Mein St is within the Little Italy Food Hall in San Diego. It offers a variety of Asian cuisine with highlights including house made dumplings and succulent wings. We found it whilst wondering around Little Italy on our first day.When we checked it out online, we nearly didn’t order from here as the google reviews didn’t score above a four. However, we were fairly exhausted and hadn’t really seen anything else that appealed so we went for it. We were very glad that we did!When I collected the order, the person that served us who I think could have been the owner appeared to be very humble.We ordered the following:Xiao Long Bao, which came as a portion of six (we only remembered to take the picture once we had already launched in and eaten two). These were nice and meaty with a thin soup retained within the pastry.Pork pot stickers which were served with house made zesty garlic soy dipping sauce.Mein St Wings, which were definitely the star of the show. These were huge with lots of succulent chicken lightly battered. The sauce which tasted like a mix between Peking and Cantonese was sweet and sticky.Combo Chow Mein, which consisted of wok-tossed noodles, broccoli, carrots, onions spinach, bean sprouts, savory soy sauce.Chicken fried rice which was again wok-tossed with beansprouts, peas, scallions, onions, egg.Both chow mein and fried rice were massive portions. After the starters we didn’t even scratch the surface. The next evening we ordered two portions of the chicken wings and reheated the left overs.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Xiao Long Bao, Wings
racheljreid00
I would give this 5 stars all around but I could tell that my steak was cooked on a surface that had just cooked seafood. The egg fried rice was delicious as were the cream cheese wontons but sadly the house pepper special steak was not special…. Just fishy. I can tell it would have been delicious had the seafood flavored beef not turned my stomach the way it did.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
N Rajguru
The people are very friendly and the food comes quickly. I wish they had more veggie options for me but i enjoy their fried rice and chow mein with extra veggies...this is in the middle of little italy food court so the ambience is lively..the large tables are nice if u plan to eat with friends there...i have done carry out most times on a cold evening when i crave chinese food in the area. A bit on the expensive side.Vegetarian options: Fried rice and chow mein can be made vegetarian.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Egg Fried Rice
Rachel Saltzstein
Yummy salad! Great quick lunch and the server was so friendly. There are beautiful tables and fountain right outside.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Arlene T.
The beef and broccoli with fried rice.... Amazing!!!! Hot and fresh! So good! Was looking for a burger but ended up here. I highly recommend!!!!!
Saunders Souvannaraj
Recently got food posioning from there spicy miso ramen
Chari M.
Every single time we come here we always get their Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings, our absolute must when we go here! We haven't tried their other stuff on menu but looks amazing! Our 10yr old daughter is loving their wings, so we will be ordering more to "share"
Danielle C.
I was getting tired of tacos, pizza, and fried chicken so I gambled and tried some Asian food in... yes Little Italy. There are only a handful of Asian restaurants here so it was risky but I was really craving some meat and rice after all my meals were of the above types.I tried the kung pao chicken and was hoping it would be more like the ones at Americanized Chinese restaurants (or even if it were like the one at Panda Express I would be okay with that). I was hoping for some lightly stir fried chicken with a light brown sauce but instead I got small fried bits of chicken with this bright red sauce that was definitely very sweet. I don't like my savory dinner meals to be that sweet. This is my least favorite kind of Americanized Chinese sauce so I was disappointed. The bowl was also on the more expensive size $17 so I was even more bummed.I read the receipt in my email later and it mentioned that kung pao chicken was ".... new york style - sweet red mandarin sauce" if they had indicated that on the menu I definitely would not have picked this dish.I barely ate half of the bowl.
kakuranbo moore
First time coming to this place with my girl ? the food and the service was amazing. The food and the spice level was on point compare to other food spots in National city.The texture of the chicken and the noodles were amazing and I would highly recommend for anyone to come down and try. There’s free water and lemon water.What to expect when you come here:Open spaceExcellent customer serviceSuggestion on dishes if you’ve never been herePlenty of seatingHard to find parking space ?(I had to park in Africa to walk here but it was worth the work out ??)We ordered 3 dishes:We hope you enjoy the food here and enjoy the atmosphere.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Kimchi Poke Bowl
Kakuranbo M.
First time coming to this place with my girl the food and the service was amazing. The food and the spice level was on point compare to other food spots in National city.The texture of the chicken and the noodles were amazing and I would highly recommend for anyone to come down and try. There's free water and lemon water.What to expect when you come here:Open spaceExcellent customer serviceSuggestion on dishes if you've never been herePlenty of seatingHard to find parking space (I had to park in Africa to walk here but it was worth the work out )We ordered 3 dishes:salt pepper chicken Kimchi Fried RiceChow MeinWe hope you enjoy the food here and enjoy the atmosphere.
Man, I hate posting negative reviews and usually don't, but I felt like I have to post a buyer beware.Don't get the soup dumplings. I don't know if they steamed them improperly or what, but every single dumpling had no broth. None. Not one little slurp. Just an overly expensive dumpling that will break your heart.
Bruce Forest
Ramen was good. Teriyaki chicken was too sweet.
Joseph Maffei
Lack of flavor to beef broccoli, chewy beef, uncooked veggies, bland sauce. I’ve had their orange chicken and that was ok. Even the spring rolls are just ok. Also, extremely overpriced, $26 for a bowl and 2 spring rolls. Nice guys, good service, but need to do healthier options, less expensive (especially for lunch items) and produce a more authentic flavor for authentic dishes.
April Heinze
Worst kung pao chicken bowl ever. Breaded, dry and overcooked chicken, little spice, no sauce and tasteless white rice. Panda Express has better food. Don’t waste your money at this place.
danny richardson
Wow! Orange chicken, teriyaki, endamame. This place is great. Hot, fresh and delicious. Best Chinese place I've ate at in a long time.
Mein St is within the Little Italy Food Hall in San Diego. It offers a variety of Asian cuisine with highlights including house made dumplings and succulent wings. We found it whilst wondering around Little Italy on our first day.When we checked it out online, we nearly didn’t order from here as the google reviews didn’t score above a four. However, we were fairly exhausted and hadn’t really seen anything else that appealed so we went for it. We were very glad that we did!When I collected the order, the person that served us who I think could have been the owner appeared to be very humble.We ordered the following:Xiao Long Bao, which came as a portion of six (we only remembered to take the picture once we had already launched in and eaten two). These were nice and meaty with a thin soup retained within the pastry.Pork pot stickers which were served with house made zesty garlic soy dipping sauce.Mein St Wings, which were definitely the star of the show. These were huge with lots of succulent chicken lightly battered. The sauce which tasted like a mix between Peking and Cantonese was sweet and sticky.Combo Chow Mein, which consisted of wok-tossed noodles, broccoli, carrots, onions spinach, bean sprouts, savory soy sauce.Chicken fried rice which was again wok-tossed with beansprouts, peas, scallions, onions, egg.Both chow mein and fried rice were massive portions. After the starters we didn’t even scratch the surface. The next evening we ordered two portions of the chicken wings and reheated the left overs.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Xiao Long Bao, Wings
I would give this 5 stars all around but I could tell that my steak was cooked on a surface that had just cooked seafood. The egg fried rice was delicious as were the cream cheese wontons but sadly the house pepper special steak was not special…. Just fishy. I can tell it would have been delicious had the seafood flavored beef not turned my stomach the way it did.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
The people are very friendly and the food comes quickly. I wish they had more veggie options for me but i enjoy their fried rice and chow mein with extra veggies...this is in the middle of little italy food court so the ambience is lively..the large tables are nice if u plan to eat with friends there...i have done carry out most times on a cold evening when i crave chinese food in the area. A bit on the expensive side.Vegetarian options: Fried rice and chow mein can be made vegetarian.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Egg Fried Rice
Yummy salad! Great quick lunch and the server was so friendly. There are beautiful tables and fountain right outside.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The beef and broccoli with fried rice.... Amazing!!!! Hot and fresh! So good! Was looking for a burger but ended up here. I highly recommend!!!!!
Recently got food posioning from there spicy miso ramen
Every single time we come here we always get their Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings, our absolute must when we go here! We haven't tried their other stuff on menu but looks amazing! Our 10yr old daughter is loving their wings, so we will be ordering more to "share"
I was getting tired of tacos, pizza, and fried chicken so I gambled and tried some Asian food in... yes Little Italy. There are only a handful of Asian restaurants here so it was risky but I was really craving some meat and rice after all my meals were of the above types.I tried the kung pao chicken and was hoping it would be more like the ones at Americanized Chinese restaurants (or even if it were like the one at Panda Express I would be okay with that). I was hoping for some lightly stir fried chicken with a light brown sauce but instead I got small fried bits of chicken with this bright red sauce that was definitely very sweet. I don't like my savory dinner meals to be that sweet. This is my least favorite kind of Americanized Chinese sauce so I was disappointed. The bowl was also on the more expensive size $17 so I was even more bummed.I read the receipt in my email later and it mentioned that kung pao chicken was ".... new york style - sweet red mandarin sauce" if they had indicated that on the menu I definitely would not have picked this dish.I barely ate half of the bowl.
First time coming to this place with my girl ? the food and the service was amazing. The food and the spice level was on point compare to other food spots in National city.The texture of the chicken and the noodles were amazing and I would highly recommend for anyone to come down and try. There’s free water and lemon water.What to expect when you come here:Open spaceExcellent customer serviceSuggestion on dishes if you’ve never been herePlenty of seatingHard to find parking space ?(I had to park in Africa to walk here but it was worth the work out ??)We ordered 3 dishes:We hope you enjoy the food here and enjoy the atmosphere.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Kimchi Poke Bowl
First time coming to this place with my girl the food and the service was amazing. The food and the spice level was on point compare to other food spots in National city.The texture of the chicken and the noodles were amazing and I would highly recommend for anyone to come down and try. There's free water and lemon water.What to expect when you come here:Open spaceExcellent customer serviceSuggestion on dishes if you've never been herePlenty of seatingHard to find parking space (I had to park in Africa to walk here but it was worth the work out )We ordered 3 dishes:salt pepper chicken Kimchi Fried RiceChow MeinWe hope you enjoy the food here and enjoy the atmosphere.
Restaurantji Recommends
Man, I hate posting negative reviews and usually don't, but I felt like I have to post a buyer beware.Don't get the soup dumplings. I don't know if they steamed them improperly or what, but every single dumpling had no broth. None. Not one little slurp. Just an overly expensive dumpling that will break your heart.
Ramen was good. Teriyaki chicken was too sweet.
Lack of flavor to beef broccoli, chewy beef, uncooked veggies, bland sauce. I’ve had their orange chicken and that was ok. Even the spring rolls are just ok. Also, extremely overpriced, $26 for a bowl and 2 spring rolls. Nice guys, good service, but need to do healthier options, less expensive (especially for lunch items) and produce a more authentic flavor for authentic dishes.
Worst kung pao chicken bowl ever. Breaded, dry and overcooked chicken, little spice, no sauce and tasteless white rice. Panda Express has better food. Don’t waste your money at this place.
Wow! Orange chicken, teriyaki, endamame. This place is great. Hot, fresh and delicious. Best Chinese place I've ate at in a long time.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Garlic Soy Edamame