Great Castle Chinese Restaurant

I love Chinese food, and I’m so glad I found Great Castle Restaurant! The dishes taste amazing and remind me of home. We especially enjoyed the shrimp fried rice and sweet and sour fish fillet -both were flavorful and perfectly cooked. The staff were also very friendly and made the place feel warm and homey. Definitely one of my favorite spots here in Bakersfield.

Something has happened to Great Castle Chinese Restaurant….. Customer service was very courteous and helpful. The food…..Over the top delicious. I don’t remember it ever being as good as it was tonight. The Walnut Shrimp, Kung Pao chicken, and pork fried rice was incredible. Absolutely the best potstickers on the planet. Newly lighted dining area that really made their dishes aesthetically pleasing too. Good on you guys and thank you for a wonderful dining experience !!!

Food was delicious and service was on point. Ordered the house special chow mien, the spicy crispy chicken and the egg drop soup.

I have been coming to this restaurant for over 20 years with my family. It has always hit the spot, but since the new ownership took over, I’ve come here twice. I should have learned from my first time but nostalgia made me want to try it again and I was extremely disappointed. Not only did they get my order wrong, but the food was extremely mediocre. I live 20 minutes across town and I drove there just to avoid going to panda express and I extremely regret it. Not only was it much more expensive but the food quality has gone down sharply since the new ownership. I definitely will not be coming back here again.

I will give a fair and honest review. IT IS NOT THE SAME. I feel as though I could find a better much less expensive place to buy Chinese cuisine. This was one of the worst 49 dollars I have ever spent. The Chow Mein Noodles were way overcooked and the rice was hard and not cooked properly. If you are looking for the old owners quality and taste you will not find it here.

I’ve been eating here since the 90’s and every meal was perfection. I went right after the owernership changed and there wasn’t a noticeable difference. However, today (12/16/25) I was craving the chicken chow mein and the house special spicy crispy beef, so I ordered to go; something that I’ve done various times over the years. I hate to say this because I LOVED this place, but food was horrific. The beef had a “flavor” that bordered on putrid and very chewy, I had to throw it out. The chicken chow mein was better, but was almost entirely noodles and very little chicken or vegetables. The poor quality of this order was alarming. It also gave me the bubble guts. It’s an end of era. You can find better Chinese food ANYWHERE else.

I always make it a point to drop in at Great Castle for lunch whenever I’m in Bakersfield. The staff is always very friendly and get you served quickly. The inside is laid back and relaxing, perfect for taking a break from work before driving back out again. The lunch specials are well portioned and reasonably priced. I paid about $20 including tip. McDs combo runs about the same these days. Highly recommend them for lunch, just watch out for their fortune cookies, they give some wild predictions lol

Some of, if not the best Chinese food I've ever had. Quality of food was consistently great across all dishes. Fresh ingredients. Will be returning if I'm in the area again. Food was served quickly. Leading with potstickers, followed by wonton soup about the same time we finished the potstickers, and the vegetable fried rice arrived shortly after we finished our soup. The Mongolian Beef and Chow Mein came shortly after, so there was little time waiting between dishes. The tea was delightful, some of the best tea I've ever had. It was served loose-leaf in the tea kettle, so removing the sachet to halt steeping is impossible. The pot stickers were great, especially with the brown sauce and some of the chili oil (if you like spice). The broth of the wonton soup was rich, but light and not overpowering. The bok choy in the soup was not wilted at all, very nice and fresh. The snow peas were crisp and not stringy. The vegetable fried rice was excellent, made with fresh veggies and with a perfect amount of seasoning and char. Onions in the Mongolian Beef were crunchy and not limp or chewy. The sauce for the Mongolian Beef was great. Service was good. They don't hound you, but they watch tables. They brought us boxes and the bill without requesting it shortly after we finished eating.

Way way better. Cleaner and no roaches Great menu Great service High prices For some reason they didn't bring us any complimentary munchies as they did all the other tables Tables aren't set with chopsticks or full set of cutlery along with the forks. Had to ask for tea! Had to ask for chili oil Food was plentiful and very tasty They didn't all taste the same!!! Definitely recommend

Something has happened to Great Castle Chinese Restaurant..... Customer service was very courteous and helpful. The food.....Over the top delicious. I don't remember it ever being as good as it was tonight. The Walnut Shrimp, Kung Pao chicken, and pork fried rice was incredible. Absolutely the best potstickers on the planet. Newly lighted dining area that really made their dishes aesthetically pleasing too. Good on you guys and thank you for a wonderful dining experience !!!

Ambiance-decor hasn't changed, however, maximizing seat seems lacking because there was a booth area in front area that was being used as a storage area instead of seating. Good use a small updating. Service-waiting list on a Sunday at 6:30pm while lots of open tables to be seen (7 areas). 3 waiters on the floor with one dedicated to cleaning up and setting tables. Promptly asked about drinks- served hot green tea Food- wow! Every dish was delicious. Ordered from pre-fix selection starting at $23.95 per person. I added beef fau (sic) chow. The wonton soup was very delicious with shrimp, chicken and small slices of beef. I put a smidge of hot mustard and Wowzer! Great!

It had been awhile since we last ate at Great Castle. It was the first time since the ownership changed. When I asked, they said much of the kitchen staff was the same. We ordered our usual Chinese (seems redundant) Chicken Salad with extra ginger and Kung Pao Chicken (no white onion). The server was happy to take my special orders. Great Castle is a fun place to eat. I love the Chinese decorations. It was close to their New Year and I love their decorations. The food was just as tasty as I remembered, maybe a little better. A higher quality chicken seems the most logical answer. The sauce on the Kung Pao is not very spicy, but it adds just enough flavor that, when mixed with the steamed rice, one gets that happy feeling inside. It's still a little pricey. If you haven't been to the Great Castle on Union Ave. yet, definitely check it out.

So the previous owner we all learn to love over the years retried and new owners took over. The restaurant looks the same. The service is still good. Food still comes fast. Big change is happening. Start with Mapo Tofu. They added in tingly spice and the authentic bean sauce from Pixian. Wow, what a pleasant surprise! The seasoning of the vegetables are much more aggressive, in a good way. The pork is the same, which is already great. The dry style beef chow fun was amazing! I'm definitely going back!

I am not going to lie the food was great, until I found a hair in it. I will think about a future visit.

Great Castle is our go-to Chinese spot . The food is great. The menu is so big it's hard to choose a dish. The service has always been top notch. I know they are closing down soon, and that makes me very sad. This place is the best in town.

So this is my second time going to this restaurant and I'll have to say that the food was tastier and better this time around. I also feel like their portions got bigger, which is good, this makes a great restaurant for larger groups and when two people who do not eat a lot are on a budget. I went on a Saturday and the place was pretty busy, however since it was just me I was able to be seated right away. The staff is friendly and professional and right away. They brought me water and hot jasmine tea. I ordered a cup of egg, drop soup, pork, fried rice, and moo-shu pork. After I ordered the server brought me a small bowl of crispy noodles with a side of ketchup and hot and spicy mustard. The egg drop soup came out first. It is a very good sized cup not like other places where it's a tiny little thing. The soup had plenty of egg and the broth was tasty. It was also loaded with a few vegetables, including mushrooms. II wish it was piping hot, it was warm at best. The next thing that came out was the moo-shu pork. This is one of my all-time favorite dishes, especially when the pork and vegetables are seared in a hot wok and you get that seared wok taste. For those of you not familiar with this dish, it is a pork vegetable stirfry that is then wrapped in steamed crêpes, a.k.a. Chinese crêpes, with hoisin sauce, and rolled to look like a burrito. The portion was large, it came with four servings, and the last one was kind of fat. The server mentioned that if requested, you could ask them to make them smaller and you get more crêpes out of the dish. Similarly like the soup, I wish it was piping hot. The dish was warm and got cold very quickly. The last thing that came out was the pork fried rice. I love a good pork fried rice when you get that nice seared taste and the rice is brown from all the sauces that they put in it. The rice was a huge serving probably enough for six people, needless to say I have a ton of leftovers that I brought home. There was plenty of vegetables, egg, and stir fried pork that was tender and seasoned well. Just like the two dishes before I wish it was piping hot. I really want to give this place five stars, especially since new owners have taken over it recently, and they are still transitioning the staff between the old owners and new. Maybe that's why the temperature of the food was not what I was expecting. If it wasn't for that, these guys would get five stars from me. Hopefully in the next couple of months, they can figure out the temperature thing and when you order your food it's piping hot, because that is when it taste best. By the end of my meal, I sat with dishes that were beyond room temperature cold because of the AC. At that point, I was no longer enjoying my lunch. The added bonus, is the portions are so large, I have plenty of leftovers for the peeps at home. Enjoy!

The portions are good! The bbq pork fried rice! The chowmein! The green beans! The honest walnut shrimp! The pan fried dumplings! It's all delicious! Family style size portions.

I love Chinese food, and I'm so glad I found Great Castle Restaurant! The dishes taste amazing and remind me of home. We especially enjoyed the shrimp fried rice and sweet and sour fish fillet -both were flavorful and perfectly cooked. The staff were also very friendly and made the place feel warm and homey. Definitely one of my new favorite spots here in Bakersfield.

I with family stopped by today, we go often and like the staff, we like the food; it's consistent and good on both accords. Never had we had a bad meal or bad experience. Until today - note: This is not a comment on food, this is a review on the restaurant being closed. We arrived in the early afternoon about 3:00pm with doors locked and the park lot empty. On the door there wasn't really any notice or signage reflecting a closure, except for one placed by the power utility indicating power shut off for fumigation, and one placed by an extermination company, indicating that they'll be ready to re-open on "7/25" . It seems the restaurant may have been closed since mid-month when the pest servicing was done? But as of today, this restaurant is closed; hopefully only temporarily. We found this closure disheartening and hope the ownership can overcome this setback. We'd like to see it reopen soon. If you decide to dine here, call in advance to see if they've re-opened. Good luck, guys.

First time at Great Castle in about 25+ years. I know they've switched owners but I believe the original owner is still in the biz. Cleanliness I'd say isn't 100% but this place seems to never not be busy. It's definitely got the Christmas Story old school feel to the place and the different sections of the restaurant makes it feel like you're in n different sectors of a house. Food for 8 was reasonably priced but also remember everything is family style serving, so it will feed 2-3 easy for each plate. Definitely get their fried pork specialty on the specials side of the menu. I cannot remember the name for the life of me but definitely hands down one of the better pork dishes. We also had a couple shrimp dishes, the chowmein and a couple of the dinner special options. I would only recommend the diver special options of it's just a couple of you but if its a family ordeal order the family style plates. Again, this place is an institution for Bakersfield and has a great selection for lunch or dinner. Price wise it is definitely reasonable and they of course do carry out. Great option for Christmas dinner or any other family occasion.

Traveling from Las Vegas, always looking for good Chinese food. We read other Yelps and decided to try Great Castle for lunch. It has a great lunch combo menu. So much food and it was excellent. Servers were wonderful. We took home more than we could eat. So we will have two meals from our lunch.

Good food and good service. You can eat peacefully, no too much noise. The fried dumpling are always juice and flavorfull, we always get the beef curry and sweet and sour fish for ou

This review is for a pick-up order. Today, I called in to order vegetable lo mein (I love this; we call "chow mein" lo mein back on the East Coast), shrimp fried rice, sweet-and-sour chicken and General Tsao's chicken. Of course, I am not thrilled that we have to pay for an order of steamed rice but I begrudgingly ordered two. The last time my husband, son and I dined here was last May when I graduated from KCCL and I was so exhausted, I never wrote a review. The food was good then but with Great Castle, other than my gripe about the separate charge for steamed rice, I always had an issue with the kind of shrimp they'd use--limp and not al-dente like China Garden. That is why I preferred CG over GC. Back to current affairs, I know that the restaurant is under new management and I am happy to declare that things are looking good. I am a pescatarian so my dishes were amazingly good. The shrimp were firm. As for the two chicken dishes, my husband and son were elated. The portion sizes are very generous and that's saying a lot for today's times. We have leftovers. The young man who took my telephone order was so personable and engaging. I cannot comment on ambulance until we pay a visit indoors. All together, it was $80 well-spent.

We ate here over Easter weekend for the first time since the place changed hands. Our order consisted of #123 the sweet and sour chicken. It was not bad, but lacked flavor. There were 2 small pieces of pineapple and a lot of chunks of carrots. Yea, carrots WTF?? We also had #90 the shredded pork. This dish is meant to be served with the very thin crepe like wraps. They did bring the wraps upon request. This dish was the best food I had here this trip. Number 60 is curry shrimp, it was just ok. Service was good, the food came out quickly. The place is very old, inside and out. Yea I get that it could be called character, others might call it run down. The very nice waiter did take us out of the main dining room where they had originally sat us down. We did request to move when we were seated by a table of very loud talkers complaining about medical issues and details of the treatments. The ambiance improved greatly when he say us by the aquarium in the front room. I think Panda Express has better food for less money.

We came here to celebrate my son with the whole family, and it was a wonderful experience from start to finish. They seated us in the back banquet room, giving us the entire space to ourselves, which made the occasion feel even more special. The service was excellent--friendly, attentive, and efficient. Our food came out quickly and everything was absolutely delicious. The restaurant itself was very clean and well-kept. What really stood out was how thoughtful the staff were with our celebration. They kindly offered to store our cake in their refrigerator until we were ready for it, and when the time came, they brought out plates, extra forks, and even provided a lighter and candle for the cake. It was such a sweet gesture and made the moment even more memorable. I would highly recommend Great Castle to anyone looking for a clean, delicious, and welcoming place to dine. No complaints at all!

I wanna start off with the service and then I wanna finish with the food. I felt so at home here everyone made me feel like I was a guest in their home. We ordered the Kung pow chicken and the pan fried dumplings. The sizzling rice soup was amazing. It made me feel like the happiest person in earth.

Used to be favorite place for Chinese food. Went there today for my birthday. It' was not good . Everything had changed . We ordered general chicken , lemon chicken , chicken chow main , steamed rice . . The only thing that was good was the steamed rice & Pepsi. We will never be going back 3-29-2025

Its hard to believe this place is closing at the end of the month!!!! It's a must try if your in town. Its family ran, super friendly, and decent pricing. Im glad I got to experience the food and atmosphere!

Great food and employees!!! will stop here again one day if I get a an opportunity. Ambience is very authentic

Food was ok but lacked flavor. Food was missing something. Place was nice and service was excellent so not sure if it was an off day. May try them again

Havent been here in so long!! When we arrived at around 5:45pm , we were seated within 5 minutes. The restaurant seemed pretty busy but we were helped quickly. We ordered coconut shrimp, salt and pepper pork, snowpeas and black mushrooms, and house special spicy crispy beef. Everything was DELICIOUS. the crispy beef was just the perfect level of spice for flavor and my tongue wasn't on fire. It was just spicy enough but so good. The salt and pepper pork was also really good but it had the spicy warning symbol next to it so I was expecting it to be spicy but it wasn't. Maybe my spice tolerance is kinda high or idk. I'm not sure what they add that makes it spicy. But it was still good nonetheless!

Staff is always very quick and friendly. We have tried a ton of the different dishes. From egg flower soup, sizzling rice soup, all the chicken dishes and beef dishes, a bunch of the shrimp dishes...every single one is better than the next. We usually pile it all on the plate and somehow it all compliments each other. Fresh, hot and super tasty. Our favorite Chinese restaurant hands down.

Going through Bakersfield and found this Chinese restaurant so here we are! We ordered two dishes and they were delicious! The service was also good! The decor was from the 60's.

Our family enjoys this restaurant very much. The amount of food that they give along with the quality of the food that is served is great. While the service is like any other Chinese restaurant, it's always great to support local family shops. If you're visiting Bakersfield or our Bakersfield person, this is one of the great places to show and give support. There was rumors that it was closing, but I hope it doesn't, cause it is one place that our family likes to visit every so often. They're also very friendly to our kids and family, which is really nice as a local restaurant.

Always great food, and you leave stuffed! Family owned business where they treat you like family!

Fantastic!! Excellent service and atmosphere. The food is scrumptious. Prices not bad either since one knows it is going to be good grubbing. Our server was Clarence. And he was spot on and so kind. And attentive.

I ordered the food for pick up. I got the walnut shrimp, and it doesn't come with rice, so i ordered the rice as a side oder. The walnut shimp was tasty, and it tasted fresh. The lady at the register was nice. They have a big parking lot for the restaurant.

I can honestly say I was extremely impressed with the food and service at this place. Service was instant as soon as we sat down. Cocktails were generously poured and only took a minute to come to the table. Food was served hot and everybody's meal came out in the in the order we placed it. First time eating here and I hope with the owners selling it, the staff to include wait staff and cooks get to remain. Get down there before it changes hands!! Now! Keep your car doors locked! lol. Lots of people walking the streets in this part of town, so be aware. We had no issues at all but I did notice a pickup whose toolbox in the bed of his truck had been opened. I'll go back here to the Great Castle for sure!

**DISCLAIMER: Kid review (10 yo) Came here with my parents and started off with appetizers, egg rolls and soup. Sizzling rice soup wasn't bad and the egg rolls were really good. The orange chicken was descent, chow mein was really good, and garlic chicken was just not that good. The service was great they were very nice. The ambiance was comfortable. The bathroom was not that clean with pee on the counter pee on the floor and writing on the mirror. So if you're looking for decent Chinese, you'll enjoy it here.

The first time I ordered from this restaurant through delivery service the Mongolian beef was absolutely delicious. The second time I ordered it was also through a delivery service. The Mongolian beef was absolutely disgusting tasted as if cigarette ashes were in the dish all through the dish it tasted like cigarette ashes. I will never order a thing from this restaurant again what would make them serve such a dish as this to a human being!!!

The guys here is good and lived the middle. We also ordered two other dishes which I forgot to take a picture but they were good too. The people there are also super nice and friendly and have good service

It was solid chinese food. not the best in the world but not terrible. Considering the area i would give it a 4/5. I think it is a tad on the expensive side

This is my second review and my views have not changed. One of the best, if not the best, Chinese restaurant I've eaten at. It's been 3 years since visits (we live in Seattle and don't make it down soften) and it's just as good as I remember. I did hear the owner say that after 47 years they're going to retire. If you haven't tried this place yet get in ASAP.

I love this place so much. I often get the urge to drive to Bakersfield all the way from LA just to eat here. So happy to see that the new owners kept all the delicious recipes , old school decor, and amazing service the place has always been known for. My favorites are the Crispy Hunan Beef and the pan fried dumplings. Highly recommend if you are in the mood for some good ol classic Chinese food. This place seems to be beloved by locals and I can see why. 5 stars !

For many years I've passed this place up. Always saw a lot of cars in the lot and wondered why just based on the exterior of the building. I knew it must've been good because they consistently have a lot of cars out front daily. Finally decided to try it last night and now I see why. I felt like I was in an actual Chinese restaurant in China town. The service was great. Waiter offered recommendations and the older lady was so kind to my 1 year old son. We ordered 5 entrees: combination fried rice, combination chow mein, orange chicken, salt and pepper pork, and kung pao shrimp. Everything was so delicious and basically became our new favorite Chinese restaurant. The combination fried rice and chow mein had so much protein you probably didn't need to order any other dishes. Very well worth it. My family and I will definitely be coming back!

If I want a classic Chinese restaurant experience with food that worth the cost buck for buck, Great Castle is the place to go. There dumplings are massive with the thickest wrapper I've been able to find in this town. I'm pretty sure they are hand made If not homemade. Classic items (fried rice, skewers, wonton, sweet and sour soup) all bangers, but my favorite item from here, is the roast duck. Exquisite.

This Bakersfield Institution, for Several Decades, continues to serve quality Chinese food in a beautiful, traditional setting!

I went yesterday during dinner and the food was really tasty! We got the shrimp and broccoli, house chow mein, kung pao chicken, pan fried dumplings and walnut shrimp. The service took some time but I can understand since it was Friday dinner rush. However, the servers were very friendly. I will be back :)

The best thing was that the W. Side Highway makes the trip from the Southwest easy. This used to be one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the world and I used to go to Chinatown all the time in New York in the early 60s and go to Lins Gardens on Mott Street, which is in a Paul Simon song. I was surprised by the world class quality in Bakersfield. Then learned about the old days when the Chinese worked on the railroad here Hadn't been in this restaurant since way before Covid for various reasons, but tonight we weren't cooking and i made the trip. The egg rolls were chewy and not crisp. Of course they were just vegetarian not with the shrimp and pork in the large size you only see in New York. The barbecue pork with pea pods tasted like it was from before Covid. It was hard and my wife couldn't stand the old taste and didn't eat in. The pea pods were too soft. The noodles with the vegetables had very few vegetables. the spare ribs not like they used to be way too much sweet red sauce and the meat tasted not fresh. The oldest owner is older, but very sharp, and she recognized that I was the hot soup guy, but she didn't remember my name, which was understandable because it's been at least six years or more since I've been there with my business colleague who was well known to them. Which reminds me that the hot and sour soup was neither hot spicy or sour, although it had a good amount of chicken and soy in it, but the soup itself was watery and had no taste. The only other plus was that I ordered extra rice and they only charged $.95 for that rather than the six dollars it would be in LA. I did call them and tell them about the pork and they didn't say anything, they're super busy and they were about 15 people ahead of me online waiting for tables when I came to pick up my order but they let me go through to do the pick up. My wife swears that we will never go back and she wonders about what will happen to the new owners. I have very rarely posted here and very rarely complain about anything, because people are deaf to complaints, but I'd like to praise good things. I'm probably made the exception here even though I hate AutoCorrect and putting some thing on my phone because all this food is staring me in my face and I'm avoiding , eating it after I tasted it my wife says throw it out, but I probably will keep it for lunch tomorrow, Does anybody know a place to get good hot and sour soup or good Chinese food in general in Bakersfield? Cheers and ....

The food was extremely good. I truly enjoyed it. The service was also very good. The place itself could be nicer, but overall everything was good.

Really good food is spectacular. The service was great. That ambience was really nice very authentic.10/0 recommend it

Been going here a long time. The staff has always been very nice. It feels like they know us any time we come in. The food comes out as it is ready so it is always fresh. We go overboard on their dumplings and eggs rolls because they are so amazing. Make sure to ask for the spicy mustard. Their pork fried rice, garlic chicken and Mongolian beef are our favorites. We were recently saddening to find out that it is changing hands. I hope it keeps the high quality.

We've been wanting to try it out here for years now because it's family style. Customer service was above and beyond. Very relaxing and not too loud so we were able to have a nice family conversation at our table without music and people being too loud. I have to say the amount of vegetables and meat they put in their fried rice and chow mein was unbelievable. Most places I've gone to put more vegetables than meat. This was an even amount of portion. Also the salt and pepper pork had so much flavor. Definitely will be returning here again with my family. We also had enough for leftovers for tomorrow which is always a plus.

Always a great choice, fresh and hot food served quickly. Seen some new faces however, same great food. I think they are the best Chinese food in Bakersfield. Lunch special is the best. Served a generous amount of food, you will not leave hungry. Definitely recommend

Never would I have thought that I would make a review like this, I am beyond baffled at my experience here. Before I go into details, the customer service and the food was outstanding! The taste was amazing and the servers moved with a sense of urgency and politeness, However, while waiting for our food to come out, I noticed something to my right, I turned and saw what looked like a roach. It could be, or not, but eventhen, having a bug crawl out from under the table while waiting was shocking. Coming from a job that works directly with food and in line with ecoshare, that is a imediate critical. I wasn't mad at the taste nor customer service, but I was heavily influenced by seeing the bug that I couldn't enjoy my food that much.

Food is great like always very authentic and authentic flavor to the food but they will chase to the parking lot if you don't leave a tip for them which is very unprofessional. Tips should be given not demand and if that's the case the restaurant should have a notice that tips are a must !!!!!

Came here for a birthday dinner. We made reservations for a table of 6 at 6 on Saturday and boy was it packed! Glad we made reservations. I've been to great castle before but during lunch and enjoyed the combo plates. But it has been over a year since last here since I don't work downtown anymore. I'm glad we had a nice size group so we could order family style. The place has very classic decor. We were seated and quickly and had our drink order taken. We ordered dumplings, Mongolian beef, beef chow mein, chicken chow mein, sweet and sour pork, king pao chicken, salt and pepper pork. The food came out super quick. Everything had great flavor, nice size portions, and it was plenty of food for the 6 of us. My favorite probably was the Mongolian beef, the chow mein and bbq pork because it had snow peas and water chestnuts. Heard that they are going to sell the restaurant. I definitely think that this is one of the best places for Chinese food in Bakersfield.