This place has been around for years and years. It's the perfect place for when you just feel like good chinese food. It's not too fancy, but it's tasty. I ordered the takeaway kung pao chicken with rice and mongolian beef with rice. I would have liked perhaps a bit more of the stir fry and a bit less rice, but otherwise it's good. It never disappoints.
This place is an institution in the essendon area and surrounds. It's your local Chinese restaurant but just a little bit fancy. The interior is exactly what you'd expect: lots of round tables and some booths along the side, all covered in crisp white table clothes. The dishes are superb also, with the duck pancakes, Mongolian beef, Cantonese steak, combination birds nest, lemon chicken and fried rice being KnowingMelbourne family favourites. But I'm sure all your favourites are done just as well.
Been a loyal customer of China Max for years and it's definitely my favourite Chinese restaurant in the area. My parents started taking me here when I was younger and still to this day, we choose China Max over some of the other cheaper Chinese restaurants for its taste and quality. Some of the dishes I recommend are Peking duck, Singapore chilli prawns and wasabi beef fillets. I don't usually write reviews but I've seen some negative reviews about the food and service which I am honestly quite surprised by, so I wanted to share my experience here. Overall, I would definitely recommend it!
First time here service is awesome, local swear by this place, that has been here for as long as I can remember, food amazing value for money, will be back again.
This is a great suburban restaurant and serves the best Peking Duck in Melbourne . Excellent wine list , very good service and an extensive menu of authentic Chinese dishes make it well worth a try . The take away is good as well .
Good food. Good service.. Very nice restaurant. The service was really good. Food was great! Will definitely return.
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Really enjoyable. I visited China Max with a friend for the first time recently. Despite having lived in Essendon for years I never tried China Max and on a whim decided to give it a go. It's definitely on the pricier side for a Chinese restaurant. Having said that I thought the food was sublime. There was a bit of a wait for food - almost to the point where we were about to ask what had happened to our order - but it was Saturday night at the peak of the peak evening period. The steamed fish with black bean sauce was wonderful. The fish was steamed to perfection and the sauce was subtle and didn't overwhelm the delicate flavour of the fish. The minced pork with eggplant in a spicy sauce was rich and luscious and even though we were full, we ate every last bit of it. Service was attentive and polite. The wine list is huge and they offer some very decent wines by the glass at reasonable prices. There seemed to be a lot of regulars dining in, as they were greeted warmly by staff. I am not sure about the $30 per person limit that other reviewers have mentioned - if it applies we didn't know anything about it but we would have spent more than $30 each - easy to do with the prices of the dishes plus a glass of wine each. Because of the price point I definitely wouldn't go to China Max for take away but for a lovely meal to eat in I would return. I just hope my experience is the "norm" and not a one-off.
Great service, very fast & food was enjoyable
China Max is a place with a diverse reputation. In Essendon you either love it or you hate it. This was my first visit and to be honest I thought it was pretty good. The prices are city prices in the northern suburbs which can be off putting but given the exceptionally diverse wine list and large menu I felt the price was about right. We ordered the eel which was sold out so moved onto westlake duck and the braised tofu with green vegetables. The duck itself was a little fatty but perfect for mid range suburban dining. The tofu with greens was fantastic and as close to anything in shanghai. The service was quick with a smile dependant upon which staff member you got. They do not do eftpos only cash or credit. My advise would be to give it a goand choose non traditional meals. Some of the traditional meals looked authentic and large. All Iin all I feel its a sleeper and good if you want something other than lwmon chicken.
Lovely restaurant with friendly staff. Food isn't cheap, but it is delicious.
Amazing food, grouse service. Waiter was an absolute legend, this guy was cracking jokes like Martin Lawrence. Actually thought I was at a stand-up comedy performance at one point. Would recommend. 5 stars đź‘Ť
Exceptional service and food. Some of the best Chinese food we've had in years. China Max is the best it's been in a long time, the food was amazing, one of my favourite places as a kid and it's even better now.
I went to this Chinese shop and it was perfect, the waiter was very friendly. I was trying to pick things up with my chop sticks and he helped me with the hand placement. Highly recommend
Nice big restaurant. Friendly waiter was handling the customers well. Rice portions we ordered were big. Actually it is enough for two people. Food is quite tasty.
Great dine in experience for long weekend ! Excellent food and service! Lemon chicken and special fried rice are so so yummy!
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