Chinese Restaurants in Tacoma

At Peking Wok, supple meats and veggies sink into Mandarin- and Szechuan-style sauces crafted from scratch each day. Diners populate the dining room for lunch, dinner, or a family-style grazing session, complete with soups and appetizers such as pot stickers, egg rolls, and fried shrimp and lobster chips. Portions of aromatic barbecue pork, sweet and sour chicken, and honey-walnut shrimp arrive at tables weighed down by full wine glasses and manner-less elbows, or tucked inside to-go boxes for carry-out or delivery.

O Phở & Teriyaki’s chefs prepare a flavorful array of Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese fare served inside a glowing, golden dining room. Steam rises from healthful bowls of phở, where beef brisket and rice noodles float in hot, clear broth, served with cool bean sprouts, spicy jalapeño, and tart lime for building complexity. Chinese staples such as kung pao tofu and shrimp fried rice accompany tall glasses of honeydew bubble tea, conspiring on tactics to overthrow general tso’s chicken army.

Seated in the midst of the International District, China Club Bistro wraps its guests in a casually upscale environment characterized by long horizontal lines and shades of crimson. Globe lights illuminate sleek hardwood floors, red chairs, and leather benches where patrons settle to investigate the menu. The kitchen crew serves Chinese cuisine ranging from egg foo young to spicy morsels of szechwan chicken and sizzling platters of prawns or calamari in black-bean sauces. Crimson curtains and painted wood beneath the bar echo the balance of color that the chefs—using their 30 years of culinary experience—create in each dish. Parties of people and prehibernating bears also come together over spreads of dim sum that include plates of fried sesame balls, steamed pork buns, egg tarts, and beef rice noodles.

Pastel hues fill the dining room in the form of pink-cushioned chairs and mint-green banquettes that match the partitions lined with potted flowers and plants. The menu collects a Pan-Asian spread of recipes, including chow fun and chow mein noodles loaded with shrimp and sparerib meat, and a Vietnamese-style sole fillet. Guests can also sample LA Cafe's unique protein delicacies, such as ox tongue, roasted pigeon, and wild tofu caught grazing outside a natural food store.

Awash in the glow of Adriatic's flickering forno, chef Bill Trudnowski fondly recalls a youth spent watching his father, the son of a butcher, prepare fresh farm-to-table cuisine. After a stint in the army, Trudnowski started a new career as a corporate executive chef, eventually opening Adriatic Grill, his first restaurant. Distinguished by locally sourced seasonal ingredients and careful preparation, dishes range from ocean-fresh shellfish and bone-in chops to eight flavors of thin-crust pizzas crisped inside a custom-built wood-burning oven. Bill, named the Best Chef of 2012 by South Sound Magazine, is happy to accommodate special requests, whether they involve removing the gluten, substituting items, or writing his autograph in gravy.