Silver Dragon Restaurant — Restaurant in Banff

I hate writing bad reviews for places but for this one I HAD to. My parents and I are on vacation in Banff and were starving after a long day. We drove past Silver Dragon and saw the very full parking lot and figured it had to be good. Boy, were we wrong! While they did seat us relatively quickly, it took someone about 15 minutes to take our order (not even a drink order). My mother order the Szechuan chicken, my father ordered the Curry chicken, and I got the Chicken and Vegetable Chow Mein. After waiting for another 20 minutes we finally asked someone how long it would be before we got our food. The girl we asked scurried away and someone else came and asked us what we were bothered about. He went to the kitchen and told us that our order was up next. Again, we waited. AND WAITED. Finally they brought my mom's szechuan chicken, which was decent albeit too spicy. A few minutes later, they brought out the rest of our food. While my dad's curry was fine (definitely nothing special but it did come in a cool dish), mine was awful. The noodles were undercooked, it had that texture of something that used to be crunchy but had gone a little stale and the chicken had very little taste. I quickly texted my chef friend if this is how they were supposed to be and he said absolutely not. When I told one of the people who worked there (we never had a waiter, someone different helped us every time) I felt the noodles were under cooked, she told me that's just the way they make it there and that if I went to another Chinese restaurant in Canada to ask them to cook the noodles longer. Finally we asked for the check (close to $60CAD) and noticed that they had already added a 15% tip in.

My advise, try somewhere else but if you're really craving Chinese food,...

Great food, but disappointing service and unfair tipping policy.

We recently dined at Silver Dragon and ordered the ginger beef, which I have to say was delicious—crispy, flavorful, and cooked perfectly. Unfortunately, that was the only highlight of our experience.

First, the dish was extremely overpriced for the portion size. We expected a premium given the downtown location, but the pricing still felt unreasonable compared to other Chinese restaurants offering similar quality.

What made the experience worse was the rude and inattentive service. The servers barely acknowledged us, didn’t check in on how we were doing, and gave off an unfriendly attitude throughout the meal. It felt like we were being rushed out rather than welcomed.

But the biggest letdown was at the end: we were automatically charged an 18% gratuity—without any prior notice. No one informed us about this policy when we were seated or when we received the bill. It felt dishonest and left a bad taste, especially considering the service we received was below basic expectations.

I don’t mind tipping when service is good, and I understand automatic gratuities for large parties—but we were a small group and should have at least been told in advance. Springing it on customers at the end is not acceptable.

Overall, while the food was decent, the poor service and surprise charges made the experience unpleasant. I won’t be returning, and I would not recommend Silver Dragon unless they address their customer service and transparency. There are many better places in the city that value their...

As previous reviewers mentioned, this place serves mediocre westernized Chinese food for ridiculous high prices. A simple plate of beef chow fun and a plate of special fried rice came to over $45 before tax and gratuities! As a Chinese Canadian I get it, this restaurant is a tourist trap and their target customers are usually first time unsuspecting Asian tourists. What really angered me was the fact one of the male waiters was asking me in an agitated tone why my daughter was making loud noises. I told him politely that my daughter has autism, not really looking for sympathy or anything like that, to which he murmured to other staff "that's none of my business!". What the hell? To begin with my daughter was not making very loud noises (she is non-verbal), certainly no louder than what you would hear in a typical busy Chinese restaurant. In all my previous experiences dining out, once the restaurant staff have been informed of my daughter's condition, they are usually very sympathetic and understanding but certainly not this guy! What a way to make your customers feel welcome! Well sorry but I didn't see any sign at the entrance saying "disabled people not welcomed!" I think this rude waiter needs to be educated about Canadian values on how to treat disabled people with dignity and respect. As for management, if you keep someone like this waiter on your staff, you are really doing yourself a great disservice! Our family vowed never to return again to this restaurant when we...