Chinese Restaurants in Covington

The hospitable Chef Kong adds joy to lunch and dinner hours with lengthy menus of authentic Chinese delicacies. Afternoon diners can bisect the day with a plate of accessorized shredded pork or gently singe taste buds with a fiery octet of chicken dumplings in hot sauce. Savory meats and seafoods star in dinner dishes, including spicy, sizzling brisket in hot szechuan sauce and chinese zucchini with crabmeat sauce. Meat-averse eaters can sink bicuspids into veggie-laden dishes, such as Little Szechuan's popular stir-fried string beans or deep-fried tofu with sizzling mixed vegetables.

Little Szechuan invites escapist eating with classic Chinese décor and framed artworks that hide secret portals to North Dakota. Diners trade bites and clash chopsticks over last bites amid plush booths and warm red tones, and a nearby wall brims with cards and birth announcements from Chef Kong's loyal customers.

While growing up in Taiwan, Grand China coowners K.C. Chang and Tse-Chih Chang watched their mothers—“the best cooks in the world”—prepare fresh, delicious meals. While she tinkered with the balance of herbs and vegetables in her secret recipes, Tse-Chih’s mother dreamed of owning her own restaurant. As the mother of eight, she never had the time, but her daughter did. After Tse-Chih moved to the United States for graduate school, she opened a Chinese restaurant with her husband.

In business since 1978, Grand China dishes sizzling plates of Chinese fare crafted with family recipes. As food trends evolved and customers grew more adventurous, the Changs have expanded their menu to add pan-Asian cuisine, including Vietnamese and Malay appetizers and Japanese and Thai entrees. The new menu earned Grand China the Best of Citysearch award for Best Chinese food every year from 2007 to 2010. Haute Living also called it one of the top five Chinese restaurants in Atlanta, recommending the scorpion or zombie cocktails. Like the food, the cocktails are made from scratch, using fruits, flavored rums, and top-shelf liquors rather than juices or mixes.

Spicy traditional sauces and exotic ingredients such as yak meat accent the authentic dishes on the Tibetan menu at Shangrila Bistro. According to AccessAtlanta, Shangrila's owners fly the yak meat—which tastes "like beef but generally leaner"—directly from China, and they also use it for the yak's-milk butter needed to brew the Tibetan butter tea on their beverage menu. A separate Chinese menu stakes a competing claim on eaters' attention with inventive dishes such as hot and spicy tangerine beef and pineapple-seafood fried rice.

Chopsticks China Bistro & Sushi Bar's chefs fill plates with spicy, traditional Chinese cuisine and spin sushi rolls. Feast on a selection from the extensive lunch menu, which includes mongolian beef ($6.79), moo goo gai pan ($6.29), and szechuan-braised chicken and shrimp ($7.29) and earn sides such as fried rice and crab rangoon. The dinner menu lists larger dishes, such as the ginger lobster tail, a lobster tail with asparagus and snow peas stir-fried in ginger scallion sauce ($18.99), and the steak and scallops, served with black-peppercorn sauce, mushrooms, and onions ($16.99). Emerging from the sushi menu are physical tuna, salmon, or squid rolls ($4.59 each) and the sashimi combination plate, featuring an assortment of 15 flavors ($17.99).

At Chin Chin, diners watch various menu items being crafted by skilled chefs behind a large glass window, resulting in a dining experience that’s as delicious to the eyes as it is to palates. Witness culinary artists steam a boneless Long Island duckling for the braised-duck plate ($14.95) or stir-fry marinated beef with dried orange peels for the tangerine-beef dish ($13.95). Flora-feeding diners can discover a selection of vegetarian options, such as eggplant with garlic sauce ($8.95) and vegetarian General Tso's chicken ($11.50). The eatery's contemporary dining room of bright walls and linen-covered tables coaxes patrons into sipping on a postdinner libation, such as a glass of wine ($6–$8), a martini ($8), or an imported beer ($5–$8). Diners can also wrap up each meal by noshing on green tea, mango, or coconut ice cream ($4 each) instead of attempting to stuff a tablecloth and utensils into their wallets.

Every dish of Lu on the House of Lu's menu of Lu comes from a family recipe perfected over decades and steeped in praise. Lunch features a moderately priced ($5.75¬–$8) cast of classics all served with egg-fried or steamed rice and a vegetable egg roll. Favorites include the sesame chicken, Mongolian beef, and the spicy Hunan chicken. Starting at 3 p.m., the dinner dragon uncoils from its raindrop until it fills the menu with the lengthy list of authentic dishes scrawled across its underbelly. Dinner dishes are mainly centered around beef, poultry, pork, vegetables, and seafood with a plethora of options falling under each category. Net an order of best-selling coconut shrimp ($15.95), peck at the fan-favorite sesame chicken ($10.50), or fulfill a veggie fix with an order of General Tso's tofu ($9.50) and chase it with a dessert of sesame balls ($0.25 each). There's also a kids' menu for grotesque, half-formed adults and finicky feasters.

Creative Loafing Atlanta declared Chin Chin the city's best Chinese restaurant in 2012; that's a title the eatery has held for the better part of a decade thanks to the skill of the chefs there. Diners catch glimpses of those chefs chopping vegetables, braising tofu, and glazing breasts of duck through a large pane of glass that separates the kitchen from the dining room. Rice soup simmers, and dumplings open blossoms of steam near plates of pork ribs covered in honey like the world’s wealthiest bear.