurants (organic/​source concerns), but occasionally did order the smoked pork and leek – the pork was nearly always too fatty, but I loved the sauce. The dry sauteed green beans and tofu were a staple for a while, but they also had hit and miss days. Not enough garlic/​weaker sauce. The Dragon Tofu was okay – lots of that sweet Thai chili sauce – if you’ve tried it, you know what I mean. It’s good, but… eh. One of the eggplant dishes was good, but kind of greasy – as eggplant tends to be. And the veggies and mushroom in wine sauce (ordered recently to try something new) was just terrible – completely flavorless. Don’t order it – I guess the veggies were steamed. It was probably very healthy.
There’s passion in this review because I’m sorry to not be able to go back. I liked this place. Although I guess the food was never amazing. But I still liked it.

Three of us went to Da Lian for lunch. The house-​made noodles were excellent; the chicken with green beans was decent, and the kung pao calamari was only so-​so. The big problem was our waiter. He did not come to take our order until people who had come in later had already ordered and he did not bring the soup and salad that were part of two of the meals we ordered. He did not return to the table after he brought the food until he brought the check. I asked if we were supposed to have gotten soup and salad. He responded, «Yes. I am sorry. I was busy.» There was no further apology and no offer of recompense. I am giving the place 2 stars because the noodles were good, but I will not return.

I went to this place twice, I’ve tried a couple dishes they all tastes delicious. My favorite dish is the noodles, all their noodles are handmade. Definitely recommend to try out this place!
P.s you can see JD working too!!!

I’ve been here twice now, and I’m definitely a fan of the food here!
Sizzling rice soup: Soooo good! It has many vegetables as well as prawns and fish filets, and the portion size is perfect.
Homemade noodles: I tried the spicy pork one with jalapeños and Sichuan peppers. The noodles were perfectly chewy and it wasn’t too spicy, since we asked for them to make it mild. I definitely wanna try the normal spice level next time!
Potstickers: Not my favorite — I found the wrapper to be a little thick for my liking, and it was almost like a meatball wearing a jacket LOL. But the flavor was good, and the potstickers were moist!
Velvet fish entrée: My boyfriend loved this dish but I found it to be a little salty. The fish was tender without falling apart though, which I liked a lot, but I definitely have to eat this one with rice.
Braised tofu with veggies: I thought this dish was alright. The sauce had good flavor, but because tofu is a very bland food, I feel that the sauce should have been a little saltier. This entrée has a lot of veggies and was a refreshing change from all the meat I usually eat.

Our favorite Chinese food restaurant in Berkeley. The pot stickers are not to be missed!

This place is a winner. Good food, attentive service, simple décor, reasonable prices… We had one of the special noodle dishes (excellent), the duck (not Peking but similarly served; very good) and the shrimp/​chive dumplings (excellent). It was Christmas eve around 7pm and the restaurant was full with a 10−15~ wait; it was well worth it. Felt like a very fun place for a larger group with family style ordering.

I saw this restaurant on a segment of Check Please. As my husband and I are always looking for good and different Chinese food, we thought we’d give this a try.
We ordered pot stickers to start. They were tasty, both steamed then browned up a bit. The pot stickers are average, nothing to go on about. I think the vegetarian pot stickers would have been a better choice.
But then came the soup. I ordered the lamb, pickled cabbage, noodle soup. I have no idea how they make the most delicious, rich tasting meat broth. I could easily put that in a glass every day and drink it as a beverage, it is so good. I would have liked a bit more pickled cabbage, because I like all the magic going on in my mouth: rich broth, tender lamb, lightly crunch cabbage and some spiciness.
My husband ordered the garlic noodles. That’s not a dish that I particularly enjoy, but I did taste the garlic noodles and it was good. The noodles were served with pork and some spinach.
After eating the 8 pot stickers, split between the two of us, we couldn’t finish our food. I had the leftover soup today, and that broth will still hella good.
Parking is on the street, so be prepared to scout around a bit.

Workday lunch with my co-​worker. After always walking pass this restaurant, my co-​worker and I decided to eat here for lunch. Lucky for us, they have lunch specials.
I had the Hong Kong style crispy noodles, hoping it would be like the cake noodles I am familiar with back in Hawaii. When the dish came out, the noodles were thin and crispy, especially on the outside, where none of the sauce touched. I wished it was cut up rather than served as a whole fried noodles.
It came with shrimps, chicken, and vegetables, which they could a little more of. The flavor of the sauce was good. It didn’t taste an leave me with MSG mouth. Overall, a good lunch dish, if you don’t eat all the noodles.

Great food great service. Atmosphere is very welcoming. One of the best Chinese restaurants around. The homemade noodles are very good.

I like the noodles so much!
They are the truth northeastern Chinese noodles!
And the noodles are so fresh!
I should go to eat everyday if they have northwestern Chinese noodles also.
I will tell more and more people come to try and know what is the truth Chinese food!

Some food is quite authentic while some others are very Americanized… Wait time is usually long and I suspect they only have one cook?

mu shu is so frikkin tasty
drooooooollll

It’s pretty spacious and clean. NOT roudy which I loved. Food is pretty authentic tasting, and fairly priced. I would go again but I wouldn’t say it’s the authentic Chinese go-​to.
Most of their food seems to be decent — your normal Chinese sautée dishes but I would like to entrée special duck dish which gave us half a duck with buns for less than 15 bucks! The duck and the sauce were good. Duck was crispy on the outside tender on the inside and didn’t smell gamey. Buns were a little dry, but I would definitely get this again.

My sister took us to this restaurant. The won ton soup was phenomenal! Full of noodles, chicken and good vegetables (not just the cheap kind). We ordered a large for the 3 of us and we each had about 3 cups. The fried rice was also very delectable. We tried the pot stickers and shrimp dim sum as well as the chicken chow mein and all were really good. I had a bit of an upset stomach so I was cautious in what I ate but I regret not eating a lot more because it was all delicious. We can’t wait to go back!

Dalian for me failed to reach my expectations for an ethnic Chinese restaurant in Berkeley compared to other Chinese places. At least my impression is that I have struggled to find what I like to eat as «Chinese» food in East Bay, and tend to go down to South Bay for that stuff anyways. I came here with a group of friends and ordered about four dishes total.
FOOD: Among the typical things like Kung Pao, Hunan Beef, Orange Chicken, Pan Fried green beans, and the likes, I found all of them to be a bit lack luster of what I know of Cantonese cuisine. I know that yes, Dalian, it’s in northern China, why not get things like Zhajiamian, but this restaurant does cater to a not completely Chinese majority in Gourmet Ghetto. I also was surprised I did not get options on the menu for food from Northeastern China that I do find quite delicious, and difficult to find though. But to be fair, my friends were not super into eating very ethnic Chinese food, so we settled on the «Americanized Cantonese Chinese food».
For the price of the food (~$ 10), the portions were small. It was definitely not enough to justify paying that much per plate of food for such simple dishes. I was surprised how the portions came out, and honestly, how bland the food tasted. I was like, this chicken is quite dry and very tasteless, but my friends did not seem to mind. I think the Hunan beef was the one that was the favorite in the group and it had some flavor to it, but it could have been much tastier.
Overall, the dinner ordered was of a pretty low standard and I realized that often, Chinese restaurants do serve non-​Chinese clientele an inferior product. I was really surprised that that was the case, but if my friends were okay with it, I guess they can continue serving food like that since nobody will complain.
One thing though is that I was not offered the «Chinese» menu (if there is one, but I assume there is at places like these) even though I spoke Mandarin to the waiters and staff. I know there are far better Chinese finds in the Bay Area than in Berkeley.
Pass for this place now, unless I am dying for some Chinese food, not willing to drive, and am in Gourmet Ghetto, that will be the only reason I come back.

Da Lian has a very courteous and friendly waiter who always has a smile on her face. It is so nice to be greeted by someone so friendly! The food comes out promptly and the honey walnut shrimp is great! I also like the chow mein. :). A+ for service!

We place a lot of take out orders here for work and they are always ready for pickup when we arrive. The restaurant itself is clean and the food is tasty. The portion size is great for the price! Service is for the most part friendly but always slow (dining only).
Love the cumin lamb dish!

Don’t know why I never noticed this spot. Located in the Gourmet Ghetto, it’s easy to overlook considering Cheeseboard and Chez Panisse are down the street.
Great tasting Chinese food! Got the Mongolian Beef, Combo Fried Rice, and spinach with Garlic sauce. Everything tasted great and not too greasy. And the prices were very reasonable!
Service was a bit spotty but it wasn’t horrendous, just not super efficient.
Definitely coming back here again for one of my go-​to chinese places in the East Bay!

My food:
Sizzling rice soup-​ok, lots of spinach, chicken had been tenderized with baking soda, whatever. Shrimp tasted «off».
Combo chow mein– again, the shrimp tasted «off», not much meat or veggies, huge noodles, not too flavorful.
Broccoli beef (added Bok choy and shiitake mushrooms) — mushrooms tasted «off», beef was tenderized with baking soda, broccoli was crunchy.
This place wasn’t special at all. The servers/​owners didn’t check in on me to see how the food was. One worker had her crying baby there during my entire meal. I’m irritated about three things:
1-​my hands are swollen from the salt and msg
2-​my soup dishes were left on the table through my entire meal despite the server/​owner walking by twice
3-​I didn’t tip because I was bothered by my dirty soup dishes and lack of service. The server/​owner was very angry (despite the bigger picture of me possibly wanting to dine there again.) so she basically shunned me out of there by ignoring my existence, not thanking me or saying bye, and ignoring my SO’s request for a lollipop before she madly turned her back and walked away.
He didn’t take a lollipop and we definitely won’t be back!
Oh, ps, there was a hair in my chow mein too.(pic added)

Da Lian: Proof that you should never judge a book by its cover!
Quietly situated in the Gourmet Ghetto, Da Lian is a rare flower within a sea of European influences. There is no question that the Gourmet Ghetto is mostly European in its composition – think Chez Panisse, Bistro Liaison, and Gregoire, just to name a few. Given their location, I expected Da Lian to be expensive and cater to a predominantly non-​Asian population. This, as you may predict, *usually* leads to a drop in authenticity of cooking.
Boy was I in for a surprise!!! My bro and I ordered zha jiang mien (thick wheat noodles with ground pork and fermented soybean paste, 3.5÷5 stars) and fire glazed tofu (⁴⁄₅ stars) with a bowl each of brown and white rice. Both dishes were elegantly simple, yet highly flavorful and delicious. I really appreciated how clean the flavors were. Our dishes were not oily whatsoever, which is a mark of a good chef! :) As an added bonus, the dishes were reasonably priced, too. Both were between $ 10-​$ 12.
I would describe the ambiance of Da Lian as understated opulence. The interior is at once spacious, calming, and perfect for quiet conversation. Admittedly, the lighting is a little too dim for my liking around dinner time, but that’s not a huge issue. The waitress was very attentive and refilled our water and tea often (⁵⁄₅ service!)
I am so glad that I gave Da Lian a chance. They may have a lot of non-​Asian customers, but the quality and taste of their dishes have not suffered one bit. From here on out, I will remember Da Lian when recommending good Chinese restaurants in Berkeley.