Golden Lion Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Patterson

Always fast & always friendly service. A bit pricey. Food is good. Not bad. Not great. Just... good.

Restroom is old, but clean. Just needs new paint, fixtures, etc. (I always include the restroom situation in my reviews).

I mean I've never walked out & said "wow what a great meal I can't wait to come back!" It's more like driving around town & asking the wife "wanna try it again?" And she heavily sighs "fine."

Most of the veggies seemed fresh. The sushi from the Chinese restaurant tastes like sushi from a Chinese restaurant. I do not recommend the Hawaii'ian stuff. It's a no-no... not an "ono." Basically, it's a Chinese restaurant so stick to the Chinese cuisine.

But that's the #1 problem with most Chinese restaurants. They have a 5 page menu instead of concentrating on 5 good dishes. How about a Patterson original apricot glazed chicken (instead of orange chicken)?

But anyway, for a decent meal for a decent price with great service, grab the fam & ask them... "wanna...

I wasn't expecting much since it was in a little gas stop off the 5 freeway heading from Seattle to LA. It is in a small town of Patterson just SW of Modesto. I had my doubts but my wife wanted Chinese food. I didn't expect to get good traditional Chinese food at a gas stop. I was pleasantly surprised that the salt and pepper chicken wings were awesome some of the best I've tasted. The Mongolian beef, fried rice and the chowmein were excellent. Their menu is large and diverse as they also have Japanese food. I'm not sure how good that is though. It was during the Pandemic so we had to take out. I wish it was closer to LA. Probably will never pass by again since it's about 4hrs to LA. It seemed that a lot of the Locals were calling in their orders while I was there. Glad to see that they were surviving during these hard times. I definitely would come back if we ever drive up...

A few unique things about this place - first, their menu is both Chinese food and Japanese sushi rolls. I've had the Chinese food - the chicken chow mein, egg rolls, green beans, and it's all been good. Sushi I tried was not so great - California roll with fake crab. Dining room is almost never full because they do so much To-Go business, so you can pretty much always get a table. They have a bar with cocktails and they are right off the Interstate freeway (I-5) at the Patterson exit, so at first I wasn't sure if I should try them or not - surrounded by gas stations and fast food places, it didn't look like any place a normal Chinese restaurant would be. But glad I tried them, and if I were on a long drive down I-5 and wanting some real food instead of fast-food, I'd definitely be happy to...