New Gold Medal Restaurant — Restaurant in Oakland

The first thing that needs to be said is that Oakland Chinatown is now a dangerous and depressing wasteland, especially after 5 pm when all the sane shopkeepers pull down their graffiti-encrusted metal blinds. Keep this in mind if you are interested in eating here. I have been eating at NGM whenever I have been in the area for about 20 years. I hadn't visited in a while so it was very sad to see the state of the area. There was a specific notice taped above our table warning us to not leave valuables in our car. How's that for ambiance? The food was still very good. That fact accounts for most of this restaurant's three-star score. I ordered Chicken with Black Bean Sauce over rice, my dining companion had Chicken with Salted Fish fried rice. Maybe my expectations were low because of the frightening encounters we had outside, but I was pleasantly surprised by my dish. In my dining companion's words: "It was pretty good. Not the best version of the dish but definitely respectable." Our waitress was glum and largely silent, no doubt wishing she was somewhere else like the rest of us. Didn't see much of her after our food was delivered. My debate over what kind of tip to leave was ended when I noticed a 15% gratuity was automatically added to our tab. Surprise! That pushed our total to $45 for two dishes. All in all, my recent visit was like visiting an old friend who is dying in the hospital. You recognize them and want to remember the good times, but the grim reality of the situation is...

I come here pretty frequent. First, if you're expecting a clean restaurant, friendly service, clean chairs and spotless tables, forget it! If you're interested in good, quality and fairly inexpensive Chinese food, then read further.

This restaurant has been around for quite some time. It's your typical traditional chinese restaurant, not a PF Chang. In the evening, you'll most likely see one of their waiters sitting in one of the back tables wrapping wontons. Staff wise, they're friendly and if you ask for anything they'll give it to you, but don't expect them to walk around the restaurant and refill your tea kettle.

One of my favorites here is the soy sauce noodles. It's a simple thin noodles with onions, scallions and, bean sprouts, and green onion. What makes this stand out compared to other restaurant is that it's not greasy (other places, the noodles will be shiny like lip gloss, or on the bottom of the box, there's a puddle of oil), they give you a very big box, it's made fresh and hot with a wok and cost less than $7.00.

Another one of my favorite is their roast duck. It's price is pretty much the same as other restaurants, but I like their's best is they use just the right amount of spice and rub; other places, they use too much of the star anise an it over powers everything. They're peking ribs is another one of my favorite and again they give you a full box.

If you want good food, do what I do; order from here, and...

This is a Chinese Chinese restaurant. As you walk in door you have your choices of duck served 2 or 3 different ways. Pork roasted or barbecue or spare ribs. Beef stew, lamb or tongue or tripe. Long or short Chinese donuts. Then there might be other dishes covered to ask about. This is northern style foods. Not so much seafood but excellent meat dishes. The added grace ... they are open to 3am every day except Tuesday closing at 12 am. Service and decor are provincial Chinese style which means you are there for the good not a fancy decor. There used to be more late night restaurants but Covid-19 closed some of them. Unexpectedly we had to wait 3 extra hours for a relative coming by train from LA. I got 2 orders of duck Congee and an order of sautéed mustard greens at 12am. Everyone was grateful to be able to get a meal at that hour. Stop at the counter, especially late at night. They might have run out of some prepared stews or meats. Just do a work around. No lamb get a Beef or pork or chicken they will be just as good. If you think you will like a more traditional take on northern style Chinese food spend a few extra minutes learning what has been prepared for that day. Parking in China town looks difficult it isn't. Double park and usually someone will leave in a...