Golden Dragon

I eat a lot of sushi and this place– tucked away in Bradlee Shopping center– has some of the best I’ve had. I’ve gone there for about a decade. Hot dishes are also good, I can vouch for general tsos, mu shu pork/​chicken, and the fried rice.

I’m a Chinese American (but not Cantonese) who lived in NYC for almost twenty years and has a Dad who is an amazing cook so I am very picky when it comes to Chinese food. And this is THE place in the Shirlington/​Fairlington area that I would order from whenever I get homesick and want something to be delivered fast (miss that about NYC and wish there were more places that would deliver). The typical dishes that I order are authentic. Some of the dishes I LOVE are the Mapo tofu with ground pork, the Home style-​tofu and string beans with ground pork.
My husband and I also LOVE sushi and sashimi and have always enjoyed ordering them from here. They’ve always been fresh. Never had an issue.
This is waaaaay better than PF Chang which is a joke if you’re looking for authentic Chinese food.

I have tried out Golden Dragon a few times since they’re so cheap and convenient (they deliver to my house) for nights when I’ve craved «Chinese» food [in quotes because I realize most Chinese restaurants around here aren’t authentically «Chinese”]
There are a few aspects of this place that have kind of put me off and have resulted in me not ordering from them again.
1) Their sushi is pretty consistently bad. I’ve never gotten sick from eating here, but one time I ordered some of their rolls, the smell was EXTREMELY fishy. Their vegetarian rolls were a bit better, but not by much. I tried going again with a friend another time and she also commented that the salmon smelled kind of unpleasant.
2) Their non-​sushi dishes, such as fried rice or other hot entrees, were better, but not great. The quality of meat was so-​so, and the rice was kind of dry.
3) I realize they’re working with a small space in an urban area and aren’t really gunning for a «classy» look necessarily, but the interior of this place makes me feel like I’m in warehouse or something. Cold, white tile floor, very little decoration (at least the last time I was there), not really welcoming.
If you’re having a late-​night fried rice craving, this place isn’t too bad. But I’ve generally steered clear of anything else. I feel a bit bad reviewing them this low because their delivery was always fast and the servers were nice– but the food just hasn’t improved over the years.

I’ve lived in the Shirlington area for over a year and completely slept on this neighborhood gem! Just ordered sushi… delivery no less from Golden Dragon. So fresh and so delicious! We had the Spicy Tuna roll — not as spicy as expected but tasty. Dragon Roll — By far one of their best specialty rolls — eel, shrimp tempura, avocado. Mexican Roll — spicy sauce, shrimp, tuna, avocado was a huge hit! The miso soup and edamame all good.
NOTE — the menu was difficult to find online:

Ordered here for the first time. Three dishes, two hits, one miss.
The Crispy Chicken with Walnuts was tasty, although the few sprigs of broccoli thrown in were raw if barely cooked.
The Home style-​tofu was also tasty, with a subtle spiciness.
The Yung-​chow fried rice was disappointing. Bland in flavor, it had two surprise ingredients, green beans and chunks of mystery meat that tasted like ham hocks.
So, I will probably order from here, again. But I think I will skip the fried rice.

3.5 stars, rounded up because of some authentic Chinese finds on their menu
Currently (and newly) our favorite place for Chinese takeout in (the City of) Alexandria. We’ve only ordered once so far (very recently), and the phone ordering was easy and fast. Delivery was almost eerily immediate.
I think if you know what things to order from and which things to avoid [don’t get the
(Americanized) spring/​egg roll, even if it’s free — it’s a grease bomb], I think you’ll be happy. Hint: opt for the more interesting combinations of items, stuff that sounds more authentic or that you’ve not heard of, and/​or things on the traditional/​specials section of the menu.
We ordered beef with asparagus and Chinese parsley (that’s cilantro) and the Szechuan green beans, ordered spicy when asked, with pork. They were in a word, great. At first I couldn’t detect the spiciness of the latter until I scooped up some of the sauce at the bottom. THERE it was — a good spice level, although since I’m a bit of a spicy freak, I will order it even hotter next time. However, I can always add spice to it at home.
High quality for Chinese take-​out/​delivery.
UPDATE: Mapo dofu/​tofu with ground pork, not on the takeout menu exactly, was slippery soft and comforting. I’ll have to ask them to up the spice level next time to at least the level of their «Best Hot Beef», which is a real Sichuan style dish but without the ma la numbing pepper.

I think it is difficult to mess up Chinese food but they were able to do it. At my visit, the food was nearly inedible.

I ordered a California Roll and another roll of Hamachi w/​scallions. The Cali roll only had avacado — no other ingredients at all. I took one bite of the yellowtail, and it was sour and fishy and spoiled.
I also had an order of dumplings in hot oil, and a hot and sour soup. The dumplings were okay, and the soup was good.
The waitress was overly attentive, hovering. Perhaps they have not seen a sit-​down customer in a long time. Nobody else was in the place.
I don’t see any reason to go back there, and if you value your life, you won’t try their sushi.
(If they got rid of the sushi, they might be a decent place, but they are trying hard to differentiate themselves from any other random Chinese place. There is already a decent sushi restaurant a few doors down, oddly enough.)

The food is here is good solid Chinese cuisine. Nothing exotic, but your standard fare done well. We’ve been coming here for close to ten years and it never disappoints. Plus, it has sushi that is also a very good bang for your buck.

I went here after reading some conflicting reviews. The first time around, my fried rice did not have any salt, I had to get them to fix it. Even then it wasn’t up to my taste. The spicy chicken we ordered was sloppy as well. The food was mediocre.
The seating tables were very crampy. I could not sit in one table without pushing the chair behind me all the way into the table back. It was uncomfortable.
The service was decent, they were nice to talk and polite.

Food was not impressive at all and I cannot believe how much more expensive this place is compared to other take out places.

This place has the most incredible sushi I’ve ever had, and I’ve had A LOT of sushi. The dragon roll and the king crab roll are my favorites and surprisingly very reasonably priced. The display of the rolls is also gorgeous if you dine in (don’t be afraid to dine in despite the understated appearance… and be sure to order hot tea). The Szechuan beef and noodle soup is great and my favorite item off the traditional Chinese fare are the moo shi pancakes, I usually get pork.
The lo mein is sub par, but other than that I don’t know how anyone could give this place a ONE star rating… this 2-​star rating I’m seeing here is seriously making me reconsider my always blind-​trust in Unilocal reviews. This place is AMAZING.

We’ve been ordering take-​out from Golden Dragon for several years now. Most of what they make is pretty good. I’m a fan of their wonton soup, scallion pancake and mapo dofu. My biggest complaint is that they don’t have a computer system that stores customer information it. So EVERY time we order from them we have to tell them our phone number and address. Which is annoying but worth putting up with anyway.

Do you have to give a star?
I ordered delivery and got the wrong dish. Called them back and they said it would be $ 2 to come back and extra for the shrimp. Hello? Where is customer service? Now we have to go down there to get the meal credite back on the card! So much for takeout. Plus my mom and sisters dishes were far from good. Weird thick dark sauce with a funky taste and 3 shrimp in the whole dish…
Dont do it!
Should have checked Unilocal

Three words: one and done
Visits: one
This was surprisingly bad. I ordered general tso’s which is usually a safe bet. Granted it tastes a little different at each restaurant but this was the worst I have had.
The sauce was really thick and had the texture of a bbq sauce. Since the taste made me nauseous I was not able to eat enough to even pretend it was good. Odd that the food was bad but somehow I was a little embarrassed I could not down more of it.
Anyway, the end could not come soon enough. No plans to give this place another try.

Ok, so the kung pao shrimp was nothing but shrimp and huge chunks of red and green bell peppers. Seriously, like 3 peppers’ worth of pepper chunks. And nothing else. Weird mozzarella-​filled crab rangoon too. I know these things aren’t authentic in any way, but when they have cream cheese in them, they at least taste good. Yuck.
Also, the «sushi bar» of this place should strike fear in the heart of any person who would like to avoid dying from parasitic infection. The case is cold (I touched it), but the fish is in little tubs with paper towel in the bottom and it looks olllllddd. There is no way I would ever eat anything raw from this place. Ever. Ew.

I don’t know if it is this cold or what, but the food is definitely stars better than the first time I had it. Or maybe it is just whatt you order. Either way, sauce is now thick and flavorable. Quantity and fast deliver.
If you like a good soft tofu dish, I suggest the Hunan Tofu.

We tried a few dishes:
–chicken with broccoli
–kung pao shrimp
–hunan beef
–General Tso’s Chicken
and a side of pork fried rice.
I’d say both the chicken dishes were slightly above average and that everything else was average. Our pork steamed buns appetizer was the only thing that was really disappointing. Our waitress was friendly and effecient. I’d say if you know what to order this place could be 3 stars. Oh, and they serve beer, and its cheap so that’s always good.
Complimentary orange slices and fortune cookies for dessert.

This is just a bizarre combination of Chinese and Japanese. I’ve been here 4 times (2 dine in /​2 take out) and never had a single thing good to eat.
I usually have my staple items I try whenever testing out a new place. These are never the «best» dishes, but rather simple things that a restaurant should be able to get right and are easy to compare from one place to the next.
Items I’ve tried here:
— scallion pancake (was horrible 5 minutes later when I got it home as take-​out, so I tried it for dine-​in and still horrible)
— vegetable spring roll (soaked in grease)
— crab rangoon (like it was filled with cottage cheese and Krab)
— egg drop soup (no flavor at all — other than salt that is)
— miso soup (served nearly cold — had as dine-​in)
— pork lo mein (hugely disappointing and very gummy and oily)
— california roll (eh, had lots better — I almost never try raw fish when trying out a new sushi place with no recommendation from friends — if they can’t get it right when I try something «safe» not sure I want to chance raw food)
— philly roll (again had better)
— tamago nigiri (egg was very dense and not enjoyable)
— Sake (I’m still alive — but the fish was not very well cut or fresh)
I’ve given it an honest shot. Its too bad the food isn’t better as this place is close to home, but so are Hana Tokyo, Kyoto and Bonsai all of which are much better.

Great Chinese take-​out/​delivery. Great food at a great price. Moo shi pork and kung pao chicken are delicious. Dumplings are terrific, too!
The «best spicy hot chicken» is definitely spicy and hot, but it is still good! I’ve never eaten in the restaurant, but would highly recommend Golden Dragon as a good alternative to sit-​down Chinese.
EDIT — I must have been pretty hungy when I ordered from Golden Dragon the first time. After trying it a couple times more, the dumplings (both steamed or fried) are still really good, and the moo shi is pretty good, but everything else is sort of mediocre. It is cheap though, and they do deliver pretty quickly, so I think 3 stars are deserved.