We used to regularly go to Chin’s in The Shoppes at Palmilla, and were there the night before the restaurant closed. I was surprised to see a Facebook post announcing that Chin’s was back in a new location behind Nicksan in the Zen Garden. We decided to go the night after the restaurant opened. The design is very interesting. You enter through a bamboo doorway with a Budha in the middle of the entry. The garden is surrounded by both bamboo walls and thick palms trees. In the center of the garden is a large umbrella structure with red fabric and bamboo spreading out to cover a lot of the outdoor dining area. The kitchen is on the back right and the bar shares the space with Nicksan.

I asked the manager, Ale de Rossi if Nicksan had purchased the rights to the name of the restaurant that had been across the way. He explained that there had been three original partners in the restaurant, one of whom was the owner of Nicksan. When, after 12 years the managing partner decided to leave Los Cabos, the owner of Nicksan brought Chin’s “back home” and created the space behind Nicksan.

We were offered menus, which were very similar to the original menu with some updates. It provided choices of appetizers, soup and salads, poultry dishes, seafood dishes, beef dishes, noodles, and fried rice. We chose to start with soup – Hot & Sour for me and Wonton for Beth – the Pot Stickers as our appetizer, which were served in a bamboo covered bowl. I had really been missing the Hot & Sour soup as it is not available anywhere else in San Jose del Cabo. The pork stuffed Pot Stickers were very good too.

For our main courses, Beth ordered the Beef & Broccoli stir fried in an oyster sauce and told our server that I would like a chicken dish but the many of the one’s on the menu were too spicy for me. He went back to the kitchen to talk to the chef and said that they could make me Pineapple Chicken. The main courses were excellent and served with white rice. The Pineapple Chicken was served in a hollowed-out half a pineapple. The flavors of both the beef and chicken dishes were good and the portion sizes enough to share. To finish the meal, we were offered a champagne glass with two lichee nuts – very sweet and delicious.

The atmosphere was great, the food what we had come to expect, and the service excellent. We are glad the restaurant is back. As it was only the second day Chin’s was open, the manager asked that we given them 10 days to work out all the kinks in launching a new restaurant. As a former partner in two restaurants, I knew exactly what he meant.