Dragon House — Restaurant in Highland Village

Beautiful on the surface but no soul underneath

Dragon House used to be my favorite restaurant. Not one of my favorites, my number one. I am dead serious when I say I could have had their original spicy braised beef noodle as my last meal. It was that good. The richness of the broth, the depth of flavor, the tenderness of the meat, the balance of spice and comfort in every bite. Nothing else really came close.

Then COVID hit and they changed chefs, and everything went downhill after that. The food lost its heart. But when I saw the new location open, I got excited again. The interior looked amazing. It felt like they were about to bring things back even better. But that was all for show. All they did was remodel. Nothing else changed. And what did change was not for the better.

Even walking in, the door was weirdly hard to open. It stuck like it hadn’t been fixed properly, and it felt like actual foreshadowing for the experience I was about to have. I sat down and immediately noticed the salt and pepper shakers were sticky. Not just a little, but coated in dried sauce. And worse, there were actual bits of food just sitting inside the holder with them. Right away it told me no one is checking the tables and no one really cares.

I ordered the fried calamari. The squid itself was decent, but that was the only good part. The breading was soft and soggy, not even a little bit crisp. Underneath it was a pile of chopped onions, garlic, and little deep-fried pieces that felt like leftovers from the fryer. None of it was enjoyable or added to the dish. It just made it feel like a mess. The dipping sauce that came with it was thin and forgettable, and they barely gave enough to even use. The whole thing felt like someone just threw it together without thinking about how it would taste.

The tea I ordered was chrysanthemum tea. It tasted great, but again, the way it was served ruined the moment. The lid of the teapot was broken, just sitting off to the side and letting all the steam escape. It didn’t brew properly at all. And then the server handed me the cup by the rim. Not by the handle. By the rim. At that point I started realizing every part of this experience was missing basic care and attention.

Then came the main event. The spicy braised beef noodle soup. The dish I had been looking forward to the most. What I was served was cold. Not warm. Not lukewarm. Cold. And on top of that, it looked like a complete mess. No structure, no balance, just a bunch of stuff dumped into a bowl. I was shocked they brought it out like that. I sent it back and waited for the second bowl, hoping it would finally be right.

The second bowl at least looked nice. It was clean and arranged well, but that was the only improvement. It had barely any broth, and what little broth there was tasted like hot water with the memory of seasoning. It was thin, bland, and lifeless. There was no depth, no richness, no spice. Nothing about it tasted like the Dragon House I used to know. The dish was a perfect metaphor for the whole restaurant. It looks nice from the outside, but when you actually dig into it, it is hollow and disappointing.

To make it worse, I was almost charged for both bowls even though I only ate one. They fixed it, but the fact that it even happened says a lot. The server was nice, but he barely checked in and didn’t seem aware of what was happening at all. The phones and machines in the restaurant kept going off the whole time and added to the feeling that no one was really paying attention to anything.

To top it all off, this entire experience cost me thirty five dollars. For what I was served, that is actually disgusting. I could have had an exponentially better meal elsewhere for half the price.

The experience started at a four star level just based on the interior and how excited I was. Then it dropped to a three. Then it kept falling until even one star feels generous. I left not just disappointed, but actually sad. This was my favorite restaurant. It meant something to me. And now it is just another place that...

Since the Highland Village location opened, I've been really looking forward to trying it out, so this is where I went with my teenage kids to celebrate Mother's Day. Unfortunately, it just didn't quite meet my expectations. It was very busy, which I knew was going to be the case, given the holiday. Inside, it was loud, but not the worst I've ever experienced. Still, I did have some trouble hearing the waitstaff. The real issues started happening when we started to order. My daughter and I asked for water with lemon and did not get the lemon. Then we were told they were out of chrysanthemum tea. No worries, we thought - on to appetizers! We decided to share a dumpling sampler and scallion pancakes. The scallion pancakes came out pretty fast and were ok, not much taste of scallion. We waited quite a while for the dumplings and finally the server reappeared and told us they were out of two of the kinds of dumplings on the sampler, so they couldn't serve it, not even if they just served it with extra of the two they did have. Didn't make sense to me, but she suggested another kind of dumpling and I said ok, let's try it. It turned out to be really good, but it didn't arrive until we were halfway through our entrees! Speaking of which: the food was good, not great. My son's crispy noodles were good but came out so hot he burned himself. I got the Kung Pao tofu because I like spicy dishes, but it was not spicy at all. The worst was that they lost my daughter's order entirely. We waited and waited and finally the server said there was a problem with the printer in the kitchen and they never got the order. She had been picking off our plates so she wasn't that hungry anymore, but the whole thing was just very disorganized, with everything coming out at different times. Plus there were a lot of employees standing around at the back of the restaurant, several of them eating their personal food from Sonic, which felt a little weird. We did want to try a dessert, but everyone was also ready to go home, so we ordered the red velvet crepe cake and chocolate dumplings to go. I will say, the crepe cake was excellent and I would absolutely recommend it. But then we were told they were out of chocolate dumplings. We decided to try a coconut bao bun instead. Paid, left with our desserts, got home only to discover that we had been given chocolate bao buns. Frustratingly, I saw a placard on another table as we were leaving advertising some Mother's Day specials - there was no such sign on our table and the server never mentioned them, so I didn't even know they existed until too late. I was annoyed because the special dumplings looked good and I would have ordered them. Overall, the whole impression I got is that the staff was overwhelmed by the volume of the Mother's Day crowd and just wasn't able to keep up. I guess I would try them again on a regular day, but it just wasn't a great...

We had dinner on a Saturday night. It wasn’t busy so we were seated right away. We tea and water. To star off with. But we had issues understanding the waiter. She is an older lady with limited English. She questioned why I wouldn’t want an alcoholic beverage. This is where it all came downhill. After we got the waters and we ordered the calamari and the dumplings. Dumplings were very good and the calamari was OK. Additional to that she brought the two sauces that go with the dumpling and we asked her to bring us the sweet and sour sauce for the calamari, to which she told us that it does not come with it. We asked her again to bring it. After that we ordered our entries and only ordered the General Tso chicken and the D5 noodle dish. She then questioned why only two dishes for 4 people. We told her that we were not that hungry and wanted a small bite for being late at night (9pm). The General Tso chicken was not bad. But it didn’t taste like General Tso. It wasn’t spicy at all and tasted more like orange chicken. Then right after she brought the noodle dish and it turned out it was the D4. We told her that it was the wrong dish and she insisted that we ordered the D4 and not the D5. I asked her to take it back and bring us the D5. She did not take it back and then brought the D5. The noodle dish was good. After that uncomfortable situation she was pacing around not knowing what to do. I turned and asked for more tea and a young gentleman refilled it. We kept eating and the finished plates were not getting picked up. We started to set them on the empty table next to us. We then asked for the check and it included the D4 noddle dish we asked her to take back (which she didn’t and we didn’t touch) and gave her may card. I did not asked her why the D4 was in the check as I knew this was going to be another situation with her. She then brought it back and I took my time to sign and tip. She stayed next to us waiting for the signed check. We told her thank you (expecting her to leave while I sign the check), she did not leave. So I did nothing and then she started to pick up the dirty dishes. That is when I signed and left the check. I left a 10% tip which I thought was more than deserved for the uncomfortable service. Sadly we won’t...