Golden Bowl — Restaurant in Merced

My boyfriend and I decided to try this restaurant as it had such a high review. The restaurant setting itself was nice. However the food was a whole another matter. When you order house chop suey or house pan fried noodles you would think the vegetables could be seen if you like onions these dishes would be for you. The noodles were soggy and the pan fried noodles looked like fried potatoes you needed a knife to cut. The vegetable were invisible to the eye. The flavor didn't exist in either dishes. The offer combination plates and it states you can substitute one item when we asked about making a substitution for one item then your told you can't because the item you want is a full order. Then don't state this in your menus. You might want to rethink your menus and over more of a variety for your customers. By the time we were finished with our meal the restaurant was unbearable do to the heat and the air conditioning wasn't working properly. It's not a place that we would consider to...

Really good food! I hadn't been here in quite a few years. Their House Fried Rice is on point. The fried chicken wings are full of flavor. Plus, they only use flats 😋 The atmosphere is pretty laid back as there haven't been a lot of people when I've gone. I also only get takeout. I tried the chow mein with pan-fried noodles, it wasn't my favorite. I was thinking this would be with the thicker noodles. It's not. I also tried the salt and pepper pork from the second menu. It was ok, but lacked a bit of flavor. All in all, this is a solid place for Chinese food. The portions are quite large for the rice 🍚 I had plenty left over, so I topped it with an egg the next day and added Abuela's Sweetheat Chili Crunch...

I find the Golden Bowl to be hit or miss, depending on what you get. The moo shu chicken and moo shu pork are fabulous every time, but the lemon chicken wasn't up to par last time - heavily breaded and dry. The Szechuan beef had good flavor but was mostly vegetables with just a few pieces of beef. On the positive side, the portions are usually generous - especially good for veggie lovers, and the folks there are nice. My recommendation: once you find a dish there that pleases you, keep ordering that one. I'm sure the moo shu dishes aren't the only ones consistently good, but I haven't...