Golden BBQ

NOOOOOO!
my beloved golden bbq has now failed me due to new management.
the menu has stayed the same, but the service and food have fallen way off the rails! who is this new owner? why does he/​she have terrible hiring AND management skills?! the employees are rude and impatient. they have the worst RBF (resting bitch face) I have ever seen. hmm what else. they never smile or laugh. and the food just isn’t the same anymore. they don’t make as much roasted meats and put them away so early in the evening. or if they have it, the meat quality is just burnt or terribly seasoned. everything is just BLEH now!!!
I’m so disappointed!

The store changed owner and whole menu. It’s selling TaiWan food, and no BBQ pork any more. We ordered beef noodle, juicy buns (Xiao Long Bao), and rice shao mai. I would say none of them is impressed. I definitely like the previous menu more.

NOTICE: This place NO LONGER serves Cantonese style food, nor is it owned by Vietnamese. From what I can gather, this place has been sold to another owner who how has a chef who makes breakfast type foods originating from Taiwan, Fuzhou, and Shanghai. I’d call this place a mini-​Chef Liu of sorts.
Having seen a lot of great reviews of what this place USED to be, we were kind of excited to check it out… only to be greeted with a very very small menu (two sheets of paper) inserted underneath the glass surface of each table.
After the moment of cognitive dissonance, we decided just to try a few items to see how this place stacks up against others who make similar cuisine.
Here’s what we had:
xiaolong bao– this was surprisingly good, even if it’s likely that they were premade and frozen. Each bao held plenty of juice and the skin held together firmly with some elasticity, and I never really feared premature leakage (for lack of a better description). You know what I’m talking about. The filling could use a bit of sprucing up in terms of flavor-​maybe a bit of ginger, maybe just a bit of veggies would make it taste better. But a solid offering.
fish ball soup– very simple– but you can tell that these fish balls weren’t just popped out of a package you could buy at H-​Mart– these fish balls actually tasted fishy (which is a good thing), and had some pork filling inside. Not bad.
pan fried bao (shen jian bao) — After having the above two items, I started getting my hopes up that maybe they could make a great shen jian bao… but alas… no one can come close to my memories of Xiao Yang’s in Shanghai. I should know better.
Anyhow, this ended up being our first stop of our mini progressive dinner. The spot is worth checking out– even with the mini menu.
Three and a half stars for now.

After realizing in despair that I had no cash on me to eat at the Chinatown food court, I decided to try out this spot.
PICTURE FRODO SITTING NEXT TO GANDALF. Now, that’s exactly how this place looks compared to the massive sign for the phở restaurant next door, this restaurant is almost unnoticeable.
GREAT WINDOW DISPLAY. There are chickens, ducks and various cuts of meat right next to the window, reminiscent of what you’d see in China Towns of larger cities.
BARELY WARM DUCK. Now, I see that as a complaint on some of the other reviews, so glad I am not alone. The duck served over rice with a side of bok choy was barely warm! The bok choy was cold. Now, correct me if I am missing some traditional preparation, but I have not heard of duck being served at room temperature to be a special dish. I also did not like the bok choy being cold at all. I liked the egg drop soup though.
CARING STAFF. The staff was great, really wanted to get a return customer, very attentive and asked how everything was.
INTERESTING MENU. If I come back, there are many more things I’d like to try, like stuffed fish or pork stomach, intestine bowl and spare ribs.

Very disappointed in my experience there after reading so many positive reviews. I’m hoping we went on an off night, but it’ll be a while before I give this place another chance.
Tucked away in the shopping center with Phở Bac and Hoa Binh supermarket, I was under the impression this was another Buford Highway gem. We go inside on a Sunday night, and see a large group of people chatting it up and enjoying themselves– so far, so good. It’s not the cleanest or prettiest place. There are some fish swimming in some murky tanks within view from our table. In addition to a few round tables for large parties, there are also several square ones that seat 4. After being quickly seated and have our drink orders taken, we start to digest the lengthy (and visually pleasing) menu. Even after skimming Unilocal reviews and pictures, there is a vast selection of food choices. I hear dim sum is only available during the day time, so that wasn’t an option this time. I couldn’t resist ordering the Honey Roasted Duck, except that my server told me it was sold out for the day. I asked if there was a comprable pork dish left, he went to the back, came back out and told me that they still did have «some duck.» OK, great, let’s go with that then! My girlfriend got the Singapore Noodles, and another friend got a chicken and rice dish I don’t remember. She too wanted something else but was told it was out, so she settled for the chicken.
Honey Roasted Duck — flavor was good, but the skin wasn’t crisp. It was all over the place in terms of temperature, depending on which piece you got. I wasn’t sure if this was just poorly reheated– and that’s never a good thing to wonder about your food. Also not a fan of having small bits of bone. I don’t have a problem with meat on a bone, just not when the whole duck was haphazardly chopped by a cleaver. Apparently, they chopped the chicken for my friend in the same manner, and she didn’t enjoy picking bone bits out of her chewed food either.
Singapore Noodle — thankful for the HUGE portion (probably 3 – 4 meals), but it wasn’t very good at all. Again with the pockets of warm to room temperature on the place. And WAY too much tumeric!
The surprising best dish on the table was a bowl of plain congee I ordered for kicks. I had never tried the rice porridge dish before, and since it made me think of my name, I figured why not. Serving size was huge, especially for the $ 3 price tag. But the subtle starchy flavor was good. It almost didn’t need an accompanying flavorful meat dish as a side. Best part? It was actually hot!
Service wise, our server was attentive, which is above par for Buford Highway I suppose.
There you have it. My first experience with Golden BBQ was far from golden. I expected decent food, and what I felt like I got was the leftover, reheated scraps from the day.

This place is kind of hidden among the large stores around it. I only went b/​c some friends recommended it but it was pretty good. We got the pan fried seafood, pork ribs, and a beef dish. It was about $ 35 before tax. The portion was large and the taste was good. The service was way friendlier then most other Chinese places I’ve been to so that’s a huge plus. The inside is a little old and showing signs. They can fit about 60 or so I would say.
The food came out quick and the service was prompt with the water refills. It’s a pretty good Chinese dish option. I would recommend this place.

My Dragon Boat team and I came here for a late lunch following a practice Sunday afternoon. We arrived with a fairly large group, almost 20 patrons, and they immediately seated us in the private room at the back of the restaurant. Don’t be fooled by the small storefront location – there’s plenty of seating in the back! Our group of 20 barely used half of their back room.
We were immediately given great service from the start, with an older gentleman offering us hot tea and bringing everyone ice waters. He was very patient with us throughout the entire meal, and especially during our ordering process, explaining many of their menu selections and specials of the day. He was also very versed in Cantonese, Vietnamese, and English, and our entire group was very impressed with his ability to jump back and forth between languages, tables, and our requests.
We decided on family-​style dining for our table of 8 and chose the following:
–Salt and pepper squid
–Soy sauce chicken (whole)
–Beef flat noodles (dry)
–Three combination barbecue plate with roast pork, crispy pork, and duck
–Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce
Overall, I think their Chinese barbecue meats are pretty good. I have to commend them for the large chicken they chose for our table, and the beautiful presentation of it – everyone was very impressed with the care the chef used in arranging the chicken so nicely! The salt and pepper squid was overcooked and rather dry. The flat noodles had good flavor, however, they use fresh noodles for this dish, which is very tricky to cook and if not done well, the noodles break apart into small pieces and some noodles do separate – unfortunately, this is what I had on my plate.
At the end of our meal, we were impressed by how cheap our lunch turned out to be. I’d gladly return here for the service, fresh food, and great prices, and I definitely think it’s worth a trip if you haven’t ventured here already!

I’m happy that there’s a place that takes credit card for my Duck over Rice meal now. Sorry Ming’s!
Came here for an UYE, and tried several dishes. But the real dish that I judge on is… Duck over Rice. Mainly because that’s my go to dish for dining in and pick up. I’m slightly addicted to it. I think I order this meal at any Chinese/​Canto restaurant around twice a week.
Parking — Golden BBQ shares a lot with Phở Bac and etc. Doubt you’d have any trouble finding a spot. I personally come here at peak lunch/​dinner times and I’ve never had to really search for 1.
Space & Service– they do have a large room in the back for big parties. For the tables, they use Lazy Susans. In the front, they have several tables available for 2+ parties. The restaurant itself is a bit bigger than Ming’s. The people here are really nice. English is okay, but they try their best to get everything for customers. I can’t really complain about that. If you’re new and have no idea what to order, bring someone that does.
Food —
Like I mentioned earlier — my favorite dish is to get Duck over Rice. A few differences I’ve seen: They include soup with this entrée! I thought that was neat. Pickled vegetables (not sure if this is what it’s called) is also given with the Duck, Rice, and regular Vegetables. Something about the pickled Vegetables… yum. The portions are pretty generous.
The other items I really liked: Sizzling Beef and Singapore Rice Noodles. Both dishes had a nice flair and tasted delicious.

Finally getting around to writing a review for this place. My first time here was because Dan invited us to a UYE here for dinner. Wasn’t expecting to much but this place exceeded my expectations. The quality of the food, taste, texture, temperature, etc. in regards to price was amazing. If you want a authentic chinese dinner or even for takeout come here. The price is pretty unbeatable and the customer service is great (thank you for understanding my chinese and not judging how ABC I sound!) My only very small complaint is I wish it was in a safer location (I do not feel safe enough as a 5’3 chinese girl coming here alone at 8 – 9 pm at night to grab some dinner). But, thats probably goes for most of ATL which is why the only time I eat dinner is if Ricky can come with me. Otherwise, I like this place!

I’ve heard time and time again that dim sum is really sub par in Atlanta; they are all frozen and use the same kind so they’re meh. I tried golden bbq cause it had great reviews so I had high hopes. I discovered that the place was a viet Chinese fusion, so speaking to the server in Vietnamese was helpful. We got all the traditional dimsum, as well as the roast duck rice place.
While the shu Mai and fried shrimp rolls were delicious, everything that had the white rice wrapping/​paper were not as good. They either fell apart when picked up or had a super mushy texture. The roast duck was pretty bad, we first wanted roast pork (crispy skin) but apparently they only serve that on certain days. The duck tasted old.
I’d give them another try, solely because the server/​owner was very nice and gave us great service.

Golden BBQ is a Cantonese and dim sum restaurant located on Buford Highway in the Orient Center with other shops such as Penang, Viet Tofu, and Hoa Binh. Daniel B. set up a UYE and I was happy to attend — my first UYE! We got seated in the back of the restaurant in their private dining room. The back was pretty big and it fit all of us (about 30+ people) comfortably with room to spare. Their main dining room is fairly small. Nothing much to their decoration and it just seems like your typical Chinese restaurant.
They serve both authentic Cantonese dishes as well as dim sum. Since this place is fairly small, they don’t have the push carts. Instead they make it fresh to order. I prefer that better. Dim sum is served during the daytime hours (10:30−4:00pm) so we didn’t have a chance to try it since our UYE was during the dinner time. Nevertheless, we had an awesome time and their dishes were fantastic!
Each table ordered different items and here are some of my favorite items from my table:
— Dry Beef Chow Fun
A very traditional Cantonese dish and it usually comes with wide rice noodles stir-​fried with beef, bean sprouts, and scallions. This place did an excellent job with this dish. They definitely weren’t stingy with the amount of beef they added to the dish either.
— Salt and Pepper Shrimp
I absolutely love this dish! Some places make it taste really funky but not here at Golden BBQ. Done perfectly with the shell still on there. Perfect amount of spice and pepper. Since they flash fry the shrimp with the shell still on, it’s perfectly fine to eat it with the shell still on there. That’s how I prefer to eat them because I love the crunch. However, some people don’t like to eat the shell and it tastes just fine without it.
— Sha Cha Beef w. Cellophone Noodles
This dish is under the Casserole section. It’s a little soupy and comes with lamb, some vegetables, and clear noodles. This dish was one of the last one we decided on getting, almost didn’t make the cut, but I’m glad we got it. Very good dish!
— Sizzling Beef
Served on a sizzling hot iron skillet. It came with thick, juicy beef cuts with bell peppers and onions. I’m allergic to bell peppers so I had to pick out the beef and onions to eat, but those parts were good.
— Taro soup?
I think that’s what it was called. It came at the end of our meal and served as a small dessert. It was a light and a little sweet. I really enjoyed it.
The staff was very friendly and accommodating. The food came out fast, hot, and good. There really wasn’t anything that wasn’t good from what we ordered. I highly recommend this place if you’re looking for some good, authentic Chinese food.

I came with friends so that I could try a little bit of everything.
Here’s what I found:
Crab and fish maw soup– It was hard to get past the gooey-​ness of the soup but the lime flavor was really good.
Squid with salt and pepper –I love this. You can’t go wrong with fried squid. Nice and hearty pieces too.
Shrimp and walnut — I did not like this at all It’s made with a mayo sauce which made me recoil.
Mala tofu or maple tofu — The tofu isn’t breaded or fried so it’s mushy. Still the flavor was great. A Nice sweet but not too sweet taste.
Beef with onion and pepper sauce — This was my favorite. The perfect blend of seasonings.

First UYE = CHECK! What a great experience! I was able to attend this UYE planned by Daniel B. which was sure not to disappoint!
When you walk into this restaurant you are greeted by Peking Ducks hanging in the window ~ pretty neat!
We were seated in the back room which held around 30 people. Each table was a ten top that included a Lazy Susan in the middle of the table. After Joy explained the proper etiquette for this style of dining, we opted to let our table do the ordering.
All I can say is OMG! Each large plate that came out was full of some of the most delicious Cantonese cuisine I had ever tasted!
Top dishes of the night;
Garlic Eggplant (#1 plate of the night!!!)
Roast Duck
Sizzling Beef
Chow Fun
Here’s a tip guys ~ If you are looking to try new food, check out the UYEs! You will go with people that know a thing or two. I would also tell you to be adventurous and allow them to order for you. You will NOT be disappointed.

Golden BBQ is another Cantonese Restaurant. Before that, it used to be called CoCo’s Chinese Restaurant. Before that, it was Wan Lai.
Anyway, this place isn’t bad. They have dimsum on the menu. But they’re not available all day. We came in for the dimsum, but since they weren’t available, we had to just order the non-​dimsum dishes.
Their dinner entrees taste pretty good. Let me give you the highlights:
Sizzling Beef: This was pretty dang tasty. The beef was tender and marinated well. It had a good sear on them and was a great dish. It’s probably one of their better dishes.
Roast Duck: It was also nice and flavorful. But because of the bones, not one of my favorites to eat. The skin could be crispier.
Crab Meat Fish Maw Soup: Ah, the good old soup that I get at all Cantonese restaurants. This version was similar to the others, nothing mind-​blowing. But it was still comforting and great.
Ong Choy: It looks like a boring dish. But man they bring out the flavors of these vegetables well.
Honey Walnut Shrimp: These shrimps are monsters. They’re not your organic, free-​range shrimp. They seem like GMO shrimp. They’re fried well. The batter has a satisfying crunch to them. The flavor is great. This is one of the better Walnut Shrimps I’ve tasted in Atlanta.
Salt and Pepper Squid: Not bad. I probably had better, but this was acceptable.
Mala Tofu or Mapo Tofu: This wasn’t bad either. I expected more heat though.
I enjoyed their food and service. They bring out their tapioca taro dessert at the end. Most people didn’t like it. I liked it. But my real dessert always comes from Kung Fu Tea a mile or so down.

Golden BBQ is an authentic Cantonese and dim sum restaurant that opened Summer 2014 on Buford Highway. It’s located next door to Phở Bac in the Orient Center shopping plaza near the intersection of Buford Highway and Chamblee Tucker Rd. Other tenants in this plaza include Penang (Malaysian restaurant), Hoa Binh (Vietnamese supermarket), Viet Tofu, and Mini Hot Pot.
Since about 2008, two other Chinese Cantonese restaurants have come and gone from this space: Wan Lai (
) and most recently, Coco’s (
). Golden BBQ definitely trumps both with delicious tasting food and great service. Hopefully, this business will buck the trend of 4897 Buford Highway Suite 104 and stick around.
Golden BBQ is Chinese-​Vietnamese owned. Its expansive menu is written in Chinese, English, and Vietnamese. Unlike its predecessors, the restaurant has a Hong Kong style BBQ display in its front window, instantly making it more appealing. Hence the name «Golden BBQ.» They have Whole Roast Duck, various cuts of pork including BBQ Spare Ribs, and chicken including Steamed Chicken, Soy Sauce Chicken, and Chicken with Scallion Sauce. BBQ pork is available Saturday and Sunday only.
The restaurant is open from 10:30am to 11:30pm, seven days a week. $ 6.25 lunch specials are available Monday through Friday from 10:30am to 5:00pm. Unlike Canton House down the road, Golden BBQ’s dim sum is served during the daytime only (10:30am to 4:00pm). Dim sum is ordered a la carte off the menu as opposed to being served from traditional push carts (there’s not enough space for that here).
Aside from the Chinese BBQ display and chopping block up front, the place hasn’t changed much from its Wan Lai/​Coco days. The main dining room in front has 10 tables for four plus one round table for a bigger group. An additional dining room in the back has four 10-​person tables and is great for large parties. There are some very basic aquariums in the main dining room storing various fish, crab, lobster, and other live seafood. Overall, décor for the restaurant is minimal and there is no ambiance to speak of. This is pretty much a no-​frills Cantonese hole in the wall.
The enormous menu includes appetizers such as Jelly Fish, Crispy Fried Pork Intestine, and Duck Tongue; soups including Mustard Green Soup, Crab Meat & Fish Maw Soup, and West Lake Beef Soup; over a dozen kinds of congee (rice porridge); BBQ rice plates and noodle soups a la Ming’s, Hong Kong BBQ, and Best BBQ (e.g. duck, pork, and/​or chicken with rice or in an egg noodle soup); pan-​fried noodles such as Beef Chow Fun and Singapore Noodles; nearly 30 different seafood entrees including fish, squid, shrimp, crab, lobster, and oysters; beef, pork, and chicken entrees; casseroles including Pork with Preserved Vegetables and Frog with Black Pepper Sauce; and assorted house specials featuring everything from frog to tofu to scallops to Asian vegetables with XO sauce.
The congee, rice plates, and noodle soups are single servings that run about $ 5 – 10 each in most cases. It’s best to eat just about everything else the Chinese way: family-​style. Most entrees are priced in the $ 10 – 15 range. The ~40 dim sum items are priced at $ 2.75 (small), $ 3.25 (medium), and $ 4.50 (large). As for Cantonese BBQ, pork is priced around $ 9 per order/​pound, a half duck runs about $ 11 (whole $ 22), and a half chicken runs about $ 9 (whole $ 16 – 17). Generally, I think all the food is reasonably priced.
Every dish I’ve tried has been tasty. It’s hard to pick favorites because the dishes are at a consistent level of good. Notables:
* C6. Honey Roast Duck — Delectable, crispy skin. The duck meat is flavorful enough to not require the accompanying sauce.
* G1. Eggplant with Garlic Sauce — Fresh purple eggplant. Velvety smooth and appetizing.
* G2. Ma La Tofu — Firm cubed tofu. Mildly spicy, oily sauce.
* G15. Japanese Tofu Casserole — Plump tofu pockets with fine, palatable pieces of squid. Light dish.
* I21. Singapore Rice Noodles — Currylicious with nice sized shrimp.
* I22. Beef Chow Fun (Dry) — Reliable, yummy noodle dish. Canto comfort food.
* J4. Fish Filet Hong Kong Style — Fantastic. Similar to Szechuan fried fish filets but with less heat.
* J5. Salt & Pepper Squid — Terrific. Lightly battered and deliciously seasoned.
* K5. Sizzling Beef — Served still sizzling on a black iron skillet. The meat is thick, tender, and juicy.
* L1. Peking Pork Chop — Scrumptious. Served with white onions and a sweet sauce.
* M8. Sauteed String Beans — Not bad. I approve of the liberal use of garlic.
* Ong Choy (Rau Muong in Vietnamese) — Not sure if this is on the menu (it’s possibly M9). This and Snow Pea Leaves (M11) are my favorite Chinese vegetables. Both are cooked with garlic. Ong Choy is crunchy and addictive. I can never get enough of it!
Service is excellent. The staff is friendly and orders come very quick.

«If your reviews are sounding like essays, start a blog. I can’t read your life story on my phone before ordering from the menu.»
[Time & Date of visit]: Weekday nights and weekend afternoons.
[Party Size]: 2
[Location/​Ambiance]:
Hoa Binh market plaza, right next door to Phở Bac.
Parking– Pretty spacious, though the back rows can be a bit cramped. Also I feel that some people just ignore the direction arrows and still try to angle their car into a parking lane that’s opposite direction of traffic. This I think happens more so on the weekends in the afternoon.
Inside– The front portion of the restaurant has most tables set up to seat four. The round table that is closer to the cashier, is usually used by the employees when they take a break to dine. The back room handles a bit more larger crowds with larger circle tables. Tuck your elbows in if you have a big family sharing one table.
Ambiance — It’s definitely feeling like a chilled atmosphere. Relaxed, family style. Sometimes there’s traditional Chinese, music sometimes there’s not. Carrying on a conversation has never been a problem in the front of the restaurant. I can’t speak for the back too much.
[Service]:
We’ve always been greeted and promptly seated each visit. Our favorite server also remembers us, or more like my bestsus and she usually orders in Vietnamese. The time between ordering and when our food has been brought out has always been short. Water and tea refills are spot on. Though weekend lunches can be a bit slow, it’s just due to the volume of people placing to go orders for takeout.
[Food Highlights]:
Roast duck — I’ve only had it twice. I prefer it to be a little bit crispy on the outside, just for added texture but it’s a little bit undercooked than that. Which isn’t a problem. Some pieces of meat, due to I think being closer to the heat lamp, get dried out a little more than the lower areas. For a quick lunch, they do have a single serve size that includes rice and some vegetables. Pretty good.
Eggplant served in claypot — The dish is cooked until borderline mushy but still having a bit of texture when biting into. I don’t usually order this myself at any other Chinese restaurants, so I don’t have a base to compare this to. The sauce compliments the eggplants well I think. All I can think is reading the cookbook, Thug Kitchen. EAT YOUR #*#$%#@ VEGGIES!!!
Seafood over Fried Crispy Noodles — The steaming seafood is accompanied by a sauce that overtimes cooks the noodles underneath it. Not a dish to share with impatient people. Seafood portion is generous I think, but usually smaller in comparison to the noodles. Serving size is good for sharing. Recommended.
Dim sum dishes:
Since this isn’t your typical Cantonese dim sum style restaurant, there’s no steam cart being pushed through out the restaurant. Ordering dim sum is strictly by the menu. Since my last time dining in, the menu contains no pictures. Best advice I can think of, is pulling up a site or two that has dim sum pics and the Cantonese spelling of your favorite dim sum dishes. Rumor has it, that the chef also doubles cooking for the dim sum location at the Great Wall supermarket food court.
Law Bock Gow /​Fried Turnip Cakes — (TURNIP 4 WHAAATTTT!!!) Joking, I wish they were that good to have that kind of reaction after taking a bite. It’s ok on the overall taste. Texture is slightly crisp with mushy innards and bits of turnip through out.
Har Gaw /​Shrimp Dumplings — These are dumplings that are shaped like sea shells. And yes, these are very good here. I always order 2 – 3 plates, just cause I usually devour a plateful by myself. Although I usually burn my tongue in the process. Poke a small hole in the front, not the tail end, and let some steam out or fill it with a bit of soy sauce. Good eats. Always a recommendation.
Fried Shrimp Ball — I think it’s a little confusing on the menu, as there are two fried shrimp balls listed. I am more of a fan of the ones where there are crispy noodles wrapped around the shrimp ball. Please check my pic for reference for what this version looks like. These were pretty good fresh. The breading is light, but just due to the way these are cooked, got a bit soggy afterwards. They do not hold up well as leftovers the next day. Pretty good.
{Summary}:
It’s not the usual way I’ve been use to for ordering dim sum. This isn’t all bad though, at least I feel that the dim sum is going to be cooked fresh instead of sitting in a cart for who knows how many times, circling around the restaurant.
The restaurant also stays open pretty late, though sometimes they didn’t allow us to order dim sum at those times; such as 30 mins before closing.
A hidden gem but being discovered more and more. Definitely worth a visit, and I can’t wait to try more dishes both on the regular menu and dim sum.

5 star service!
Our group of 30 got a private room set out for us. A team of waiters (3+?) was on hand and eager to explain the menu and take our orders. They divided and conquered as our group of 30 were split into 3 three tables. My favorite waiter was the multilingual man who can write in Chinese and speak in Vietnamese. I was able to communicate with him the best. When asked what is good, he responded that everything is good. However, he quickly guided us in choosing NINE different dishes for our table of 10.
Roast duck: so flavorful, ya gotta try this
Sizzling Beef: be enthralled by the sizzling plate that whizzes by your ear
Singapore Rice Noodle: spicy and delectable, comes with different ingredients
Sauteed String Bean: who knew healthy can taste delicious
Fish Filet Hong Kong Style: tender meat in a light batter
Eggplant with Garlic Sauce: big generous tasty portions
Peking Pork Chop: interestingly sweet
Salt and Pepper Squid: does not discriminate between tentacles and meaty chunks
Japanese Tofu Casserole: soft on the inside contrasted by a firm skin
Taro dessert: light, not too sweet, it was a perfect way to cleanse the palate
The waiter was right in that everything is good! It was hard to pick a favorite. The dishes were relatively «small» in that it can probably feed about 3 people. Our table of 10 ended ordering more food and true to the 5 star service, more food came out relatively quickly! Our bill was split up to be about $ 11.19 each. What a great deal to try so many different dishes, brought by a very proficient staff.

Golden BBQ is yet another great example of a business I would’ve never thought to visit had it not been for the positive Unilocal reviews. It’s pretty divey when you walk in – and according to my friends, it’s even more divey (and scary) when you park in the back (which they thought was the front) esp. with the window blinds all down and next to a pawn shop… so yeah, park in the front :) They’re in the same shopping center as Phở Bac and Penang — they occupy the former spot of Coco’s and Wan Lai.
Golden BBQ is a Vietnamese-​owned Cantonese restaurant. Fairly new restaurant, great food, nice and friendly service and reasonable prices esp. if you’re doing family-​style dining. They do dim sum too and those reviews look good too — except dim sum is only served from 10:30 to 4pm.
Our party of 5 ordered 5 dishes and it was plenty of food.
EGGPLANT WITH GARLIC SAUCE — $ 9.25
Our group almost always order a version of this dish at every Chinese restaurant so we know our eggplant — and this hot pot version is a good one. The sauce goes well with rice. Be careful though b/​c the eggplant is very temperature hot. There is bits of pork in this dish too.
BBQ SPARE RIBS — $ 9.30/lb
The restaurant name says BBQ so made sense we order something BBQ — ordered one pound and the ribs were pretty good … and messy to eat :) Guessing the ribs (and duck) are very good here b/​c what we saw in the window display disappeared by the end of the evening.
SIZZLING BEEF — $ 13.95
Our server raved about this dish when we couldn’t decide between three beef dishes — we weren’t convinced when he said there was no sauce and it was dry … but when he said he’d pay for the dish (or maybe he said he’d eat it) if we weren’t satisfied, then we put our faith in him :) It arrived sizzling on a iron pan … so sizzling that the grease was popping and hitting each of us. Be careful — we shielded ourselves with the menus — lol! But our server was right, the beef was very flavorful and very tender too. Veggies were good too.
SALT & PEPPER JUMBO SHRIMP — $ 13.50
Thought this dish would include whole shrimp but I think b/​c we asked for no head, they may have assumed we wanted the entire shell removed too — I was secretly happy b/​c I don’t like eating whole shrimp :) The dish was pretty good too.
SEAFOOD PAN FRIED NOODLES — $ 11.95
This was the only dish that disappointed — overall bland flavor esp. compared to our other dishes. Also expected more noodles to be crispy for texture purposes (only a few were crispy). The dish was mostly noodles with some Chinese broccoli and seafood (shrimp, squid, fish, scallops). This dish definitely wins for quantity — ask for their hot chili sauce. The chili sauce does taste good with the noodles :)
Overall we really enjoyed the food. My friends were positively surprised esp. b/​c they made a judgment when they saw the back entrance. Service was very good too — at most Chinese/​Korean restaurants, they give 1 orange slice per person but I think they sliced up an entire orange for us :) I’ll definitely be back — next time I’d like to try their Preserved Egg & Pork Congee, and their Roast Duck.
FYI they’re open 7 days a week, 10:30am — 11:30pm.

I could eat dim sum every day. Golden BBQ brings me one step closer to this wish, giving me the option of ordering cooked to order dim sum delights every day of the week. Carts are fun, but freshness edges out the wheeled action, unless I’m introducing friends to the full experience. I typically don’t take my parents to places that I haven’t scoped out in advance, but here’s to a little adventure and opportunity for criticism… why are we paying $ 10 for noodles? I could have cooked this for you at home. You know the drill, friends. Mom does it best. Ok, back to the review.
We ordered a bowl of wonton noodle soup, a combination rice plate with roasted bbq pork and soy sauce chicken and dim sum: siu mai (pork dumplings), har gow (shrimp dumplings), dau hu ky (fried tofu skin) — worth checking out! and a rice roll with bbq pork. The food came out quickly. The wonton noodle soup was solid. The glistening rice was perfectly cooked, but it was disappointingly served room temperature along with the meat, which lacked flavor and spark. Next time, I’ll skip the rice roll with pork since the filling was scarce, and the thicker outside needed more time in the steam room.
Overall, the dim sum here is meaty and craveable. Plus, it’s nice that we can communicate with the staff in Vietnamese.

I’m not a huge dim sum fan because the flavors aren’t there, they’re mostly bland to me. Plus, I feel that it’s pricey once it comes down to splitting up the tab at the end. So the only times I come are to meet up girl friends or go with my parents since they love it.
I met my girl friends for brunch. Doraville/​Chamblee was the center location from all of us meeting up in different locations. Jessica S and I chose this location after reading the Unilocal reviews. Even Tiffany N wrote a great review so I excited to try. I am glad I read the reviews online first cause I would’ve never knew it was next door to Phở Bac, which I’ve never been before either but been to Penang.
Walking in, the restaurant is small, especially if you’re used to going to the banquet hall ones like Canton House or Oriental Pearl for dim sum or for weddings. Nevertheless, we were seated next to the fish tank, not for looks but to be eaten later.
Golden BBQ is not your typical dim sum place because they don’t stroll around with carts of food for you to choose. Luckily one of the girls is Chinese and spoke to the waitress because the paper on the table to order dim sum is not in English. I honestly forgotten what we got but we got everything from fried tofu to veggie to chicken feet to shrimp shumai.
We also got hot tea and water with our orders. I can say that the items came out quickly. I was impress with the flavors. My favorite was the shrimp eggplant! Wow! I wanted more. That fried tofu was good too, along with that watercress.
At the end, I still think I paid more than I would like but overall experience was great with awesome company. I would come again. One of the girls told me that she enjoyed it and glad to come experience it. The waitress also did not make a big deal about splitting the checks in 7 either. Would definitely come back.