Golden Buddha

Cold, over salted, bland — a sampling of various dishes produced nothing good. A fall from a three star.

why they close? please open again.
if i lazy for make dimsum, i and hubby dimsum this place.
we like, rice soup, hakau, shiumai srimp, skin tofu, tofu deep fried,
some ball shrimp fried, shrimp choufan, kailan vegetable,
chicken feet (we always take double container),
and always order salted fish chicken and shrimp rice.
i prepare and brought slice garlic and sriracha chili sauce.
if go to dimsum better sunday, a lot varieties food, and come early.
we miss them. and hope reopen again.

Golden Buddha has GREAT dim sum. Their prices are reasonable and the staff is very polite wheeling their little carts. I tend to go on the weekend because there is more selection but they do dim sum throughout the week. They also have some very authentic dishes on the menu for those who are more of the adventurous types. Be sure to say hello to the turtles the next time you go.

Having lived in cities with amazing dim sum, I am pretty desperate to find a place here in Phoenix I could go to. This was not a good first attempt…
We went to dim sum on a Thursday lunch around 1:45pm.
There was only one cart. The woman said there was usually one more cart with the fried stuff, but they weren’t running it at this time. So normally there would be 2. I thought, not a good start but it’s ok I mainly like the steamed dim sum anyway. We got everything they had in the cart excluding short ribs and beef balls, which I typically don’t order anyways. Here’s what we had:
Siumai — no shrimp, spongy and bloated, weird tasting. When you cut into it, it was colorless – just this pale brown blob. It tasted like… nothing? It was the weirdest thing. I had to ask for chili sauce just to have a flavor. I swear you can judge a place’s dim sum by their siumai – it’s the staple dish! So of course everything else followed suit.
Bean Curd Wrap — Isn’t this supposed to be filled with seafood and vegetables? Easily unwrappable in a light broth? Nope. More colorless pork. The sauce it was in was CONGEALED. Like a weird gravy.
Ma Tsang — This sticky rice wrap was probably the best part of the dim sum. It seemed over-​steamed though. When I unwrapped it, the rice just slid out, and it was overly moist. Usually when you unwrap one, you gotta scrape it off the leaf. The flavors were there at least. I had a bone in mine though. But other than that I could at least manage to enjoy it.
Chicken feet — Overboiled skin and not very flavorful sauce. worst part is one of them still had the NAILS on. I definitely did not want to see that.
Char Shiu Bao — The bun had a good texture. The char siu filling seemed candied and overly sweet and the pork was dry.
Meh.

Every time I am in Phoenix, I end coming here for their General Tso. It is extremely tasty! The staff is always friendly!
I am here writing this now… It’s a Monday at 7:30 pm and only about 5 tables are open.

This review is based on the dim sum and takeout. Met a friend of mine here for dim sum on the weekend and it was satisfactory. Fans of dim sum from SF, Monterey Park and even Vegas might feel let down on this place. Accepting the fact that dim sum is greasy, salty and in general not very good for you, this place focuses more on the fried type of items rather than steamed. They do serve the rice noodle rolls and lotus leaf wrapped chicken though. I saw someone mention that this place could use more variety in their dim sum selection and that’s about spot on.
I tried a few of the dishes such as the lo mein and the sauteed chicken with mushrooms and snow peas. They’re good but pretty pricey for what you get. The service is efficient and friendly, however. The interior decorating is standard neo-​Chinese restaurant American-​style with the pagoda theme and gilded Buddhas.
I’d recommend this place only on the basis of wanting to find something in Phoenix that serves decent Chinese food or dim sum. Otherwise, you can do better with C-​Fu in Chandler or Hot Wok Mr Cook’s take-​out.

Two different friends from two different circles pointed me toward Golden Buddha at COFCO Center. I was not disappointed. My eternal quest for the best General Tso’s Chicken has not been satisfied since the Jasmine Tea House in Globe, Arizona closed… but Golden Buddha is the best Tso’s I’ve found in Phoenix so far.
The venue exudes a cultural ambiance that is far superior to the stereotypical zodiac placemat. There is even live piano entertainment in the dinner hour. Friendly and knowledgeable staff also a perk!

Expensive and not worth the hype
for its prices I was not very impressed with the food. The atmosphere was almost like a fast food place. Very bright and flashy. Not the subdued atmosphere that one would expect from a classy restaurant. We had heard from a freind that it was supposed to be great food but we were part of a 14 person, multi-​course feast where we had a little of 15 or so dishes and we were not impressed by most of the dishes.
I think just about and Chinese place will do much better, even Panda Express.

I agree with Crystal C., that the dim sum isn’t the greatest I’ve ever had. In fact, I am not sure if the meal was so tasty that it was memorable. I do remember the «calamari» was not really calamari, like you would think. It was presented more like a sweet and sour pork (so calamari with LOTS of breading) without any sauce. As a result, the dish was dry and salty.
The sticky rice was good (hard to mess up), the chicken feet were okay (needed more five spice powder), and the shumai was alright. The noodles were good, and I can see why the cart ran out after the first round. The diners were an equal mix of Asians and Americans. I would’ve preferred to see more Asians eating (as I am used to in a Chinatown and gives an indication of authenticity), but I do realize we’re in Phoenix where the Asian population is not like San Francisco or Houston.
The meal came to about $ 30 for two, including jasmine tea. The carts are loud because they are made out of metal and roll on tile. I am also not used to staff members shouting what they have in their cart, like a newspaper boy yelling «Extra! Extra!» Christmas music was playing after mid-​January, so the atmosphere felt strange. Next time I visit the city, I probably will pass.

The dim sum here is not the greatest I’ve ever had, but it is the very best Phoenix has to offer. We have tried every listing on Unilocal,Best of, and Urban Spoon. We’ve tried every place recommended by friends and co-​workers. This is as good as it gets.
What gets this restaurant it’s 5 star rating is the atmosphere, servers, and the Peking Duck. The duck is not prepared the traditional way (the way we do it at home), but it is still very tasty. Even my parents (who are purists) have to admit that the flavors and the textures work very well together. Plus, the way they prepare it at Golden Buddah is much faster so we don’t end up waiting forever for the food.

This place is a little difficult for me to review. I was staying at the Hampton Inn across the street and this is the closest restaurant so off I went.
I walked in and the owner or manager met me at the door and asked «how many»?
I told him I wanted to order take out and handed me a menu and pointed to the waiting area which was covered in newspapers. I chose to go to the bar, order a glass of wine, and peruse the menu.
The drinks are expensive but I didn’t think the food was. Less than $ 10 for my Mongolian Chicken which came with white sticky rice and a fortune cookie. When ordering I asked if I could have fried rice instead of white rice but was told «no». Most places allow this for a nominal fee.
Fine by me. Give the white rice. Food was prepared and their to-​go boxes were a lot better than the standard white Chinese «to go» boxes. They also included the plastic-​ware, napkin, and soy sauce, which a lot of places forget.
Looking around I found a whole lot of goodness along with a couple disappointments. Most notably the newspaper strewn about and behind the bar, to the right were a lot of boxes stacked in an unsightly fashion. I could have been a little more presentable in my opinion.
I peeked into the dining room because I wanted to see if the piano music was piped in or live. It was live which was very nice. Also, the dinning room looked very nice and cozy.
As I was leaving the same man who greeted me upon entering made sure to wish me a good evening. My initial impression of the man was that he was surly and testy but that’s just how he comes off.
The food was very good. The Mongolian sauce was mixture of sweet with spice and the chicken and vegetables all tasted fresh.

I ate at Golden Buddha a few weeks ago. We ate at the restaurant after a day at the zoo with our 4 year old and had a blast. The piano bar played tunes for my daughter and the staff was more than accommodating. The general tso chicken was better than anything I can get in Tucson. The soup was chocked full of fresh, read FRESH, not canned, vegetables. All in all, I was very satisfied with the meal and the service. Plus the décor is very nice, clean and cheery.
Eat at Golden Buddha.

Dim Sum and then some
Definitely one of the best Dim Sum in Phoenix if not the best. Only served during lunch. Not good for romantic date, because of the noise of shuffling carts of food throughout your meal, but usually occurs during lunch time Dim Sum. Good selection of steam dumplings and pork buns to crunchy deep fried shrimp balls. Don’t miss the shrimp rice noodle. Service is pleasant and friendly. Cost is reasonable. Ambiance is nice. There is a baby grand piano, but only played at night for dinner. It is comparable to California standards. Good ROA (ratio of authenticity) about 60−70%. (#Chinese Patrons/#total Patrons).

Disappointing. Mediocre at best. I am staying at the Aloft hotel in phoenix and ordered some delivery. I ordered a couple american chinese food staples: general tso’s chicken, dumplings and hot&sour soup. Soup had zero flavor, dumplings tasted freezer burned and processed. General tso chicken was ehh.
A lot of good reviews on here so it must be for eat in and for their dim sum. Don’t order delivery, you will be left hungry and unsatisfied.

Came out to Pheonix for a business trip and this was the favorite of the locals for Chinese food.
Came here around 1:30pm for dim sum, I believe dim sum goes till 3pm!
Their dim sum was pretty good, they have all the traditional dim sum food that a local place in Southern California would have.
I must say, boy! The drinks they serve are huge! Has to be like a 20oz Coke!
Service was great and food was pretty great! Will visit here the next time I’m in Phoenix again!

I’m giving Golden Buddha four stars because they serve solid dim sum that is as good as I can find in the Valley. I brought my parents here when they terrorized *ahem* I mean visited me a few weeks ago. My parents were surprised that it wasn’t too expensive and were happy, although not impressed, with the dishes. This place is a MILLION times better than C-​Fu, where they add a disturbing amount of food coloring to their chicken feet.
Also, I want to give a shout-​out. There is a waitress here with long hair who is exceptionally helpful when you are looking for a particular dish to eat. She always goes out of her way for me to find the right cart, or grabs the food straight from the kitchen in a timely manner. Thank you, long-​haired waitress, for that! :)

This restaurant is located in the Chinese Cultural Center and was the one restaurant that I had not been to. So after some shopping at one of the shops, we stepped in to have dinner.
We stepped in and asked for a seat for two. We were seated immediately. The place was decorated nicely and a lady playing the piano made for great ambiance.
We looked at the menu briefly and ordered our drinks, an appetizer, a soup and two main dishes. The drinks came out promptly and so did the rest of the meal. My goodness everything we ordered was very tasty.
The waiter service itself however was not even close to the décor and food. He never introduced himself, and although he took our order, our food itself was brought out by a kitchen person.
After we ordered our waiter really never came back asking if we needed anything else, except to give us our check at the end and that was after the person I was dining with got up and asked a different waiter for it.
It’s amazing how a place with great food, décor, and ambiance can mess it all up by crappy waiter service.

Can’t say that I was very impressed. Came for dinner in a hopeful and enthusiastic mood since the reviews have been pretty good, but I don’t think this place lives up to its current good, but declining rating.
Ordered the Combo fried rice (shrimp, chicken, beef, pork), sesame chicken, and garlic fried chicken.
The combo fried rice was pretty good, but ended up drinking about 6 glasses of water due to the MSG and sodium content. You’d think that the cook spent his better years in the French Foreign Legion in the Sahara eating salt tablets and developed a taste for them.
The sesame chicken had a good flavor and a thick brown sweet sauce. I liked it a lot until it got cool and the sauce looked (with that stringy consistency) more like glue. You think I’m kidding? I’m not.
Garlic fried chicken was bad. Just bad. It was like an over roasted dried out half chicken with some dried garlic pieces sprinkled on top. No spices, no flavor, no good.
We then got all kinds of lip from the waitress when we asked if they could change the channel on the TV from college football, to the Suns game. They made it into this big deal that the «customers» wanted to see the football game. Yeah right, it was University of West Virginia Vs. University of Connecticut! I would have believed it if it was a local team…
It’s better than a 1 star joint, but only because it’s borderline edible. To be avoided.

Who doesn’t enjoy a lazy Sunday morning? I love spending time leisurely reading the Sunday news while getting caught up on a weeks worth of cooking shows. After a few hours hunger finally sets in and its time to find something cheap and easy. While that might sound more like a lifestyle choice than a way of eating, cheap and easy to me means dim sum, and lots of it. With a fistful of cash and my growing appetite I head over to my default dim sum house, Golden Buddha.
Located in the Chinese Cultural Center, Golden Buddha has been pushing carts every weekend for the past few years. Over those years they’ve become a destination for steamy delights and have built quite a following with groups usually packing the lobby. Here’s some advice, for a lesser selection with no waiting, go early. If you want more selection and don’t mind the wait, go after noon.
Ranging in price from $ 2.35-$ 6.50, Golden Buddha pretty much offers mainstream selections from dumplings and chicken feet to rice and noodles. Most of the cart pushers don’t speak much English but know this; most items are either made with pork or shrimp.
Within minutes of being sat the first smiling server rolls up her cart and begins pimping her wares. As she lifts the steel lid from the first steam basket, the mist dissipates to reveal 3 white fluffy hidden treasures beneath. Know as char siu bao, or steamed BBQ pork buns, these are pretty standard for any dim sum brunch. Pulling apart one of the doughy pillows reveals its sweet porky center, add some chile oil for added depth. Probably the most typical offering is the pork dumplings or sui mai, a wonton wrapper filled with ground pork and black mushrooms. These meaty bites have an enjoyable earthiness that left me wanting to ask for another basket.
The next cart to come along is absolutely filled with fried items. I love the crispy crunch of egg rolls and while the GB version was crisp, the inside was filled with oil that tasted like last nights fish. After only a single bite the rest remained untouched. Seemingly fried in the same oil, the salt and pepper shrimp were not only super fishy but the shells were also left on. Shell on shrimp isn’t usually a problem when the shrimp in question is cooked really well. Not the case with these, they were ruined before they even hit the table, greasy and salty.
On a lighter note, wrapped in translucent rice paper, the spring rolls were large, filled with chewy rice noodles and 3 plump shrimp, unfortunately these were also flavorless.
A new one for me was the Zhaliang, a long tubular Chinese doughnut that is tightly cocooned in a sheet of rice noodle. The end result is more about texture than bold flavor; I can see how so many people seek these out for breakfast being chewy and crispy at the same time.
Dim sum brunch isn’t complete without at least one Chinese dessert. Pointing at a plate of pineapple buns or bo lo yau from the dessert cart, these pastries actually contain no pineapple. Instead the name refers to its crunchy checkered top crust. Inside the bun you’ll get a sweet surprise of satisfyingly sweet custard filling.
While I left satisfied, overall Golden Buddha doesn’t quite have the chops they used to, but in a pinch or on a lazy Sunday morning, they’ll do just fine.

I’ve been to the Golden Buddha on several occasions and it is my favorite, by far, for honest Chinese food.
While I’ve sampled everything from their vegetarian to their beef, I love their mandarin chicken. More recently, I was delighted to relive the wonders of their Kung Pao Chicken and Beef with Broccoli.
I absolutely love the egg drop soup and mini crab rangoons that come with the meal.