Restaurants

Restaurants and Hotels

Dongying has a great selection of Chinese cuisine from around the country and a stunted selection of western and other foreign foods. You could easily fill up for under 10 RMB a meal, and you could just as easily spend a few hundred RMB in the city's nicer restaurants. This page is mostly dedicated to the non-Chinese cuisine available in Dongying, which is a bit harder to find than Chinese food.

If you are interested in finding some "real" Chinese food, then, wherever you happen to find yourself in the city, close your eyes and stretch your arms out to either side. Spin yourself around and you will very quickly collide with a cart selling popcorn, puffed rice, peanut brittle, fried stinky tofu, roasted corn or chestnuts, melon slices on a stick, dried fish, pickled vegetables, chicken parts, and an assortment of unidentified, theoretically edible products. If you're too squeamish for street food, then walk in a straight line in a direction of your choice until you hit a wall. That wall most likely forms one side of a Chinese restaurant. But just in case these methods don't help you find some decent Chinese food, I've included some of my favorite places below.

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English Name	Chinese Name	Pinyin Name	Address	Link to Printable Directions for a Taxi Driver
Description
Photos and/or Translated Menu

Dynamic Hotel	大明大厦	da ming da sha	Ji Nan Lu	Taxi Directions
There are several restaurants within this conglomerate, including a classy Chinese restaurant and a rather pricey Korean place. The Sun Flower Cafe (SFC) on the second floor offers decent replicas of some favorite western dishes for 30 to 60 RMB. They make a great spaghetti bolognaise. Their ground chicken burger is oddly more satisfying as a burger than their breakfast-sausage-esque hamburger. They also have a good selection of pizzas for 30 RMB that will grow on you after a while.

Xin Yue Hotel	新悦大酒店	xin yue da jiu dian	Corner of Ji Nan Lu and Xi Er Lu	Taxi Directions
The restaurant on the second floor has decent western food though it’s a little pricier than Dynamic. Also there are a few fancier dishes on this menu than Dynamic’s. However the service is great, maybe even a little too attentive sometimes. After dinner here, the manager interviewed me for about 30 minutes on how to improve their menu. Like Dynamic, Xin Yue also has a Chinese restaurant.

Dong Sheng Mansions	东胜大厦	dong sheng da sha	Xi Si Lu, near intersection with Jinan Lu	Taxi Directions
This is the best hotel in town and, to my knowledge, the only 5-star hotel in Dongying. Finding it shouldn’t be a problem because it’s also the tallest building in the city at 29 floors. Taxi directions are hardly necessary as most taxi drivers will assume this is where you want to go anyway. This hotel has a very pricey seafood restaurant on the second floor, but Dongsheng is best known among the more impoverished expats for its buffet breakfasts and dinners. Breakfast costs 40 RMB and dinner costs 60 RMB. They probably have the best pizza recipe in town.

Ming Tien Coffee Language	名典语茶	ming dian yu cha	Bei Yi Lu near the intersection with Xi Si Lu	Taxi Directions
Ming Tien has very comfortable surroundings if not hot-n-cold good service. It also has, hands down, the worst selection of music in the city. But you may just be able to put up with covers of “I’m all out of love” for the coffee, fried ice cream, French toast, and Australian steaks. It’s pricey (20 to 40 RMB) and the portions on some meals won’t even take the edge off your hunger. It does its best work as a dinner and/or dessert place.

UBC Cafe	上岛咖啡西餐厅	shang dao ka fei	Corner of Bei Yi Lu and Xi Si Lu, in the Chang Long Hotel building	Taxi Directions
UBC, like Ming Tien, is a Taiwanese coffee house chain. It has Ming Tien’s atmosphere with much more tolerable music (often live piano) and fairly good coffee. However, the only tolerable western food here is its selection of steaks. As at Ming Tien, steaks go for 60 to 100 RMB.

Yuan Yuan Yuan	圆缘园	yuan yuan yuan	Wu Tai Shan Lu, not far from the intersection with Zi Bo Lu	Taxi Directions
YYY offers the same sort of mix of western and Chinese foods a la Ming Tien or UBC Cafe, but it is best known for its swings and selection of teas. It also has a modest selection of ice cream desserts and dessert drinks. It’s a great place to head just after a meal at Tu Da Li.

Royal Pizza	皇室比萨	huang shi bi sa	Yin Zuo (Silver Plaza)	Taxi Directions
While this place has a long ways to go to become a real pizza place, it’ll do to satisfy a pizza craving. It also has a fair bit of other things on the menu, including some of the only curry available in town. Pizzas cost from 30 RMB (personal) to 50 RMB (slightly bigger). Other dishes, like the curry, cost around 15 or 20 RMB.
No Photos Yet

KFC	肯德基	ken de ji	1) Corner of Xi Si Lu and Ji Nan Lu; 2) Silver Plaza	Taxi Directions
Don't be ashamed to take a KFC break every now and then. For around 20 RMB you can have a convenient western fix. Also, there are usually several items on the menu that are distinctly suited to Chinese tastes, making for an insightful (if not justifiable) visit to the colonel’s.
No Photos Necessary

Tu Da Li	土大力	tu da li	Wu Tai Shan Lu, not far from the intersection with Zi Bo Lu	Taxi Directions
This Korean restaurant has a mostly-good menu without being too pricey. The “stone bowl rice” usually hits the spot and only costs 15 RMB. While this only counts as “western” food to Chinese people, it’s a great alternative to the other food available in Dongying.

The Grasslands	心舒快餐美食精迄	Xin Shu Kuai Can Mei Shi Jing Qi	First restaurant inside the alley to the left of the Hai Tong Da Sha	Taxi Directions
There isn’t much to distinguish this diner-like place from the myriad others in Dongying except that it does a better-than-average job with its dishes. While you may never go in search of the Grasslands, this menu will help you navigate 90% of the dishes at all those other places in town. By the way, the staff here are possibly the friendliest in China.
Menu

East Sea	东海鲜	dong hai xian	Zibo Lu, near Dongying Qu Zheng Fu	Taxi Directions
The entrance of this excellent seafood restaurant looks more like an aquarium than a restaurant. This is because East Sea follows the custom of most fine restaurants in Dongying by having a visual menu. A waitress with a PDA will follow you around as you point at what you want, noting how you want it cooked or making suggestions. This is a meal to be enjoyed with a group of friends and would likely cost upwards of 20 or 30 RMB per person.
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Great Dumplings City	浩然饺子城	Hao Ran Jiao Zi Cheng	Xi Er Lu, #198	Taxi Directions
There are plenty of dumpling restaurants in Dongying, but this is one of the better ones. Their lamb and carrot dumplings (羊肉水饺) are excellent. Other great choices are pork and cabbage dumplings (白菜肉水饺) and beef dumplings (牛肉水饺). Dumplings are sold in units of liang, the smallest batch being 2 liang. Two liang is probably enough of any dumpling dish if you would like to order other dishes. Four people could get stuffed on 3 kinds of dumplings of 2 liang each.
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Hometown Barbecue	老根烧烤	lao gen shao kao	Zi bo lu, just east of the China Life Insurance building	Taxi Directions
You can find shao kao restaurants on just about every street corner after 6pm. Some of the mobile kitchen arrangements can be quite expansive too. This particular barbecue has its own permanent restaurant and offers outside seating when the weather can afford it. It also has the best roasted garlic in Dongying, and its other skewered goods are also all well done. If you don’t end up finding your way to this hole-in-the-wall, the menu below should serve you well at most other street-side barbecues in town.
Menu

Honorable Mentions:

California Beef Noodles

There are 3 CBN franchises in Dongying and hundreds more around China. Their 7-RMB bowl of beef noodles and 6-RMB bowl of chicken noodles aren't half bad. They also sell set meals for 10 RMB comprised of a main meat dish, a side vegetable, a scoop of steamed rice, and a very watery soup. Look for CBN 1) across the street from the Shengda Central Supermarket (see Shopping), 2) on the first floor of the otherwise abandoned Friendship Plaza (友谊广场 you yi guang chang), and hidden in an alley with several other cheap restaurants just east of the Guo Mei (国美) home appliance department store on Jinan Lu.

Mai Ken Mu 麦肯姆 One of China's many knock-off McDonalds

I won't actually eat here because I fear it would validate this place with the locals. Places like Mai Ken Mu make their money off unsuspecting yokels who have never actually had western fast food much less been to a real McDonalds. In truth, they aren't missing much. But for expats craving a convenient burger, this place is just a cruel joke. Besides having 4 golden arches for its logo, the name is also somewhat similar to McDonald's (麦肯姆 mai ken mu VS 麦当劳 mai dang lao). Mai Ken Mu is across the street from the Shengda Central Supermarket about a storefront away from the California Beef Noodles franchise.

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