Chef Chin

still a big, big fan of the CHIN’s success formula — sticky, sweet and lots of meat. first visit to the new PLAZA DRIVE location but was warmly greeted by a truly lovely lady from the old (now closed) CARLSBAD restaurant.
picked up a phone-​in order to go for the kid’s lunch which was ready, as promised, when we arrived. they both got their usuals — WYATT the SPICY HONEY CHICKEN and JULIANA the HOT BURNED PORK. that bought us twenty minutes of blissful silence on the drive to BIG BEAR before they chimed in with the are-​we-​there-​yet chorus.
CHIN’s is CHINESE-​ish AMERICAN food done right.

My family loves to eat at chin’s. My favorite is the green beans and Kung pow 3 flavored (shrimp, chicken and scallops) 5 star.

This Chin’s is pretty good. My bf’s mom is a long time regular at the Carlsbad one that moved to this spot. The interior is nice, food same as always. Foods good… we had tangerine chicken, hot burned pork, hot sweet shrimp and Kung Pao three ways. Also had VIP appetizer which was pot stickers, and cream cheese wontons. All food excellent.
I wish they had brown rice. I also wish that I could get more wine… our server, who has known bf’s family for a million years that she’s worked there is not quick about it… bf’s mom doesn’t drink… doesn’t mean I don’t. Anyway, Chin himself got me a 2^nd glass. Sorry, I had a really long day. A day that Chinese food alone will not cure.

Chins never fails to satisfy! The women at the front are so friendly and the food is always delicious!

Glad they are back open but please hire some help. The food was good but took forever to get. We ordered hot tea and had to remind them. Then it came with the meal!
Also PLEASE add brown rice to the menu.

Bad bad bad. This food is good for old white folks afraid to try real Asian cooking. The place is way to dark. The food is just bland and greasy. Way better places save yourself the time.

You walk into a well decorated place, tonight was a very quite night, which we don’t mind, as long as the food and service is good.
Good Chinese food tonight. We had the House Special Fried Rice, Three Flavor Sizzling Rice Soup, Hon Hon Shrimp & the Sesame Triple Delight. We had so much delicious food to take home. Nothing was too spicy for us. All the dishes were good portions. Too full for any desserts.
The service was slow at the entrance, but very friendly, the waitress made time to converse with you and she offered ideas on dishes to select. As it was time to pay, it took awhile for them to retrieve the bill.
We would definitely return.

… continued — part 2 of 2 … [Here’s the link to part 1 before we got here
After a slight detour from Chin’s Palace, we made our way over to Chef Chin. The interior is beautifully decorated and appears very clean. It isn’t a huge banquet hall, but an L-​shaped row of booths and tables with a partition to the central bar area and additional tables. The only serve beer and wine here now, so let me know if this changes again so I can update. I also heard that they temporarily discontinued the karaōke, but I could be mistaken.
Sitting at a large circular table with the lazy susan, here’s the list of dishes that our dinner party of 9 shared:
Potstickers [

Mu shu chicken [

Beef and broccoli [

Szechwan garlic eggplant w/​ground pork [

Mongolian beef [

Orange chicken [

Plum tree beef [

Crispy duck [

Hmm…I’m still wondering if we got the americanized versions… anyhoo, I sampled a bit of everything and thought that the mu shu chicken, orange chicken, and garlic eggplant dishes were my favorites tonight. The duck was tasty, but not very meaty and could have been helped with more crispiness. Some of the beef cuts were chewy [like gummy? idk], fatty cuts that fell short for me, however, the various sauces for each particular dish were quite delicious.
Dinner service went well tonight. Our waitress was very pleasant and accommodating, especially towards the children to make sure that their dishes were modified to be milder or prepared plain [without sauce]. Drinks were refilled regularly and portion sizes were just right as there were very few leftovers after everyone finished.
Chef Chin serves up some good Chinese cooking and I would probably eat there if I was in the Oceanside area again, but they have additional locations closer to where I live and play.

On this particular occasion, we decided to go to the most recently opened Chin’s in San Diego: Chef Chin. Located in the desolate shopping center which once featured an Albertson’s and a Sizzler, this restaurant is the other booming business in this plaza next to Teri Café and 2Spoons Coffee.
Went in on a Saturday night and this place was busy! The last time we came here was when they first opened and it seemed nobody knew about it yet. But thanks to coupons and advertisements, it looks like they have made a name for themselves. Chin’s has always made good food made by REAL Chinese chefs. This time, they didn’t disappoint.
We ordered our usuals: a Large Imperial Soup, Hon Hon Shrimp, Braised String Beans with Pork, House Special Lo Mein, Mongolian Beef, Sweet and Sour Pork and those crunchy wonton things.
Let me just say right now, that this meal was the best we’ve had at Chin’s in a long time. The plates were massive. We have never had portions this huge before and we all left full! The food was great and the complementary food we received for being VIP was awesome (gyoza and fried bananas).
I enjoy going to Chin’s for family dinners, but I think this place is slowly becoming my favorite compared to the one off El Camino Real. It’s also much closer.

My family and I generally only go to a Chin’s restaurant if we want to get Chinese food. So, for belated Father’s Day and birthday dinner my dad chose Chef Chin’s.
Currently digesting:
— Chicken Pot stickers (VIP on the house)
— Tangerine Crispy Chicken
— Imperial Shrimp
— Sweet and Sour Pork
— Braised String Beans
The menu at Chef Chin’s is basically identical to the other Chin’s restaurants in San Diego County. My family used to go to the location on College and Oceanside Blvd, but came here since the manager from that location moved here, although he has now moved to the San Marcos location.
The restaurant looks very clean. The waitress was very nice and attentive. My mom is vegetarian and a little picky and the waitress was very helpful in changing out some of the things my mom didn’t like.
The chicken pot stickers were okay. Nothing special, just chicken and veggies. My favorite thing at Chin’s is the tangerine crispy chicken. The chicken was tender with a slight crisp and the sauce was sweet and tangy. My dad ordered sweet and sour pork, which I am not a huge fan of, but it wasn’t bad. The pork wasn’t over battered or over cooked. Since my mom is a vegetarian we ordered the braised string beans without pork. The green beans were cooked well, not over cooked, still a little crisp, and seasoned well. Some might feel like it’s a little salty, but Chinese food is meant to be eaten with rice, so with rice it’s fine. The imperial shrimp was suggested by the waitress. My mom doesn’t like white button mushrooms so the waitress changed them out for a different mushroom my mom likes. The shrimp was cooked perfectly, juicy and tender, the veggies were good too, maybe a little on the salty side, but nothing that would be consider inedible. Biggest complaint would be the carrots in the sweet and sour pork and imperial shrimp. The carrots were barely cooked and still basically raw which in contrast to everything else was just not good.
Overall, it was a tasty meal. By no means authentic Chinese, but very tasty American-​Chinese food. We got 4 dishes + plus the on the house appetizer + iced tea for $ 47 (pre-​tax). Not bad for a good meal, with plenty of leftovers. (By the way, I love their leftovers cold. Better cold that warmed up.)

Chef Chin is a spin off to the Chin’s brand. I was a bit disappointed with the menu items. There is nothing special or new to the menu. It was just another Chin’s.
The waitress is the same waitress that used to serve my family at the Chin’s in Oceanside in the Target Shopping Center. She was very attentive and funny. Service was definitely up to par here. A definite plus if you are VIP card holder.
Items ordered were:
Fried Wontons, Crispy Noodles, Imperial Soup, Mongolian Beef, Shrimp with Lobster Sauce, House Special Lo-​Mein, Sweet and Sour Pork.
My family typically orders the same entrees and are very pleased with the way Chin’s prepares our dishes. You could never go wrong with Chinese at Chin’s.

SO my partner and I decided to try this little place out on a Thursday around 8 pm. It is a little hard to find but it’s next to a yogurt place in the shopping center near the DMV. There is plenty of parking available so that was awesome. As we walked in we weren’t sure if we should sit ourselves. We stood at the host area and browsed some menus. We automatically noticed that the prices were not entry level so my expectations rose. Finally the manager came up to us and saw us to our table. The décor I was a fan of, very authentic. Love the circular lamps in the place. Long story short we ordered our food. It was bland and had very little flavor. The wontons were delicious though :-)
bill was $ 65 for two people.
Make sure you get a clean tea pot if you are getting tea. mine had mold in the spout. eww lol.
The service was nice but it was the manager that serviced us. Never going back :-)

This place is disgusting. Coworkers met for dinner and karaōke. Food was gross. Barbeque beef on a stick had some goopy sweet sauce and meat was tough like jerky. I think they called it dry beef with goopy crap sauce. Portions were small and overpriced. No air conditioning, or maybe their just cheap because it was hot and stuffy in there. Karaōke was horrible and annoying. Stay away from this dump. Other Chins may be good, but not this one.

a little hard to find because its in the corner of the sizzlers shopping center (near the DMV in Oceanside)
I was already impressed when i found out the Chin’s in San Marcos was open until 12:00am everyday, but now their sister location at Chef Chin is open until 2:00am everyday.
This one has a full bar and some badass karaōke tunes w/​dj otis every night from 10-​closing. Not sure if the entire menu is available after 10 but i know they have some munchies. My new place to chill when theres nothing else to do on those quiet weekdays: D