China Max Dumpling House

This place is a hidden gem! The food is absolutely delicious, specially the chicken dumplings, with fresh ingredients and authentic flavors. We tried several dishes, including the duck tacos, bbq pork buns and the beef noodles, and they were both good. The server was attentive and friendly, making the dining experience very enjoyable. The portions were generous, and the prices were reasonable. The restaurant itself was clean and well-maintained. There’s plenty of parking.

I’ve never been to China Max before it burned down but it seems like ppl are excited for it to re-open. I went during lunch before I was told there’s an AYCE option. Unfortunately it was only during dinner and it ended on 3/27. Anyway, six of us ordered multiple dishes to share. Chicken dumplings in hot chili oil were great. I liked the texture as well as the taste (although a bit more spicy would be better). Sweet and Sour pork ribs were tender and flavorful. Noodles with Pork Chop were good. The noodles were chewy in a good way and pork chop was crispy and not over fried. The soup dumplings and pan fried pork buns were ok. The cucumber salad was disappointing as they were not marinated long enough. The spicy sauce on top was plain. There were many items not available during our visit. I think it’s a good place to try it out but not my go to place. The taste and the portion are not worth the price.

We went to try this place since it popped up on my TikTok feed and looked like a fun time. I made a reservation for 3 and only had to wait about 7 mins before we got seated at 6:30pm. After 7pm it got CROWDED (Thursday) so make sure you make a reservation. We paid $34 per person for AYCE and ended spending more than double that on the food so it was well worth the money. The dumplings are made fresh to order but the dumplings were just okay, nothing to rave about. Pretty ordinary and quite bland. The pork oil noodles were pretty tasty on the other hand. Kitchen was really busy but our waiter was attentive and very friendly. 🙌SHOUT OUT TO WAITER OWEN!🙌 Very charming gentleman, and patient (we had a lot of questions about the food) since we were new at this concept. The menu has a lot of drink options, you can also have as many sodas as you want. Parking is a little tricky since there are other establishments in the area. Overall we had a nice time here and will return sometime in the future. Thanks, China Max! 🥟🍜😋

Quality of the food was decent. It is nothing like the China max from before the fire. Take the most popular dishes from Din Tai Fun and Dim Sum and you get this new version of China Max. You're not going to find dishes like chicken feet, turnip cake, jellyfish or shrimp rolls on the menu. Overall service was great, they were very attentive. Parking sucks around this area, but it wasn't too bad on Saturday around 5pm so get here early if you want to park in the lot.

Went as a group of 2 and did the all-you-can-eat option for $34.99/person. It was a great deal - we were able to order 12 different items (no repeat) and got to taste everything we wanted to try! The fried XLB and chicken wontons with chili sauce were big hits.

TLDR: this place doesn't set the bar, China Max sets the floor on chinese food. Now when I talk about bad chinese food I can confidently say “at least it wasnt as bad as chinamax.” Save your calories and go to panda for a more authentic experience. I usually dont write reviews like this but the food was so offensive I felt compelled to write this review before I even finished my meal. All of the dumplings taste exactly like those you buy from 99 ranch. Surprisingly they look like it too. The chicken wontons with chili oil are sitting in a sickly sweet syrup that I think is supposed to be soy sauce. Also the chili oil they use tastes more like red dyed oil rather than chili oil. The hot and sour soup is the most room temperature, least sour and spicy soup Ive ever had. Surprisingly the worst hot and sour soup Ive ever had and Im not exaggerating. The pork spare ribs are dry like jerky and also taste like nothing and the seaweed salad is definitely store bought. I can go on and on but literally everything was terrible. Fortunately our waitress was very nice and attentive and thats their only saving grace. What a waste of calories.

Checked out China Max for lunch for my partner’s bday. Ordered the pork soup dumplings, crab soup dumplings, beef steamed dumplings, noodles with ground pork & Szechuan peppercorns, har gow and shu mai. The Pork soup dumplings were better than the crab ones, and the beef steamed dumplings really good. These are some of the best soup dumplings (and dumplings in general) that we’ve had outside of Hong Kong. The shu mai was also really tasty. Har gow filling was perfect, but the wrapper fell apart, which was a bummer. Tea pots are really heavy, so help any elderly guests who are dining with you. Overall it was a great lunch. Service was great too.

We ordered a la carte from the menu, while a few tables around us were doing the all you can eat $40/person. The food we tried was not bad, but also not impressive.

Oh no! There was a fire, and I hope they come back, because I loved this place. I don't know whether this restaurant is owned by a Chinese man named Max (whose friends call him China Max for obvious reasons), if they just take Chinese cuisine to the max, or if it's simply a name chosen at random. What I do know, is that if they make it back, you want to eat the Szechuan Shrimp. The dim sum we tried was all excellent (all the shrimp and pork you'd ever want, wrapped in steamed/fried/baked carbs), even including the sticky rice with chicken that I'm not usually a big fan of, the General Tso's chicken (always a winner for the white people you're with) was everything we hoped it would be, and the service was actually fairly cordial, perhaps because my uncle is a regular. But the Szechuan Shrimp is the winner. Get it. (The only thing I'd avoid was the congee, which was unfortunately bland. I couldn't even punch it up with chili oil, soy sauce, dumpling vinegar...I don't know why.)

Bad news. This restaurant caught on fire last night and suffered major damage. Oh the parking lot is a mess. Got here at noon and there were 10 cars circling the parking lot looking for a space. We were able to get the last handicapped spot

Why do people think that Chinese food should be cheap? If that is what you want, then you should go to some American Chinese fast food joint at the mall. No wait when we came at 11:45am on a Saturday. Yummy dim sum and dishes without MSG! I don't like the thirsty feeling after a meal in some restaurants. I actually like ordering from the menu so that I don't have to chase down some lady pushing a dim sum cart but missed my table or aisle. I also don't have to fight with others to get some dim sum dishes. We bring out of town guests here when they want authentic Cantonese food.

This is my favorite place to go eat for Dimsum. As many say, it is a bit pricier. I think it's pretty decent compared to all the other places here in San Diego, but if you asked my preference - I would tell you NY has better places for sure as I'm from there. And I totally believe the food there is definitely better even though it's crowded. As I've been accustomed to coming here more frequently, I pretty much have a guideline of what to do when arriving. Grab the sheet and start marking down what I or the table wants. I would mark off the box and then write a number of how many next to it. Due to the busy atmosphere - you usually have to be the one to flag a waiter (like most dimsum areas), there's no main area they stay at. Also the area we were seated at (most recently) is kind in the corner. Don't be afraid to call out. Some dimsums I've been to (very rare) have waiters catered to specific tables. The normal to go to's for me: Shrimp Har Gow (we order 1-2 depending on group) Pork Shumai (we order 2-3 depending on group) Spare Rib w/Black Bean Sauce (we order 1-2 depending on group) Beef Tripe (We order 1-2 depending on group) Deep Fried Crab Claw (We order 1-3 depending on group, you could also ask them to cut it) and depending on the table: Chicken Feet (for those who like it) Baked BBQ Pork Bun Fried Squid with Spicy Salt (basically Calamari with a slight kick) Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce Baked Egg Custard Tart Pan Fried Crabmeat Cake Parking is harder during prime rush hours but if you arrive shortly after they just opened - it's not so bad. They got a upstairs section as well - which you could go up the outside stairs from the backside of the building. For cards - I believe they only accept up to two cards , so have your venmos or paypals ready to split up the bill. Keep in mind alcohol blows up the bill if you plan on having some. Overall always had a decent experience.

Came here for dinner on a Saturday evening, about half the tables were filled. A nice, brightly lit restaurant. There were tons of servers around, and customer service was pretty good. But the food was just OKAY. We ordered their pan fried beef with imperial sauce, sautéed green beans, vegetable fried rice, and crispy chicken. I was expecting the beef to have some crispness or char to it, but no... it was also cubed and not super tender. The skin of the chicken was yum, but the meat itself was a bit dry and we had to be careful for tiny bone fragments. The vegetable fried rice was ok, mild in flavor, but had plenty of cut vegetables. The green beans were also just okay. We are because we were hungry, but we were definitely not completely satisfied. (Many tables around us ordered the Peking duck, which is prepared table side, but I'm not a fan of duck)... no dim sum at the time of our visit. Parking is very difficult here, as expected given the area.. serving size is okay, but prices are kinda expensive...

The boyfriend and I decided to come here right when they opened on a Saturday morning. We did beat the crowd but they were quite busy by the time we left. Oh and one good thing about coming early is parking. Some of those spots are tight! As you all know from the other reviews, they don't have the carts here. They just have a menu and then you mark them off on a piece of paper. We tried to keep it under the $5 mark since there were some items that I thought were too expensive for what it is. Like Chinese broccoli was priced between $10-$14! No thanks. We ordered the pork shumai - they were pretty plump and quite flavorful, not salty at all. We also ordered the black bean spare ribs - these were a little oily but amazingly not a lot of fat on them, which was great. Then we had the shrimp rice roll - pretty basic, nothing special. We also had the bbq pork baos - I felt that there was more bread than filling. I think this was my least favorite only because I couldn't taste the filling. The final item we ordered was the turnip cake. It was surprisingly really good. It had a nice crisp outside but soft inside. We really enjoyed it very much. Our total bill was about $35. Good thing i wasn't too hungry or else I would have ordered even more. In any case, I would come back here.

This is one of my favorite Cantonese style restaurants. I usually come here for dinner if you are looking for Dim Sum, I think there are better options. This is not a cheap restaurant, quality of ingredients is very good and service is good too. I think they have the best Honey Walnut Shrimp in San Diego, the shrimps are really big with a light batter, taste really fresh, perfect sweetness balance and the walnuts are delicious too, I have tried this dish in many restaurants here, LA, San Francisco and so far this is the best place to eat them. Some other dishes I have tried: - Beijing Duck.- I know this not a Cantonese dish but they prepare it very well, we usually order the one from the specials. - Shing do chicken.- it is kind of sweet and sour, recommended. - Fried Tofu with shrimp.- another of my favorite dishes here. - Crispy Fried Chicken.- skin is so crispy and the meat very moist, really good. - Braised Tofu with vegetables.- healthy and good too. I think their flavors are pretty authentic too so if you are willing to pay for a good dinner try this place.

With my parents in town, I thought having dim sum would be great for New Year's. I had never been here before, but friends have said it's great but to go early. We were there about 30 minutes after they opened and they already had tables. Then as we ate, the place started filling up. So definitely go early. I do like the fact that you order off a menu. No time wasted. Everything comes out either all at once, or whenever ready. No waiting around for a cart, although I do like the carts cause it's part of the experience. But we were hungry and no waiting is great! Plus we can pretty much eat everything we've ordered together instead of stages. The dining room is small, but I think they either have an upstairs or another room. We sat on the enclosed patio which was nice. Prices are good and the quality is too. Great alternative to the cavernous Jasmine down the street.

The restaurant was destroyed in an explosion and fire on Monday night, April 6, 2020 The cause of the explosion is under investigation. The kitchen staff had been cooking but for takeout only due to the quarantine.

Came here with my brother and his family on a Sunday ay afternoon. The parking lot was extremely crowded but we were able to find one pretty quick luckily. We were seated right away as only about half the restaurant was filled. Service was quick with our drink orders. This is not the traditional dim sum restaurant where they'll have employees walking around with a cart, with the dim sum items coming straight from the kitchen and you get to point and choose. Here, you'd submit your order at once to the staff and they'll bring it out from the kitchen right after it's cooked. This is nice as it ensures your food is more fresh. The food was all nice, warm and tasty. My favorites are the turnip cake, pork dumpling, and the fried shrimp balls.

We came to celebrate and why this place? I'm not sure. We ordered pecking duck, clams with black bean sauce, sautéed fish with bell peppers, honey walnut shrimp, fried squid, and seafood pan fried noodle. We were excited for the pecking duck but it was not good. The duck was not seasoned well and the buns are not the traditional, soft, fluffy type that you'd expect. The honey walnut shrimp was $30. It was good but there was barely enough to go around the table. We ordered seafood pan fried noodle but instead we got lo mein. We decided to place another order and this time, we explained thoroughly that we wanted the fried crispy noodles with the sauce poured on top. Unfortunately, the exact same thing came out but instead of being dry brown noodles, it was white soupy noodles. At this point, I didn't even bother to take pictures because we were so over it. We can't believe that this "authentic Chinese" restaurant is unable to serve more than one type of noodle. The only thing that was good was the clams and fish dishes. But even so, it didn't stand out enough to make us want to come back. Our bill came to $210 and we weren't satisfied.

Was craving some dim sum in San Diego on a Sunday and so we were looking. Around and found this place. It was not terrible but it wasn't the best either. For two people, we spent $60 in food not including tip. So it's a little pricey and we didn't even eat that much where we were stuffed. Dim sum in general is always better with a large group too. Nothing too spectacular about this place.

I ate here with Asian Foodies of San Diego MeetUp Nov 17, 2019. 14 people at a big round table upstairs. We ordered from the menu, people at the table just hollaring the dim sum items that they wanted, and one person marked them on the paper list of dim sum. It was all delicious, but sometimes we were told that we would have to wait 20 min for our orders due to backlog. One thing to be said for the carts, they are always coming, and if you don't see what you want, flag down a server and they will get it for you. Selection on the menu was limited, missing my favorite dim sum. Now when we got our bill, and divided it by 14 people (the tip was already added at 15%), it came to $28.55 a person. Other than Din tai Fung which was $35 a person, this was the most expensive dim sum I ever had in my life! Jasmine is about the same price. I no longer eat dim sum in San Diego anymore for that reason. I did try 2 times, dim sum happy hour (3-5 weekdays) at Fun Fung Yuen, basic dim sum for half price, but even at that price it wasn't worth going back. Dim sum was cold and not that tasty, even ick. I really live in Arizona. My Asian Community MeetUp was at dim sum (they do so every month) at Mekong Plaza the same weekend. Mekong's prices are $3.55 for everything from chicken feet, sui mai, and even shrimp dishes such as rice noodle shrimp and shrimp law gow, and anything fried such as sticky rice balls, taro with meat inside, things that come 3 on a plate. $5.95 for gai lan and string beans, and $6.95 for roast duck. Per person cost incl tax and tip was only $12.88 there, vs $28.55 at China Max. China Max is $4.95 for basic round steamer sui mai, haw gow, chicken feet, but gai lan costs $14 but larger portion. Shrimp dim sum like shrimp haw gow, shrimp ball, shrimp rice noodle, shrimp dumpling at China Max is $5.85 China Max tea is whopping $1.65 a person. Even hot water is .80. Too expensive to go back, for meeeee.

My go to dim sum place! Service can be whatever sometimes but I come for the food. Shrimp roll, chicken feet, shumai, pork ribs, tripe and that sticky rice thing! Came here for dinner one time as well and it was good! Definitely enjoyed it.

Very good dim sum in San Diego. I've only sat on the top floor every time I've come because I've always been with a party of 8+. But plenty of room for big parties and the service has always been great. Dim sum is very good all around, especially the egg custard. The peking duck order is delicious. They will cut the duck and make each bun at the table, tastes very fresh. Skin is crispy. Pork buns and turnip cake are my favorites. Service has always been fast and prices are very affordable.

My friends invited me here to have Easter brunch on Sunday. I've only eaten here once before a very long time ago, but didn't like the food very much because it was so salty. It's been at least 7 years since then and now I was able to try their dim sum. This restaurant is two stories! We sat on the second floor next to the balcony, which was nice since we had a fussy baby with us. When I got there, the ones who got there first already placed a few orders, so I came just in time for the food to arrive. I like the traditional way of pointing at my favorite items when the ladies come by on their carts, but this place just has you ordering from a separate menu for dim sum by marking what you want. Some of the items ordered came in 3's, even though we ordered 2 of each, but we decided to just keep it anyways. A few of the dim sum items weren't very tasty and the rest were just okay. Since they didn't like us asking for more water, they decided to leave the pitcher on the table, so that we can serve ourselves. After getting the bill, they even charged us for items we never got!

This is our go to family spot for special occasions and random dinners out! We came tonight for dinner and ordered a variety of items: Peking Duck (2 courses), Honey Walnut Shrimp, Beef and Asparagus, Clams, Calamari, a veggie dish, and Dried Scallop Fried Rice. Everything came out piping hot and we dug in! It was absolutely delicious and everything was well seasoned. We will definitely be back here again!

I can't say how happy I am to found this place for Chinese dim sum. Tasty with a great price! I brought my husband there to try authentic Cantonese Dim Sum, since he is American while I'm Chinese. We had a lot of good dim sum places when we lived in New York. But there are limited options in SD. But thankfully China Max is pretty good!

This restaurant serves dim sum in the morning and seafood at night. We were here for the dim sum part. There are only a very small handful of dim sum restaurants here in San Diego and this is one of the few better known ones. These are order from the menu type of dim sum as opposed to push cart. Their menu is pretty good with pictures and corresponding item numbers on the order sheet. So that's pretty good for people who aren't familiar with the dim sum scene. For those who are familiar with the dim sum scene, you'll see some very traditional items on the menu. Shui mai, baked bbq buns, egg tarts (not the Portuguese ones...), deep fried taro dumplings, just to name a few... Their items are also slightly limited and usually on the higher price side unfortunately. Am I stoked about this dim sum place? That's a solid NO. Am I going to come back? Probably... Our lack of dim sum selection in San Diego leaves us to pick and choose from a limited number of highly priced mediocre restaurants. We'll catch up to you one day Bay Area and LA...

Haven't been here for a while, and actually intended to go to another restaurant in the complex, but as we pulled in decided that dim sum sounded good. Not quite what I remember it being, the dim sum menu is fairly limited to start with, but then there were out 3 of the items were tried ordering :( For what we did get, like the Siu Mai and some other dumplings, the pieces seemed smaller that what I recall and compared to other places in the area. If the prices were lower I wouldn't care about the size, but I think you can get a better value elsewhere. On the plus side the flavor and service was good.

The dim sum here is rather delicious, but oh-my it's expensive! All their shrimp items are at $5.69 with most everything else at $3.69. So, if you go H.A.M. on the har gow ordering, your bill is sure to stack up! Probably some of the plumpest, tastiest, and most tightly wrapped har gow I've had though, they get credit for that at least. No cart-pushing aunties here. You order off a very colorful menu replete with pictures and descriptions. Nice staff and you won't ever have trouble finding a waiter. One of the toughest plazas to find parking in though, so your best bet is to scope out street parking on Engineer Road.

Meh. Customer service was very friendly & attentive but this place is probably my least favorite dim sum place... They serve dim sum daily in the morning, check out their website for times. Compared to other places, I felt that their items were not as fresh or used quality ingredients. All the items were very greasy. Steamed Shrimp Dumplings Baked BBQ Pork Buns: Do not order! The sauce was weird, I cannot put my finger on what it was... Deep Fried Crab Claws Shrimp Rice Noodles Mango Pudding

We were looking so forward to some great dim sum! A little disappointing - their selection is pretty limited and they didn't have any XLB on the menu! We ordered: Turnip cakes Hargaw Lo bo gao Chong fun Siu mai Dantad Mango pudding Baked charsiu buns Everything was good, but nothing was outstanding or amazing relative to other dim sum we've had. The charsiu buns were served on a paper doily that they were stuck to, so that wasn't well thought out. They also charge per person for tea. Service was the usual Asian eatery service - slightly rude but not exceedingly so. All in all, just ok.

This is the place my family likes to go to celebrate special occasions. China Max is one of the nicest Chinese restaurants in town. White tablecloths and chopsticks set immaculately. When the event is big enough you can takeover a room on the 2nd floor as we did. There is a nice view of Convoy St. This time we were here to celebrate Claire's 4 month birthday. Claire's party started at 5:30pm before the parking lot filled up. Egg drop soup with spinach and beef. Nice aroma and flavor from the veggies, egg, and beef. Duck in a bun. I love char sui bao and this is a similar pastry. I love the rich flavor of 5 spice powder from the roast duck. Skin was nice and crunchy. Honey walnut shrimp was sticky and sweet. Big plump shrimp were very juicy as well. Stir fried white fish had a nice mild flavor which absorbed the flavor from the veggies and seasonings. Liked the flavor quite a bit! Cashew chicken had a nice flavor the cashews imparted to the chicken. Chicken pan fried noodles were covered in a delicious sauce. Chicken was very tender and I liked the flavor of the egg noodles, shrimp, and bok choy. Filet mignon was very tender, juicy, and full of flavor from the pepper and marinade. Pork and beef fried rice had tender pork, beef and lettuce which I rarely see in fried rice. Ingredients had a nice mild flavor. Duck lettuce wrap had delicious savory duck balanced by the mild lettuce flavor. China Max provided a nice elegant setting for our event and while all the dishes were good I particularly enjoyed the chicken pan fried noodles, filet mignon, and roast duck. I look forward to the next event that needs celebrating.

5 stars for the fried shrimp fishermen's style--fried prawns--not too oily--with chili, spices, garlic, peppers, etc.--this was the best dish by far, but expensive ($30), on the chef special menu The rest of the food was good, but not amazing...we had peking duck with buns, tofu with crab meat (nothing special even though it was on the chef's special menu), Chinese broccoli with garlic, chow mein, kung pao chicken, clams. Everything came quickly. We were done eating in an hour.

Not sure why this place has 3 stars but l loved the food. Everything was tasty, especially the appetizer duck dish that they prepare at your table. I do have to mention that the honey walnut shrimp was a little bland. The waitress was extremely helpful...probably helped us because we dined with some regulars that they knew so they were very attentive and accommodating to us, even with the different allergies at the table.

I had dim sum breakfast here with my mom early in the morning when they just opened. It's quiet and peaceful. I picked 9 different types, all of them were fresh and yummy, especially bbq baos and shrimp dumplings. I really enjoyed dim sum here compared to other places in San Diego. This is my favorite location for dim sum now. One minus thing, I wish they have more choices for tea.

OMG SO EXPENSIVE. All the dishes here were so pricy. Did I unknowingly step into a 5-star Chinese restaurant? A whopping $23 for crabmeat with fish maw soup that tasted like straight up HOT WATER. Tried to save it with some chili oil and soy sauce but it could not be saved. I know food in California is typically more expensive than food in Texas but holy moly, that same dish would have cost half as much back home in Texas and it would have tasted better too. The fried baby squid with garlic salt was solid. Peking duck was delicious as well. The server cuts up the duck in front of you, assembles it with the buns and cucumbers, and serves everyone at the table two buns of peking duck. The rest of the duck is then brought back into the kitchen and prepared in a different way which you can eat with steamed rice. The duck here is prepared really well - very tender and juicy. We also ordered some beef dish with asparagus. Unfortunately I don't remember the name because now I am doing my fellow Yelpers a disservice by forgetting the name of the dish they should NOT order. It seemed the salt that was lacking in the soup was dumped into our beef and asparagus dish. Way too salty. Our final dish was the sizzling assorted seafood with a mix of vegetables which was a pretty good dish.

I attended a Cantonese banquet dinner in the upstairs private dining room. The traditional banquet dinner is a wonderfully unique experience. Large family-sized platters are served on a centered lazy Susan for everyone (twelve people per table) to share. The entrees are queued in a particular order, and the dinner starts with a soup and ends with a plate of sliced oranges. Here's a rundown of the dishes in the order they were served. The shrimp, duck, and pork dishes blew me away and I strongly recommend each. Beef Soup - This was similar to a soup from the home country that we call West Lake Soup. The broth was flavored by minced beef, small green vegetable, and egg whites. Beef with Mushrooms - Nice tender slices of marinated beef were stir fried with a variety of Chinese mushrooms. The mushrooms were hearty but tender, and the brown sauce was flavorful. Duck in Bao Pancakes - The wait staff sliced the duck and made sliders using soft bao for the buns. These were excellent as the doughy bao offset the natural oils and saltiness of the duck Honey Walnut Shrimp - Huge fresh shrimp were lightly breaded and fried to perfection. They were tossed in a creamy, sweet sauce and garnished with crunchy walnuts. Sautéed Fish and Vegetables - Mild white fish fillets were stir fried with mixed vegetables. The light colored sauce was a good combination. Lettuce Wraps - Hand sized pieces of lettuce were filled with a ground pork and minced water chestnut filling. The filling had a delicate hoisin sauce flavor. Peking Pork - Pork chops were cut to the perfect size for handling with chop sticks. The pork pieces were fried and coated with a sweet and sticky sauce. These delicious pork pieces would have been excellent with white rice. Shrimp Fried Rice - Authentic fried rice is slightly different from the Americanized version. The rice is a little more sticky and there isn't as much use of soy sauce and egg. The fried rice was pre-dished into individuals bowls, and that was a convenient touch. Roasted chicken - The highlight of the chicken dish was the chicken's head, which was included on the platter. Visions of the scene from A Christmas Story were relived at our table. A rumor spread that someone at another table ate the head. Our table passed, but that feat will become legend. The chicken was topped with a chopped garlic puree that was strong but flavorful. The banquet was excellent; some of the best Chinese food that I can recall. There were a few issues with the timing and temperature, but serving a group of 120 probably challenged the kitchen and staff. All thing considered, I thought the experience was top notch.

BEST DIM SUM IN SD, in my opinion!! I don't know why the reviews are so low. I mean what do you expect from a Chinese Dim Sum restaurant? Food is great and you don't have to wait for the little old ladies to push their carts to you!! I prefer ordering from the menu as my dim sum comes out piping hot! Prices are reasonable for their quality of food. Here's my food recommendations: - Shrimp Har gow - Pork shiu mai - Chicken feet is a must! - Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves - beef tripe - Shrimp dumpling - Fried pork dumpling - Pan fried turnip cake - Fried seaweed shrimp roll - Baked sesame BBQ pork puff - Shrimp rice noodle - Always order the EGG TARTS!! I have had dinner here as well and order the PEKING DUCK!! YUM! There's always a line for dim sum on the weekends and this plaza is always packed, so try and beat the lunch or dinner rush. Parking is insane, even for a big parking lot.

PROS: + dim sum during lunch hours + dim sum menu has photos + FISH RICE NOODLE + shrimp and spinach dumpling + next to Bamboo :) + good service CONS: - hit or miss parking 3-stars because I think this place is a bit average. It's decent, but I prefer Jasmine's for Dim Sum :)

I like this place quite a bit. Being a Vancouverite I'm already quite spoiled but I find myself perfectly happy dining here. They did forget our soup and came only after we reminded them, almost when the meal is done. Bonus coconut pudding and fortune cookies are most welcome as the latter, believe it or not, are next to impossible to find in Vancity Cantonese eateries!

3.5/4 Stars! This place has pretty good dimsum, but it might cost you an arm & a leg.. Har Gow (3 pieces) for nearly $5?! Early in the morning on the weekends, this place gets packed. There are always a lot of servers though, so getting your order/etc is usually not a problem. They serve you their fresh brewed tea in a tea pot which is actually my fav part about China Max! Unlike the usual cart dimsum style, you get a menu of all their dimsum options and a paper & pencil to fill out what you would like to order. It definitely adds up! For 3 people (with some left overs), it was about $20. We ordered different options; some notable ones: -Shrimp Har Gow: This was pretty good. The shrimp was well-seasoned and the coating was soft and chewy. -Shrimp & Cilantro Dumpling: Probably my favorite dumpling out of all the ones we have tried before. The cilantro mixed with shrimp makes for a great herb/salty tasting dumpling! I also love that the dumpling coating is thick enough to enjoy the texture of the dumpling, but thin enough so that it allows you to enjoy the flavoring of the meat inside. -Shrimp Rice Noodle Paper: YUM, their awesome tasting shrimp in the rice paper in their sweet black soy sauce is light and delicious! -Ham Sui Gok (Fried Pork Dumpling): Wonderfully airy and delicious! The pork stuffing is light (not too salty), so it allows you to dip in soy sauce for extra yummyness Overall: kind of expensive but good if youre willing to pay!

Came here for lunch on a Sunday and it wasn't too packed. There was a wait but it wasn't too bad! Parking does get kind of bad in this plaza though from all the good places so be aware of that when going! For the food, it wasn't really too special, but it hit the spot for my dimsum cravings. While it tasted pretty standard for dimsum, it just didn't taste as freshly made or anything. Service is pretty good - it wasn't too hard to flag someone down when needed and empty plates were taken away quickly.

I was excited for dim sum, but this place was very disappointing. Chicken feet was not cooked long enough so it's softer, and it's also not tasty; Chinese broccoli was over-cooked, we couldn't finish everything because it just doesn't taste right; everything else was so-so. Nothing really stood out. I wouldn't come back here. I give 2 stars for the attentive service.

While visiting my brother and sister-in-law, I get a phone call from my sister saying she was in the area with my mom and that our other sister was in another part of San Diego already. Of course, we decided to meet up and grab a late sit-down dinner together. We didn't want anything too heavy so we thought dim sum would be great. Yelp led us to China Max but, unfortunately, they weren't serving dim sum at the time we arrived. We ended up placing our orders from the menu. Little did we know that the food we ordered individually would be served Family Style! It was no biggie since we all were there for the company. INTERIOR This two-story restaurant was spacious and the interior was brightly lit. There's plenty of room on the main floor for strollers, walkers, or wheelchairs. Every table was covered in white linen table cloth, which was a nice touch for a restaurant on Convoy. I was really impressed! FOOD I wasn't expecting much from China Max with the Yelp ratings; however, my family and I really enjoyed the entrees we ordered! There was one dish we all enjoyed and I can't remember the name but I believe it was Ginger Chicken. Their Jumbo Shrimp with Lobster Sauce was really good. The shrimp was succulent and cooked to perfection, and that lobster sauce was delicious. The Sautéed Green Beans were crunchy---just how I prefer---and flavorful. The Singapore Mei Fun was prepared the same way I cook it at home so, obviously, it was delicious (LOL)! Really it was! The Beef with Ginger and Scallions was delicious as well. Even the fried rice wasn't heavy nor greasy. Very well made! I also liked how the oranges came at the end of the meal with fortune cookies. Basically, the food exceeded our expectations! CUSTOMER SERVICE Well, our servers were really nice and friendly. They accommodated our requests and treated us well. At one point, it was hard to get their attention to refill out waters so I'm sure it could have been better. They were also pretty busy that evening (11/21/15). PARKING Parking spaces are so tight here. Forget about driving your large SUV or truck because each space was made for compact cars---or so it seemed. You'll have to be careful where you park if you drive a nicer vehicle. It's not China Max's fault but just thought I'd point that out. Overall, dinner was great but service could have been better. A fair 3.5 stars but rounding it up to 4 because we were really impressed. I'd have to come back here again to try their dim sum and give an updated review.

It's kind of an old school Chinese restaurant, not modernized, I really liked how they treated me here and the meal was solid. Whenever I eat alone, I worry that the server might dismiss me since my bill will be less than any other table, but they treated me nicely here. I came in about 30 minutes before closing and they still took my business. I wanted hargow and they made it for me. I really liked the fresh wrapper and the huge shrimp inside. The wonton soup was also shrimp. The tea had the leaves floating in it but I didn't mind. I kind of liked it. Anyhow, 5 stars for service and solid meal: 4 pieces hargow Cup of wonton soup Pot of tea $13 They have an expansive menu with interesting items and a large 'indoor/outdoor' patio that can be used as a private room and huge private event space upstairs.

I got burned on bad dim sum in the past, and that experience would forever haunt me. My hope in finding the best dim sum seemed to have been just out of my grasp. Until I tried China Max. Holy moly this place is delicious. I don't know what it is about the tea, but it's the perfect start to an even better meal. The food is wonderful, and depending on the time of week you come, will be delivered quickly or with kind of a wait. There are lost of options to choose from on the menu, from chicken feet to potstickers, it's all there. My personal faves are the potstickers, BBQ buns and the SESAME BALLS. Do your tastebuds a favor and come on down to China Max!

I am Chinese and this is the reason I never step into a Chinese restaurant in America food is mostly over $15 a dish and super salty Dirty soup dishes - I am not sipping someone else's crumbs! I miss the real Chinese food. Only reason for 1 star was for the survers. They are attentive and friendly

People need to understand that dim sum joints are always gonna have mediocre to bad service. Once you accept that fact, you'll enjoy the food a lot more. Be aggressive for attention to get your orders in and go with someone knowledgeable if possible, especially for your first time. The food here was dank!

Hong Kong breakfast style "Yum Cha" in San Diego! I would rate this place 4 stars. Why? 1. The food is good although not the best. The roll noodle with shrimp and custard bun are so good. Did I mention the deep fried crab ball too? 2. Service is fast and no long wait line. When you get into the table there will be paper and pencil. You can write your order and sum it the paper to the waiter or waitress then your foods will be ready!!!

Wonderfully crafted dimsum with even better taste! There's been a lack of good dimsum option in the locale And this place did not disappoint! Turnip cake to exotic chicken feet and ubiquitous steamed buns they got goin on... albeit the menu is not as extensive , the quality more than makes up for it. ...better come early before the rush to fully enjoy the experience (Sunday mornings or otherwise )... As with any other thing with quality be prepared to dish out more dough from yer wallets... No trolleys please ...

Not bad for a San Diego dim sum spot. They have quick and good service, but the items are pretty expensive. I guess I'm just used to LA spots, but they're charging nearly $6 for shu-mai and $7 for stick rice. Yikes. Don't get me wrong, I do come here, but it's simply just "A-OK" in my yelp book.

There aren't many dim sum places in San Diego but this place makes the cut - it's affordable, the shrimp rice noodles and steamed spare ribs are really good. The spare ribs are oily but well seasoned, and the shrimp rice noodles are always warm, soft and best with their sweet soy sauce. I would give it more stars if the service was better and if the plates were cleaner, there was something on the plate and we had to ask for another. Another thing to consider is that the lot is always full, it's really hard to find a parking spot. This place isn't a traditional serve off a cart dim sum but an order by item off the menu. Sometimes there's a wait but I've always gotten seated pretty soon.

I would NOT recommend to dine here. Food is not bad but service is TERRIBLE and RUDE. Our family of 8 ordered 8 dishes, 1 dish came out at a time. After we finished each dish, we had to wait for the next dish. The portion of the dish is very small. First, the $49 peking duck (2 courses) was nothing like peking duck. Very small duck, the cucumber cut very thick, buns was tiny like a size of a mini cookie. They forgot our 2nd course (the remainder of the duck served as lettuce wrap). We asked them a couple times to check, they gave us the dirty look, didn't respond and walked away. The 3rd time we asked, the waitress looked at us confused and thought we ordered one course peking duck ($39.35). It finally came out 2nd to our last dish. Second, crabmeat soup ($39+) wasn't bad but they charged 1.5 times of the price and was barely enough for the 8 of us. It came out after the peking duck when soup always come out first. Black bean sautéed cod fish dish barely any fish in it. Mostly bell peppers and onions. Super Salty and we didn't get our rice. We ordered 2 bowls of rice at the beginning when we ordered our food, no rice brought out until we reminded them. Then, they only brought 1 bowl out. Really?! We reminded them again that we ordered 2 bowls. We didn't get the 2nd bowl until after the next 2 dishes. That's how long we were served for each item. Pepper steak French style ($28) was good and tender. Deep fried smelt fish was good and small portion as well. Walnut shrimp was good but only 10 pieces and barely walnuts in it. They brought out pea leaves sautéed with garlic dish ($20+) that we didn't order but we kept it anyways since we were out of food to eat while waiting for our dishes to come out. Our 2nd course of peking duck lettuce wrap (duck meat stir fried with water chestnut) finally came out. They made 8 tinny size of lettuce wrap when there were enough to make 16. Very salty. We ordered beef stir fried crispy egg noodles with veggies ($19+), they brought out beef stir fried flat noodles. They told us their computer show beef stir fried flat noodles. I confirmed again that we didn't order it. They took it back to the kitchen and minutes later, they brought back out to another table. While all these happened, we heard a couple next to us upset and said "we only got 2 of the 4 dishes and have been waiting for the remaining 2 for awhile, pls cancel them and give us the check". The waiter didn't apologize and said are u sure? The couple repeated again, "yes pls cancel and give us the check, it's taking too long". Then the couple paid and left. While we were finishing up eating, another couple stood up and left after they were seated for awhile and no one came by to take their order. My worse experience ever. Especially with my whole family, it's terrible to have to wait and ask for your food to come out. With respect, we were still polite and said thank u to them each time they brought a dish. Next, our $278.35 bill automatically added 16% tips. This added tips did not mention anywhere on their menu. I understand we have 8 ppl (6 adults and 2 kids), most non-Asian restaurants would do that for a party of 6 or more. I rarely see that at Asian restaurants. I normally would tip 20% anyways (to easily calculate the tip) and at least 15% even if it's bad service because it's not always the waiters or waitresses' fault if the food wasn't prepared by the chefs yet but the least they can do is to check with the kitchen and update us and I would be ok. Nope, not at China Max and most of them are rude servers. Especially the older lady. If u are not happy at work, u shouldn't be at work. The restaurant was not busy like it's a full house because there were empty tables so we just don't get it. We were unhappy and frustrated the whole time it's like we were begging for our food to come out bcuz we had to ask after each dish. We gave them the benefit of doubt that it'll be ok as we eat but it wasn't after every dish. Then, I gave them my credit card for the bill. The merchant receipt I received had 16% ($35.xx) "hand written" on it with the $278.35 total. But it's different on the customer receipt. It only shows the subtotal of $243.xx, tip and total lines were blank. What the heck?! In the end, none of the servers apologize or say thank you for coming. We DEFINITELY will NOT come back to China Max ever again. My whole family is very disappointed and left unhappy. :-(

While visiting SD I was craving some dim sum so my group and I decided to come here. We called prior to see how long the wait was (we are so use to Garden Grove and 1-2 hour waits) but there was no wait at all on a Saturday at 11:00am. Came and got seated right away. Not your typical dim sum place with rolling carts. You order first and they bring out the food to you. It is a little more pricier that I was expected but overall, the food was decent. Wasn't a fan of the rice rolled dish with the shrimp and that was the one we ordered the most of. One thing that is a must is the egg yolk bun. That was delicious so if you want some dessert, that is the one thing you must order. Their egg tart was too eggy. For 7 people our bill was around $110 and they also include tip for you already

China Max is one of the best dim sum places in San Diego. The food they serve is very fresh, which is a trade off for a lack of the cart service. Their Pecking Duck is amazing (they do it tableside) and they'll even let you take the bones home for soup if you ask. Their service and quality of food is unrivaled for dim sum in San Diego.

China Max is well-known, beloved and one of San Diego's favorite local Chinese restaurants on Convoy. I have attended many gatherings here with friends, and their lunch and dinner dishes are delicious. I have also heard great things about their morning dim sum, and had the opportunity to try it out recently over the weekend. Now, since I visit Hong Kong every year, I must say I have had my fair share of authentic dim sum, so this review will be biased and by no means change my opinion of China Max, nor will is stop me from coming here again for lunch and dinner with a group of friends in the future. During our visit, the restaurant was of course packed with eager dim sum patrons, and the staff quickly found a wonderful table on the 2nd floor right next to the window. The atmosphere on the 2nd floor is quite the opposite from the lively 1st floor, one can almost hear a pin drop on the second floor! I feel dim sum is best enjoyed in a busy restaurant with carts hustling and bustling with hot fresh buns and chicken feet. The atmosphere on the 2nd floor felt more like going to Mister A's for a fancy meal - so quiet, no carts. The nice thing is they have cute picture menus so customers can visually see which dim sum items to order. I thought that was really helpful. Taste wise, the Sticky Rice with Lotus Leaf (Lo Mai Gai) is delicious, certainly high up to one of the best sticky rice I have eaten. Definitely recommend. As for the other dishes, I felt the food temperature was not as steamy and hot, because it does take time for them to prepare, steam/fry, then use that little food elevator to deliver it upstairs. By the time it arrives to our table, it doesn't have the same effect as ordering it straight from the push carts. I would also recommend the steamed items as oppose to the fried ones, which texture-wise was hard and excessively oily. The staff were very professional, helpful and quick, as always. I might not have liked the dim sum delivery style, but it's one of those things where I would come back for lunch and dinner with friends.

China Max = max frustration when you're trying to park. Good luck navigating the parking lot during peak times. I suggest just finding street parking a few blocks away and walking because you know us San Diegians would rather wait 20 minutes for a closer spot than walk. Very normal dim sum arrangement you'd find anywhere else. I think I read somewhere that most dim sum places get their food from the same vendor in Hong Kong but it wouldn't surprise me because the food tastes delicious but I can't distinguish between different places. No grumpy ladies with carts here. Sit down, view the menu and they give you a pencil and a sheet of paper with the items there so just mark the ones you want. Expect Chinese level of service. Be sure to say no to the tea if you do not want it (they usually just set it down on your table without asking and you assume it's free?) it's not free. $1.50 a person. I have noticed they've gotten better about asking whether or not you want tea or not. Would still prefer going to here rather than Jasmine and Emerald in the area. Don't skip out on the baked custard buns for dessert. Hands down best item there.