Gold Garden Seafood Restaurant

The food was ok, I’ve had better Chinese food before certainly. But this is more for the service. One of the dishes was less than satisfactory to me and my family because there were several pieces of the sweet and sour pork that we had ordered that were completely pieces of fried fat. And we had tried letting them know earlier but our waiter said he would let his manager know which he never did so we had to express our concerns at the end. But when we did the lady in charge tried to tell us we ordered American style which I don’t think means pieces of deep fried fat. When she had explained Chinese style sweet and sour pork she literally only said «pork chop» and my family didn’t really know what she meant so we played it safe and went with American style. And THEN she continued to argue with us and tell us that everyone else loves the fat pieces and took our dish and cut up half the remaining dish saying there was meat. Even if people do I felt like she didn’t need to argue with us let alone mutilate our food that we were still paying for. Ideally we would’ve liked to have sent the food back for either a new or different dish but we weren’t able to voice ourselves till the end. The food didn’t taste bad but the quality we weren’t happy with and certainly not the service. We also waited for about 15 + minutes after we were done eating waiting for someone to ask if we were even ready for our check.

Update: lighting is dimmed, TV volume is lower, it’s a better dining experience!
I read some of the other reviews and was a little surprised by the comments and feel the need to respond. I have never found the food to be «typical American style Chinese food», I’ve never been to China, but I’ve eaten in a lot of old school Chinese restaurants and Gold Garden is not your parents Chinese diner. Most of the dishes are completely foreign, I’m writing this from home so I can’t give you great examples on the spot. I’m sure a person might find their favorite traditional dishes amongst the myriad of mystery taste thrills. The menu doesn’t give many clues about the preparation, etc., you might do a quick search on your phone. Lastly, you are in a Chinese restaurant run by Chinese people, there are language barriers, cultural differences, and palate preferences that make it an experience as well as a meal.
Let’s talk specifics: Egg Flower Soup, good flavor, odd yellow color, thick texture (guard gum), not my style, I wouldn’t reorder. I’d give it **, General Tao’s Chicken, veggies crisp and plenty, chicken okay, overall tasty. ***, Dry Fried Beans, fresh string beans, bit overcooked, I asked if they were garlic beans, told yes, not as much as I was hoping for, lots of onion and peppers. ***, Honey Glazed Walnut Shrimp, crunchy exterior perfectly cooked shrimp, light on the honey walnuts (maybe 5) plenty of perfectly cooked broccoli, mayo sauce was perfect.**** Service was ****. Clean, family friendly, live crab and fish, and beer (and not a large selection at that, FYI, Bud, Bud Light, Corona, Singha, and Heineken). No wine.

A Little expensive but worth it. Best lo mein I ever had. Would definitely recommend this place.

To start the ambiance is wonderful. IF you want to have a get together there is plenty of table space. They have huge chandeliers and potted bamboo at every table with a back drop wall painted red with a gold dragon. They have their own fish tank and a gamble room, Their bathrooms are very clean.
The food:
I love their food, their serving sizes are huge and the food doesn’t take long to cook so if you get appetizers if you take your time your going to end up with your entrée and appetizers as well. Their Mongolian beef is amazing, They have chili peppers in the mix and it can be spicy for those that have sensitive pallets. They have party packages, wine or saki selection, and the food is authentic.
I think the biggest issue I have is they have basically no parking. You have to figure it out on your own. They do have take-​out and if you go enough they actually know your whole order. They don’t speak English very well so you want to verify your order with them. This is from experience with them sometimes they misunderstand the order or they miss part of the order entirely. They are very attentive and friendly.
It’s usually a good place to go if your looking for something quiet. Sometimes large families are there and children have ran around the restaurant. I assume its the owners family. which can get a bit noisy.

Missed one of our orders. But were able to process refund. Food was decent. Delivery was on time.

It was ok… Both the food and the service but I don’t think we will return again. We had lunch and some dim sum.

First of all, this place is NOT a Dim Sum place. They did have a Dim Sum menu, but they were just a regular Chinese (or any Asian place really) «Appetizers» (spring rolls, crab ragoons, etc) and FROZEN dumplings. (I heard the Microwave going off and the shrimp dumpling and Shu Mai was dry and tasted just like the Frozen ones that they just microwaved and put it on the dish)
Congee was the worst one that I ever had too.
This place probably is okay for people who have never had Chinese food in bigger cities or in Asian countries…

Didn’t see any dim sum on the menu, so I ordered the beef and tofu clay pot. Honestly, the beef was not edible. It was literally not edible. I couldn’t chew it, let alone swallow. Super disappointed. Hubby ordered the beef hot pot and had the same problem. The two stars are for our waiter who a nice young fella, who was also prompt with taking our order and filling our glasses.

I used to go here often for dim sum. It’s very close to me, but the servers always acted like they didn’t want us there. They were impatient and rude to us. The sesame balls were always burnt and not edible. They had never said anything rude to us. But they gave off an impression of so. I felt disrespected and I have not been there since.

Dim sum was great! No carts, so you order off the dim sum menu and the dishes are quickly brought to your table. Easily the freshest dim sum in portland. The shrimp har gow, cilantro pork, and salt and pepper squid were especially tasty. The service was quick and friendly. Ambiance wasn’t the best, but the place was very clean. It might not be my first choice for dim sum, but we’ll definitely be returning!

If the food wasn’t good, I would never come back. The lady with short hair, who seems to be in charge is downright rude. I’ve been here many a time but she’s consistently been rude. Why operate a business when it actually pains you to serve people and you loath to provide great customer service? I don’t know if it’s just us or if she’s like this with everyone. The other servers seem pretty nice. On a more positive note, the food is good, if you can overlook the rudeness, this is a good place for Chinese food.

Very clean and visually appealing. The service and food was above average. I will be coming back soon.

My family always comes here for dinner when we visit Portland. The food is solid and the staff is always very friendly. My favorite is the fried cod which is nice and crispy and salty. We have come for dim sum before and I didn’t think it was good, so I would recommend just sticking to dinner.

The food is delicious. They use quite a bit of oil but it’s so addicting.
The restaurant is pretty big and decorated nicely. It feels open and a welcoming place to eat at.
The waiter was nice and took our order right when we were ready. They responded quickly when we asked for more stuff
Moderately priced meal. The food is worth the price.

Chicken lettuce wraps are the way to go. The lo mien is good too (lo mein,=soft noodle, chow mein=crunchy.) The put stickers are not great, but we haven’t made it for dim sum yet, but if the put stickers are any indicator we will be sticking to lettuce wraps. :)

I’ve been in Seattle for a decade and the east coast before that. Something was always a bit off or lacking, often dry or overly sugary, but this place felt like the best Chinese comfort food I could get so easily on the east coast, and egg foo young, which I hadn’t seen ever out here! I can’t wait to go back and try lots of other stuff on the menu!
The price for the portion size was GREAT — the Moo Shu was easily enough for 4 meals, and they didn’t skimp on pork and egg, it is a very hearty dish, and the lobster lo mein special was really good with so much delicious lobster!
Leftovers even taste good! I have never been able to tolerate leftover Chinese food in Seattle!
The staff was very pleasant and efficient!
Also, the disabled bathroom door is huge, and helps a lot when you have limited mobility. It was clean, well stocked, and well lit.
P. S. I liked the décor, too!

Very pleased with Gold Garden!
I’m always slightly sketched by the Asian food selections on both 122^nd and 82^nd BUT this place may have changed my mind, well made me less judgy.
I’ve been eating Chinese forever but had never had dim sum, yes i know! So this was my first experience. Though my husband said it’s not the best he’s ever had, he did truly enjoy it and for my first experience I thought it was delicious. We were given a menu and my husband did most of the ordering, he was bummed it didn’t come on a cart (I preferred the pictures though). We ordered a TON of food and left full, with leftovers and the checkbook still in tact.
The restaurant is very well kept, the bathrooms as well were very clean! This is important for the ladies out there!
The service was very friendly and fast but English is definitely not the first language so conversation is minimal but I’m ok with that.
We were probably the only non Chinese in the place, which i see as a good sign! Lots of families, and big groups so they cater well to that as well which is great to know

I think one of the best ways to test dim sum is to go with a gaggle of your best laaaaaaaaady friends (ok, there were a few dudes too) and swarm the joint on your birthday. Have some discerning dim sum pros and some people who have never had dim some before in their life. We also had some Portlandy vegetarians and vegans. Decide to pay the bill by tossing all your credit cards and some cash into the center.
Oh. And 20 people at 2 tables should sing happy birthday and take a lot of pictures.
So, how did Gold Garden treat this diverse mix of people enjoying themselves? AMAZINGLY.
I called the night before and tried to set a reservation for 18 people at noon. I realized I had failed when the person hung up on me without asking my name. I requested someone in our party who spoke Cantonese to call instead. She made the reservations (and that was lucky for us because they were a bit shocked that a huge party was about to descend on their restaurant).
«Are you all going to be eating dim sum?» They asked tremulously.
«Yes!» we affirmed.
«We better start making it for you then!» was their response (as opposed to, «fu, we’re not prepared for you people!»)
They made the dim sum fresh for us, from chicken feet to tripe to scallion dumplings. Everyone had a bit of everything and had a great time. When we ran out of red bean sesame balls, they made MORE from scratch, piping hot just for us. That was amazing.
Some table favorites: The chive dumplings, the shrimp dumplings and the custard tarts. I really enjoyed the tripe.
Several people tried chicken feet for the first time and had a great time experiencing something new. The dim sum veterans were pleased by the freshness of the food and the friendliness of the staff. They handled our insidious restaurant take-​over with aplomb! A great alternative to Ocean City or Wong’s King.

FIRST TIME IT WAS EXCELLENT, SECOND TIME IT WAS EVEN BETTER
Here’s the lowdown. There are no dim sum carts being pushed around, and the selection is somewhat limited. It doesn’t matter, cause six people would have a very tough time attempting to eat everything offered on their dim sum menu.
Have to make special thanks to Syna of Mekong Bistro for recommending this dim sum treasure. It’s a very clean and well kept Chinese restaurant that also specializes in seafoods. During lunch hours besides their luncheon plates, you can order dim sum from a pictured menu. I’ve been here twice and I still haven’t tried everything. Second time I brought along a colleague who couldn’t believe the dreamy dim sum he was stuffing down his mouth. BTW… those Portuguese egg tarts (PETs) are PDX’s best.
GGSR a little pricer… but it is worth it for the excellent quality and quantity that you won’t stop talking about.

We had a fantastic xmas dinner here — It will probably be our new holiday tradition.
We were instantly comforted upon walking in when we saw thirty or forty asian patrons. The menu was mostly illegible to me, but since we intended to order a lot (so as to take home of ton of leftovers), we felt emboldened to be adventurous. I probably won’t try pigeon again, though… it was seasoned well and very flavorful, but the texture (and fried head) just squicked out my traditional, chicken lovin’ american palate a bit. The server seemed very willing to answer our questions, but shouldn’t have to translate the whole menu to non-​cantonese patrons, so hopefully they’ll put out new menus at some point.
The sauces were all very flavorful and different from one another. The fried rice used typical peas and cubed carrots, but all the other dishes had remarkably fresh ingredients that were thankfully not overcooked. Appetizers were brought out as soon as they were ready, thereby being very hot and delicious. I found the batter on items like the scallops to be quite light and flavorful — not thick and heavy like many places do.
The seafood was all very fresh and cooked to perfection. The chicken in my phoenix & dragon was particularly interesting, but I wish I’d have thought to order it spicier! There was obviously tremendous care put into each item and dish, so while our food was hot and fast it was also perfectly picturesque in presentation and construction. I could not have been more satisfied with our experience here. Our server even gave us a commemorative hanging bamboo calendar on our way out!