Lucky Dragon

Did I go to a different restaurant? Why did I have such below standard foodie experiences?
After reading Unilocaler Jay Y’s ROTD review, I wanted to try this hole-​in-​the-​wall Cantonese restaurant — Lucky Dragon 新龍圖飯店. It was hiding behind bunch of plants from the old Lai Lai Dumpling House.
My goal was to seek out some decent Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. There are people like my partner who is not Asian and very particular about proper tastes in Chinese food.
I ordered take out and tried 3 dishes: house special chowmein, shrimp fried rice, beef broccoli and egg rolls. The tastes failed miserably. Broccoli was over cooked tasted separate from the rest. It ain’t beef, they served pork. Egg rolls tasted worse than Jack in the Box. They burned the noodles after I specifically not the crispy kind. Some noodles were charred black. Shrimps were fresh in a decent fried rice, but bland. Lots of seafood in noodle dish.
The waiter must be new. He was clueless about how the egg rolls were made. They came from a factory. It tasted same as Lai Lai next door (see my review for the photo), at least they know the source. He also didn’t know the closing time.
I will be back to reset my experience. I want to try the 3-​way Peking duck dish.

Cantonese food that was surprisingly good despite the restaurant smelling like a toilet.
They have an in house deal for lobsters. 2 for $ 19. Tasted a-​okay (³⁄₅), good deal similar to Confucius, however, the lobsters are a little smaller here.
I would recommend the salt and pepper pork chops. Crispy and fried and delicious. All of the salt and pepper dishes looked good too.
I would also recommend the whole steamed fish.

This is a small hole in the wall with traditional Chinese food that is cheap and tasty. The place is tiny and outdated but it has good service. The ladies who work there are older and their English is no so good but they are helpful and friendly. I ordered pan fried shrimp which came with white rice. The price of the food is really cheap and the portions are so big you able to share one plate with another person.

This hole-​in-​the-​wall establishment serves up quite the variety of hot, delectable dishes, but don’t expect to be served with a smile; although, I’m not surprised, since we were being served by older ladies with possibly limited English (I say «possibly» because she did not understand what dishes we were trying to order when we said it verbally, but when we pointed to it on the menu, she read it out quite clearly).
All the food came out quickly, one after the other, except for our «appetizer fried shrimp», which came out much later than the rest of the food. Strange that what should usually come out first actually came out last, but we didn’t mind, since everything was delicious and hot. Water and rice was refilled promptly, and check was taken care of quickly.
The only down side, the restroom is a single unit to be shared amongst all diners and staff alike. This probably isn’t much of a problem anyway, since the dining space doesn’t house too many people, maybe 30 at most?

First time here and it was yummy and cheap!
My favorite items were:
— lobster with noodles
— fried fish
— fried pork chops
This place is pretty small and located in the corner next to the Jusgo Supermarket. Had I not been invite me by my friends I probably would never have stumbled upon this place.

Can’t expect good customer service in Chinatown but this is absurd! First they forget certain sauces for dishes, the waitress barely acknowledged my table. Really? Just because we look like kids doesn’t mean we won’t tip you right. Got fed up with the negligence, I decided that I already lost my appetite with this place, so I go up to the front to pay and they practically ignored me! I stood there for 20 minutes and keep trying to get their attention, but they were too busy trying to serve those that look like they have money. I had to tap the counter a few times and wave my hands in their faces. They finally acknowledged my presence. I wasn’t going to tip them at all for their terrible service, but I left them small tip. A tip is better than nothing. Never coming back to this establishment again.

This place went downhill from the last time I’ve been here. Service was slow, had to wait about 25 minute until the food came out. Food was lacking and disappointing. It was too salty and very chewy. Horrible service; but what can you expect it’s Chinatown. Probably will not come back.

I had accompanied my friend to King’s Salon for a haircut. By the time we were done it was late afternoon. We were walking around the complex looking for a Chinese restaurant for lunch when we spotted ‘Lucky Dragon’. So we decided to try this place.
When we entered there were few empty tables and we were seated. We ordered ’ Assorted Vegetable Noodles’. We decided to order only one dish. As we were unsure of the quantity. It was just for $ 5.95. The lady who took our order asked us for the choice of flat or yellow noodles. We ordered yellow noodles.
The quantity was huge and we both managed to share it pretty comfortably. The service was quick. The vegetables were a blend of broccoli, mushrooms, tofu, carrots, greens. Taste was good but nothing extraordinary.
We were charged $ 0.50 extra since we had ordered food under $ 10 value. So we paid a total of $ 6.95 for the meal. Pretty good value.

Great choices at an affordable price. I took my family to this restaurant on Father’s Day and for a late lunch with 5 people, the total came out to be $ 90 with tax and tips for 7 dishes.
The lobster specials were decent, but the flavor wasn’t up to par to Confucius.
Seafood dishes are highly recommended!

Food was not bad. Each dish we got was around $ 8 and they were pretty big portions.
I recommend the seafood tofu clay pot and the spicy chicken. I told our waitress to let the chef know to use less oil and salt and the dishes came out to my satisfaction.
Only cons is that this is a real hole in the wall. It isn’t exactly the cleanest restaurant I’ve been to.

Located in the corner of a bustling plaza in Chinatown, this is an excellent place to go for cheap Chinese family-​style lunch. They have a huge lunch special menu with prices ranging from $ 5.25 to $ 6.50. In addition, they have two lobsters (cooked either with ginger and green onions or sauteed with salt and pepper) for $ 18.99!
However, it does get crowded during lunch times on the weekends. The food starts coming out really slowly around noon (about 30+ minutes between placing the order to getting the first plate of food) because everyone is getting to the restaurant at the same time for lunch.
The food isn’t TO DIE FOR, but it’s definitely worth for it for the price you’re paying. Plus there’s lots of dishes to choose from! Definitely check this place out if you’re near by.

Been coming to this restaurant for about 15 years. Great food, hole-​in-​the-​wall but is as good as it gets.

I work nearby and we actually order take out from this restaurant several times a week because it is that close and the lunch prices are very good (even though they just increased their prices recently.) Their food is pretty good. I like the scrambled eggs with shrimp (ask them to add jalapenos and green onions), their salt and pepper fish is good, their curry mi fun is yummy too. I like the combination fried rice… sometimes. It is hit or miss. The owner (I believe) is VERY rude though. We order several times a week for lunch and all of a sudden she stopped giving us soup with our lunch orders and now demands we pay for it while others do not have to. Not a very good way to treat good repeat customers. I always get attitude too when I ask if there are utensils in the bags. Bottom line is food is pretty good and if it weren’t so reasonably priced I would NOT order from them. Food = 3 stars. Customer Service = 1 star. That’s why they only get 2 stars from me.

Saw good reviews and wanted to try the lamb pot but it was out. The beef pot was great but the ginger chicken was not fresh, I think the chef tried to use ground pepper and soy sauce to cover the bad taste cause 1. It did no feasts fresh, and 2. Ginger chicken is not supposed to have the pepper and soy sauce ingredients. The staff was friendly and service is great, but the chef needs to not serve food that is not fresh…

Most restaurants’ qualities level off or even decline over time, but Lucky Dragon rises as an exception. I initially did not like this restaurant when I first went an year ago, but its cheap lunch specials kept my parents going. Eventually, I noticed that this restaurant was not only improving its service attitude but also its food quality and selection. At this point, Lucky Dragon has evolved from my last resort lunch place to one of my favorite lunch places in Chinatown.
Offering more than 150+ choices of its $ 5.20/dish lunch special (As of July 2014), Lucky Dragon has everything ranging from seafood, chicken, pork, and beef. No matter what your preferences are, you will be able to find dishes you will enjoy if you like Chinese cuisine!
My personal favorites are the ginger+scallion fish filet and the stir-​fried rice noodles. The fish filet are first fried before being added with ginger and scallion gravy, and they are delicious on their own or as an excellent complement to rice. Despite what the menu suggested, you can ask to customize the materials for your stir-​fried rice noodles: I have always asked for shrimp to be added to the rice noodles that I pack for dinner on that day. Lucky Dragon serves perhaps the best stir-​fried rice noodle in Houston Chinatown, so I never miss an opportunity to take a box of this flavorful goodness after lunch!
Recently, Lucky Dragon also added the $ 18.88 twin lobster special and after tasting it, the dish certainly parallels Confucius’s signature dish! I think it’ll hard for me to justify waiting for Confucius when Lucky Dragon have the same tempting special plus a much larger lunch selection!
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tl;dr version:
–Ridiculously large selection of $ 5.20/dish lunch special
-$ 18.88 twin LOBSTERS!
–Great place for cheap lunch in Chinatown!

Nice food, except out of the three dishes the three of us initially ordered, two were not available. Thursday evening might not be a good time to try the special dishes. We had ordered lamb and tofu, we had ordered Soy sauce duck. Since unavailable, we had to change dish, roasted duck was very good, we ate the crispy skin, tasty! Very good price! Will add this one to my home kitchen list.

Will need to come back, but this new restaurant (used to be where May’s was) was pretty yummy! The prices are slightly higher than others, but the quantity and quality justify it. Had a lamb/​tofu/​veggie clay pot, and snow pea leaves. Simple, but very delicately flavored and savory and yummy. Really hit the spot. Not overly salty, not MSG-​y, just yummy yummy. Going to go back to try more stuff. Friendly service too, which is not expected in Chinatown, but always a plus! AND they take credit card.

This place has THE best Chinese food in Houston! My fiancé and his family have been coming here for a long time since the new management took over and every time we go there, we are not only greeted with hospitable and welcoming smiles, but always leave satisfied and happy. We always ask for our dishes to be cooked without MSG, chicken bouillon cubes, and a flavor enhancer made from mushrooms that is similar to MSG. They are always more than happy to accommodate our requests and even remember us and our favorite dishes! The food is always made to order, the vegetables are fresh, and the meat and seafood is always on point. Our favorites are the fish maw soup, stir fried bean leaves with garlic, stir fried spinach with garlic, Mongolian beef made extra spicy with green onions, and crispy salt toasted shrimp. Oh, and we also have chrysanthemum tea with our meal every time. There is a bit of a language barrier as most of the waitstaff are primarily Chinese speaking, but that doesn’t stop non-​Chinese customers from coming here. Oh, just FYI… I’m Filipino and my fiancé is Chinese (but can’t speak Chinese very well, hehe) :) Definitely give this place a try. Don’t let it’s location and small size sway you. You know what they say, «Good things come in small packages», and this is definitely one of them. You won’t be disappointed!

Very good Chinese food-​vegetables are always fresh, food isn’t too salty, they give you a free cup of soup, and their always on point. Price is great. For less than $ 20 you can get 4 reasonable sized dishes! My mother and I always get their crispy pan fried noodles, crispy fried squid, general gso’s chicken and their sweet and sour whole fish.

Good! Real Chinese food! Under $ 6 for most dishes. I get Beef with flat rice noodle and scallion, dry! or «with Gravy». Singapore noodle is very good. They have a very large menu.
Small place next to JustGo Supermarket in the corner.