China Royal

Update: Closed for good. :(
If you’re craving Chinese takeout in North Wilmington, go to Happy Fortune on Marsh & Silverside.

We went to China Royal (not my first trip) on a Saturday night for my girlfriend’s grandfather’s 83^rd birthday. This is his favorite chines restaurant and for good reason! This place is just super friendly. We had a quite large group (16 people) and they accommodated nicely. They have a full bar here which I know would please many. They have hot tea on the table along with fried wontons and duck sauce. Yum!
The menu is pretty standard. The girlfriend and I split a shrimp lo mein and chicken with cashews. The shrimp lo mein was excellent and I wish I could find a place like this in NJ. The chicken with cashews we agreed was about average at best. I didn’t think the chicken was the highest quality. Everyone else seemed to enjoy their meal. I tried one of her grandfather’s thai shrimp and they were delicious.
Once again, the restaurant was very patient with us, especially having 5 children under the age of 6 there. They also give you a nice warm, moist towel to end your evening. Great service!

Hands down, the worst Chinese food I’ve had in a very long time. This place used to be a bright spot in Wilm. No longer. Now, China Royal uses the cheapest ingredients and it shows. Every one of six dishes we ordered had an off taste & texture. Even the chopsticks and fortune cookies were sub-​par!
Don’t believe any of the awards on the wall — they’re all many years out of date. There are many better alternatives, from The Crownery to Szechuan (on Kirkwood) or even a takeout hole-​in-​the-​wall. At least there you get what you pay for. It’s sad that a once-​good restaurant has decided to throw all standards out the window. Go elsewhere for your Chinese food!

Came here on Christmas. Do not do this. Do NOT. In an hour and a half we got some won ton soup. Other people, who had waited longer, would go up and scream at the manager, then sit down. (On Christmas, where else could they go?) One couple who came there once a week — we had plenty of time to talk — walked out, unserved, after two hours. After a while, when people came in and sat down, we would wander over to their table and warn them.
Just in case you’re wondering, it was just bad service and bad management. They had two – count ‘em – two people up at the front desk and not once did either one of them even do so much as bring us water.
It was some new circle of hell, the circle of waiting.

I’ve been there a few times for dinner with some locals who are fans. The first time I went I was a little worried because the outdated décor suggested a sketchier, lower-​quality restaurant. However, everything I’ve had there so far has been quite good.
The menu is a little long and overwhelming, and not as informative or organized as I’d like. Twice I’ve just given up, described what I was looking for, the waiter suggested a dish, and it all worked out well.
Overall, nothing incredible, but consistent and satisfying. I’m happy to return.

Consistent, Affordable… We have been getting Chinese from here for 20 years. It never disappoints. Great go to option

My favorite Chinese in Delaware. The lunch specials are great. The Hot and Sour Soup has a nice balance, and you can taste the meat in the broth. They use just the right amount of white pepper so you get a little warmth on the back of your mouth after the swallow. The lunch specials also offer spring roll or fried chicken wing — get the wing. Large, meaty, crispy skin but juicy and just-​right-​briney inside. They always use fresh hot clean peanut oil, which tastes like it was infused with a little ginger. For entries, my favorites are the eggplant and scallops. They also offer a lamb stir fry, and eggplant & scallops which is quite good. I also get the beef in noodle bowl, which is a large soup. If you’re a fan of boiled beef with luscious collagen and cartilage, this is a real unctuous treat.

Baby and I hadn’t had Chinese in quite a while (what with the fiery demise of Shang Hai) so we thought we’d give the old-​school China Royal a shot. The numerous «Best of Delaware» awards in the foyer were an ominous sign (esp. since the latest one was about six years old).
We sat down to greasy fried noodles and duck sauce and the requisite pot of tea. CR billed itself as a seafood restaurant so we thought we’d try a couple of their specialties, blissfully ignoring the cardinal rule to never order seafood on a Sunday.
We started out with the Seafood Hot and Sour soup for two. The soup could have been spicier for my taste and its undertones were a bit too fishy. But the scallops and shrimp weren’t bad.
For entrees, we ordered the Singapore Seafood Hot Pot and the Moo Shu Pork. The Hot Pot came out first and the Moo Shu was no where to be seen (we thought that maybe they were bringing each dish out in some order). It turned out to be a standard brown-​sauced mix of broccoli, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, scallops, shrimp, and a little crab with a couple of red pepper pods for heat (though not much) in a metal bowl served over a small flame. (Hence, the «Hot Pot») It wasn’t the least bit spicy as promised and the crab was downright nasty — so much so that Baby spit it out in a nano-​second.
Once that was cleared, we expected the Moo Shu to come out next. Instead, the waiter brought us the check. We didn’t really care since we weren’t hungry for more. So we ate our fortune cookies, paid the check (luckily the Moo Shu never got put on it), and left for the first and last time.