Peking Dragon Restaurant — Restaurant in Dana Point

OCTOBER 15, 2015 AT IPM: I know that in the past I have spoken ill of the Peking Dragon, a restaurant which on and off I have frequented since their inception. Through the years there were times when the food lacked certain qualities that before we had gotten used to, other times it has been right on the money, but now after our visit yesterday around 1 PM we chose from their lunch menu items, which keeps increasing in price and somewhat decreasing in size, I finally realized that the Peking Dragon is nothing to scoff at. It finally dawned on me that this place, with its better moments and their not so good, is the one place that one keeps coming back to, specially for those lucky enough to live in that beautiful area which is Dana Point. Plate ordered: Mandarin Prawn, around $13.25 a plate. The beauty about the Peking Dragon is that one can request light sauce, less or more spice, and they will make it no questions asked. The Prawns dish has shrunk a little bit, and come to think about it, so had the dish in which it was served, but it arrived to the table hot and crispy, with a side order of fried rice (not spectacular for it is the most basic rendition during lunch), and it was very tasty. There were 4 of us, and two had this dish. Eaten with no problems, really enjoyable, all imaginings of diets and conservative options, were put on hold. The lunch comes with soup (egg flour, not too shabby, sometimes a little more watery, but so easy to eat), and the choice of two pieces of fried chicken or egg rolls. I have to say that Peking Dragon has the technique of the fried chicken down to a science, making this selection almost addicting, never seem to be enough. Shane, one of the owners, has the audacity to charge for this same fried chicken on the appetizer menu $9.25 for 4 chicken wings! Yes, and I buy it almost every time for I have been hooked from way back. Is it the high temperature in which these wonderful morsels are seared, the simple but enticing coating applied? Go ask the Chef, but I warn anyone, entering their kitchen and getting answers is nearly impossible. Believe me, I tried. 5 Stars. Peking Dragon Beef, $11.25 or so. Two of these were ordered by the lovely ladies in the group. Soft and tender slices of meat with green onions and special sauce. Perhaps not the best lunch selection, the shrimp with vegetable I would have ordered before that one, but each one is entitled to what their little hearts desire, and they seemed to enjoy the selection, although one of the ladies gave me like half her dish, something she has been accused before of doing, which secretly I love! She also gave me one of her two pieces of chicken without having to ask. These were ordered with steamed rice and the same egg flower soup. 4 Stars. Service very expedient and the waiter, Tony, I have known for several years, and frankly I like the heck out of him. He doesn't say much, but listens well and is prompt with refreshing water and more tea, as requested. Now the Peking Dragon waits for the patrons to request water in honor to the conservation efforts the beautiful State of California is going through because of the drought. Had to throw that in. Total bill: around $53 plus gratuity, which Tony from I do not know what part of China he is, was awarded happily and little bit more that what is correct these days. Yes, must hand it to them. Lunch at Peking Dragon is a blast, and the numbers of patrons prove this is the place to go when that particular craving demands it. Been there for 30 years? Far...

This is a sad day... 😭😢😓😤

My family has been going to this restaurant for 35 years and I do not want to pan them. The new ownership is in imminent danger of killing this restaurant Dana Point has dozens of fantastic eating options, both new and long established, and the city does not suffer fools. While the primary corses have yet to be noticeably altered there are several changes that have caused me to say goodbye.

First, foremost and most egregious they have replaced their fantastic and amazing handmade egg rolls with resteraunt supply Springrolls (I recognize them as identical to a very cheap Chinese to-go place in San Juan that I tried once). This is going from an A+ appetizer to a D- on what was universally one of my families favorite items on the menu. To add insult to injury I was gaslighted me when I complained to the manager. Not only are they lying by representing their new Spring Rolls as Egg Rolls but he argued that the new rolls were better then the old ones. He argued that my subjective opinion was wrong. Btw they are objectively worse. Yes I do know those two sentences are in contradiction but they ironically both true. He also tried to tell me almost no one had complained while I was in the middle of complaining to him! So I'm no one!?!?! The story he fed is that they had an old man, 80 years, who had been making the rolls and that he retired and now no one could learn how to make them properly. Personally reading between the lines I think he just didn't want to pay someone normal wages to continue making them but this is pure speculation on my part however. Last point on the rolls, he suggested having the fried chicken appetizer instead (also not good) the next time we came in not offering to replace the spring rolls that we clearly did not want and left them sitting un eaten on the tables. After we requested, he did replace them with the fried chicken that was also not good.

The atmosphere of the restaurant has also changed for the worse the decor has never been updated since we have been going in there and I do believe I mentioned that we have been going there for 35 years. I could tolerate this since they do seem to keep it clean, but they have added weird valentine's Day party decorations that went up before Valentine's Day and are still floating over around the restaurant! It is just a very weird and contradictory to the atmosphere of a traditional American style Chinese restaurant.

There are sadly so many great restaurants that are ruined by new ownership! I'm afraid to say that Peking Dragon is suffering the bane of new owners thinking they can run the place better then it was before for many, many ...MANY YEARS!!! Cutting cutting cost and changing recipes will be...

The starter was okay but late. The waiter threw straws across the table at me when I asked for a straw, They never offered any tea with the meal nor offered chop sticks to eat with. The sauté spinach was bitter. The waiter blocked my exit from the table by placing a server stand and large round tray beside my exit and didn't move it the entire time we ate, which I considered a safety hazard. I asked for lemon aide, and the waiter brought seltzer water and hardly sweetened lemon flavoring, which I could not drink. When the waiter dished out the soup to each person he filled our white guest's bowl with extra meat and shrimp and filled it to the rim, but gave me and my son mostly broth and little meat and shrimp with the bowl filled 3/4 full. The waiter dished up the leftovers for other tables but only left take out containers on our table for us to do it ourselves. Right after lesving the bill, the waiter forced sample ice cream on us with a grape tomatoe on top.The ice cream was frozen so hard it could be scraped from the container with the mini, thin and flimsy plastic spoon he handed us. We left it on the table. When bringing the electronic bill tablet, the waiter pressed the tip he wanted to receive rather than allow me to choose based on our rating of their service. The nerve. That was enough, and I was fed up... I changed the tip to basic☹️ signed the electronic bill and we...