Luc Dinh Ky in Westminster! The crispy rice with fried salmon or shaking beef is sooo good. Free herbal tea. Cash only.
Grandpa’s Kitchen for dry noodle (or pork bone broth). My favorite is the dry fried chicken noodle!
Lotus off Beach and Warner is pretty good. However, my absolute favorite local Chinese place is Spicy Noodle House in Santa Ana. Their meat is cooked to crispy perfection and their rice is delicious.
Edit: their tofu is also perfect. Every time. I don’t like to eat much meat so tofu is really important to me.
Laguna Hills - Classic Chinese, they have a wide variety of cantonese food to choose from. Better than the other cantonese food places in Irvine. They have roast duck but you may have to order in advance. No dim sum here though.
Beef noodle soup in irvine… I’d rank them He’s Noodle, bafang…
There are more authentic options, but I really like Wok Hei. My Chinese wife doesn't.
Other good options:
Culver Plaza:
• Meizhou Dongpo
• Tasty Garden
• Tasty Noodle House
Diamond Jamboree:
• Tim Ho Wan
Irvine Village Center:
• Kingchops
Orange Tree Square Shopping Center:
• Hometown Restaurant
• Running Chicken
• Tai Chi Cuisine
• Yu's Garden
So many good Chinese places in Irvine and new ones popping up all the time. My current favorite are:
Delicious Food Corner - really good Hong Kong food that’s not dim sum.
Noodle St - good place for knife cut (shave) noodles (Fullerton location has a bigger menu, Irvine is like the express)
He’s Noodle Zone - really good spicy noodles
Qin West - spicy Liang Pi noodles