Little Dragon

This place is under new management, & they had revamped their menu from previous management. Under the previous management, this was considered THEE go-​to place for Korean-​style Chinese food in Gardena & South Bay area imo. Everything I had tasted was so good & cheap. They gave big portions. They had great customer service. I was bummed & surprised to hear that it had initially closed.
Then they had reopened under new management. I decided to give it a try when they reopened. My first impression was not great. The food was completely different from previous owners. They completely replaced the menu & took out popular items from before. Maybe I was used to the previous menu. Nonetheless, the food tasted bland at times, & sometimes it tasted like they tried too hard on some dishes but not executed well. After my 1^st experience, I vowed not to return.
But I did return recently. This time I was in disbelief. I don’t know what had happened, but they drastically improved their food & taste. Maybe they hired new experienced chefs, or comments on Unilocal shaped up their act. My recent experience was an extremely satisfying one. I would definitely go back. What’s good there? Black bean noodle, sweet & sour meats, dumplings, Mongolian beef, spicy hot soup, etc. 4 stars, not 5 as there’s always room to improve. Keep it up! :)

Used to be one of my fav place!
Just realized they closed. :(
Extremely upset about this. Wht a pity!

This place isn’t closed! I’ll repeat LITTLE DRAGON IS NOT CLOSED!
How do I know? I went there yesterday and ate tang soo yook and jja jang myun.
The place looks a little cleaner than before so they obviously renovated a bit. The fish tank is gone. I’m not sure if there was an ownership change but the 2 brothers that I usually saw were not there.
The food was great as usual. And as usual, they give you a ton of food.
There is also an AYCE deal…$ 25/​person and you can order anything on the menu that is $ 20 or less + all you can drink soju and beer.
I’m glad they’re still around…

Long live the memory of Little Dragon *sniffle* *sniffle* gone but not forgotten.

I can’t believe it’s CLOSED.
Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!
I’m gonna miss their Tang Soo Yook and Ggam Bbong shrimp!!!
T_​T

I have started a blog dedicated to finding a better lunch in and around El Segundo… Check it out:
Trying to find a highly regarded Chinese restaurant around here can be a daunting task. We got excited when we came across Little Dragon with 4 stars on Unilocal.When we showed up we realized we had been here a couple times before for the Cham-​Bong (or Jjam-​Bbong). So… we broke the first rule of Aerolunch and went in to review with our new-​found standards. Little Dragon is more properly described as a Korean Restaurant that serves Chinese food or a Chinese restaurant run by Koreans. It doesn’t mean a whole lot to me other than they serve Cham-​Bong — a spicy noodle soup with lots of seafood, and you get Kim-​chi as an appetizer.
Based on Unilocal reviews I ordered Cha Chiang Mein (that’s how the restaurant spells it; most reviewers on Unilocal spell it Jja-​Jang Myun). The Cha Chiang Mein was a big pile of noodles with a black, soy bean sauce poured on top. I agree completely with the only review on Unilocal that did not like this dish. The noodles tasted like box spaghetti noodles and the sauce was not incorporated into the dish. I feel like maybe I don’t have the palette for Cha Chiang Mein but I know I won’t ever order it again.
We also got the Lunch Special Kung Pao Chicken. This was actually quite good… a nice sweet bbq sauce over chicken and vegetables. On the disappointing side, my friend asked them to make it with only white meat chicken (we would have happily paid extra), however they were either unable or unwilling to accommodate the request. Since it was a Lunch Special it came with fried rice, an egg roll, and a fried wonton. A bit of a pedestrian dish for a Chinese restaurant but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Boiled Meat Dumplings on the other hand were pretty terrible. «Boiled Meat Dumplings» may not be the most appetizing name but I figured the poor translation was a good indication of authentic delicious-​ness. I was wrong. They were plain boiled pork in a lumpy, soggy, poorly-​formed dumpling skin. It doesn’t take a genius of Asian cuisine to know these were a poor excuse for dumplings.
In the past I have ordered the Cham-​Bong, though I have never actually been able to find it on the menu (I was with people «in the know»). As I mentioned before, it is a spicy noodle soup with a bunch of seafood. For the price (around $ 6) you get quite a bit of seafood, but I am rather apathetic about the taste. Its spicy, but not much else. My only other exposure to this dish was much better.
I will leave the Cha Chiang Mein off the score card; the Kung Pao was a 4 star dish (minus ½ star for not being able to accommodate a simple change), the dumplings were 1 star, and the Cham-​Bong 3 star. I give Little Dragon an overall rating of 2.5 stars. Go if you’re dying for some Korean-​Chinese food, otherwise if you find yourself here with a group stick to the Lunch Specials.

came here again and they remembered me and my mom from the one time we came before! Service is excellent! Mom likes that and left a nice tip. I just wish their health rating was an A instead of a B.

Rundown
— Not the best area, but it’s quick and easy for lunch
— I’ve only had the Ja Jyang Myeon
I never could figure out how to spell Ja Jyang Myeon… don’t yell at me if I’m wrong.
My coworkers brought me here for a nice bowl of Ja Jyang Myeon and it was delicious! It was my first time having this dish and it was great. I just wish the little bits of meat weren’t so little and tough. If you’re not a big onion eater, stay clear.
I can’t really comment on the service because my coworkers ordered for me.

Alright, I just wanted to note that I just signed up for Unilocal less than 5min ago just so that I can talk about this place. I’ve lived in Gardena for over 17 years and I’ve never heard of this place. I’ve been exposed to a lot of delicious and authentic Asian cuisine thanks to my beautiful girlfriend, so I know what’s good and what’s not.
I showed up to this restaurant and ordered take out. Based on the Unilocal reviews I read I decided to get the orange chicken. Sounded like a prudent choice, so that’s what I got. I was a little disappointed at the price, not that i was shooting for a specific number, but because the Unilocal reviews I read made it seem like this place was going to be a «total price w/​tax less than or equal to $ 6» kind of place. It was just a tad more expensive and overall still a good price.
Now for the food. I received the food hot, drove home, opened my container, and I couldn’t wait to get the chicken onto a plate so I punctured a piece with my fork and into my mouth it went: DELICIOUS!!! As this one Unilocaler will state, «The best orange chicken… EVER» And that’s where I’ll stop. The best orange chicken I’ve ever had (as another Unilocaler previously stated, lol). I can’t wait to go back and sample more of the menu. Good stuff Gardena. Good stuff.

Chinese food with a Korean twist — delicious and cheap!
We ordered chicken chow mein, sweet and sour pork, orange chicken, and mongolian beef. Our order total was only about $ 36 and fed three adults with plenty of leftovers — and by fed I mean we were left stuffed. Plus, we received a complimentary dessert — candied, fried sweet potato dumplings with caramel and sesame seeds — a must try and first for me.
Service was extremely hurried, but attempted to be helpful. The white rice is complimentary with eat-​in and the water tasted alright. They’re a bit stingy with the napkins (one per person.) but brought oh, about three, when we asked for more.
On a Sunday evening, the place was packed full and families were left waiting at the door. The plaza is dead, but Little Dragon was poppin’! I was happy to find good non-​Japanese/​Korean food in Gardena. I’m looking forward to coming back when we visit Gardena again.

I was a little excited when I came across this restaurant and saw that they serve potstickers (guo tie) and noodles in bean sauce (jia jiang mien)… two of my favorite Chinese dishes. Being Chinese, I get excited any time I find a Chinese restaurant in the South Bay that serves more than the usual kung pao chicken and sweet & sour pork dishes.
Let’s start with the potstickers. The menu called them «pan fried dumplings» in English, but the Chinese was «guo tie»: potsticker. What we actually got were dumplings that were completely deep fried. While they were decent in their own right, they are not potstickers. Potstickers need to «stick» to the pan, then finished off by steaming.
Moving on to the jia jiang mien. For those that know about the different types of jia jiang mien, this is the saucey kind. The sauce was decent, though could’ve probably used a bit more soy beans. Where the dish fell apart was the noodles. Or shall I say, linguine. As far as I can tell, the noodles were nothing more than pasta that came out of a box. Very disappointing. The pasta did not soak up any of the sauce at all, so the sauce ended up just sliding off the noodles.
Judging from the reviews here, it looks like if you’re interested in Koreanized Chinese food, this is the place to go. Unfortunately I was hoping to find an authentic Chinese restaurant, and this was not it.

My family has come here since I was a young girl. It’s Korean style Chinese and every time I go back home for a visit, I make sure we hit this joint up.
The thing I crave:
Mool Mandoo — steamed dumplings — do the beef it’s steamed and delicious! dip in a bit of vinegar (the clear stuff) and soy sauce and peper flakes.
ghan jja-​jjang myun — noodles in brown sauce — it’s a noodle dish with lots of onions and pork in a savory brown sauce. Ask for Hae mool — seafood and gahn (no starch added). This brings me back everytime
cham pong — spicy noodle soup — it’s HUGE — with seafood is best — awesome for a hang over and it’s less than $ 10!
Orange Chicken — delish! (not really Korean or Chinese but fried bits of chicken in a lovely orangey sweet glaze)
Cold Jellyfish — it tastes nothing like you expect, it’s sliced thin and tastes like cold chewy noodles, yummy — throw on mustard
Mongolian Beef — good with lots of green onions
Anything Kung Pao also good — spicy. I like it with shrimp.
Shredded Pork in Garlic sauce is also very good.
Still haven’t found one as good in NY. Need to explore more!

Some of the best Chinese food I’ve had in a while. We had the house fried rice, shredded pork in garlic sauce, and tofu with black mushrooms. Everything but the tofu was great. I am a little bias because I don’t like tofu and I hate mushrooms so I won’t take a star off for that.
I love good fried rice but its getting so hard to find. It seems like everywhere you go you end up with Panda Express type fried rice. Not here. The rice has amazing flavor and could totally be an entrée by itself.
The shredded pork was good. A little sweet, a little spicy, and a little porky. Ok… a lot porky.
The servings are great for the price. We spend $ 25 for two people and I was eating leftovers the next two days for lunch at work. This is gonna be the go-​to place when we want Chinese food for now on.

YUM!!!
I love this place. Somewhat of a koreanized-​chinese food nut, I have tasted jja-​jjang myun and tahng soo yuk (sweet&sour) up and down this fine state; and I think this place is hands down the yummiest.
The noodle sauce (the seafoood one) is fab– tons of seafood in it (and not just the cheap stuff) and not too salty. The sweet and sour has this light, crunchy batter that is not too heavy or greasy. The sauce is also great– truly a wonderful mix of not too sweet and not too sour.
And even their kimchee is yummy. Even my mom (who is very picky about these things and NEVER impressed) admitted that this place was fab.
The portions are HUMONGOUS! It’s an amazing value.
And let’s face it– Korean places are not known for amazing service; but the staff here is really nice. Attentive and friendly. Always smiling. Without fail.
The only reason I can think of why this place isn’t busting at the seams with customers is their off locale– away from most of the other Korean/​Japanese places more south in the city. But let this work to your benefit– parking lot is HUGE and you can always get a table. Nothing more torturous than smelling the sweet smell of fried goodness and being denied while starving and waiting around for a table.
I love my fine dining but sometimes, a K-​girl needs her grub!
I will be moving soon– and I admit that this is what I will miss MOST about the South Bay. No joke!

As it turns out, I’m a fan of cha chiang mein and steamed dumplings…
…so I decided to give this place a try. As the other reviews stated, it’s a korean owned chinese restaurant with korean and latino staff. In a nut shell, this is a «Koreanized» Chinese restaurant.
Jjajangmyeon is the Korean dish derived from a Chinese dish, cha chiang mein. It’s basically wheat noodles topped with black bean sauce with diced meats and onions. This is a cheap comfort food in Korea, perhaps like spaghetti here in the U.S.
Pros: The food was good/​ok; very friendly Korean waitresses; «Claim Jumper’s» size portions; and dirt cheap
Cons: Food Facility Rating of «B», «B» for better I guess? Very worn interior, the place could use a serious face lift. And terrible location.
Mind you I’ve only tried two dishes but it appears to be solid korean chinese restaurant.
Give it a Try! Enjoy!

I read all these great reviews about Little Dragon from Unilocal so my family decided to try it out.
I have to say that it wasn’t the best Chinese food, but i’m finally understanding the reviews on Unilocal.Even though the rating is 4.5÷5, it doesn’t necessarily mean the food is awesome, but it’s great food for the value. If you rate with that parameter; yes, it’s a 4.5÷5.
The food is cheap with great quantity and good flavor. By all means, it isn’t the best Chinese food around, but for the money it’s good… really good.
It’s a Korean/​Chinese-​owned restaurant and have really good flavorful Kim-​Chi that’s not crazy spicy. Their Jja Jjany Mien is apparently really good. I’m no expert at that dish, but my sister and bro-​in-​law liked it even though it’s just noodles, onion and the jja jjang sauce.
I got the Chow Ma Mien and that was the best of the 3 noodle dishes that we got. If you like seafood noodle soup, get that — it has great flavor.
If you like beef, get the beef noodle soup… that’s the one the waitress recommended and she gave excellent recommendations.

I work about 5 miles south of Little Dragon. I saw the reviews, saw the distance and then concluded, «Hey, what’s a long drive, if the food is good?» and drove over there for lunch yesterday. I went around 2PM, as I wanted to bypass the lunch rush and enjoy the food.
The staff is really nice. The owner is a Korean-​born/​-​raised/​-​lived Chinese guy. The waitresses are all Korean. The delivery guy is Mexican. It really gives you a kick to see the owner bust out a Mexican delivery menu and go, «What’s this thing… Encheelada?» and then the delivery guy try to explain what an enchilada is and the waitresses are muttering in Korean, «Mmmm…ma shi se yo (delicious)…» hehe…
Of course, it being a place run by Korean-​born/​-​raised/​-​lived Chinese people, I had to order the jja jjyung myun and the the dumplings that were recommended by other Unilocal’ers.
Jja jjyung myun (
) = In my opinion, not bad. But then again, it’s pretty typical fare.
Steamed Meat Dumplings (
) = Ohmygosh, I almost had a heart attack when they brought these out. I mean, keep in mind that I had just finished a carb overload with the jja jjyung myun. And now they’re bring out fist-​sized dumplings???
My brain said, «No.» But my stomach said, «BRING IT ONNNN!!!»
Absolutely delicious dumplings. If there was ever a «dumpling buffet,» I’d want Little Dragon to do it. Their dumplings are really big. Unfortunately, I don’t have a flavor orgasm in my mouth when I eat them. Yes, they’re freakishly huge. But not all that impressive, in terms of taste. But, then again… there’s 8 of them for $ 5.50. Price versus quality… price versus quality…
What’s a cheapass Asian guy like me supposed to do? Heh…
All in all, I’d give it 4 stars. For the price, it’s pretty good. But it doesn’t blow me away. If I worked near here, I’d probably go here more often. But a 5 mile drive? Ehhh…

I loved calling this restaurant and having an old Korean man answer the phone. In Korean. It was awesome. I thought I had called the wrong number for a split second.
Little Dragon is definitely much better than Little China or Dragon Hill. By the way, why do these little Asian restaurants always have to be little… and associated with animals? Strange.
Anyway, ordered for delivery and I tried out the beef noodle soup. I love me some spicy soup, so the beef noodle soup hit the freaking spot. The beef in the soup was thick enough where I felt like each bite was a meal, but it wasn’t so thick that I was chewing forever and wanted to throw up.
The jja-​jang-​myun is delicious, and it’s gooey enough where the black sauce covers all the noodles generously. It was just so good. A friend of mine got the sizzling rice soup and she said it was the bomb.
Delivery was quick enough by a harried old man, and the food was pretty legit. On the BIG BIG BIG plus side, they had gak-​doo-​gi, which I prefer over kimchi anyday. For you non-​Koreans, gak-​doo-​gi is the cube-​shaped spicy stuff. Aaaah, so crunchy and fresh.

This review is for the beef noodle soup. The soup was excellent, very nice rich flavor. I asked for a bowl of white rice to go with the soup so rich it was. It’s spicy but not overly so; you can taste the soup’s deep flavor.
The noodles were thick, hearty and satisfying.
The well cooked beef was at first glance dry looking but it’s moist and tasty. The main event of the bowl is the soup however.
Service was fast and friendly. Interior is very clean. Price was very reasonable considering the size of the bowl.

How strange. I remember writing a review for this place, but I can’t seem to find it.
This place is right down the street from where I live. I never stopped there, until my mother got some food from there, when she came to take care of me after my throat surgery. She got a seafood soup with noodles. It smelled awful, but tasted good.
I went and ordered several things from the menu for take out (many months after my throat recovered.) I ordered a spicy beef soup, some chicken lo mein-​like noodles and steamed dumplings.
The steamed dumplings are by far my favorites. There are 8 of them to an order. They serve them with vinegar and dried chile flakes. I dump all of that on them. On the bottom, they serve steamed cabbage. I can eat the whole thing with a side of rice and be happy for the evening.
They have a tofu dish that I can never get the name right for. It has glass noodles, pork, vegetables and fried tofu. It is a bit spicy and flavorful. I tend to order this, too.
When I go in to place my order, for take out., she always says, «you order neva change.» Why mess with success?
I like their kim chee. It isn’t too garlicky nor too spicy. It doesn’t have that ass smell you get from burying your kimchee in the backyard in an earthen-​ware pot and leaving it for 2 months while it ferments into a stinking, yet flavorful mass of pickled cabbage.
They do deliver and fast. Ask for chopsticks, or they won’t include them. They are closed on Mondays.
I have never eaten in the restaurant, but there are usually Koreans there. (It is a «Chinese» Korean restaurant. EVerything is served like Korean food, only mildly Chinese).