The best Chinese restaurants in Whangarei divide fairly cleanly between sitting down and taking away, and the price gap between the two is wide enough to matter. A Bank Street table for a shared banquet is a different evening, and a different bill, from a Kamo Road counter feeding a family on a weeknight. Chinese takeaways in Whangarei are also where a lot of the city’s wider Asian cooking sits, since several of these kitchens run Malaysian, Thai and Japanese dishes on the same menu rather than sticking to one cuisine.
1Tai Tong Chinese Restaurant
Tai Tong on Bank Street in Regent is the sit down option, and it has an unusual history for a Whangarei restaurant: it traded from 1985 to 2014, closed, and reopened in 2017. It has accumulated over 250 reviews at 4.1, and the format is a proper restaurant with table bookings rather than a counter, so larger groups are asked to phone ahead. Hours run in two sittings, lunch and dinner, with a break in between.
Services
- Dine in with table bookings
- Chinese banquet and shared dishes
- Takeaway
- Delivery through Uber Eats and DoorDash
Highlights
- Rated 4.1 across more than 250 reviews
- Trading 1985 to 2014, reopened 2017
- Set up for bookings and larger groups, phone ahead
- Two sittings daily, 11:30am to 2:30pm and 4pm to 9pm
Location & Contact
Name: Tai Tong Chinese Restaurant
Address: 212 Bank Street, Regent, Whangarei 0112
Phone: 09 438 7921
2Great Wall Chinese & European Takeaways
Great Wall works from Kamo Road and does something practical for families: Chinese and European takeaways from the same counter, so one order can cover both the person who wants sweet and sour pork and the one who wants fish and chips. It rates 4.3 across 170 reviews with comments repeatedly mentioning quick turnaround, which is the thing that matters most at a takeaway counter at six on a weeknight. Open straight through from 11:30am to 9pm rather than splitting into sittings.
Services
- Chinese takeaway dishes
- European takeaways and fish and chips
- Burgers and fried takeaway
Highlights
- Rated 4.3 across 170 reviews
- Chinese and European ordered from one counter
- Open continuously 11:30am to 9pm, no afternoon break
- Kamo Road location north of the centre
Location & Contact
Name: Great Wall Chinese & European Takeaways
Address: 3/95 Kamo Road, Whangarei
Phone: 09 437 3803
3Hungry Ape Asian Cafe & Restaurant
Hungry Ape rates 4.8 on Tripadvisor and runs as a cafe and restaurant rather than purely a takeaway. It operates its own website with online deals rather than relying entirely on delivery platforms, which usually means better prices than ordering through an app where commission is built into the menu. The Asian rather than strictly Chinese framing is deliberate, so expect a menu spanning several cuisines.
Services
- Chinese and Asian dishes
- Dine in cafe and restaurant
- Takeaway
- Online ordering with deals
Highlights
- Rated 4.8 on Tripadvisor
- Runs its own ordering site with deals, usually cheaper than app ordering
- Menu spans several Asian cuisines
Location & Contact
Name: Hungry Ape Asian Cafe & Restaurant
Address: Whangarei
Website: hungryapeasianfood.co.nz
4Little Bamboo Asian Eatery
Little Bamboo is a Whangarei Asian takeaway built around online ordering and delivery, with its own site handling orders directly. For anyone who would rather not phone through an order, or who is ordering for a group and wants to see the whole menu laid out, that is the practical difference. Being takeaway and delivery focused rather than a dining room, it suits eating at home rather than out.
Services
- Chinese and Asian takeaway
- Online ordering
- Delivery
Highlights
- Direct online ordering through its own website
- Delivery as well as pickup
- Built around takeaway rather than dining in
Location & Contact
Name: Little Bamboo Asian Eatery
Address: Whangarei
Website: littlebambooeatery.co.nz
5Noodle Canteen Whangarei
Noodle Canteen is a national chain and its Whangarei branch does what the chain does everywhere: single serve wok tossed and soup noodles, ordered fast, at a predictable price. That predictability is the appeal when you are eating alone and want a known quantity rather than a shared banquet. It is the option for a solo lunch rather than a table of six, and the menu is the same one you would find at any other branch.
Services
- Wok tossed noodles
- Soup noodles
- Rice dishes
- Takeaway and delivery
Highlights
- Consistent chain menu and pricing
- Single serve portions suited to eating alone
- Fast counter service
Location & Contact
Name: Noodle Canteen Whangarei
Address: Whangarei
Chinese Restaurants in Whangarei at a Glance
| Business | Based in | Highlight |
|---|---|---|
| Tai Tong Chinese Restaurant | Regent | Rated 4.1 across more than 250 reviews |
| Great Wall Chinese & European Takeaways | Whangarei | Rated 4.3 across 170 reviews |
| Hungry Ape Asian Cafe & Restaurant | Whangarei | Rated 4.8 on Tripadvisor |
| Little Bamboo Asian Eatery | Whangarei | Direct online ordering through its own website |
| Noodle Canteen Whangarei | Whangarei | Consistent chain menu and pricing |
How to Choose a Chinese Restaurant in Whangarei
- Decide between a table and a counter first. Only one of these is set up as a restaurant with bookings; the rest are built around takeaway.
- For a group, phone ahead. The dine in option asks for larger bookings by phone rather than online, and turning up with eight people unannounced rarely works.
- Check the hours before leaving. Some kitchens here split into lunch and dinner sittings with the doors shut in between, while others run straight through.
- Ordering direct from a restaurant’s own site is usually cheaper than a delivery app, since platform commission gets built into the listed prices.
- If not everyone wants Chinese, look for the counters doing European takeaways as well. One stop covers both.
- For allergies, ring the kitchen rather than relying on an app listing. Shared woks and fryers are a question only the staff can answer.
Frequently Asked Questions About Chinese Restaurants in Whangarei
Where can I get Chinese food in Whangarei?
The options are spread across the city: Bank Street in Regent for sitting down, Kamo Road to the north for takeaway, and several Asian eateries in and around the centre doing delivery. Most are within a short drive of the CBD, so the choice usually comes down to format rather than distance.
Is there a Chinese restaurant in Whangarei you can sit down in?
Yes. Tai Tong on Bank Street is a proper restaurant taking table bookings, and Hungry Ape operates as a cafe and restaurant as well as doing takeaway. Most of the other Chinese options in the city are takeaway counters with limited seating.
Can I get Chinese food delivered in Whangarei?
Yes. Uber Eats and DoorDash both operate here and carry several of these kitchens, and a couple run their own delivery through their websites. Ordering direct is generally cheaper because the delivery platforms take a commission that is priced into the menu.
What time do Chinese takeaways in Whangarei open?
It varies more than people expect. Some run continuously from about 11:30am to 9pm, while others close through the afternoon and reopen at 4pm for dinner. If you want food mid afternoon, check first rather than driving over.
Do Whangarei Chinese restaurants serve other Asian food?
Commonly, yes. Several present themselves as Asian rather than strictly Chinese and cook across Malaysian, Thai and Japanese dishes on the same menu. That is typical of smaller New Zealand cities where one kitchen covers what several would in Auckland.
Which is best for a family with different tastes?
The counters offering Chinese alongside European takeaways solve that problem directly, since fish and chips and Chinese come from the same kitchen in one order. For a sit down meal with mixed tastes, a restaurant with a broad Asian menu gives everyone something without needing two venues.
How We Chose the Best Chinese Restaurants in Whangarei
Every business in this guide was found by searching for chinese restaurants in Whangarei, then checked against its own website. Names, addresses and phone numbers are taken from the business’s own site rather than a directory feed, so what you see here is what they publish themselves. We also check that each one is actually based in or genuinely serving Whangarei, rather than a national operator running a local landing page. A business with no website of its own is not listed, because there is no primary source to verify it against.