Golden Dragon Restaurant — Restaurant in Los Angeles

UPDATE 4/17/2022: Food is good but some dishes are lacking in flavor. The soup dumplings have a very thick wrapper and if you don’t get to them right away the soup is absorbed.

The won ton soup offered at dim sum has no veggies other than green onions. The dumpling in the soup is a lovely shrimp flavor but the broth is a bit lacking. The har gow , shu mai, pot stickers, and shrimp roll (noodle) are all very good on taste and good portions.

The red bean cake is like red beans inside a coconut flavored gelatin but I liked it, others did not. The mango pudding is very yummy with the milk on top. The custard tart is not rich (means it has egg white) but okay with a little too much flaky pastry for me. The sesame balls have red bean paste which is a tad grainy but good flavor. I like them to be a bit more on the crispy side (try Won Kok).

Service was lacking today even though there were only 4 tables of people when we arrived.

WARNING! They charge $1.60 per person for tea setting regardless of whether your entire party drinks tea or not.

4/10/2022: Nice place for dim sum although they have eliminated the carts at this time. Long wait times about 1/2 hour or more. We made a reservation ahead of time but they lost it and wouldn’t seat us for 30 minutes.

The place is old and has that old building smell but the food is good and most of it is very fresh.

We tried the soup dumplings but there was no soup inside ours. The dumplings were dry.

Service was also very good when you ask for something.

TIP: 1) They have valet parking and metered street parking. Plan accordingly.

2. Across the street is Phoenix Bakery (nice place for sweets instead of restaurant.)

3. Alcoholic beverages are reasonably priced. Try the Scorpion...

Very dark interior. Staff is nice, but like any Chinese place you really have to flag someone down. Sucks when you don't have a loud voice that cuts through the noise. Took them a while to clear out our table of the finished plates. This time, I was asked what kind of tea I wanted, which is a big improvement from the time before, where they didn't even ask us what type of tea we'd like, they just came with some very weak lukewarm tea --possibly it was Jasmine? This place used to have the push carts before the pandemic, but like most places have gone to the checkbox menu selection. Very limited selection too. That's kind of a disappointment, but at least it makes choosing easier. Their shrimp was sweeter than the last time I was here, but still weren't snappy, which is OK for older folks who don't have the energy to chew on things, but worrying for the freshness. It affects the 蝦餃 (Shrimp Dumpling) & 蝦腸 (Shrimp wrapped in Rice Noodle Sheets). Last time I was here 2 years ago, they give 5 蝦餃 to a "cage"/plate, which was nice, but now like most places only give 4. Another thing they do, is sometimes push certain items, by having someone stop by with a tray with additional items. In actuality, it's the hard-selling stuff, but that's not the point. I guess before dim sum push-carts were a thing, they were brought out in trays, which is more traditional. But if your restaurant was popular, trays allowed you to get more food out quicker, and kept warm when brought out, or some stuff would even be cooked on the spot. But back to the food... Some items are slightly bland for my palate, but still passable. They do an OK job of frying things, that it's...

I just got back from dinner at Golden Dragon Restaurant, and had to warn everyone before they plan on eating there.

The first warning was the grade 'B' from the health inspector. I realize that sometimes the grades depend on the inspector's mood, so me and my girlfriend decided to give them a chance to redeem their selves.

We started with the dinner for two, which included for the appetizers: soup, BBQ rib, two fried shrimp, two fried egg rolls. The shrimp ball soup was very good. The BBQ rib was edible, though very salty. The fried shrimp were just batter; I don't think there was even a shrimp in it. The egg rolls were oozing oil, so I passed on it.

We also ordered a 8 piece side of shumai, a steamed pork dumpling. I ate 1/2 of one, my girlfriend nibbled on another. They tasted as though the pork was spoiled, and that they had been made 3 days ago.

The entree consisted of Lemon chicken, fried rice, and shrimp in lobster sauce. The lemon chicken was overcooked; the filets were tough, and the lemon sauce had no taste. The fried rice was passable, although the pork in it also tasted rancid. The shrimp in lobster sauce was edible if I mixed it with some of the fried rice.

We left almost the entire lemon chicken, and half of the fried rice. To our server's credit, when I told her that the shumai was inedible, she took it off of the tab. They were perplexed that we were leaving so much food behind and not asking for a to go box. They were apologetic that the food was not very good.

Save your money. Go eat at Panda Express or Chopstix. The food will be better, and probably...