Denver's Best Chinese Restaurants

Craving Chinese Cuisine?

Craving a bit of Asian fare? While it's easy to settle for the $1.25-a-scoop take-out joint down the way, that choice doesn't even begin to pay tribute to one of the most diverse and traditional cuisines of the world. Next time the desire for Chinese food hits, these restaurants are some of the area's best: try them out instead.

1. Super Star Asian

Our city's best dim sum restaurant, Super Star Asian on Alameda, is tiny and always packed, especially on weekend mornings. Despite the long wait, a small crowd always piles up to wait for a table. Join in and taste some of the most unique and delectable Chinese food around, it's well worth the delay. Don't bring along picky eaters, an adventurous outlook on food is a must at Super Star Asian, as dishes contain everything from octopus to chicken feet to eggplant. If you're new to the experience, the best bet is to simply pick a variety of dishes at random as they pass by. If you're more cautious about what you consume, show up in the evening when the menu is fixed and the restaurant is a little emptier.

2. Lao Wang Noodle House

It's easy to pass tiny Lao Wang Noodle House without even noticing. Inconspicuous along the blocks of storefronts on South Federal Boulevard, the perfectly seasoned dishes keep those who visit coming back again and again. Piping hot pork pot-stickers are a great start, but beware: their boiling hot insides require some serious caution in eating.

An ancient Chinese couple runs the place; their constant exuberance is entirely endearing and a little bit amusing as well. The noodle soups for which the restaurant is named are delicious, hot and filling without swimming in grease as can so easily happen. Other popular dishes include steamed dumplings and wontons, but anything served at the restaurant is worth eating. Since the business is small and doesn't accept reservations, show up at an early hour or expect a bit of a wait.

3. Chopsticks

A catchall Chinese restaurant in Athmar Park, Chopsticks offers strange, authentic Chinese dishes with ingredients like jellyfish, octopus and pig intestine alongside reinvented Americanized Chinese meals of much more common ingredients, like chicken. This experience makes dining out a treat for both those looking for a true taste of foreign cuisine and those who desire a more moderate culinary experience. Compared with Super Star Asian and Lao Wang Noodle House, Chopsticks is definitely larger and more varied, but the experience is a little less authentic than either of these locations, so when picking a restaurant, it really comes down to deciding what you're looking for.

4. Spicy Basil

Spicy Basil's selection of Asian dishes makes good ethnic cuisine easily available, whether eaten in-house or ordered to go. The mixed choices let you dine within just one culinary tradition or mix-and-match with each course, from the heavy sweetness of Vietnamese coffee to the bite of hot Japanese sake, the spices in the Vietnamese noodle bowl or the flavors of a Chinese lo mein. The servings at Spicy Basil are huge, keep the leftovers for the next day's lunch. Sitting on South Broadway, the restaurant sees a variety of customers, including hipsters waiting for the night's live music to kick off at the Hi-Dive, couples heading to The Mayan for an independent film and professionals grabbing a bite after work.

5. Imperial Chinese Restaurant

Dishes coming from many Chinese culinary traditions, including the hot Szechwan dishes that originated in southwestern China and the milder tastes of Cantonese fare, are available at Imperial Chinese Restaurant on South Broadway. Many items are what aficionados would call Americanized Chinese dishes, but they are well prepared and incorporate a variety of traditional ingredients and preparation methods, even if they aren't terribly authentic. Particular favorites worth a try are the sesame chicken and the tofu with shiitake mushrooms. An alert wait staff and a great ambiance make the restaurant a wonderful place to take date or take the whole family.