Authentic Chinese Food in Marina Del Rey?

[chowhoundwoof]

Hello!

Do you know of any authentic Chinese restaurant in the Marina Del Rey area?

[chowmominLA]

Do any of you guys remember Unicorn (Lincoln and Rose-ish)? Such a quintessential hole-in-the-wall, but it was good and I miss it.

[chowhoundwoof]

Thanks for recommending Wacky Wok! I like it. :)

[jvt]

Two options that are good in MDR, Wacky Wok - 2805 Abbot Kinney Blvd [phone] and Szechwan Restaurant - 2905 Washington Blvd [phone]. Szechwan has a menu you can download.

[hrhboo]

Szechwan on Washington is actually very good. They've catered a few lunches at my office and the food is always tasty and fresh.

[TracyS]

I have to disagree. If this is the Szechuan place located on Washington at Abbot Kinney near Beechwood, it did not come close to authentic Chinese for us.

We were served a green salad with wonton crisps to start and tried the kung pao chicken (a quintissential Szechuan dish) and fish with black bean sauce. They were basically the same sauce with different proteins and very salty. Might be decent in a pinch for Americanized Chinese on the Westside, but I'd still make the trek to SGV for the real thing.

Mao's Kitchen is not bad for a California/healthy take on Chinese, but Chinese food really isn't what the Westside does well.

[Cinnamon]

2nd Wacky Wok... and wasn't/isn't there some authentic-y Chinese place right next to the 7-11 strip mall at Washington and Lincoln? In a brick building adjacent? Or did that move or go out of business.. there at least used to be a place where a lot of Chinese people ate there.. maybe Seafood was in the name?

[hrhboo]

That place was called Ocean Seafood Inn or something to that effect. The building has been empty for ages, and looks very sad and rundown.

[young_chower]

Had many decenet meals at Ocean Seafood Inn. I miss it. They closed it down long ago. I remember reading in the LA Times once that they were shut down by the county for not having hot water.

[Chandavkl]

I think that was called Oriental Seafood Inn, and I believe they relocated to and adopted the name of Lotus (the pre-existing restaurant) at 3905 S. Sepulveda in Culver City.

[young_chower]

Thanks! How would you rate this restaurant Chandavki? I assume it's not close to anything in the SGV, but how is it for a westside chinese place?

[Chandavkl]

I really liked Oriental Seafood Inn in the old days, so I was interested to find that they were still operating, albeit in a different setting. However, they seem to have really dumbed down the menu, so while it might be worth going to if it's convenient to you, it's not the destination restaurant that Oriental Seafood Inn (or its predecessor at the MDR location, Shange La) used to be.

[banjoboy]

Is it really Szechwan food? Can you tell us a little about the menu?

[westsidegal]

no it's not.
food is typical, west-side, inexpensive, meh.

[chowhoundwoof]

Guys, I found one place ...

Szechwan Palace
431 Culver Blvd
Playa Del Rey, CA 90293 [phone] (Phone)

The food's good! :)

[Nicole]

There is a lot of authentic Chinese in Lomita/Torrance...not as far from Marina del Rey as the SGV. For instance, I like PCH Chinese, in Lomita.

[westsidegal]

there is no authentic chinese food around marina del rey.

for "chinese style california food" (i.e. not really chinese) you might try mao's kitchen. either you like their mix of influences or not. it is really just chinese-influenced food, not chinese food.

[estone888]

Sorry, not a one. It's worth the drive to the San Gabriel Valley.