China First

I ordered the delivery several months ago. My sister took it outside of the building. The delivery man was upset because he wanted lots of tips. We would give him more tips if he asked. Because he yelled at her, my sister cried. It was a bad experience.

I’ve been going to China First for like 17yrs, same waitresses, same super cool guy at the front desk and same awesome Chinese Food…
Best kept secret in Seattle, nothing fussy just yummy food at a good price!
Most important when I take my son there (to eat in) they make him feel special and he when he had tons of appointments at Children’s Hospital it was the only food he’d eat after and the only thing that would cheer him up! We are an Almond Fried Chicken family, but everything I’ve had has been good.
They do close mid-​day for lunch I think so it’s delivery or pickup during those times only…

I went back one very last time to china first. I thought maybe after a period of time, give it one more try right what’s the harm right? Well basically, the food and the staff are pretty much the same thing the way i said it before in my first review.
This place is one of these restaurants that had success in the first run of it all, then basically just took a huge nose dive down hill.
The food, staff, overall experience is just not worth it at all. There are ton’s of other restaurants that basically are far better then this place by a long shot.
overall, this is my final time i will be coming to china first, due to the fact that this place just sucks in food, and staff and etc.

Extremely poor serving speed, we sit there for over half an hour until the first dish came. Since they didn’t improve anything even after closing for one month. Definitely never come back again.

China First just got closed by the health department for sewage back up into the restaurant. I don’t think you want to eat here. It’s too bad. I remember back in the 1980’s when they were a great restaurant with good food and service.

Ordered delivery from here, the mapo tofu and the shuizhu beef (spicy broiled beef). Order did not come with rice, and the delivery guy was extremely rude when I asked him about it. Chose spicy for both, but there was no heat, made it through the entire meal without water.
Terrible service, subpar food.

My boyfriend and randomly decided on Chinese food yesterday and this was in the area close by.
We ordered chicken fried rice and mango chicken.
She also told us she needed to go to the freezer and see if there was mango left. The food it’s self was just eh. Mostly mango, no chicken, way too much sauce. Just simple fried rice. The tables were sticky and the kitchen was boarded up. The lady at the front stopped at our table once to refill a water. Didn’t ask how everything was or if we needed anything else.
When we got our check is came to $ 21.08 we didn’t tip on the check and as a man from the back came by our table he looked down at the bill and said «No tip? I look forward to that.» As I was pulling some dollars out of my wallet (for the tip) … I sat there shocked and very confused on why he thought it was appropriate and professional to ask.
This man did not take our order, carry out the food, or check on us. He was absolutely rude and I told him he didn’t deserve a tip and put my money back.
We will not be back to this restaurant because of this incident. I felt ripped off and not valued. Usually even if the food isn’t that great, we always tip of the service was good. The only good thing about this place was the outlet at the table to charge my phone.

Oh brother. I’ll keep it quick. China first is consistently meh. The general Tso’s chicken is ok, but they are buried so deep in the hierarchy of food on the Ave that there is no good reason to eat here rather than somewhere else. Their food is lacking in flavor, and there are a lot of strange, goopy textures in the sauces and soups.

I order delivery from China First all the time. They come quickly, and it’s delicious, American-​style Chinese food. I usually get their sweet and sour chicken and the honey walnut prawns. They estimate delivery time between 45 – 60 minutes but make it to my house in closer to 30 minutes each time. I’ve never been into the restaurant but I know it’s my best friend’s favorite. I recommend them for yummy Chinese take-​out!

If you don’t mind waiting OVER AN HOUR for barely warm food to be delivered, then this is ur place.
Called them twice to cancel order, he kept saying «be there soon-​on da way».
Third time I called (now 75 minutes) the bell rang.
This place is TERRIBLE for delivery!!!

China First might not have good service as some other Asian restaurants on the Ave due to sometimes their slow service, but I LOVE their authentic Chinese dishes! Personally, the quality of foods will always be important than the service when I comment abt restaurants. It is so different with some other Bento places on the Ave, so you have to have a try as a casual sitin place or takeout choice! I highly recommend their Chongqing Spicy Chicken, like spicy popcorn chicken. It is a perfect dish with sticky rice!

Most everything we order from here is reasonably good… Some things are phenomenal! It’s more authentic Chinese dishes are far better than its westernized ones. Try the «sliced fish with soft tofu», which should be eaten over steamed rice like most Chinese dishes.

My order, for delivery to a house with 3 adults, had several different dishes. I won’t go in to the others, not because they weren’t good (though they were rather bland), but because their China First Chow Mein was simply out of this world. Every bite was to die for: the noodles were still «lively», even after delivery, plenty of shrimp, chicken, pork and beef to go along with those noodles, and LOTS of a variety of the usual vegetables. Really; I was almost sorry that I’d ordered anything other than the chow mien, not because it wasn’t enjoyable, but because the China First chow Mein really «knocks it our of the park»!

I don’t know why the reviews here are so low. But I think this is best traditional restaurant for Chinese here around UW. Dishes looks nice and taste good. I like really spicy human and Sichuan food. I know a lot of Chinese food in U.S. have changed to adopt to American flavor here like more sweat and more cheese. But China first still has traditional Chinese flavor. Their yuxiangrousi and beef dish is good. The vegetable dish is fresh and look nice. The lady there is nice to talk to. She also gave good recommendations to you if you are new to here.

The item I ordered was not suppose to be spicy but was. Then the lady asked me a question. I didn’t realize she was talking to me and when I didn’t respond she yelled at me. I didn’t tip because that was not good service and when I handed her the respite I signed she ripped it out of my hand and crumbled it up. Not a good experience.

Ordered takeout from a lab.
If you’ve ever wanted the quintessential experience of poor broke twentysomething fishing chowmein and chicken out of a takeout box, this is your place. The food is decent by a reasonably generous standard (and is slightly pricy). It’s more sustenance (and a little on the short side of that, if you spike it with soy and other condiments)
Given the plethora of Thai on the Ave, and that I find Pad Thai to generally be more delicious than Chow Mein, I will likely not be ordering from here anytime soon again.

Oh yuck — way too much chilli oil in my hunan beef
Nasty after taste too
Fried rice seemed like it was recycled leftovers — texture was hard and crunchy
Definitely would not recommend to others

China First recently went through a remodel and it looks so strikingly different from its previous incarnation, I wasn’t sure if I even entered the right restaurant.
Gone are the dark lacquered wall decorations, red wall paper, and old carpet. It’s now bright with wood flooring, lime green painted walls and lights everywhere.
The lunch special is about $ 7. If you get the coupon from the Survival Kit, you can get the special for $ 5.95. I went with my usual order (hot and sour soup, fried rice, sweet & sour chicken). I found the portions to be smaller than I remembered but I was still full nonetheless.
Service was rushed and a bit inattentive. When I was there, two large groups occupied the center and were ordering family style. I received hot tea only when I asked (had nothing to drink otherwise, even water) and they no longer have the pot of hot chili oil on the table (so I had to ask the server and he brought out a small dish). I get that the service can be lacking, however the basic items such as water and tea should be provided without asking. There were 2 servers working while I was there, I recognized the other server from years before.
If you have the coupon and you have low service expectations, you get a great deal for lunch.

DISCLAIMER: I DID NOT TRY THE FOOD HERE!
So this review is based not on the quality of the food but on other factors. If you guys want an evaluation of food quality, you can look at the other reviews, which seem very mixed in opinion.
We went here because we were hungry and wanting to try out other places on the Ave in UDist. I was getting a craving for something oily and lots of MSG, so what came to mind? Chinese food!
We walked into China First and the waitress greeted and started talking to me in Mandarin. First off, don’t assume that every Asian-​looking person that walks in can understand Mandarin. Yeah, I can speak and understand Mandarin, but you should not assume lol. That act itself demonstrates a little bit of ethnocentricism, which in my book is a no-​no.
After sitting down, we took a look at the menu and noticed the dishes were kind of pricey. If the food was special and like the cat’s meow, it would not have been a big deal. For example, if they had Peking Duck or Shark’s Fin Soup, charging us more than the typical $ 9-​$ 12 would have been fine. However, most things on the menu were like $ 15 or more, and the dishes were typical Chinese ones that you can get at any Chinese place. Disappointing.
Yeah I didn’t try the food here and I don’t plan on doing so, unless someone treated me: P I’m a poor law student, and there are so many better and cheaper Chinese places out there — no one got time for that!

This is a review of dinner delivery from China First in Seattle.
it is easy to order via
The delivery fee is $ 2.99. The minimum order for delivery is $ 18.00. The order was placed at 7:10 pm. The estimated delivery time The estimated delivery time was between 8:05 pm and 8:15 pm. The actual delivery time was 8:24 pm. I consider anything over an hour to be too long. So, they missed the boat here.
The food ranged from mediocre to poor. Oddly, the food actually looked quite appetizing.
Mongolian Beef — The meat was on the tough side. The were far too many very large chunks of onion. It lacked any real kick and they didn’t deliver the requested hot sauce.
Shanghai Special Lo Mein Noodle — This dish was bland with a capital B — I guess that would be Bland.
Receipt: $ 30.08
Overall — This was a sub-​par experience. For Americanized Chinese food delivery, I simply can’t give China First a thumbs up. The food just wasn’t very good. Plus, the delivery was quite extended.

Bad quality food. The service is bad. My waitress was very stressful, I wait a lot of time for refill of water. The place looks very dirty. A lot of people working there, the place is confusing.
I know that is a student place and is very busy, but the waitress can have better manners.

Panda Express quality food. No bueno.