The Essence of China

I cannot believe there are negative reviews for this place!! We've been going here for three years and have never once been disappointed. My husband and I love Chinese food and have been to a lot of chinese restaurants. While I can't claim to know the exact aspects that make it authentic or not, I do know what tastes good and this restaurant is good! Since we discovered them we have hardly eaten Chinese any where else. We joke around that they ""ruined"" other restaurants for us because ""well, it was ok, but not as good as Essence."" The waiter may be quiet but he is friendly, polite and always helpful and fast. He makes us smile and the service is great! During the dinner hour they have 2-3 other staff there, which is plenty for a small place like this. There are only about 10 tables in the place. All the staff are friendly and helpful, they remember us when we come in and make us feel so welcome and comfortable. It does not have fancy decorations, mood lighting, music, fishtanks, fountains or other things that have come to be expected at a typical asian restaurant, but it has excellent food, in large portions for a low cost. For drinks, 4 entrees, a side of eggrolls and egg flower soup (like everything else, it's the best I've had!) it generally costs us around $30. Tea and white rice are complimentary with any order. We are dainty eaters, we fill ourselves up with a large portion and still have enough to take home for lunch and sometimes dinner as well the next day. more

Bad food - almost inedible. Bad service, and the place is absolutely filthy. Same for the little Italian... more

Bad food - almost inedible. Bad service, and the place is absolutely filthy. Same for the little Italian place a few doors down. Save your money a... more

If you at all know what Chinese food ""should"" taste like. Dont eat here. Cost me 46 bucks to feed 5 people. Not too bad. Could of saved alot of money had I known that the food would barely be eatin. Wontons had meat in them that was similar to dogfood in texture and apperance. The food barely resembled what it would usually look or smell like in a decent Chinese restaurant. It wasnt very good at all. I will not be going back there again. This place couldnt even compete with ""Panda Express"". And thats no joke. Just save your money more

We needed delivery in the West Linn area for several lawyers. We weren't expecting much but honestly the food made McDonalds taste high end. The beef was gritty and the sauce tasted as though it had 50 cups of sugar added. All of the dishes were over done with so much sugar to compensate for the lack of authentic taste. This included chicken, beef, shrimp ect. Some people complained about feeling ill afterwards. We will not be ordering from this place ever again, so disappointed. How hard is it to cook simple dishes? Pros: fast delivery Cons: horrible food is an understatment more

I had heard great things about this place through friends and family and finally ventured in. I love hot and sour soup and it was amazing. The perfect blend of spicy. We also shared pot stickers which were good. I tried a combination meal with pork fried rice, almond chicken (I think thats the name) and shrimp. The shrimp was the best I have had and I really enjoyed the almond chicken. Service was good. I will definitely make the trip back! Pros: Amazing food, good service more

This is by far the best Chinese food we have had since leaving the San Francisco Bay Area. Pros: Delicious food Cons: If there's an occasional 'not so great' give it another try! more

We have been to this little place several times on sunday afternoons for lunch in the last couple of years. People are always friendly, and the food has always been superb. For those that say fheir prices are high, we have never spent over thirty dollars for the four of us, of course that would depend on what you order. They have always had only one server in the afternoons, I don't know if they have more for the dinner hours. We always take about half of our food home, and it makes for a nice dinner the next day. Pros: Food and people are fantastic Cons: Could sometimes use a second server more

This is a great restaurant with good food and service, convenient location, reasonable prices, etc. Looking forward to trying more restaurants recommended in CitySearch Pros: Servic and menu Cons: Wait times more

Neat old building, but watch your step where it slopes up into the dining room. Standard dishes were good -- sesame beef was flavorful but not very spicy. They have a kind-of ""sampler"" dish with three types of chicken that was reasonably priced with large portions -- General Tso's, Lemon, Sweet and Sour. Service was fine. more

We read the reviews before we went out because we wanted some good Chinese food. This place has some great reviews from people, dont believe them. I hate to be down on anyone but we were very disappointed. The food was icky, and they had one poor little server on running around like mad. Pros: Fast Cons: Not good food more

This place is great. We eat here at least once a month! Good sized, very tasty portions. Get the string beans! As with most of Willamette the parking is not so good, but a little walk never hurts, especially since you're gonna fill up on a bunch of fab food. Remember ""hot"" means ""hot""! The staff is also very nice. Enjoy!! more

Awesome food, large portions great price. Pros: Very good food Cons: No take out parking so I double parked. more

It took over an hour for them to deliver a simple order of Genral Tsos Chicken, Fried Wontons and Sweet and Sour Pork. Cons: too expensive, poor quality, slow delivery more

Excelant customer service! Great food! more

I have always enjoyed the Essence of China Restaurant. They have friendly service, and although at times it maybe difficult to understand them, they make sure you are satisfied and do their best to accommodate. I have tried many different Chinese restaurants around the area, but I seem to run into a very common problem, and that is most of the restaurants tend to be very Americanized for me. It seems that they all get their food from one distributor, and rather than focusing on authentic flavors they focus on creating monster portions that all seem to taste the same. Essence of China is the exact opposite, even though they do have large portions they also focus on making the food taste authentic. Their food seems to be made from scratch and therefore has a unique, yet pleasant, variety of tastes and flavors. The only dish that I wasn?t big on was the pork fried rice, and for some this maybe an issue, but since I am a big fan of steamed rice it?s not that big of a deal for me. I know not everyone will agree with my review, but I believe that people?s experience at Essence of China will, more often than not, be an enjoyable one. Pros: Authentic Taste Cons: Parking maybe difficult at times. more

Wow, I totally disagree with these negative reviews! Are you sure you have the right restaurant people??? I love this place and come to eat here at least a few times a month. So do my coworkers and they love the food as well! This place is small; they have maybe 10 to 12 tables here and so they have few workers. The workers have great customer service skills despite their poor english. They give you anything you ask for and check up on you many times to make sure things are ok. The food usually comes out fast but at times when its busy, it can take half an hour to come out. The food has always been excellent! I love the food here. I am asian and I love eating out so I know what is good asian food! This place definitely serves it. They may not have a long menu but the food has never disappointed me. Oh and the prices are excellent. Their prices are at least a dollar cheaper on the same dishes that could be ordered at chinese restaurants in Portland (like on 82nd) and the portions are bigger. This restaurant is definitely on my top 5 list of good chinese restaurants! Cons: small area more

Well, I don't know precisely what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. The Chinese food at this restaurant is unexceptional at best. The kung pao chicken had no kung pao, the garlic chicken had no garlic, and the crispy tofu..well, it was crispy, but it tasted like a deep-fried salt lick. The ambience was middling, and the service was not terrible. I would avoid this restaurant if you like to eat for purposes other than mere survival. more

Everything they serve here tastes bland and undercooked. White people should stay away from Chinese food and stick to what they do best: imperialism. more

Oh my god. I can't believe that cost me money. If you're the type of person who eats your sesame chicken with a fork, then maybe this place is for you, but for the more discerning customer, it's the blandest, most un-chinese food you'll ever eat. Furthermore, it foster creepy, obnoxious, pedophilic guys who will stare at you throughout your meal and awkward waiters who speak so softly you can't tell whether they asked if you wanted chopsticks or the check. If you're looking for real Chinese food, you'd be better advised to make the trip to 82nd. Cons: Bland food, Bland Ambience more