New Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Batemans Bay

I have to admit that I had reservations about this place even before we ordered our meal. It's not particularly clean and bizarrely enough, they were selling ex-rental DVDs in the middle of the restaurant... a great way to spread germs.

We sat down but the air conditioner was blowing an arctic breeze on us and despite requests to have the situation resolved, nothing happened. We eventually told the staff that we would move to another table - this was long before our meals were delivered.

They seemed to be drastically understaffed as it took over an hour for our entrees and meals to be delivered to our table. The portions were the smallest I've seen in a Chinese restaurant but that turned out to be a good thing as the general quality of the food was quite low and the flavors seemed to differ somewhat from traditional Chinese dishes.

Presentation was incredible. I'm not usually a stickler for presentation but on this occasion it was so shocking as to be laughable. Drinks are served in cans but you do get a choice of straw colours. For the San Choy Bow, they plonked down two plates one with a little meat (and a lot of extender) and one with, incredibly a four-leaved head of lettuce.

The food was edible and as I write this on day two, I'm still well, so it's probably clean enough. There were cockroaches squashed in the doorway but we didn't see any live ones. They never cleared any of the tables while we were there, so there were plenty of opportunities for the little guys to come out for a meal.

Their Mongolian lamb was spicier than normal but the honey chicken was clearly well below par. Unlike most Chinese restaurants we've been to recently, fortune cookies were extra (50 cents each).

There's good parking in the Woolworth's car park behind the restaurant and it's all wheelchair accessible too. There were toilets inside but they weren't very clean so bring your own sanitary wipes as it's impossible to get out of the door without getting your hands dirty again just after you've washed them.

The pricing was reasonable but at the end of the night they wanted to add a 10% public holiday surcharge for Easter Saturday. When my wife said that it wasn't a public holiday, she was told to "Google it". We did and it still wasn't a public holiday. I doubt that they were paying their staff any extra.

It's not all bad news though as we heard a patron saying that it was the best Chinese he has had in years, so I can only surmise that the south coast is in dire need of some good Chinese restaurants (or some...

First impressions walking in was that it presented it self nicely with alot of blue decor and contemporary music playing in the background. The lady at the front of the house was efficient, though lacking in any personality whatsoever. No smile, no how are you today... nothing. Robotic was the term I'd use. Looking at the menu, the dishes were pretty standard chinese fare, the prices ridiculously expensive! $28.50 for a pork mince Sang Chow Bow! Not even the most expensive Chinese restaurant in Sydney charges this.... $22 tops! It said it came with Pine Nuts.....mine didn't have one! The taste was bland and had more filler than pork mince. I felt ripped off. I also had the satay chicken and prawn. Bland. Very little Satay taste and hardly no sauce. The chicken pieces (shavings!) were of poor quality too,. Serving size was small. I didn't feel it was worth the $33 at all. Oh unlike the other reviewer, I did get a glass with ice in it, with my can of coke, though no separate plate or bowl to eat my food in. I ending up using the plate that the lettuce leaves came on. Very poor indeed. When I went to pay, no "did you enjoy your meal?" To be honest with the expression on my face she probably knew I didn't and most likely didn't care either way. Overall the food was very bland, lacking in flavour and quality ingredients. The food was way too expensive for what it contained (or didn't as in the case of Sang Chow Bow.. ..no pine nuts!) I would not recommend this restaurant at all. This restaurant would not have...

I arrived right on opening time and had the place to myself before it started to get busy. There’s on street parking and a parking lot opposite the restaurant. Plain in appearance from the outside, I honestly found it hard to find. The restaurant was beautifully decorated on the inside though. The wait staff were polite, well presented, quiet yet responsive to my requests. I note the monsters tip jar was half full, an indication of what to expect maybe? I sat at a table by a window and was greeted to beautiful natural light and a view of boats sailing by on the water.

The menu had a large range of options, including vegetarian, with per person servings of plain rice at affordable prices. The menu said they catered to dietary requests. I glanced at the wine menu, but I stuck to tap water. I ordered a satay chicken and rainbow beef, both which were delicious and what I expect of an “Australian-styled” Chinese restaurant. The rice was sticky and soggy which is a shame. The restaurant seemed popular with family occasions, with a high chair and kids menu too.

The pricing wasn’t cheap, but the restaurant experience, good portion sizes, service and location makes moderate pricing quite respectable. Except for desserts, they were well overpriced and the reason I didn’t further indulge.

A very positive experience and I would want to...