Sao Mai Golden Dragon — Restaurant in Wales

Strongly suspect we suffered food poisoning after visiting.

I visited with my young son, in an otherwise empty restaurant, which should perhaps have been a warning. We ordered a sweet and sour chicken Cantonese style, and a crispy beef, along with a portion of chips. The chips were quite pleasant, but unfortunately neither of the mains were very good. The beef, in particular, was very unpleasant, with a weird fishy taste, as another reviewer had mentioned. I use fish sauce quite liberally in my own Chinese cooking, and it was definitely not similar to that, so I have no idea what that was unless perhaps the oil needed changing.

I regularly visit Chinese restaurants and takeouts, and cook a lot of more authentic Asian food myself, and overall this was one of the worse I recall having, I left feeling that I would have preferred a different cuisine or not eating anything rather than the food we ordered.

Most of the dishes were hot, but there were some pieces that seemed much colder. My 4 year son ate the sweet and sour chicken happily enough, but spat the beef out (he usually likes both dishes), and didn’t eat as much of the sweet and sour as he usually does at other places.

After the meal, we got home and went to bed, and a short time after, both of us woke up being violently sick. Whilst it is possible that we had picked up a bug or something, our symptoms and timing suggested it was most likely that we had suffered food poisoning.

I called the restaurant the following day, to make them aware, so they could investigate at their end and address any issues if they did arise. However, when I got put on to the manager, he was exceptionally dismissive and blaming us for being ill. I was told that it must have been something else we ate (we had snacked all day and hadn’t had another proper meal), that it was hot outside (odd that we both woke up at almost the same time being ill) and my personal favourite, that the food had too much chilli for us to handle. Firstly, I quite regularly consume very spicy with no issue, and secondly, there seemed to be next to no chilli in the beef, and sweet and sour chicken does not contain chilli, and my son didn’t eat more than a bite of the beef. They then claimed (as a complete fabrication) that I had asked for both dishes to be extra hot and contain a lot of chilli - at this point it was obvious to both of us that this was a complete lie, but he maintained this stance, dramatically saying that even when cooking, he could barely tolerate the heat of the dishes we had. After I stated that this was clearly false, they hung up on me. I did manage to call back and speak to the other lady working there, who was equally dismissive, and stating that it was impossible for it to be food poisoning as they always cook the dishes the same, though when I asked her whether she would expect chilli in a sweet and sour, she stated that she was not involved in the cooking so couldn’t possibly know, while also claiming that her son gets ill for up to a week if she takes him to a chip shop, and a host of other things to not accept that they were even possibly responsible.

I honestly cannot understand how businesses with such attitudes continue to exist. Whether for the taste of the food, the risk of food poisoning, or the attitude of the staff and management, I would thoroughly recommend not visiting this establishment, and patronising a business who actually value...

Our first time at Sao Mai and we were pleasantly surprised. Our telephone order was taken promptly and their telephone manner was polite, welcoming and friendly. At the restaurant, the person serving was very welcoming and professional. There was an issue with the card reader which one customer became a little irate about but she dealt with it promptly and in a very friendly manner. We had no issue with the card reader. The food was delicious and enjoyed by all our group which ranged in ages from 3 to over 60's. The braised beef, green peppers in black bean sauce was a particular favourite. The amounts were generous and each dish was hot on arrival. All in all we had a very pleasant experience and we recommend Sao Mai to all. We will gladly visit again. Many thanks to all the...

Excellent veggie food and very tasty.

The veggie noodles were really nice and the portion size was good, especially for my 16 month old son who loved it as it had lots of vegetables.

Myself and my wife ordered tofu in hot sauce, egg fried rice, veggie spring rolls and prawn crackers. All the food was delicious and the portion size was good.

The staff were very friendly and helpful.

There is parking near a tesco near the restaurant which is pay and display or mobile app pay.

A must go place to eat, definately recommend people who are vegetarian...