Golden Oriental Palace

Just to give a bit of history, this place was formerly called Oriental Century Palace and they were closed for 2 months.  They were foreclosed due to non-payment of rent. This was not our favorite place but it wasn't horrible and we didn't have to wait for a seat.  My family usually prefers Very Fair Seafood Cuisine but ironically they are not fair at all.  The wait times are usually 40+ minutes made even longer since alot of the waitresses sneaks friends and family inside to get a table while ignoring the people already waiting for tables with numbers. This place has good food but we're not going to wait if people can just jump to the head of the line at anytime.  They have a big enough clientele it seems that they don't care if a few customers walk out.

My father was determined to go back there to the new Golden Oriental Palace for a place with decent food and seating. He seems to have a keen eye since he recognized that the waitstaff was the same but with new management.  When the first dish came, it set the tone for the rest of the morning and it was going to be a bumpy one.

This was not how the dish came to us and I wanted to have some fun with the food so I added some hot chili oil and give it a bit of a french presentation. The dumpling wrapping was thick as it should be and I can distinctly taste eat component of the peanuts, coriander, radish, shrimps and pork. Other dishes completely miss the mark for the proper wrapping as I will get to that later.

Next cart that came by had the chinese meatballs for a lack of a better name. It was almost all meat and not a lot of filler or binders.  They were fresh, hot and moist.  The previous time at this location I had it looked like 3 larger red blisters and the texture was like a dense paste instead of a meatball. There was a sweetness that I liked and couldn't tell where it was from until I saw the spinach lining the bottom of the dish. 

Here comes some bad news.  The shrimp on shui mai had consistency of frozen shrimp and also starchy texture on my tongue with the overly liberal use of it to have the meat to stick to the dumpling wrapper. 

Other dishes like the har gow and the rice noodle roll were too thick.  The rice noodle roll also sadly lacked sufficient fillings inside for the seafood especially for a newly opened place. Inside the shrimp rice noodle roll were only two modest shrimps. In between them was just emptiness.  Getting past the tough skin, the har gow was plump, moist and sweet unlike the sinewy bland ones on the shui mai.

I really need a drink of tea after the fried tofu with the fish paste.  A particular taste struck my tongue as I bite into one.  Did someone in the kitchen run out of corn starch and tried to use baking soda to
have it stick onto each other?  This is a simple dish with very few ingredients so why does it taste this way?

One dish that I can find fault are the beef intestines and the glazed side ribs.  Texturally, the intestines was tender with just a bit of firmness like al dente pasta which was how I like it.  All they need to do is to make the stewing liquid a bit more stronger since it did lack a bit of flavor.  Those ribs looks as good as they tasted.  The sesame complimented the mild meaty flavor and the glaze was not cloyingly sweet.

Sadly the dim sum brunch ended on a sour note literally and figuratively.  One of the specialties arrived and I had to get a dumpling in soup (not to be confused with soup filled dumpling).  I was pleasantly surprised to find oyster mushroom inside the dish and the broth had a rich seafood flavor from the baby shrimps and dried scallop.  It was all going well until I added the red vinegar.  They were definitely not using the same one as other restaurants that makes the same dish.  The strong sour taste completely destroyed the dish.  Thankfully I tasted the dish before the dish was spoiled by it.  Next I was shocked to see that it cost almost five dollars since it was an extra large item.  Very Fair restaurant still has a hold on me for that dish since they make a really good one and it cost less too.

Ten dishes plus tips and tea charge came up to about forty-five dollars.  My father's opinion was that this place wasn't going to last long if they carried on like this.  The quality is very inconsistent and not worth the amount they were charging.  At least take the tea charge of the bill since they were still celebrating the grand opening.  A block down is Perfect Chinese Restaurant where you get what you pay for.  The food is not as good but for half the cost and free wi-fi makes it not a bad place at all and they are open around the clock.  It's crazy that they even take orders online! We may come back to them a second time for redemption but if they don't fix a few things then we won't miss them as nothing really wowed us to make us comeback for more.