Golden China Restaurant — Restaurant in New Bern

This is not a well kept place, Not all bad, and not all good either. I and my lunch Buddy, X, came by after church on a Sunday 1:06pm and the place was absolutely DEAD! Bad sign. Spoke to 5 dine out customers, all said best Egg Rolls and Dumplings, but they tend to dine out as the atmosphere in is drab, stuffy, not a friendly or nice atmosphere. We stood at counter, (I had a cane and X with a Walker) and we listened to the owner Lady loud holding a Solid English conversation, for about 5 min before I leaned in, "HI, can we eat here?" With a sharp nod, we were in!

Was disappointed to find they do not make Lemon Chicken, Sweet & Sour Pork is made, but it's not on the menu, you just ask for it. (# = 0 ) (* = STARS) Being both fair and hungry (LOL) X and I ordered: 2 Pork Egg Rolls * * * * * 1 order of their steamed Dumplings * * * * * 1 Pt. Won Ton Soup # 1 Beef Broccoli * * 1 Beef and Snow Peas * (Peas flat really salty) 1 Sweet & Sour Chicken # (Looked and Tasted Store Bought) 1 Sweet & Sour Pork * * * 1 Lemonade (bottle) 1 Ginger Ale (can) Honest here, not mean, she went from English, to Broken English, to Good English towards the end, here she, kept saying "to go?", and I said, "no, dine in", after I put the order in she says, "This too much food," kind of mean! I asked for plates she forced us to having to go boxes while we dine in, and this along with the dining hall also acting as a storage room, the floors and tables were as if cleaned by a child, with a cell in one hand and in a hurry; not clean at all. Dirty. I was caught taking pictures, and suddenly service was turned up! Table service now as our food was carried out to us. We sat there for 38 mins before I got up to put our orders in, now I'm suddenly a real paying guest and her full English came back. She was able to understand me again, I welcomed her back, she offered plates now & everything real nice too.

7 min after order in and food came out, so that was fast, course the place was dead. Then the Arguing began, between Lady and I'm guessing Husband who yelled back, I don't know what they were screaming about in foreign language and I do mean screaming, but I think she won, as he went silent while she kept yelling! Maybe a, 'We should have cleaned up today?' It lasted for 10 mins while we tried to eat, it was surreal, I felt like I was in trouble!

Egg Rolls and Dumplings, Five Stars, I could tell homemade and handmade, I'm from the Havelock area so this was a drive, and for these I would easily make the drive back! X and I loved them, fresh ingredients and good fresh oil for egg rolls, dumplings we had steamed.

Won Ton Soup was a huge let down, broth was like dish water, the Won Ton Dumplings were thick with raw dough, bad mouth feeling and heavy on the 5 spice inside, I gave it a 0. Looked forward to this most on a stormy day.

Both Beef & Broccoli/Snow Pea came with a ton of white sticky rice, the broccoli was a tad raw and few broccoli pieces, and the gravy had enough salt, so taste this first before adding the soy sauce.

Sweet & Sour Pork was good 3 Stars, although not listed on the menu as a hot item (Spicy) I thought there was a little bit of heat, X didn't agree.

Sweet & Sour Chicken a big flat zero (0) it looked and tasted frozen from the supermarket. It really wasn't of the same quality, it's night and day difference from what you can tell is cooked and actually made. Spent good money here to have been served what I could do at home.

Overall we dropped $76.00+ tip, I would strongly recommend ordering out, eating inside is just not a good place for a comfortable dining experience. It's dirty, deflated and stale you don't feel welcomed. The dining area is really just a supply room. They didn't care for us there evident by the 10 minutes of Yelling. I don't think I'll be returning, unless I want really good Egg Rolls, or Steamed Dumplings in-which-case I'll order them for pick up and dine out.

If I go back, I'll be happy to give an update review several months/year later.

Always...

One word? Disgusting! Called an order in and went to pick up. Upon entering the restaurant, my first impression was how dirty And rundown it looked. But that usually doesn’t deter people that like Chinese food. The thing that rubbed me the wrong way is how I was treated as a customer. When I walked in, I spoke loudly so that everyone could hear me the family seem to be sitting down at a table eating. No one spoke back. The woman got up as if I was bothering her and I’m sure I was since they were eating dinner. But if you have a paying customer coming in, you should at least speak and try to put on a smile. I didn’t get any of that. I didn’t even get a you’re welcome when I said thank you and left. I am well aware of how most Chinese people see African-Americans in the US. We are beneath them. The only thing we are good for is eating their food and giving them our money. They made sure I knew this. Maybe not on purpose, but it was clear to me that they didn’t give two hoots about me as a person. I will not be going back there ever again. As for the food, I got vegetable fried rice and fried dumplings. The rice had no taste whatsoever And it was greasy to the 5th power. I had to put my own seasonings in it to try to give it some flavor and I only ate a little bit of it one time and put it in the trash. The dumplings had no flavor either. Worst Chinese food ever. I felt nauseous after eating and couldn’t help thinking that something was done to my food. It didn’t even taste like Chinese food. You have been warned eat here at your own...

We've had take-out from here about a dozen times or so over the past year. My basis for comparison are Chinese Restaurants we frequented for thirty years in the NJ/NY area.

A favorite dish of mine is sesame chicken. I found the sesame chicken here to be so-so. It appears to be mostly dark meat, and I often find parts that should have been trimmed away included. The coating is not crispy or caramelized - kind soggy, really.

The sweet and sour chicken is hit-and-miss. Too often, I have found the pieces to be hard and greasy. Sometimes they are soft and moist. Could it be they are cooking these on spec and they are allowed to sit around too long? All the beef dishes I have had seem to be using low grade beef based on its toughness. The Orange Beef did not taste very orangey despite the evidence of rind/peels. The Won Ton soup is OK, but just OK.

My wife often orders seafood dishes, and she has had no complaints.

Finally, if you do order take out, check your order before you leave. We have received missing and incorrect orders. Last time the pork friend rice was just rice. No pork, or any other ingredients. That's not even on the menu...

We still occasionally go there due to its convenient location for us, but I really can't recommend their beef or chicken dishes, or the...