China Essence in Lancaster

Try not be fooled by the look of this place. Just know this is what most Chinese takeaways look like behind those closed doors. Yes, it looked a little unappealing & not always the best to see all the food being prepared. However, we loved it all! Literally the best salt & chili chips we have ever had! So tasty we have spoken about them a lot since, wishing we had a place like this local to us. The mains also a very good standard & nothing to grumble at especially with prices we paid. Two staff working when we collected on a Friday evening & both very friendly & working extremely hard between them with the orders they had coming in. Great food, great service, just be prepared to see a working kitchen that may make you think twice. Just please do not leave, try the CHIPS!

Excellent food, service would recommend to all.

Fantastic takeaway, great tasting food and quick service. Good menu to work your way through. Take some cash unless you're ordering plenty of food, which is easy to do!

Had a meal from here as my usual Chinese was shut I'm so glad that it was it was the best food we have had in a very long time and now will be my go to place for Chinese

Very disappointed.. A duck dish which had as much fat as meat and after using regular we feel its definitely gone down hill. Chips well we've had better, tasted like warm ups. Won't be going again

We eat here frequently for our Chinese takeaway and have to say it’s one the the best. Always hot and fresh and really tasty. Haven’t got a bad word to say best chow mein and duck by far!!!!

Lovely people, quick and friendly service. A great Friday Night Tea.

Worst chinese takeaway ive ever had!!! Avoid like the plague !!! Sweet and sour chicken....sauce was just viniger, chicken was awful... Starter... two!! Spring rolls... ribs full of gristle... need I go on .........

A cheap and cheerful Chinese the staff are always friendly the food is sometimes hit and miss but generally ok. At weekends order early to avoid a lengthly wait as there is only one cook.

Nice, fast service. Give them a try.

My favourite take away, worth the drive (25mins) duck with pancakes, crispy seaweed, prawn toast absolutely delicious 🤤

Food was very good. I would definitely recommend phoning ahead as it is very busy and had to wait 40mins. Only two staff there but they work very well and were very friendly. There is a cash point at the co op near the train station should you need cash.

Very good Chinese, when they are opened one of the best pork curries I’ve ever had sweet-and-sour chicken balls are also beautiful

We always get our Chinese from here, the food is always fabulous and the lovely couple who own it are great.

Ordered take away. Food was very nice. 30-40 minutes wait. It was very busy and I was impressed that this couple were on top of the game with all the orders. I was exhausted watching them.

Excellent again All food dishes we ordered were excellent, tasty and authentic. Especially the Singapore Vermicelli which I always ask for extra hot and spicy and it was just what I ordered. Definitely worth it. Yum

Great food and service, even only for takeaway

The food was absolutely fantastic and even though it was very busy service was spot on

Ordered a large takeaway for a family meal. Everything in the order was delicious and was ready on time. Will definitely visit again soon.

Best Chinese I've had was so tasty salt and pepper spare ribs, king prawn chow mein, lovely curry sauce - loved it! Will be back again next holiday thank you 🙂

we ordered quite a lot after seeing good reviews but unfortunately the pork ribs and the deep fried pork had a funny smell. and next morning all of us either had bad tummy or diarrhea. very disappointed

Very nice food, small kitchen but can watch your food being prepared or you can come back later, £30+ for card payments. Server doesn’t speak much English so broken English needs to be used

Really good and on our doorstep too. Polite and courteous staff, food ready quickly and really good. Good prices as well.

Great tasty food with nice polite and helpful staff, recommend 100%, options of cash, contactless and PayPal payment.

There are 3 places in this town to get Chinese food, this is the best one by far. In fact, if it's closed, I go without.

Take away aus einem Müllhaufen.

Awful takeaway. Raw carrots, tasteless beef also undercooked. Would never go back again. I feel that I have been ripped off & just hope I’m not ill later

Annoying that you have to spending 30 pound to use your debit card otherwise you incur a surcharge of 80p. I was starving so paid it. But now I'm aware will possibly make me look elsewhere

Underwhelmed by quality, slightly bland but overly salty, so hard to digest. Didn't get any prawn crackers on a reasonably big order. Service was nice and attentious, and quite good on timing.

Didn't really enjoy this one. Had salt n pepper chips, tasted like oven chips and not a patch on Manchester chippy's. Curry sauce was amazing though.

Fantastic food and always excellent quality

Great little takeaway. Top quality salt n pepper ribs, prawns a little rubbery and not so king prawn but hey ho, yi cannit win em aaaaaaal.

Ordered to be picked up, thought it was brilliant value for money as two of the meals came to roughly, £19.40. Went into to pick it up and was charged £33.20. When I rang back to enquire about this, they said that the menus we had viewed was old menues on their old website. They asked me to then drive back down to the view the new menu. I wasn’t about to waste the fuel. I spoke with the owner and said this is false advertising and that they should have the old website taken down, he said he can’t do that. I asked to be refunded the money as we were charged just shy of thirty pounds and he said he can’t do that sorry. The salt and pepper chicken was dry and I got about six pieces of it, wouldn’t consider it a meal and got charged more than expected. Moral of the story is if it sounds to good to be true it probably is. Bad businessman and fraudulently taking money through false advertising. AVOID

We've had the best meal here. We ordered Singapore Chowmein, prawn crackers and chips with a portion of curry sauce... Absolutely delicious , very friendly staff plus you get to see the staff prepare/cooking your meal, in an exceptional clean kitchen and well organised kitchen. Compliments to the chef...

N'hésitez pas à pousser la porte de ce take away à la fois pour l'authenticité de l'accueil et les plats généreux

Absolutely delicious as per usual.

Not a bad take away! I like the open kitchen, see your food being cooked, not bad prices.

Food was a bit bland service was quick, restaurant part closed which we wanted to eat in rather than take away

Drove 20 mins from silverdale to get this Chinese and omg was definitely worth it!! The crispy duck is the best we’ve ever had!! All other food (which we had A LOT of) was absolutely delicious!! 20 out of 10!!

Ordered ahead to collect on a busy Saturday evening. Orders under £20 are cash only. Owners very friendly. Food was amazing! Would definitely recommend.

This was a 20 minute drive for us at the time but definitely worth it. Food qualifications, awards and cleanliness certificates all evident on the wall which is nice to see. All the food tasted nice and fresh. We had spare ribs, veg rolls and fantastic seaweed for starters. Lemon chicken, chicken curry and fried rice were just as good. Cant wait to order again!

Really friendly staff. Nice food, well priced. Love this place.

We have never had a better meal anywhere else. We have had two large meal orders prepared for us for special family occasions and both times they were excellent. We regularly order smaller meals and have never been disappointed. Recommend the duck and pancakes or the Special Chow Mein! Thank you China Essence!

Fresh, tasty. The sweet and sour prawns were amazing - tempura battered king prawns rather than the sweaty ball things you usually get. Not over oily and dark, natural colours. Everything was lovely. Best Chinese I’ve had - shame I’m not local 🥲

Good food at a reasonable price.

No good. I made a detour off the M6 to find some Chinese food. Advertised to be open on Sunday evening between 5 and 10.30pm. Only 9pm, it was shut. May as well do whatever they like.

Very nice Chinese. Not greasy and very tasty. Reasonable prices and not too long a wait. Always looking forward to the next one!

The best Chinese around . Great food and extremely well priced.

Nicest chinese in carnforth. Good hygiene rating and allogen awareness. Chicken curry is a favourite

This is the best Chinese takeaway I've ever tasted! I was on holiday to South Lakeland Leisure Village and we had this Chinese meal on our last night, what a big mistake that was, as it was absolutely amazing! Shame we didn't try it earlier in the week. I'm going to have to visit Carnforth again for the Chinese! I'd recommend the shredded chicken in chilli honey sauce and the Singapore noodles.

Visiting the area so decided to use the Chine Essence for our evening meal, we found the staff very helpful our meal was cooked on time and everyone in our party really enjoyed the meals we had. The salt and pepper ribs were excellent and I had the crispy chicken in Cantonese sause superb. If you are staying in the area on holiday and you want to have a Chinese Meal then you can't go wrong with the Chine Essence.

Fantastic food, probably the best Chinese food I have tasted in a decade.

Surprisingly enjoyable, I shall certainly be booking again for a takeaway. However with only one person cooking, you may have to wait, but that way you know its freshly made.

Really lovely food. We had a bit of a wait as it's all cooked to order but live nearby so just waited at home. I always say you can tell if a chinese meal is going to be good by the prawn crackers (and China essence make the BEST prawn crackers).

Excellent Chinese takeaway. Lovely tasty food and they cook it infront of you so you can see what is cooking and what's going in your food. Alot of Chinese takeaways cook the food behind your back and everything can be put in your food . It's a known fact and what people have come across with there food they have received. With this takeaway you can see it being cooking and what is going in your food and the shop is spotless and clean. I Recommend this take away to anyone .

Top food everytime. Highly recommended.

A friend of ours mentioned that China Essence was open - we'd been looking forward to ordering from Trungs but found out they had closed for lockdown. Wasn't certain about ordering from here given a few negative reviews. We were not disappointed! In fact, we'll be ordering our meals from here in future. This is the best Chinese meal I have had since I moved up from Surrey over two years ago. The food was all fresh, well presented and absolutely delicious. The deep fried shredded beef in Szechuan sauce is TO DIE FOR! The portions are a good size and it's well priced for the quality of the food. I'm just ashamed that we hadn't tried the food here sooner! Note - it was VERY busy. The phones didn't stop ringing whilst we were waiting for our order. If you're going to place an order I'd suggest calling at 5pm when they open to preorder so you don't spend ages sat on the redial. But it's worth the wait!

Lived in Carnforth all my life and this was my first visit here. Going back again this week as we loved it. 10/10

Definitely the best Chinese in the area we are regulars and have never been disappointed with the quality of the food.

Absolutely superb meal and special dish prepared without fuss for my vegetarian son. A must to visit. Staff very helpful. Authentic take away with charm.

Lovely food, aa bit expensive but very yummy!

This is pleasant but very average chinese food at best!

Honest, down to earth, small town Anglo/Sino takeaway food. If you adhere as implied to what you can realisticly expect, you will find it to be utterly authentic and, yes, great! These people work very hard, so five stars and make sure you leave a tip!

Lovely people serving consistently tasty, fresh food at fair prices.

Wonderful food and great service

Friendly staff and order was made quickly and didn't affect the quality either. Will be returning! 😊

Their BBQ ribs are to die for and the mushroom curry is fantastic. Probably an understated jewel in Carnforth's crown

Real Chinese people run this place.

Top quality service. Absolute legend of a staff roster

China place was closed even though it says it was open so we went to red luck next door and it was amazing. Cooked fresh and tasty

Tried calling this place while on holiday close by, as I felt like having some Chinese food. When I called, there was no answer over 15 minutes of trying and then the phone was engaged briefly and then, no answer again! As mentioned in a review below, if they take orders only by phone (where the person had to step out and make a phone call to make an order, though the person was physically in the takeaway), then what's the point, if you do not answer phone calls!

Great food great customer service.

Had a short trip away and fancied a take away. Chose China essence off trip advisor and wasn’t disappointed. Very tasty, good quality and piping hot.

Never had a bad meal yet. Always tastes fresh. Pity they dont deliver

Restaurant closed take away only. No apology

Visited for a takeaway last week and it was fantastic. The owners are friendly and the menu extensive. You see the food being cooked at the far end of the shop and the quality was excellent. The crispy duck is the best in the area and all the other dishes were very tasty and fresh. Brilliant value as well. A real gem and recommended.

Having very recently moved into the area, I needed to find a good Chinese restaurant. Thankfully, I found the China Essence! After reading another review on here that recommended the honey and chilli chicken, I had to give that a go. It was absolutely gorgeous. The chips and rice were lovely, and the duck spring rolls were excellent. I went again the following week to try chicken in cashews, which was also lovely! What a find.

Very nice food, great value for money

Great food never disappointed. Wouldn't dream of going anywhere else for a take away.

Have had a number of take outs from here and everytime the food has been great.Decent portion sizes, friendly husband and wife team.Free prawn crackers thrown in as well.Love it!!

Used this takeaway for the first time recently. Will definitely be back! We had the banquet for 3 and the food was plentiful and delicious. Loved every course, soup, mixed starters, crispy duck and a variety of mains. Yummy!

We had a take away Excellent service Tasty and reasonable price Large menu with lots of choice and specials as well

Always good food here Service is really good Sometimes they don’t like to open the restaurant part and prefer you to have a takeaway but persevere and insist they open the restaurant because it is worth it Always always had great food Highly recommend

Best chinese in the area.If we ever order Chinese it is from here. We are always disappointed to find out the takeaway is shut whilst the owners are away as it means we have to go elsewhere and it is never as good.I recommend the mixed starter and the honey and chilli chicken although everything we have had has always been delicious. Best salt and pepper chips.

Fantastic set menu for two. Couldn't have been any nicer. Highly recommend.

Walked in to order food was told had phone as they dont take orders inside...so stood outside by the door and had to ring. Bit of a stupid system if you ask me but food was not bad.

Staying in the area and fancied a takeaway. Saw positive reviews for this one and less good for the other next door(sorry guys!). We were not disappointed. Very good, huge order for 13 people, prepared accurately in the stated time and reasonable price. Food was very well received by all involved, would definitely use again. There is room to eat in although the restaurant part was closed today (but we weren't looking to eat in anyway) so all good. Thanks guys

Delicious food and excellent value for money! Can't wait to have another takeaway from China Essence!

I always used to use the Chinese next door, thus opened a while ago and we thought we would give it try, we have never looked back.I have had countless meals takeaway and eat in and have never found fault with any of them.Competitive prices and delicious food, I have had several different dishes over the years and never found fault with them. Everything is cooked in an open kitchen so you can see your food being made, the staff are friendly although their English can be a little ropey.

Good food, staff could do with having better English

Always consistent. Fresh food and friendly service

absolutely banging grub best munch me and mi m8 have had in time lad it really just blags my head how these types of businesses aren't on the tele for the best Chinese in carny town

Well cooked takeaway style Chinese food. Really nice owners as well.

Great English style Chinese takeaway. Super busy so expect a long wait to place order. Just two people manning the kitchen and front service, the woman serving never stopped the whole time I was waiting! We had crispy shredded chicken in honey chilli sauce (like a nicer sweet chilli chicken), special chow mein (better than standard), Singapore vermicelli (better than standard), and curry sauce (best I've had, spicy yet fruity). Would definitely recommend.

Got a takeaway from here Monday evening and have never been so ill after!!

This is our takeaway place of choice as we have ordered from here many, many times over the years. The food is made fresh, in front of your eyes if you don't order through.

a group of 14 for a buffet meal. the service prompt and staff pleasant and capable. they asked if anyone wanted anymore dishes a number of times. Water was brought without asking. Good variety of dishes. Food hot. Vegetarian no problem. Busy for a Monday night.

Excellent food, friendly service and great value for money

Best Chinese takeaway in the Carnforth area. Very helpful owners, very busy kitchen. Used it dozens of times and not been disappointed once - except when they go on holiday :-(

Una noche localmente no una búsqueda en internet para un restaurante chino y fue altamente recomendado.