New Dragon — Restaurant in Narragansett

Adding my Yelp review here, as I want to get the word out that diners nowadays want a more authentic Chinese Cuisine experience. With Youtubers regularly showcasing wonderful Dim Sum, street foods, hand cut noodles and other high cuisine of China (and territories), New Dragon is a great position to provide the area with this new demand of authenticity.

I really want to give New Dragon 5-stars. Overall, I still consider this the best Chinese-American cuisine in town. New dragon offers exceptional quality of typical Chinese-American dishes. Many of Visitors and Student of nearby University of Rhode Island frequent New Dragon.

Some notable items include the quality of their fried rice, which is cooked in the regional "New England" dark soy method; as opposed to the typical yellow rice with mixed peas and carrots varieties that is ubiquitous throughout the US. The "duck sauce" is not a typical orangey sweet and sour slurry, but is delightfully dark and imparts a nice caramelized flavor; excellent to pair with the classic battered Chicken Fingers.

Through the many years I have been a patron of New Dragon, and I have seen the restaurant update/expand their menu to satisfy the ever-changing American palates. For example, the addition of Japanese cuisine, like sushi to their menu.

What is keeping me from giving New Dragon five stars, is the low quality Szechuan dishes listed on the menu. For the past three years Sichuan/Chundu flavors have been all the rage in the culinary and Foodie scene. As evident in the rise of "Hot Pot" restaurants and an increase in all things "Mala" (spicy and numbing flavor). These dishes have heavily featured by food bloggers such Mike Chen's Simply Dumpling series, Food Ranger, and the Best Ever Food review show.

Since I held New Dragon in high regard, I was expecting that the Szechuan dishes that are featured on the menu would have flavors of housemade chili sauce/oil, Szechuan peppercorns, and fermented bean paste. Ingredients that are widely available in Rhode Island market today. With that expectation in mind, I ordered was the Szechuan Tofu; which incorrectly assumed to be the ever-so popular Mapo Tofu dish. A dish that typically is wok-fried tofu suspended in a spicy/"Mala"oily sauce with ferment broad bean chili paste. What I got instead was cubed tofu with vegetables in a starch-slurried, almost flavorless, chicken broth. I was very disappointed to say the least.

I am a big fan of New Dragon and I hope they see my review and consider improving the Szechuan dishes on the menu. Like I stated before these Ingredients are widely available now in the US; and many Americans are embracing these "new to them" flavors of the Szechuan region. I already know of another restaurant in the area that features updated Chinese dishes, to include spicy Yo Po mian (mein), street-food style savory chinese pancakes, hand cut/pulled noodles, and homemade dumplings & chili oil. (Note: This other restaurant is gaining so much attention and so many customers there is a one and a half wait for take out)

New Dragon has an opportunity to continue their High quality Chinese-American fare while at the same time elevating their regional/authentic Chinese Cuisine. The advantage here, is they have the equipment and sourcing to bring in quality Chinese food; that no home cook can replicate (e.g. wok kei "Breath of the Dragon" flavors).

I promise to change my rating if changes to the menu occur. Working towards Five Stars if...

Treated a friend to dinner there last night as that was their chosen asian restaurant but disappointed. The decor, atmosphere, service, extensive menu and our egg drop, hot & sour soups, and chips & sauces were good - but felt the bbq ribs appetizer, although good quality meat, were bland in flavor. My friend ordered the Hawaiian Steak special for $19.95 and while good portion of steak, felt the sauce was bland and not a good portion of vegetables. I ordered the sesame shrimp for $16 and brown rice in lieu of white. They upcharged me $2 for the brown rice, which should only be $1, and the sesame shrimp was in the middle of the bowl with the sesames sprinkled on top instead of cooked into the shrimp, and plain steamed broccoli encircling the shrimp on the outer edge, and with no sauce on it or added. The sauce was bland and seemed like something that you can buy in a jar. And who wants to go out to dine and pay $16 for just plain broccoli instead of a nice helping of all vegetables including asian, tossed and handcooked in a genuine in-house made sauce? I requested vegetables instead and only got a light mix of broccoli, carrots, celery, baby corn & some snowpeas. Why not asian veggies added? I haven't been to this restaurant much, just with friends who wanted to go becaise my previous experiences were also disappointing. I had to tequest additional sesames twice and both times they only furnished a tiny amount in a very small ramekin even though I asked for the second to be filled. From my take, this place is mostly into making as much money as they can get away with instead of offering great quality food and maximum value. My bill was $65 plus tip and for what? - something I could have done better at, at home. Perhaps being a tourist trap especially during the summers has made them haughty and arrogant. I'll try Dragon Palace or Kabuki in the future or go out of town and avoid this place going forward if possible unless friends want...

I really wouldn't recommend ordering take out from this place. I tried new dragon for dinner tonight because it was rated highly, and the prices are reasonable. I ordered the shrimp with lobster sauce combo pictured above. While the shrimp itself was cooked perfectly, the sauce was overly thickened, with almost a gelatinous consistency. The dish was also filled with an overabundance of overcooked ground pork which made the whole meal taste like I was eating microwaved ground pork mixed with soysauce. The fried rice which came with meal was better, but marginally so. The roasted pork pieces were very dry, and the rice was overly salty. The egg roll was interesting, as it was filled with a dark green vegetable I couldn't identify.. possibly broccoli.. nothing to write home about. Needless to say, I won't be eating here again and would not recommend new dragon to anyone. The staff were nice at the front counter, and they can properly cook shrimp, but since all other aspects of the meal were lacking, I'll take my business elsewhere...