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.
The best noodles. Really good crispy noodlessss!!!
I just love it!
Yum. Always nice, food beautiful service can always improve.
I will return eggplant and pork pot is to die for.
Favorite Chinese Restaurant. I have been to Flowedrum, and I have been to China Max on many occassions, I have met and always greeted in the most professional manner, the food ( if you choose outside the square) or aks for suggestions like their Crispy Duck dish there is not way that you could ever write anything bad about this restaurant. I have taken kids, family, friends and never has anyone been dissapointed with the food, the service or the quality of wines.
My kids prefer China Max to the Flowedrum, not kids can be fussy but this restraurant is great, dont care what anyone thinks, some people can just never be happy no matter what.
Delicious!!. I have been to China Max 3 times in the last year and everytime it has been fantastic.
The staff are friendly and efficent, although they do have trouble understanding english sometimes- but not too excessive to ruin your experience.
The food is always fresh and cooked perfectly.
We tried 4 dishes:
Chicken & Vege's with cashew nuts
BBQ pork
Beef Clay pot
All were delicious and hot, we could clearly tell the chef's are passionate about their jobs.
Although the peking duck was a little disappointing. We weren't given enough vege's and only just enough duck for the amount of pancakes provided.
Overall, I love this place and would come back anyday...lucky I don't eat duck :)
Matty obviously had a bad day when he came here or must have been expecting Flower Drum quality at Noodle Shop prices. All I know is six of us ate like kings for $50 a head and had full Buddha bellies on the way out. Couldn't fault the service either.
Best stereotypical Chinese food. I used to live close, and this was my go-to Chinese takeaway place. Now I live further away, and this makes me sad.
The sweet and sour pork is excellent. So are most other things on the menu. Don't be expecting anything super fancy or authentic. The eat-in menu has much more choice than take away.
Amazing food, great service (even on a really busy night) would definitely recommend it!!!
Terrible really bad service shredded beef cold remade 3 times then soggy, rice cold come on how can a Chinese not get rice right and staff very unfriendly towards children & rude to customers won't ever return even though in walking distance
:'). I liked it
but nothing to go WOW about
Went last Saturday night with girlfriend. 1st time there, we really enjoyed it! Food & service was great, recommend the Peking duck. Will be back!!
Solid cooking , enjoyed each course and the deep fried ice cream is a must try
A favorite destination for me and my kids.
Just delicious every time I eat there. Wasabi beef, quail with spicy salt and soft shell crab are the highlights
Love china max!. Eat there every opportunity always excellent, although there take away menu is not half as nice not sure why but eat in is fab!
Always a Pleasure. Good food, a must try is the peking duck, a little on the expensive side but good overall dishes, and nice deserts different from the usual deep fried ice cream
Not bad. The biggest thing you notice here is the lack of trolleys. Maybe because the place is never very crowded. But with that comes better customer service than other yum cha places and seemingly fresher food, made to order. Most dishes were quite good. Don't get the prawn rice rolls though. Decent fare, but maybe a little charmless.
Great food. We've been here numerous times both to eat in and take away and have had consistently good food and great service. The wine list is good too.
Classic of the north. Very professional, food impossible to fault. Good place to do a deal over lunch or take the extended family over dinner. Peking duck is to die for. Or at least pull a gun in self-defence, as the occasion requires.
Loved it!! Been so many times & can NOT fault the food! Highly reccomed :-)
Yummy food (especially the San choy bow) great service and reasonably priced.
Nice!. China town replica in Essendon. You wouldn't be the wiser. Great all round service, food classically prepared and diverse menu. Been there at least 50 times. Same each time.
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 👍
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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