Excellent Chinese Restaurant

Order the shrimp chow mein. That is the dish reviewers in Placencia Village name first when they talk about Excellent Chinese Restaurant, and it is the reason most people walk up to the window in the first place. This is a Chinese kitchen on the Placencia Peninsula, in the Stann Creek District of Belize, and it runs mainly as a takeout counter rather than a sit-down room.

You will find it near Sunset Pointe, close to a local soccer field. If you are walking the village and hear a match going, you are in the right part of town.

What Kind of Place It Is

Excellent Chinese Restaurant works primarily as a walk-up takeout counter: you order at the window and carry the food off. There is also indoor seating if you would rather eat there than take it back to your room or the beach. That flexibility is the practical thing to know before you arrive. Come hungry, come casual, and plan on carrying a warm box out the door.

It sits in Placencia Village, the tip of the peninsula, where the sidewalk and the side streets are close enough that a takeout window fits the rhythm of the place. People grab food and keep moving.

The Dishes Worth Ordering

Reviewers keep pointing at the same short list, which is the most useful signal a takeout counter can give you:

• Shrimp chow mein, the dish that comes up first and most often.
• Chop suey, a steady standby.
• Singapore noodles with curry sauce, for anyone who wants the plate with more heat and spice to it.
• Fried rice, the reliable base order.
• Fried chicken, which reviewers put right alongside the noodle plates.

If it is your first visit and you cannot decide, the shrimp chow mein and the Singapore noodles are the two that regulars reach for. Between them you get the plain-and-satisfying end and the curry-and-spice end of the menu.

Who It's For

This is a place for the traveler who wants a solid, unfussy Chinese plate without a reservation or a wait for a table: you walk up, you order, you eat. It suits a night when you have been on the water or the road all day and want something filling carried back to where you are staying. Families ordering for a few people will find the fried rice and chow mein easy to split.

Excellent Chinese Restaurant is one of the peninsula's Chinese and Asian kitchens, a category well represented in this stretch of Belize. If you are comparing your options in the village, it sits on our full list of Placencia restaurants worth knowing by name.

Before You Go

Find it near Sunset Pointe, by the soccer field, in Placencia Village on the Stann Creek coast. Expect to order at the window, though you can sit inside if you prefer. Order the shrimp chow mein, and if you want the plate with curry in it, ask for the Singapore noodles. That is the honest short version, and on a takeout counter the short version is usually the one you need.