Best Chinese Food in Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico — updated August 22, 2026
Santa Fe's Chinese restaurants are few and easy to map, with the strongest ratings going to the dumpling specialists. Here's how the city's options compare on the evidence.
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Santa Fe is not a big Chinese food town, which makes the short list unusually easy to check. The highest-rated kitchens here are dumpling houses, and all of them sit within a few minutes of each other on the Second Street and Cerrillos corridors rather than on the Plaza. Below, the options ranked by rating and by how many reviews stand behind it.
1. Lotus Dumpling House
The best-supported rating in Santa Fe Chinese food: 4.6 across 556 reviews, which is a settled number rather than an early one. It sits in a Second Street commercial strip at 1807 2nd St, Suite 35, southeast of the railyard, so plan on driving and parking in the lot rather than walking from downtown. The name sets the expectation, and it is the place most reviewers keep returning to. There is a website for menu and ordering details, worth a look before you go since the suite location is not obvious from the street.
2. DUMPLING CAFE
The most central of the three, at 500 Sandoval St, within walking distance of downtown and the Convention Center. It holds a 4.4 from 445 reviews, a large enough sample that the score is unlikely to move much. Ordering runs through an online system, so takeout is straightforward if you are staying nearby and would rather eat at your hotel or rental. Between this and the Second Street option, the deciding factor is usually location: this is the one you can reach on foot from the Plaza area.
3. Yin Yang Chinese Cuisine
The broadest menu of the three by name, and the closest to the Plaza at 418 Cerrillos Rd, Suite A, right where Cerrillos meets the downtown edge. Its 4.1 rating comes from 416 reviews, so the figure is well established, just lower than the two dumpling houses above it. That gap is real and worth knowing, though a 4.1 over that many reviews still describes a consistent kitchen rather than an erratic one. Check the restaurant's website for current hours before making the trip, particularly on weeknights.