Golden Dragon Restaurant — Restaurant in Fremont

There are a few basic types of Chinese restaurants in middle America, all have the potential to be good. There is the Asian fusion gastro pub hipster sort of place, probably expensive but possibly good. Then you have have the fancy higher end place with very shiny and pretty food catering to what Americans think Chinese food should look like from watching the movie A Christmas Story (Jing Chuan Toledo). Of course you have my favorite type, the hole-in-the-strip-mall that is surprisingly authentic and/or tasty (QQ Kitchen Toledo). And then there's the actual dive that for some reason has the potential to serve the greasiest yet most addictive food that is theoretically Chinese inspired (Ping On Toledo).

The final category is a restaurant that is none of the previous listed types and is trying to be one (usually the shiny fancy type). I can't figure out which type of place Golden Dragon is trying to be, but they aren't quite pulling what ever it is off. I think they are going for the "everything is fried" route based on the food, but the decor says maybe it's more of an attempt at "Classic Shiny". None of what they are doing carries the place or checks any of the boxes for acceptable Americanised Chinese food. There is more to being a greasy spoon than grease. Bright red and golden décor doesn't do it either. There has to be flavor or some other substance. You can't just fry everything and be "that greasy but still good" place. Bland and overcooked is still bland and overcooked even if the cooking method is frying. Add to that the fact that the other non-fried dishes are either bland or "off" in consistency or flavor. Large portions don't make up for lacking flavor. I don't want more bland fried and/or dry food. I want food that isn't bland or dry. There are too many Chinese restaurants in Fremont, and too few good ones. This is average at best and bland, overcooked and greasy at worst. I have not witnessed any of the problems described in the most awful reviews. I also would not say this is a good example of any if the categories of Chinese restaurants usually found in the Midwest.

You can get better food for less money locally. You can get really great Chinese food if you drive a few miles down route 20. If you read this long a review you care about Chinese food. If you care about Chinese food this isn't what you are...

Day: Thursday Time: Lunch Well I'll preface this review by saying what I get at this restaurant in my opinion doesn't really qualify as "Chinese Food". It's War Seu Gai which is the standard breaded chicken, white rice and mushroom gravy. Given that, I can't really review the food for authenticity so far as Chinese food goes, so your experience could be very different. What I can say is that having just moved back to Fremont, I ordered this for lunch today and was pleasantly surprised to find that unlike many other places, their portion size has remained very generous. The $10ish price I paid for this simple "dinner" item could seem high if it weren't for the fact that today it gave me 2 good size plates for lunch, and well enough for that tomorrow! That price for basically 4 servings is more than fair. The decor of the restaurant hasn't changed in the decade I've been away, and on the one hand that's good, but remodeling may do them well if true dining-in ever gets back to normal, and even as it is presently, as more restaurants pop up in little Fremont, Ohio, they may want to consider...

Highly not recommended. This place has gone down since covid. All they care about is money. The owner is very unprofessional and rude. I've ordered pepper steak and got no peppers before told they were out of peppers smh. Many times over have gotten home to find no soy sauce, no egg roll. Call the store and they dont believe you.

I've eaten here many times only because the choices in this small town are not great for Chinese.

Ordered today and ordered a small wonton soup only to find out they stopped selling smalls. But the owner never mentioned that when ordering.

Oh also the prices all went up again. Wasn't made aware of that either. Used to get a free soup with the combos but it all costs extra now. They raise the prices and give less food and don't even let you know the prices have gone up. The quality vs price is not at all worth it. I will never eat there again. You can only screw your customers over so much before enough is enough.

I do not recommend them. I'd take your money across town to the other one or do what ill do from now on goto another town and...