Dragon Express — Restaurant in Temecula

Since I am leaving this area soon for other places to live, I figured I would give this restaurant a shot as it didn’t seem to have too many reviews. As most of you know by this point, I prefer to find the places that simply do not have a lot of reviews from the public. My goal is simple: Help Small Businesses. That said, my job is also to provide my honest opinion whether I like to or not on a meal. So, with no further delay, in my normal fashion I will start with the menu as delivered, which in this case was Mongolian Beef with a side of Steamed Rice. It is important to note that I requested that the Mongolian Beef be a 7/10 on the heat scale. This is important later in the review as they deserve a fair explanation for appearance as I ordered it.

We first encounter a photo or the “As Delivered” components that came with it in the bag. The second two photos are the entrée and side of Steamed Rice in their respective containers. Basically, what you would expect out of the bag. NOW, here is where it gets quite interesting as I was quite happy with the appearance of the wonderful provisions that have been delivered to me as I dumped them out on the plate in pure delight. Colors excite me so I took a variety of photos. To make it as easy as possible, photos 1-6 (after the delivered container photos) are taken as I dumped it out of their containers. Pretty darn good looking if you ask me!! I was excited!! Photo Seven is the aerial shot (Helicoptered the thing). Now photos eight and nine show the side of rice. One with the entrée and the other with a structure from Star Trek that looks like the Borg Cube or whatever you call that. I just remember “Resistance is Futile” from those episodes. Turns out that the resistance did not come from the steamed rice. It came from the Entrée of Mongolian Beef itself.

The last three photos are once again an aerial shot, but here is where I get to the portion of the review that I often dislike the most but must complete. In this case, the onion made me glad I am only sleeping alone. The dog doesn’t care about my onion breath, but he sure (as well as I) was hoping that maybe I could give him something more than rice. Just was not safe with the volume of onions to share with my precious tube (the dog).

In the first aerial shot you see on this last batch you’ll notice the large amount of red pepper flakes and some red Chilies, which makes sense as I asked for 7 out of 10 on a heat scale. Now, if you move to photo number two, the one where the Scallion looks like the engine of a 747, you’ll start to see that there were a few of these in the main dish. What was more frustrating is that the whole Scallion (whites and greens) and White Onions were all combined in this one dish making it almost all onion. The third photo, after I consumed the meat that I was given, shows just how many onions existed and contributed to the total weight of the advertised amount. I do feel that meat in a reasonable ratio to the onions would be nice, but I will proceed to my final thoughts.

Final Thoughts:

I am aware that this is a longer review than usual, however I felt that it was best to explain my experience before I published this. I found that the food was fresh and that the produce was fresh! High marks there! Now, for the not so great of things. While I asked for a hotter dish, it did not only fail to impress me on the heat level (mainly saturated with Red Pepper Flakes), but it also tasted of oil and lacked the core ingredients and flavors that I would normally expect with Chinese Food. Bland and lacking something would be a good way to sum it up.  As a whole I wished that there was a larger portion of meat and the flavor was more pronounced, but the quality...

I gave up on Chinese food in Arizona where I live. Was out here in the area yesterday and wanted to try some, hoping it was good. Had a pin set to go to another place but a wreck on the freeway made that waypoint an extra 30 mins away so I pulled off into this shopping center.

Dragon Express looked clean. The setup appeared that you could order dishes for about $15 or do Panda Express style from the counter for $5 less per plate. I ordered the kung pao chicken and brocolli beef with 1/2 rice and 1/2 noodles. Kids both got orange chicken with same rice/noodles.

Portions were giant for sure. First thing I had a bite of was the beef, was way overcooked and had an odd fish flavor to it. Same with the chicken. I looked up and my daughter had an odd facial expression after tasting her orange chicken. I took a piece and it tasted burned, looked like it was burned and rebattered and cooked again. I tried to find something on my plate i could eat, i really hate returning anything, so i tried the rice. Same odd fish flavor. I tried one more bite of the beef and chicken and I just closed the lid and said. "I cant do this"

When i put it all in the bag and took it up to the counter, the lady asked what was wrong. In my mind I was curious if she really did not know? She refunded the costs and we left.

I can understand if stuff has been sitting, leftover from lunch. We were there at 12:30pm on a Friday though. I dont know if they cook all this stuff in the fryer or they use oil from the fryer in a wok, but I think what happened is some kind of seafood got into the oil and everything taste like it. I might have been able to live with it but the flavor taste like the seafood had turned and it was just overcooked to overcome the danger of food poisoning so it was a very strong and unpleasant taste. Which made more of the unpleasant flavor get into the oil.

I think the issue is they will not throw out something that should have been, if it was old or accidentally left out. If something went wrong on a dish, they also dont throw it out. Like burning and double breading the orange chicken. Food is also kept too long in the heated trays so it becomes overcooked. They dont get rid of old oil and also cook things in it that change the taste of other components. Most of these issues cannot be detected visibly, so internet pics and menu pics would look similar to what you end up with.

I have very low expectations when it comes to Chinese food. As an Asian i know we are cheap people and dont like wasting things, especially food. But you do have to have an understanding that this isnt your house, you are selling this to people for money. You need way higher standards or you are doomed. This was the worst Chinese food ive...

The way I would describe this place is “quantity over quality” if that’s what you’re looking for then you’ve definitely found it. My man and I spent about 33 dollars on what we would get for about 20 bucks at any other chinese taken-out place. The pieces of chicken are all the reject pieces you wouldn’t “chose” to eat but if you aren’t making it and they serve you bad chicken battered up and deep fried who’s gunna know right? I found all their varieties of choices pretty bland and over all the same basic flavor the honey tastes like the orange the mandarin chicken was dry and flavorless the broccoli beef was just empty and sad... the beef pieces were ok but the flavor was just old and tasted like it came from left overs last week. Overall everything was coming out fresh but tasted fairly old. I was pretty disappointed considering the reviews. And the prices are steep for the lack of heart their food has. Just seems like they’re cooking with watered down flavorings or something it’s just dead. I wouldn’t recommend if you’re craving good chinese but if your STARVING and want big portions and the flavor or quality doesn’t matter then you found your place. Wouldn’t recommend...