Golden Dragon...Bottled Beer Served at 38 Degrees

Friggatriskaidekaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th. I am going to blame the length of this dining experience on that date. It was a last minute invitation that found us rendezvousing with friends at the Golden Dragon Restaurant located at 4704 E Sunrise. We were scheduled to take our daughters to their grand finale performance of a summer bible school camp. A quick chinese dinner with Dave and Allison and their daughter Laura on the way to the performance hall was the best laid plan.

Fast food would have been a better choice had we known how long it would take us to complete our meals.

I think we might have confused the Golden Dragon wait staff by arriving in three different vehicles at three different times. It wasn’t particularly crowded in the restaurant, but guests who arrived after us placed their orders and received their meals before we did.

I tried to order a draft beer but the waitress did not understand. She did not speak English, at least not well enough to understand anything off the menu. She retrieved a translating waitress who informed me that the Golden Dragon did not serve draft beer so I settled for a bottle of Miller Lite that was served with an accompanying frosted 6oz beer glass. I was able to coax two full glasses of beer from the bottle, the first registered 38 degrees and, I am sure, the second was a little warmer, although I did not measure it.

We ordered three eggroll appetizers which netted us six tasty golden brown confections. The outside shells were very hot but the vegetable insides were comfortably warm. (I have sampled eggrolls in the past where the outside shells were cool but the insides remained at a tongue burning, taste bud scorching temperature.)

Our group decided to order four main dishes to share between the six of us. The two eight year old girls wanted the szechwan chicken (two orders), Heidi, my wife, ordered her favorite moo shu pork with pancakes and plum sauce and Dave ordered a side plate of chicken fried rice. To round out our meat selection I ordered the beef and broccoli.

As we waited for our meals it became apparent that we were going to be late for the girls’ performance. They seemed disappointed at first but quickly turned back to their conversation about getting jobs at Disney World so they could live there.

The best tasting entree was the moo shu pork. We made tiny burritos with the pancakes which resembled a very light flour tortilla. I liked it without the side served plum sauce which tasted a little bitter to me. Everyone else at the table liked the way the plum sauce tasted so we ordered extra with extra pancakes. By the time the plates were mostly clean and the fortune cookies arrived we were making plans to sneak into the back of the performance hall to catch the end of the show.

My daughter Hunter cracked open her cookie and pretended to read allowed, “Help! I am being held captive in a fortune cookie factory.” As everyone laughed she explained, “That is usually my Dad’s joke.”

There are a total of five Golden Dragon Restaurants in Tucson including locations at 6433 N. Oracle Road, 6878 E. Sunrise, 6166 E. Speedway and the szechwan Omei Restaurant located at 2601 E. Speedway.

We are not superstitious people, but heed this warning: if you are in a hurry to get somewhere after an evening of dining out, the Golden Dragon restaurant does not serve fast food, especially on Friday the 13th.