Mr. K and I recently went to check out Best Taste of China, a somewhat hidden Chinese restaurant in Mira Mesa.
I’d read posts on mmm-yoso and Faye’s Fork, so when we found ourselves in the area and starving, we decided to visit.
There are two sets of menus: one with more Americanized dishes and one with more authentic Chinese dishes. They also offer various weekday specials, lunch specials, and late night specials, along with all you can eat hot pot. I plan on coming back some other time to try the late night specials ($4.99 a dish).
There are cold appetizer dishes at the front and you can get a selection of three for $6.95.
We chose seaweed salad, cucumbers, and tripe. The seaweed salad was a touch on the sweet side, the cucumbers a little salty. Our favorite was the tripe and it’s one appetizer we don’t see as often.
Fish Fillet with Tofu in Spicy Sauce
I’ve enjoyed this dish at other Schezwan places in San Diego, but this is not what I was expecting. The fish fillet was soaked in a thick spicy broth. It wasn’t as spicy as it looked but it was terribly oily and thick. There was also a lot more tofu than fish.
Stir Fried Green Beans
These were alright but not quite authentic. It lacked the pickled vegetables that it’s usually cooked with and I thought it was odd that the beans were chopped.
Shanghai Style Rice Cakes
Since Lunar New Year had just passed, I was in the mood for stir fried rice cakes. This tasted about as sad as it looked. It lacked flavor and the ingredients were sparse.
Overall, we had a so-so meal here. I’m still interested in coming back and trying the late night specials. The food came out quite quickly though the service was really slow.
Best Taste of China
9201 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126
Oh no. That’s sad the food wasn’t that great. I thought the cold seaweed was pretty good when I went. Were the three main dishes from their dinner or lunch menu? I’m assuming dinner b/c you did’t get a 4th item for free? I heard their late night $4.99 items are pretty worthy of a try.
Yeah this was from dinner! I want to come back and try late night and also lunch
Hi Kirbie – We had found that the non-Sichuan dishes here were better in past visits, though we haven’t been here in a while. The place also has a reputation for changing chefs a lot.
I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time!