Coal Mine Dragon — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

I never write bad reviews, as I am understanding that there is variance to dishes at any given restaurant, whether it be fast food or five-star. However, I would be remiss to not give a PSA (public service announcement) to those who expect to get what they pay for. If I had gone to the mall food court Panda Express for $25, I would have let it go but I paid $100 for a meal that made Panda Express look like the top tier five-star echelon of Asian food. I’m talking about the most basic of Chinese cuisine, not some over-the-top fancy concoction from a world-renowned chef. The crab rangoons were 100% cream cheese, with no crab at all. When we specifically ordered crab Rangoons, they should have told us that there is no such thing at that restaurant as I would have stayed away from that appetizer. That was the least disappointing part though…the “fried rice” was literally oily rice with soy sauce flavor, and absolutely zero components of what makes that dish fried rice in any capacity. If they advertise it as oil soy sauce-flavored plain rice, that would be honest of them. Egg drop soup typically contains eggs…not this one. And the beef curry was not very “curry”-like with no such flavor at all. There were two or three pieces of beef in the dish though, so I suppose I can give credit for that. But for such a costly dish, I would expect less than a toddler-sized serving size. I wonder if perhaps the small serving sizes of the main dishes is because we had take out and did not dine in?🤷🏻‍♀️ The orange chicken was fine though, so I will give credit for that one. My daughter liked it but she equally likes the frozen stuff I get from the grocery store too, so there’s that. The Kung Pao chicken was not to the standard of “Kung pao-ness” in flavor that is common amongst all other Asian restaurants I’ve eaten at, much like the lack of curry-ness of our aforementioned dish…like the beef curry, the serving size was exceptionally tiny for the price I paid. If I had paid $5 I would have brushed it off…I asked and paid for extra veggies but instead I was given extra peanuts, like a ton of peanuts, and no extra veggies, I kid you not. They did charge me for it though. We bought egg drop soup (with very little egg drop, it was 99% broth so we had to add a bunch of white rice to it so it was a little more hearty), beef curry, Kung pao chicken, orange chicken, and crab Rangoons for $100. It was awful and beyond disappointing. At least I could enjoy a fortune cookie after my meal (which left me still hungry) but wait…they gave us 2 of them but no fortunes, lol. Oh well, lesson learned. Go to King Soopers and their frozen section will give you a far better satisfactory Asian cuisine experience. All in all, I was supremely disappointed as I had been told that Coal Mine Dragon was quite good and worth the exceptionally long wait (for a Wednesday early evening...

I've been eating at Coal Mine Dragon since I was a little kid, I wanna say ~25 years. Not really a "regular" bc I've never had the money to eat out all the time, and there was a period where I lived way on the other side of town, but this has been the place I always begged to go for special dinners since like kindergarten. After moving back to this side of town a few years ago and being able to visit them more often again, I can truly say I was not disappointed. The food is still amazing and what I could consider a good value for the cost, especially during their lunch special. Guys, prices have just gone up across the board and I don't think it's really fair to blame small businesses for trying to stay afloat. Like, I worked at La Casita in the early 2010's and considered most of their food incredibly expensive for what it was (especially after working there) at the time. Well, I impulsively went through the drive through a month or two ago (for the first time since lockdown) to find prices have doubled since the pandemic. THAT is bumping the price up over what it's worth. Complaining about a restaurant's prices steadily rising over the course of a few years--as the prices of everything go up--is not worth complaining about lol. Just makes you sound out of touch. It does seem like their quality overall has dropped in the last couple years, fair to say, but honestly not so much that it's a dealbreaker for me. They're facing the same issues of bloated costs and supply disruption that everyone has these past couple years. Customer service is the same gold standard it's always been. I don't enjoy the weirdly servile corporate customer service you're subjected to in a lot of chain places, nor do I enjoy in-your-face over familiarity. The staff at Coal Mine has always been polite and efficient, casual but not intrusive. I have not seen a dip in the customer service at all whatsoever. The one time there has been a mistake with a deliver order, I called and they fixed it immediately at no charge. I can only assume the negative reviews in that regard were left by rude & entitled customers. My motto is if I can't afford to tip well, I can't afford to eat out, and I've been trying to go over and above that since the pandemic because they definitely deserve it. They still have a mask mandate in effect, which I deeply appreciate and respect. Still absolutely my favorite place around to indulge in some tasty, affordably-priced comfort food. Thanks everyone at Coal Mine for being there and doing what you do, your community...

The food was good. Probably better than the 3 stars I gave them... However the other lackluster parts of the experience brought the grade down for me. I can't enjoy a meal or eat something delicious when the environment around me is not where it should be or on point. Maybe it's just me?? I don't know.... I have to ask myself if the staff here was being rude and just inconsiderate of this other person's current situation. Or if they actually had pull in regards to their explanation... Had they had a decent one. (Or even one at all 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️)

It was one of those late June hot afternoons, 95 degrees all day, no cloud cover or rain, just blistering heat... When a man enters the establishment, standing patiently in line. He was hot, definitely had sweat and was dirty, like construction. When they finally got around to helping him, which they almost ignored him, the lady was extremely rude as if she was disgusted she had one more person in line she didn't see. She clearly showed every ounce of frustration which you could tell made the gentleman uncomfortable asking his question. -POLITELY- The man asks "Is there anyway you are able to fill my cup with Ice?" He held up a plastic Starbucks cup that was about 32 oz... The staff member looked at him like he was stupid and said "I don't know what that is" wooooowwwwwww !!!! I was in such disbelief I had heard that come out of her mouth.... And I give the man mountains of credit for keeping his composure and not going left with this situation as many of us would have ... Instead he just repeated the word "ICE" politely maybe thinking she didn't understand him...... But she made it aware she understood just fine and replied with "No sir we don't have any of that, sorry."

It's only fitting that as she states they don't have any ICE... A SERVER ABOUT TO SERVE DRINKS WALKS RIGHT BEHIND HER FROM THE STATION TO A TABLE IRONICALLY ALL DRINK CUPS FILLED WITH WATER AND ICE TO THE BRIM!! Unbelievable and I hope she was not a manager.... He just shrugged it off and laughed as he walked out.... I was disappointed at the rude, non helpful, customer neglect.... I probably won't eat here again because of it. That's just me though.... A wonderful staff will help any person and treat them as a customer as soon as they set foot in the establishment to create a relationship and level of comfort in order to keep that person coming back forever and bringing more business along the way.... Even if it's just for a cup of ice in a blistering...