How to Use Meituan: A Guide to Ordering Food Delivery in China

It’s nice to have delivery as an option during your trip to China because it’s cheap, fast, and usually very reliable. Many places are also open late. And it’s not just for food, either. You can also get medicine, toiletries, and other everyday essentials delivered. 

Ordering delivery may feel overwhelming because most apps are in Chinese, delivery drivers usually do not speak English, and you’ll need WeChat Pay or Alipay to pay. But after your first order, you’ll get the hang of it and probably end up using it again during your trip.

The Main Delivery Apps in China

In mainland China, the two main delivery apps are Meituan (美团) and Eleme (now called Taobao Instant Commerce). Both have a huge selection of restaurants and most places appear on both apps, but Meituan is more widely used. 

If you’re only going to try one of them, I would go with Meituan because it usually has more restaurants and stores listed. But you can download both if you want to compare prices before placing an order.

One useful thing about Meituan is that it is not just for delivery. You can also buy dine-in deals for restaurants, which Taobao Instant Commerce is more limited in. Before you eat somewhere in person, check Meituan for these discounts because sometimes the savings are pretty good. 

Meituan is also useful for booking attraction tickets and local entertainment, which Taobao Instant Commerce does not handle as well.

Can Foreign Travelers Sign Up?

Yes—but make sure you have WeChat Pay or Alipay set up and working first.

How to Get Started

Sign up through WeChat or Alipay

1. In WeChat, search for Meituan. In Alipay, search for Taobao Instant Commerce.

The cross-platform mini programs are limited, so I wouldn’t recommend using Meituan in Alipay or Taobao Instant Commerce in WeChat. 

2. Open the mini program you want to use, and you’ll see nearby restaurants and delivery options right away.

The interface is in Chinese, but both WeChat and Alipay have built-in translation, so you can translate the mini program into English if needed. This is one reason the mini program is often easier for international travelers than just the app itself.

3. When prompted to register, you can sign up using the account details already linked to your WeChat or Alipay. Press confirm, and you should be registered and logged in right away.

Add Your Delivery Address and Phone Number

Once you have signed up, the next step is to enter your delivery address and contact number.

It’s important to enter your address in Chinese, because most delivery drivers will not be able to read an address written in English. If you don’t speak Chinese, ask your hotel front desk to send you the full address on WeChat, or copy it from your hotel booking confirmation. Make sure your room number is included too.

For the contact number, just use your hotel’s front desk number. That way, if there is a problem with the delivery, the driver can call the hotel and the staff can help communicate.

Once your address and phone number are set up, the app will show you which restaurants can deliver to your location.

Choose What to Order

You can either start with Meituan’s recommended list or search in Chinese for specific things like barbecue, milk tea, coffee, Cantonese food, or Sichuan food. Browsing by category can be easier too.

I suggest choosing places with strong ratings and lots of orders. Personally, I would look for restaurants rated 4.6 or above with at least 1,000 monthly orders. Ratings aren’t everything, but if a place is rated 4.0 or lower, I would be more cautious. Or if you want something more predictable, chain restaurants are often the safest bet.

Add Items to Your Cart

Tap on any restaurant to open its menu. You can usually see photos of the dishes there, then use the “+” button to add items to your cart.

If you want to keep browsing, tap the back button in the top-left corner. If the page refreshes but you already added something from a restaurant to your cart, you can find it again through the cart icon on the home page.

When you’re ready, tap the cart icon at the bottom of the screen to review your order.

Pro-tip: If you can’t read Chinese, it may be hard to tell what dishes are, but you can take a screenshot of the menu and run it through an AI tool for details. Some AI systems like ChatGPT and Gemini are harder to access in China, so try a free local option like DeepSeek.

Review the Order and Pay

Once your cart looks right, tap the checkout button in the bottom-right corner, which will bring you to the order review page. Check that your address, contact number, and order all look correct. You will also see the estimated delivery time at the top of the screen, along with your total.

Most orders include a packaging fee and delivery fee, but it’s usually only a few RMB. Some orders also qualify for free delivery if you spend enough. And if there is a coupon available, make sure you use it.

Use the Notes Section

If you do not speak Chinese, using the notes section can help to avoid confusion with either the driver or the restaurant. You can find the notes section near the bottom of the page. 

I would strongly recommend adding a note like this:

I am a foreign visitor and I do not speak Chinese. This phone number belongs to the hotel front desk. If there is a problem, please contact the front desk. Thank you.

You can also use the notes section for requests about your food, such as no chili, no cilantro, or less seasoning. If you have allergies or need to avoid certain ingredients, note what you want left out. Some places are careful with requests, but sometimes they are missed, so be sure to check your food when you get it. 

Paying for Your Order

Once everything looks good, tap the button in the bottom-right corner to pay.

You will then see several payment options. Choose WeChat Pay or Alipay—either one works as long as you have already linked your credit card.

The app will then open WeChat or Alipay so you can finish the payment. Just follow the prompts on the screen.

Once the payment goes through, the app should return to the order page automatically and show a confirmation message such as “Payment successful.”

After that, you will be able to see the estimated delivery time and track your order on the map.

Waiting for Delivery

Most orders arrive in around 40 minutes, depending on how far away the restaurant is. Delays can happen, but it usually doesn’t take more than an hour.

At many of the nicer hotels, delivery drivers are not allowed to bring food directly to your room. In that case, the driver will leave the order at the front desk, and the hotel staff may bring it up to your room. Many hotels also use delivery robots to send food to guest rooms. During busy hours, the robots can get backed up, so you can go to the front desk yourself or ask the staff to send it up.

If your order seems delayed, first check the rider’s location and delivery status in the app. If you think it was dropped off in the wrong place, message the driver and explain what happened. If it still does not show up, you can request a refund.

Before you do that, though, ask the hotel front desk to double check first. In many cases, the order has already been left at the front desk or another designated pickup spot without the guest realizing it.

Can I Sign Up with My Own Phone Number?

Yes, but it’s less convenient because you will have to download the Meituan or Taobao Instant Commerce app separately. And neither the standalone Meituan app nor the Taobao Instant Commerce app has an English-language version, so they can be difficult to use if you do not read Chinese.

Also, if you try to register with a foreign phone number, the platform may flag it and restrict your registration. If that happens, you will need to contact customer support, submit your details,, and verify your identity, but usually they sort it out quickly. It’s better to register before you arrive in China to prevent this.

But the easiest option by far is to just use a mini program inside WeChat or Alipay. These let you translate the content into English with one click, and don’t require installing a separate app and registering there.

Can I Pay Directly with a Credit Card?

In the standalone Meituan app, you can link an overseas credit card and pay that way. But if you are using the Meituan mini program within WeChat, payment has to go through WeChat Pay. 

Even so, I would not recommend relying on a foreign credit card as your main payment method. The most reliable way to pay is through WeChat Pay or Alipay. You can link your credit card to either one, and payments are much easier that way.

If you are traveling in China, having WeChat or Alipay is basically essential. Hardly anyone uses cash anymore, most payments go through WeChat or Alipay, and many smaller shops do not accept foreign credit cards directly either. So if you’re going to set one up anyway, you might as well use it for delivery too.

If I had to choose between the two, I would go with WeChat. In addition to payments, it is also the messaging app almost everyone uses in China. You will probably need it to communicate with your hotel, a tour guide, or anyone else helping you during your trip. It is also useful for booking things that require reservations.

Ordering Delivery in China as a Tourist

For most foreign travelers, the hardest part about ordering food delivery is just getting used to the platforms. Once you understand the basics, like how to enter your address, what to write in the notes, how to pay, and how to translate the app, the process is easy from there. The systems are very efficient and very popular among locals, especially Meituan.

Frequently Asked Questions

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