Golden Joy BBQ — Restaurant in Richardson

My mother came into town from NYC and went to take her out for dinner. We initially wanted to try Kirin Court but they were was closed for a private party, so a quick google search brought up Golden Joy and its wonderful reviews. Excited to try this place, we ordered some big ticket items... Big Crab Hong Kong style, sizzling fresh Oysters in black bean sauce, sole fillet with crispy fin (fried flounder fins with the fillet sauteed with vegetables) salt and pepper 3 ways (shrimp, scallops and squid), peking porkchops, snow pea leaves (dao-miu) and a steamed chicken with ginger scallion.

The waitstaff was great.... but let's just say the food was a big disappointment...

The crab dish - was not fresh but seemed of frozen quality and the rice underneath had no flavor... was like eating white rice.

Sizzling fresh oysters - was the weirdest looking dish that came out... on a sizzling plate, lay 8 oysters that were from out of a jar or not even on the shell, with a smattering of green peppers and onions in black bean sauce.. it was so lacking not only in appearance but in quality....

Flounder dish - batter was thick and in line with their batter used to fry everything else... aside from the batter, this dish was good.

Salt and Pepper seafood - this was in a thicker batter than i was used to in NYC/NJ but this was OK... minimal flavor and they didn't even toss the dish in the wok with hot chili peppers as hot pepper slices were absent from the dish.

Peking Porkchops - this is not peking porkchops. This was porkchops fried in a thicker batter and tossed in a sweet and sour sauce. This is sweet and sour porkchops, not peking porkchops. My son liked the dish regardless of what it was supposed to be...

Snow pea tips/leaves - leaves sauteed in garlic, this was the best dish that came out for us...

the chicken was not a steamed/boiled chicken.. it was a salted chicken from the BBQ.... not only that, it was dry and looked and tasted like it sat out for several hours in the BBQ case.

The waitstaff was friendly but the food was mediocre at best (and that's being generous).

It was also 30 degrees outside and felt like it was 40 degrees inside.... they do not turn on the heat inside.

Oh.. and the waitstaff filled out and hand written the tip section for us on a table of 6 - My wife, mother and I and 3 minors ( 15, 6 and 2 years old).... we did not complain, be unruly, nor question any of the food that came out... we were actually very friendly with the staff... so i though it was weird for them to write out the tip.. oh well..

Also worth mentioning.... after dinner, this place did not offer or have any sweet soup (tong sui), oranges or even fortune cookies for the kids... I mean, a week from Chinese New Year, everybody has oranges... smh!

Maybe their dimsum is better than their dinner as the reviews rave about their dimsum but this will be the first and last time we eat here.

EDITED after initial review* We did order a whole duck that night and brought it home... it sat in the fridge for like 3 days cause we didn't have high expectations. I must say that their duck is very good, good enough to want me to edit this post. My family all agreed that we would definitely go back for their duck,...

EDIT: 4 star to 5 star and added pics.

TLDR: they gave 2 chilli oils and charged $1 for 2 extra (which is fair) I'd give this a 5 star for to go and 4 star for dine in due to the lady who is the waiter.

TLDR: get food togo, service is why this isnt a 5 star.

Probably the best chicken fried rice and Mangolian Beef (have to order with no bamboo) I've ever had.

We usually get these Togo and eat at home because the service is horrible. Whenever we sit and eat we happen to always get the same waiter who makes it feel like it's a chore to serve us.

Even on togo orders she tries to charge us for chilli oil and claims that because we asked for it spicy she can't give us chilli oil on the side as well. When anyone else is at the front they are never stingy with the chilli oil. Also the chilli oil is amazing. We ordered 5 Togo dishes she said we could have 1 little thing of chilli oil smh.

When asking for spicy I want real spice not...

If I could give negative stars I will. It was an awful experience. No one seems to know what they are doing when asked to order. Seated in a few minutes and waited 15 mins for the server to come to our table. Then we were told to move cos they were busy. Once we were moved to another table closer to the rest of the customers the server brought our drinks and plates. Asked for the Dimsum carts to come around but they completely ignored our table 3 times. Finally went up to the cashier and asked if they are closing or something cos none of the carts are coming to serve us. She yelled at the ladies something and they kept on ignoring us. Even the server was unhelpful.. when we tried to order from the menu she was rushing us. No one was helpful, no one knew which person was taking in the orders. So unorganized. And the restaurant was filthy!!! The servers were rude!!! Food wasn't even warm or tasty. Not recommending it to anyone!!!!! Never...