Some Chinese restaurants just sell noodles but Chinese providence is a different story.

I really enjoyed my meal. Everything was well above average. The Walnut prawns dish in white cream sauce was delicious. Good parking in the back.

Jasmine tea duck was awesome! Note, they have a real Chinese menu that must be requested separately and you can only order on certain days. Way better than the "American" menu. See my pics.

Visiting from Palm springs,my son lives here, Love Santa Barbara. Placed a take out order yesterday,first time from China Pavilion, my Son was leary,but I wanted Chinese. Hands down this was the best Chinese food ever,And I lived in San Francisco the last 30yrs. The Moo Shy Pork and assorted fried rice was to die for,flavors where off the chart.pot stickers,orange peel chicken likewise. I will be back for sure. Great kitchen Great food Thank you for a wonderful meal Oh and my Son loved it to

This place is hot, Szechuan hot. My mouth is on fire, my nose is running, and my eyes are watering and I'm loving it. I went for lunch, and ordered the Kung Pao Shrimp, there were more chilies than shrimp. Soooooo good, served with a hot spicy mushroom soup. The place is very clean, elegant decor, good service, reasonably priced. Public parking lot next door, first 75 minutes are free.

Very good noodles and duck!

China Pavilion is our favorite Chinese restaurant in Santa Barbara with a nice menu selection. Some of our favorite dishes include: Fried Calamari appetizer, Orange Chicken, Walnut Shrimp, and Fried Noodles Hong Kong Style. China Pavilion has some dim sum dishes included in its menu on weekdays, but offers a broader dim sum selection during the weekend, plus Boba Milk Tea drink as well. Service personnel are courteous, friendly and responsive.

Surprisingly very authentic Chinese food. As good as it gets. Owner is the cook which explains why. Environment is excellent perfect for a night out and when you want to impress your date.

Love Sue here! She is really great with questions and special requests Always Always The Best Service. Excellent lunch--good selection, good value, quick service.

The only good Dim Sum within hundreds of miles. Some great, some OK. Excellent Chicken Feet. Clean, pricey, & upscale. Worth it for a pricey Dim Sum fix!

Exceptional service and authentic fresh Chinese dishes. Dim sum was very good . Mushroom dishes were excellent. Good wine selections.

I love the basil beef lunch special and the spring rolls!! 😋 So so so good! I like to go here for lunch. Staff is great and very friendly!

We are new to the area, and were in search for a good Chinese restaurant. We checked out the menu online and saw Hunan and Szechwan dishes... we gave it a try. Really good food and service (the waitress was very experienced and funny). All in all, a great time. We will certainly return...

Dim sum is amazing! Great prices and great food!

+1

Real delicious Chinese food, friendly service, will definitely come back

Really great food! Typically go for the dim sum on the weekends because it's really fun and all the dishes are amazing. Get take out during the week, sometimes, and is always good. The buns are great, the Duck is amazing, and the whole steamed fish is wonderful! Also, love the Mongolian beef, Taiwanese minced pork over rice, the pork and egg porridge. So many good options, haven't found anything we haven't loved.

On our way to Solvang, we decided to stop in Santa Barbara and have some lunch. We've decided to stop here based on the reviews, and the food did not disappoint. The food was very fresh, flavorful, and well-balanced. The staff is friendly, attentive, and very helpful. The leftovers tasted well at dinner and even the next day. The restaurant was decorated nicely and appeared to be clean and overall in a very good location. We recommend that after lunch, you go to the manuscript library across the street. There are plenty of public parking lots in the area.

A Santa Barbara staple! We’ve been going to China Pavillion since the 90s, and it’s always satisfying. We no longer live in SB, but my family demands I stop at China Pavillion before I leave. I am currently on the train with a cooler full of food, and my dad called to make sure I was bringing it. I also do want to shoutout Jennifer who is always so helpful, going above and beyond hosting us (and for the delicious peanuts as we waited). I highly recommend this restaurant! As a vegetarian, I specifically recommend the Kung Pao tofu.

The food was absolutely delicious. The Kung pao had just the right amount of spice and was full of flavor. Large tables and nice atmosphere make it a great place for a group. Another plus is the ease of the public paid parking lot next door with 70 minutes free.

Great service, and delicious food as always. Waitresses were kind and attentive. Food fresh and tasty. Lunch special is a good value. Plenty of options for regular American style Chinese food, or for the more adventurous and authentic styles.

Pleasantly surprised. Great food, good price for the area. Weekend dim sum.

I have eaten here three times. We were just there and what we had was very good. The server was nice, we were sat quickly on a busy night and even the food as left overs had good taste. I am not a fan of their tap water, but that really is a Santa Barbara thing.

One of THE best Chinese restaurants in the area. Their service is excellent, their food is over the top, and the prices are extremely reasonable. This restaurant used to be located in Montecito, but moved to downtown Santa Barbara, and we are excited they did. When dining, ask for Mae. She is the best. Most local Asian people eat here, so it must be good.

It was delicious as usual. We had the seafood rice, General Tsao's chicken and shrimp soft noodle. The atmosphere was relaxing. Chloe was am amazing waitress. She was funny, sweet and quick. We absolutely loved it.

10/10. The waiter (Jose) was very attentive and recommended great choices for my father's low sodium diet. I ended up getting the ginger beef and it was delicious. Grrst quality cuts of meat, great seasoning (although not overdone) and great service makes this a 10/10 location!

Our family thoroughly enjoys our many, many dining experiences at the China Pavilion! At the present time, we go on the weekends for DimSum. Our three granddaughters, aged 10 & under, have been joining us for their entire lives. The China Pavilion is very child friendly and the staff has always been helpful in making sure the children have as good experience as the rest of us. We have been dining at the China Pavilion for as long as they have been open- at least 20 years Every dish we have ever ordered has been very tasty & well prepared. The regular menu has great variety - just about anything anyone would desire. Our family has a range of tastes - mild, spicy, very spicy, & vegetarian - all of which are covered by the menus, both regular & Dim Sum. It is a place where everyone should be able to find a great dining experience.

Excellent authentic Chinese food, coming from someone who lived in China for 5 years. Try the Shanghai Rice Dumpling, Mapo Tofu (if you like spice), Ants in a Tree, Xiaolong bao (soup dumplings/stuffed buns, Three Cup Chicken, and the black pepper beef.

We're locals and have been patronizing China Pavilion for over eight years. For whatever reasons, they've never been consistent with quality and preparation of food, and for this reason, we've postpone eating there for long stretches of time. But wanting to be supportive of local businesses, we now and then give them a try. So far as of post covid-19 mass restrictions lift, our usual dishes have been really consistently good, especially with dim sum weekend. We hope the consistency will continue so that we can be happy regulars for many years to come.

I was looking for something to eat for dinner and randomly ended up at this restaurant and I'm so glad! The service was wonderful and the food was delicious. They even gave me peanuts while I waited for my food and it was really good! Reasonably priced, delicious food, no wait time and even better service! I'm definitely going to return.

I had dinner at China Pavilion and it was a great, authentic experience. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming, and the food truly stands out. We started with fried wontons and vegetable pot stickers—both were crisp and flavorful. For the main dishes, we ordered chicken fried rice, chow mein noodles, Kung Pao chicken, and Mongolian beef—every dish was fresh, well-seasoned, and delicious. Highly recommend for anyone craving classic, flavorful Chinese cuisine!

China Pavilion is reminiscent of the Large Chinese restaurants in the bay area and we had a great time here. We drove by on a sunday and my wife mentioned her visits years ago when she worked in the area. We didn't know it was Dim-Sum service on the weekend but that was a great surprise. Dim Sum just isn't available in large parts of the central coast so it was a blast to see the big selection and reasonable, albeit a little high prices for it. Her favorite, basil beef, was available by request as I imagine most of the regular service menu is on weekends. While I only got pork/shrimp shumai and pork buns they were excellent. Juicy, hot, and fresh tasting dumplings and a pillowy soft not-to-sweet bun. The basil beef was so delicious as well and everything she remembered. The atmosphere was spacious and lovely and the service was great with the requests for sauces, dishes, and refills. The iced tea seemed to have a healthy splash of oolong tea in it which was sooo good. We'll be back again and it's borderline worth the modest trip just for Dim-Sum in my book.

We had like 13 20 year olds come into an empty restaurant and they were the sweetest people ever about it, and the food was amazing, i tried like 6 different dishes that night

I was craving for dim sum, came here to give it a try. I gave 5 starts! The lotus leaves wrap / sticky rice was good and delicious. I am picking about Asian food! Good tea choices! I did not take many photo, as I was enjoying the food. but the portion is generous on everything and a comfort food porridge and the rest of shrimp dumpling are good and large, if the skin layer of the dumplings / cheong fun can be slightly thinner. Definitely happy to return! Yum!

Delicious dim sum and dumplings. Judging by the looks of the wine display, they must have an excellent wine list. As if to show off and impress their clientele, a opulent display of exquisite bottles of cognac, sake, tequila, etc. beckons the eye. The stocked bar is a reason to have happy hour drinks. Order the plates first and then the waitstaff brings each dish and checks off each item till you are stuffed. Plenty of diners. an inviting interior, and freshly cooked dishes makes this a place to revisit.

Excellent experience. They are short staffed recently so we waited for about 40 minutes, which was kind of too long. But it turns out that the food and service were worth the waiting time! Certainly will come back again. My partner really like their seafood porridge and I like the sweet potato cake best.

Went for lunch and ordered the Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup. The broth was rich and savory and just the right amount of spicy. The dish reminded me of oxtail soup. The staff was friendly and attentive throughout the meal.

My wife and I got China pavilion to go and it was absolutely fantastic! We now have found our new Chinese restaurant for pickup! We cannot wait to go back! I'm not going to go on and on about different dishes, but I will say, ,,You must eat here!

Their Tung Po Pork is my favorite. Other dishes were really good too. If you go as a large group, I'd recommend including dongporou, sanbeiji, mapo tofu, and veggies with basil.

Sharon Chandra

I was looking for something to eat for dinner and randomly ended up at this restaurant and I'm so glad! The service was wonderful and the food was delicious. They even gave me peanuts while I waited for my food and it was really good! Reasonably priced, delicious food, no wait time and even better service! I'm definitely going to return.

Ahmad Alfilimbany

I had dinner at China Pavilion and it was a great, authentic experience. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming, and the food truly stands out. We started with fried wontons and vegetable pot stickers—both were crisp and flavorful. For the main dishes, we ordered chicken fried rice, chow mein noodles, Kung Pao chicken, and Mongolian beef—every dish was fresh, well-seasoned, and delicious. Highly recommend for anyone craving classic, flavorful Chinese cuisine!

Zachary McDonough

We had like 13 20 year olds come into an empty restaurant and they were the sweetest people ever about it, and the food was amazing, i tried like 6 different dishes that night

Gordon M.

China Pavilion is reminiscent of the Large Chinese restaurants in the bay area and we had a great time here. We drove by on a sunday and my wife mentioned her visits years ago when she worked in the area. We didn't know it was Dim-Sum service on the weekend but that was a great surprise. Dim Sum just isn't available in large parts of the central coast so it was a blast to see the big selection and reasonable, albeit a little high prices for it. Her favorite, basil beef, was available by request as I imagine most of the regular service menu is on weekends. While I only got pork/shrimp shumai and pork buns they were excellent. Juicy, hot, and fresh tasting dumplings and a pillowy soft not-to-sweet bun. The basil beef was so delicious as well and everything she remembered. The atmosphere was spacious and lovely and the service was great with the requests for sauces, dishes, and refills. The iced tea seemed to have a healthy splash of oolong tea in it which was sooo good. We'll be back again and it's borderline worth the modest trip just for Dim-Sum in my book.

A. Lim

I was craving for dim sum, came here to give it a try. I gave 5 starts! The lotus leaves wrap / sticky rice was good and delicious. I am picking about Asian food! Good tea choices! I did not take many photo, as I was enjoying the food. but the portion is generous on everything and a comfort food porridge and the rest of shrimp dumpling are good and large, if the skin layer of the dumplings / cheong fun can be slightly thinner. Definitely happy to return! Yum!

M.A. EatsArt

Delicious dim sum and dumplings. Judging by the looks of the wine display, they must have an excellent wine list. As if to show off and impress their clientele, a opulent display of exquisite bottles of cognac, sake, tequila, etc. beckons the eye. The stocked bar is a reason to have happy hour drinks. Order the plates first and then the waitstaff brings each dish and checks off each item till you are stuffed. Plenty of diners. an inviting interior, and freshly cooked dishes makes this a place to revisit.

Xiaoyi Liu

Excellent experience. They are short staffed recently so we waited for about 40 minutes, which was kind of too long. But it turns out that the food and service were worth the waiting time! Certainly will come back again. My partner really like their seafood porridge and I like the sweet potato cake best.

Andrew

Went for lunch and ordered the Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup. The broth was rich and savory and just the right amount of spicy. The dish reminded me of oxtail soup. The staff was friendly and attentive throughout the meal.

* dnainsb

My wife and I got China pavilion to go and it was absolutely fantastic! We now have found our new Chinese restaurant for pickup! We cannot wait to go back! I'm not going to go on and on about different dishes, but I will say, ,,You must eat here!

Will Heo

Their Tung Po Pork is my favorite. Other dishes were really good too. If you go as a large group, I'd recommend including dongporou, sanbeiji, mapo tofu, and veggies with basil.

The service and food were excellent! This is the type you are missing often, like the soup being served from the pot on the table by the waiter, perfect timing on when, and what course arrives at the table. Leftovers were quickly packaged by the waiter for us to take home.

I like Chinese on occasion, but I have to be candid, this Chinese food is exceptional. It’s delicious fresh healthy.. The service is quick. The food comes quickly. It’s a big restaurant so there’s never a wait. Everything is really top-notch especially for Santa Barbara but there’s no other Chinese restaurant as good as this one.

Mireya Gamez

I like Chinese on occasion, but I have to be candid, this Chinese food is exceptional. It’s delicious fresh healthy.. The service is quick. The food comes quickly. It’s a big restaurant so there’s never a wait. Everything is really top-notch especially for Santa Barbara but there’s no other Chinese restaurant as good as this one.

Jo Kolli

The service and food were excellent! This is the type you are missing often, like the soup being served from the pot on the table by the waiter, perfect timing on when, and what course arrives at the table. Leftovers were quickly packaged by the waiter for us to take home.

This is one of my favorite take-out places. Good portions and good food. It is a bit pricey, but well worth it. Service is really friendly as well.

Egg foo young is fantastic, I really enjoyed it! Covid is over, put soy sauce and salt and pepper back on the table.

Good food, good service and if you get to sit outside you do get to enjoy the beautiful Spanish architecture. Not crowded like it is on State Street. A cute little getaway.

Perhaps the best Chinese restaurant in town. High quality food. Their king pao chicken is 9/10. Would definitely continue to enjoy their food there

My Mongolian Beef came out faster than my ice water did! Service was friendly and since I was the first customer of the day, it was quiet and peaceful for about the first 10 minutes. In and out in about 30sh mins total. Food was pretty good. Fried rice was very bland though.

As Chinese restaurants go, this is a good middle-of-the-line restaurant that has decent choices (not your standard 100-item menu), some unique specialities (Shitake mushrooms in oyster sauce over spinach), and reasonably quiet ambience that could pass for a fine dining experience. The vegetarians choices are very creative! The vegetarian steamed dumplings were heavenly. Service is mediocre. 8 guest tables had only 2 servers.

Service was good. Drinks good. Food good. Waiter will help you make a choice. Fast service. Didn't wait. If you want a quick casual bite go. Be prepared for left overs. Fried rice rocks.

Great food! I defiantly recommend this restaurant to those who are Chinese food lovers like me. My favorite dish was definitely the Moo Shu Pork. I think this because they prepare it in front of you and they serve it in a almost like tortilla so it looks like a burrito. If you go here I hope you enjoy!

Service was not rude, but attention was not always given. However, the food was simply amazing! We had the Singapore noodles and the Hunan chicken and pork potstickers.. All great! Definitely recommend coming here for the food.

This place ain't no Panda Express! This is one of the better Chinese restaurants in Santa Barbara. Very well made food. The selection is vast yet somehow not overwhelming. You can choose from Authentic Chinese cuisine or your American classics! I decided to go the authentic route and started with scallion cakes and ended with peking duck. Unfortunately the scallion cakes did not even compare to the ones I had on the streets of China. I shall compare. I believe it was the base they used. Somehow it was glutenous and therefore, came out chewy and almost tasted stale, while the one in China was light and fluffy, yet was surrounded by a crispy exterior. Good news is, the one at China pavilion still came out slightly crispy, but I think it was a bit oily as well. What helped was the sauce it came with. It was almost like hoisin, but more ingredients added. Next was the peking duck, this also required a crispy taste. I remember coming here the first time and to my recollection I believe it was done right and to perfection, but this time around, again with the oil. There was just too much grease. I feel like if the greasiness could be cut out then this dish would deserve five stars. I feel like it can be done. Perhaps there was a chef change since the last time and the first time I came in. I still give it a 4 star overall because it is definitely better than the majority of Chinese places I have tried.

A great chinese restaurant in SB. Lots of my chinese friends told me that this place serves almost atuthentic chinese foods. Some dishes may taste too spccy but overall they taste really good. The restaurant is very clean and servers are professional. The downside is a little expensive price for dinner. I recommend here when you have visitors from outside.

My regular destination for Dim Sum now. Most of items on dim sum menu are good. I like the lotus wrap sticky rice, all the shu mai porks shrimp and chicken

Good dim sum the best in Santa Barbara. Salty but makes it good the Jasmin helps after

Came here for a quick bite and i must say they have some good food. The way they make their chicken is questionable but their fried rice and mongolian beef is on point!

A fine Chinese food dining in Santa Barbara. The service is very good and professional. If you miss Chinese food, China Pavilion is a good restaurant to go.

We tried this place for lunch. We had kung pao chicken and Szechuan chicken for lunch. Both were good. The soup with the lunch was spicy and had good flavor. I give this place an extra star because I ordered a mai tai, and while it was good i was not blown away. Chatting with the server later, she reminded us that we can order items like the food AND the mai tai stronger if we like. I appreciate that. We had take out here years ago and it was just so-so. We will return to dine in. We like it. Oh yes, we had the dim sum sampler and while it was very fresh the taste was just OK. We would not order it again.

I love this restaurant the service and food does no comparison to any other restaurant! The hot numbing is incredible as well as the salt rock shrimp! To top it all off the owner China Pavilion absolutely refreshing and sincere with nothing but good food service and experience to validate her joy for her business!

This restaurant is spacious, but I recommend calling to make a reservation. Good Chinese food is rare in SB, so it's nice this place is downtown. The food quality here is mixed. We ordered a wanton soup, basil beef, mixed vegetables delight and salt & pepper pork rib. The wanton soup, which arrived first was amazing. We were excited for the other dishes. The mixed vegetable delight was just ok. It was a bit too wet and greasy. The basil beef was delicious. The salt & pepper pork rib was nothing like what we expected, so we should have asked first. It was deep, deep fried bits of pork rib and tasted more like chicken nuggets, which was disappointing. Service was quick and friendly though. Pricing was fair as all plates are designed to be shared by two or three people. I wouldn't write off this place, but we're not sure we'd go back.

One of the hallmarks of authenticity of a Chinese resto, apart from the food and decor, are the small things you'd find on the dining table, the free appetizer, and the way they prep their utensils. This Chinese resto gets some of these right with a helping of roasted nuts and proper condiments on the sides. Menu items were translated for tourist dinners so may be labelled differently vs Chinese menus. You also know that the food is up to par when you see some cooks hand wrapping dumplings near the kitchen. The food is a wide variety of sumptuous regional and trendy Chinese dishes. Serving sizes where adequate. Loved that they had Taiwan Beer. Only non Chinese thing was the fortune cookies. 😝 The service was prompt and fast. The interiors are basic with counters and tables often seen in Chinese restos.

Lauren Cassis

This restaurant is spacious, but I recommend calling to make a reservation. Good Chinese food is rare in SB, so it's nice this place is downtown. The food quality here is mixed. We ordered a wanton soup, basil beef, mixed vegetables delight and salt & pepper pork rib. The wanton soup, which arrived first was amazing. We were excited for the other dishes. The mixed vegetable delight was just ok. It was a bit too wet and greasy. The basil beef was delicious. The salt & pepper pork rib was nothing like what we expected, so we should have asked first. It was deep, deep fried bits of pork rib and tasted more like chicken nuggets, which was disappointing. Service was quick and friendly though. Pricing was fair as all plates are designed to be shared by two or three people. I wouldn't write off this place, but we're not sure we'd go back.

Oliver Pe

One of the hallmarks of authenticity of a Chinese resto, apart from the food and decor, are the small things you'd find on the dining table, the free appetizer, and the way they prep their utensils. This Chinese resto gets some of these right with a helping of roasted nuts and proper condiments on the sides. Menu items were translated for tourist dinners so may be labelled differently vs Chinese menus. You also know that the food is up to par when you see some cooks hand wrapping dumplings near the kitchen. The food is a wide variety of sumptuous regional and trendy Chinese dishes. Serving sizes where adequate. Loved that they had Taiwan Beer. Only non Chinese thing was the fortune cookies. 😝 The service was prompt and fast. The interiors are basic with counters and tables often seen in Chinese restos.

The food is always very good. Been going there for years. Disappointed in the fact that they have raised their prices and no more lunch menu.

Food was tasty but table cover was very dirty. Also better to get drinks somewhere else. My margarita didn't taste tequila at all Feels like they started cutting corners

I normally give them a solid 3 1/2 stars but dim sum was a dismal 2. The best dim sum is done with carts that being said have had great dim sum from kitchen. Even the bbq pork and the 2 kinds pork buns steamed and baked most the dumplings sucked except for fried. Even sauces and chili oils not on point. Have been looking too do dim sum here for yrs it's only avail on weekends. I ate dim sum bay area and Houston where they have dim dum only restaurants and the carts come by can see with your eyes first. For me usually my eyes don't lie. Now if not familiar with real dim sum very authentic some items not appealing to westerners like an order chicken feet. Great thing dim sum are smaller portions

Ordered food to go. Website took order through qmenu system. I show up to pick up and they didnt have the order so they put it in and i had to wait 20 mins. Did not offer me anything to drink while i waited then they forgot to give me the sauce forone of the dishes. Food was good but not great service.

It's okay. On the weekends they offer "dim sum". But its not what you'd expect. Instead of the ladies rolling carts its more sushi bar style where you order with a waitress.

Idk.. just feel something/some flavor is off. Tried several times weekend dim sum, and this time weekday dinner... all these make me want to move to NY/LA for better Chinese food

The food was OK - the higher end of standard Americanized Chinese food - but the service was pretty terrible. Our six dishes came out in a slow trickle, with the last arriving more than an hour after we placed our order. One of them was wrong. We had to ask several times for refills on water and more rice, and never did get the tea we ordered. It's probably worth it for takeout - I liked the mapo tofu in particular - but I wouldn't return for table service.

I checked reviews and decided to have Dim sum Sunday morning before leaving SB to go home. We were the second table being sat. Place looks nice. The water was terrible. Taste like they added a little bleach to our glasses. The spikey haired server guy was very polite. My daughter's and I have had Dim Sum a lot. I'm half Taiwanese. We were not very pleased with the food. The glutinous rice balls tasted like they added pickles, very odd. The sticky rice was not fresh. We did enjoy the spicy won tons and shumai. Maybe we were just going in with too high of an expectation.

The strengths of China Pavilion are its close proximity to State Street, and it's spacious clean welcoming well-appointed dining room. Service is friendly and reasonably fast. Everyone has their own taste in Chinese food, so for my taste the food is much too bland. But for those who don't want the high salt content it may be just exactly what you want. I certainly recommend it if you're looking for Chinese food while shopping downtown. And it's been around for a long time, which says something in Santa Barbara. It wouldn't survive if it weren't popular.

The food was pricey, but definitely worth the price. But the service was only alright at best. Waiters took their time with the menus and were plenty rude at times

Ordered delivery and was pretty disappointed. Paid nearly $30 and received a semi cold order that was rather bland and tasteless. I had more vegetables than chicken in my box and they barely filled it in. Typically I wouldn't do a review like this, but for what I paid and what I received it was definitely not worth it.

Totally American style Chinese food, I give two star is cause the fish is not fresh and only three table in restaurants have to be served but server also can forget my napkin request, until I leave no one ask me the food or service, even no goodbye. Idk what is going on but this is a bad experience.

Best place in town for recurring dirty dishes! I do like the food here, but after several visits I've had a dirty cup or plate brought out on three different occasions. This is getting ridiculous..

Went there for Dim sum. Horrible it all tastes like expired food beside my desert. I am glad I got a reply. But odd I can't reply to the explanation. Steaming up frozen pre maid food does not count as freshly made. I ordered the shrimp rice noodles with sweet soy sauce shrimp tasted expired, BBQ pork buns the pork was horrible I had to spit and take out the pork just to eat the dough. Costco frozen pork buns are fresher than the ones I had. The lotus sticky rick dish also same the Chinese sausage and pork tasted expired of these dishes have been in the freezer for way too long like a year or not freezer properly. I did go on a Sunday spent 45 with tip just not happy. Soo hard to find yummy food here.

The food was good but the service was horrible! This has happened to us twice unfortunately so it’s becoming a pattern. We were a party of 5 and waited 40 minutes to be seated while parties both larger and smaller were seated before us (none of them with reservations). Once we were seated and had placed our order, the food took forever with the first dish coming out over an hour after we ordered. Once we had finished, we waited for 20 minutes for someone to bring the check and ended up having to ask a server for it and then had to do the same thing for someone to pick up the check after another 20 minutes. Over the course of the 2 and a half hours that we were there, the staff never checked on us. We watched tables order, get their food, pay, and leave in the time that it took for our food to come. The food was good but not worth the horrible service.

I am not the type of person that likes to leave bad reviews, but this is one of the worst Chinese Restaurants I have ever eaten at. The service was slow and if I asked any questions or had a concern about the food, they gave me attitude. The quality of the food was subpar for the price they charge, and overall it was just a very bad experience. If I were you, I would pass on China Pavilion...

Lisa, The supervisor of this restaurant. I have never felt so disrespected in my life. Using her pointer finger at my face, she refused to be considerate about an incident. First, my friend found a pebble in her food. Then a waiter spilled hot tea on one of my friends head. As a result, she needed an ice pack. First degree burn. Despite all this crap, she fought against me, being extremely rude, threw a 10% discount. Said she'll fire whoever spilled tea. THATS NOT WHAT IM ASKING. I BLAME POOR MANAGEMENT AKA HER. I'm a UCSB alumni, never returning to that place. Lisa's boss, if you're reading this, everyone makes mistakes so he does not deserve to be fired, rather, retrained. Lisa on the other hand, not sure.

We ordered 2 large takeout meals for Chinese New Year's eve dinner and weekend dim sum. The food was good for Santa Barbara, albeit greasy, with a few unexpectedly deep fried dishes that is not usually served as deep fried (sauteed shrimp for the shrimp noodle dish, deep fried taro cake). The portions were small. Dim sum was ordered on sunday, aproximately 20 separate dishes. We did not receive 3 dishes (triple order of shrimp cheung fun, which is a steamed rice noodle dish with shrimp and specialty soy sauce) that my grandchildren liked. In addition, shrimp chow mein, which I had specifically requested as one of the party liked crispy chinese pan fried noodles, was misordered as shrimp lo mein, a soft noodle dish. When I called to have them rectify the mistake, the receptionist initially told me the dishes would be refunded, as the dishes as requested were charged. I received a second call from the restaurant that the manager refused the refund as they claimed the 3 triple order of shrimp cheung fun was sent in the order. No explanation was offered for the shrimp noodle dish cooked wrong. A further communication that triple order shrimp "chow fun" was sent is also wrong as that also was not sent. This left a bad taste for what should have been a nice meal for an extended family gathering.

Terrible food and even worse service. I informed the staff that I had a peanut allergy and they confirmed that there were no peanuts in the food. I ate the food and it ended up having peanuts in it, causing an allergic reaction. The staff repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, insisting that it was "something I ate earlier". They even made me pay for the food that I had just thrown up.

The restaurant itself is really dirty and the service is horrible and my friends went there they were talking racist stuff about us which is really offensive and the food was horrible absolutely horrible never go there!

My family and I sat there for 20 mins and waited for someone to come and give us a menu….and nothing they ignored us the whole time. They didn’t even care it seemed that because they had 1 bigger table and they were chinese they didn’t even care about us! If you want to go to place with horrible service, and unfriendly staff this your spot. I was very disappointed.

Try finding a menu to be able to order from, 30 mins and still can’t get their menu up. Why do I need to sign up for your website that doesn’t work just to see a menu that doesn’t work as well. You guys may have decent food but get it together already. Not the first time trying to order to go was an issue

Went in very excited yet out of several dishes we tried all were OK none of them were bad. It just wasn't good enough to buy again. The tea even tasted like plain hot water! and there was a gross residue inside the teapot spout that wasn't cleaned out. And to top it off we were charged for a item we never received.

The dish and taste were excellent. But the cashier often makes "careless" mistakes, especially if she saw you using an international card, they may charge you twice "carelessly". If you talked to the manager, she'd tell you she refunded you already even if there's nothing shown for refund on your account info. The servers are great, but the cashiers are screwed up. Next time if you have similar issue, please do not hesitate to report. Pay CASH if you go.

The whole staff wanted us to leave so bad, they basically ordered for us and brought the food out quickly and sloppily made. They also basically ordered our drinks for us too out of desperation to get us through our meal. They wanted us out so bad I was worried they were gonna start chewing our food for us too. Next time I wanna eat at a place where the wait staff is breathing down my neck I’ll make sure to come back here. Also the waitress made fun of the way I said Chow Fan.

Worst experience ever, the dumpling wrappers were very thick and hard to eat. The shrimp and dried scallops in the seafood congee were not fresh. service was also very bad. I swear I’m never coming to this place again.

金玉其外，敗絮其中 This restaurant decoration is nice. The American will like it, but the food quality is average, not good quality, and speaking from a Chinese perspective, I won't come again 1) Salt pork Spareribs: It was ok, not sure what kind of oil they used, feel old, not fresh 2) Sichuan Shrimp: It's not Sichuan, just be honest, please, it's sweet and sour flavor, if you can't make 四川 flavor, please change name to Sweet and Sour Shrimp, you can fake it to American, but not to Chinese, lol 3) Beijing Duck: Waiter said we need to wait 30+ minutes, that's the reason we didn't order it. If you're not ready for new year, then why put on menu and ask people not to order to avoid long wait, not logical, right? 4) When we order YangZhou fried rice, waiter said there's shrimp inside, so I wanted change Sichuan shrimp to beef, waiter said no need, because taste is different, I'll be amazed, but I didn't, lol 5) We've many Chinese restaurant experience, this one is definitely over charged, and quality is ok 6) Hot water pot isn't clean, my husband immediately go to restroom after drinking it

I ordered szechuan chicken and fried rice ....so fried rice is ok but szechuan chicken is not ok...it tastes different from real flavor of szechuan chicken...it tastes sweet and sour... besides quantity of chicken is so less than other veggies...and it is overrated...so plz change the dish name ...

Alvin Xu

Please, I beg you, don't come here! This "Chinese Restaurant" has unauthentic Chinese food. This place is for Americans. The atmosphere was OK. My plate was sticky, which was absolutely disgusting, and when I asked for another one it was also sticky. So were my utensils. The dishes were terrible. They were unauthentic and felt like they weren't actually cooked. The lack of staff was absolutely disgraceful. Instead, the chef probably added some sauces and mixed it up. We ended up paying $70 for a roasted duck. It was cut wrongly and didn't taste right. Absolutely scammed. Also, it wasn't the full duck. When we asked for the manager, she didn't come out. Lack of concern for customers here. I can cook better than the chef here. I hope I never come here again!

Emy

Worst experience ever, the dumpling wrappers were very thick and hard to eat. The shrimp and dried scallops in the seafood congee were not fresh. service was also very bad. I swear I’m never coming to this place again.

Honest

金玉其外，敗絮其中 This restaurant decoration is nice. The American will like it, but the food quality is average, not good quality, and speaking from a Chinese perspective, I won't come again 1) Salt pork Spareribs: It was ok, not sure what kind of oil they used, feel old, not fresh 2) Sichuan Shrimp: It's not Sichuan, just be honest, please, it's sweet and sour flavor, if you can't make 四川 flavor, please change name to Sweet and Sour Shrimp, you can fake it to American, but not to Chinese, lol 3) Beijing Duck: Waiter said we need to wait 30+ minutes, that's the reason we didn't order it. If you're not ready for new year, then why put on menu and ask people not to order to avoid long wait, not logical, right? 4) When we order YangZhou fried rice, waiter said there's shrimp inside, so I wanted change Sichuan shrimp to beef, waiter said no need, because taste is different, I'll be amazed, but I didn't, lol 5) We've many Chinese restaurant experience, this one is definitely over charged, and quality is ok 6) Hot water pot isn't clean, my husband immediately go to restroom after drinking it

Ankita Malik

I ordered szechuan chicken and fried rice ....so fried rice is ok but szechuan chicken is not ok...it tastes different from real flavor of szechuan chicken...it tastes sweet and sour... besides quantity of chicken is so less than other veggies...and it is overrated...so plz change the dish name ...

Some of the worst dimsum and service I've ever experienced. They were out of several items less than 2 hours into service. And after airing 20 min for simple dumplings we didn't receive 2 of the items we did order that they didn't say the were out of. Just go to the place up on the mesa.

We had a reservation and arrived on time. At the reception, there was a sign that read, “We are short staffed. Have patience” We understood and were prepared for possible delays. However, we waited about 10 minutes without anyone greeting or seating us, even though staff were moving through the front area. When someone finally came to the host stand, another group who arrived after us was seated first. Once seated, we initially planned to order appetizers first and entrées later. The server suggested we place the full order at once, and we agreed. The soup (best dish no doubt) arrived promptly, but the potstickers were served cold. After we raised the issue, the waitress later explained there had been a mix-up and that she had picked up potstickers that were not properly cooked. We appreciated the explanation. We requested replacement. Our main dishes arrived before the replacement potstickers. The noodles were good. However, the mapo tofu was overly salty and difficult to eat, and the vegetable soy chicken was nearly burnt. The replacement potstickers arrived much later, after we had finished most of our main dishes, and we declined them at that point. When the bill arrived, the potstickers were still included. We had to point this out and wait again while it was corrected. There was also a lengthy wait when it came time to pay. While we understand that staffing challenges can happen, the overall food quality and service were disappointing. Based on this experience, we would not recommend the restaurant.

SHOCKING and HORRIBLE !!! My husband ordered Capital Spareribs, I ordered Salt and Pepper Spareribs for lunch. No meat whatsoever on any bone in either dish Mine was even deep fried (yet another reason to avoid Chinese food). Before ordering I tried asking the waitress about the difference between the dishes, but she clearly didn’t comprehend nor did she seem to care. We rarely eat Chinese food and I rarely eat pork. We were visiting Santa Barbara and I remembered this restaurant from when I went to school there over 40 years ago! I thought for old times sake we would try something different- BIG MISTAKE!! After a few bites, I realized there was literally nothing to eat and lost any appetite I had as did my husband - we were in utter shock!! When the waitress finally returned, we explained there was literally no meat on the bones we had been served. She offered no alternative, said the cook was gone, apologized, and brought us a mango pudding to share while standing over us as she continued to insist we try it, which my husband finally did to appease her. At that point I was so discouraged I merely wanted to leave. My husband paid for our food and like the gentleman he is, even left a tip. We have been continually disappointed with both food and service ever since COVID. It is forcing me to rethink eating out at all considering the cost is high and quality (both food and service) so poor-it just doesn’t make sense any more!!

Brad E

Some of the worst dimsum and service I've ever experienced. They were out of several items less than 2 hours into service. And after airing 20 min for simple dumplings we didn't receive 2 of the items we did order that they didn't say the were out of. Just go to the place up on the mesa.

Rita

SHOCKING and HORRIBLE !!! My husband ordered Capital Spareribs, I ordered Salt and Pepper Spareribs for lunch. No meat whatsoever on any bone in either dish Mine was even deep fried (yet another reason to avoid Chinese food). Before ordering I tried asking the waitress about the difference between the dishes, but she clearly didn’t comprehend nor did she seem to care. We rarely eat Chinese food and I rarely eat pork. We were visiting Santa Barbara and I remembered this restaurant from when I went to school there over 40 years ago! I thought for old times sake we would try something different- BIG MISTAKE!! After a few bites, I realized there was literally nothing to eat and lost any appetite I had as did my husband - we were in utter shock!! When the waitress finally returned, we explained there was literally no meat on the bones we had been served. She offered no alternative, said the cook was gone, apologized, and brought us a mango pudding to share while standing over us as she continued to insist we try it, which my husband finally did to appease her. At that point I was so discouraged I merely wanted to leave. My husband paid for our food and like the gentleman he is, even left a tip. We have been continually disappointed with both food and service ever since COVID. It is forcing me to rethink eating out at all considering the cost is high and quality (both food and service) so poor-it just doesn’t make sense any more!!