Chinese Food in Mexicali 2026 | The Best Cantonese Restaurants

🥡 Chinese Food in Mexicali

The cuisine that defines Mexicali. Carnitas coloradas, chop suey, chow mein and Cantonese fried rice in the city with the most Chinese restaurants in the country.

No other city in Mexico eats Chinese food the way Mexicali does. Here it is not an occasional craving: it is Sunday family food, birthday food, business-lunch food. These are the most established and best-rated restaurants, with up-to-date hours and locations.

Restaurants

4.5

Average rating

China House Restaurant Mexicali - White-tablecloth dining room with the red mural of mountains and terracotta warriors

⭐ Featured

$$ · $200-300 MXN

See hours🥡 Chinese Food

Restaurante China House

Calz. Justo Sierra 1001, esq. Carpinteros, Burócratas · Burócratas

4.5

4,686 reviews

The most-reviewed Chinese restaurant in Mexicali: 4,666 reviews at 4.5 on Google. White-tablecloth Cantonese cooking with set meals for sharing, carnitas coloradas, chow mein and fried rice. Open daily 11 AM to 9 PM.

Carnitas Coloradas (char siu)Cantonese Fried RiceBeef with BroccoliChop Suey with ChickenChow Mein

✓ Dine-in✓ Order and pickup✓ Delivery✓ Reservations

Daily from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM

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Storefront of Imperial Garden on Avenida Madero, Mexicali: Chinese-style portico with a red door, grey tiled roofs, white balustrades and terracotta warriors

✨ New⭐ Featured

$$ · $200-600 MXN

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Imperial Garden

Av. Francisco I. Madero 1460, Col. Segunda, 21100 · Downtown

4.5

3,904 reviews

The Chinese restaurant on Av. Madero with the red-portico storefront and koi pond: carnitas coloradas, set meals by package and specialties like Sichuan fish. Open daily 11:30 AM to 9 PM. 4.5 from 3,901 reviews.

Carnitas Coloradas (red pork)Shark-Fin Style SoupChun Cun (spring roll)Fried RiceSichuan Fish

✓ Dine-in✓ Takeout✓ Reservations✓ Room for families and groups

Daily from 11:30 AM to 9:00 PM

View full page Getting there Call

🍜 The Dishes You Should Know

Mexicali's Chinese food is Cantonese at its root and has its own classics, some impossible to find in other cities. This is what people order here.

🥩

Carnitas coloradas

Cantonese (char siu)

Roast pork with a lacquered, unmistakable red edge, served in slices. The most recognizable dish of Mexicali Chinese food.

🍚

Cantonese fried rice

Canton

The mandatory side: wok-tossed rice with egg, pork and vegetables. Almost no table orders without it.

🍜

Chow mein

Canton

Stir-fried noodles with meat and vegetables. In its crispy version the noodle is fried and served under the sauce, a local classic.

🥬

Chop suey

Chinese-American cooking

A vegetable and meat stir-fry in a light sauce. One of the pillars of any set lunch in Mexicali.

🥣

Shark-fin style soup

Canton

The thick soup that opens nearly every set lunch in the city. "Shark-fin style" because it mimics the texture of the original.

🥟

Chun cun (spring roll)

Canton

The spring roll, fried and crispy. Usually the first starter to reach the table.

🍍

Chicken with pineapple

Cantonese sweet and sour

Battered chicken in sweet and sour sauce with pineapple. The undisputed favorite of kids and first-timers.

🥦

Beef with broccoli

Canton

Wok-seared beef with broccoli in oyster sauce. One of the most ordered dishes across the city.

🦑

Salt and pepper squid

Canton

Fried squid with salt, pepper and chile. The dish city restaurants use to show off their wok.

🐄

"La vaquita"

Regional, from La Chinesca

A regional dish born in Mexicali's Chinatown. It is not exclusive to a single restaurant: several of the historic ones claim it as a signature.

🐉 Why Mexicali eats Chinese food

From the cotton fields to the table

Chinese food did not reach Mexicali as a culinary trend: it arrived with people. In the early twentieth century, thousands of Chinese migrants —mostly from the southern region of Canton— settled in the valley to work the cotton fields. That community gave rise to La Chinesca, the Chinatown in the city center, and with it a cuisine that is now part of Mexicali identity.

That is why Chinese food here is predominantly Cantonese, and why it includes dishes that do not exist elsewhere in the country. Mexicali is credited with the largest concentration of Chinese restaurants in Mexico, and eating Chinese on a Sunday is a family habit as deeply rooted as any other.

Worth knowing

📍 La Chinesca is the origin, not the address

The historic quarter sits downtown, but measured precisely, almost no large restaurant today falls within its streets: Chinese food moved out into the whole city.

👥 Ordered to share

Menus are built for the center of the table. Many set lunches require a minimum of two people and are served in courses.

🍵 Tea is part of the meal

Almost every restaurant serves house tea with the meal. It is worth asking whether it is included or billed separately.

🥡 Full and half orders

Several offer half orders, useful for small groups who want to try more dishes without over-ordering.

🥡 Chinese Food in Mexicali

Restaurante China House

Imperial Garden

🍜 The Dishes You Should Know

Carnitas coloradas

Cantonese fried rice

Chow mein

Chop suey

Shark-fin style soup

Chun cun (spring roll)

Chicken with pineapple

Beef with broccoli

Salt and pepper squid

"La vaquita"

🐉 Why Mexicali eats Chinese food

From the cotton fields to the table

Worth knowing

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