Chinese restaurants intended for Chinese people serve food that westerners don't like or find repulsive. "For Chinese people" doesn't mean better, it means better for people who're used to that and worse for people who aren't.
I guess it's just bad Chinese restaurants regarless of who they target. I personnally rank Chinese food as high as French one; these people really are genious when its come to cuisine.
Two of the best restaurants I ate at were in Taiwan (Kaohsiung) and almost everything was delicious. The only challenging dish for a foreigner was chicken-feet (jijiao) and century eggs (pidan). But I was warned beforehand by the people who invited me and I tried them for the fun. But hey, it was pricy for the country (25€/person) so I think the problem lies in the lack of expensive Chinese restaurant in the West.
Edit: if you want to try a good Chinese restaurant and do not mind travelling a bit, this one was very good: http://www.dfy.com.tw/
