Dragon Palace Chinese Restaurant

"Friendly Chinese Buffet Has Me Coming Back!"

SIT REP

I used to work out in this area of Natomas in the Sacramento Metro Area. Back in 2001-02, I started coming to this place for it's lunchtime buffet special. It was $6 then, and it is $6.95 now.

THE MENU

The only reason why I don't give this place more stars is because they do not have a very big selection of dishes. They really are more limited when compared to other Chinese buffets around town. [I should also point out that this review is only for the buffet. However, please note that they also have a regular menu from which to order off of.]

What they DO have available is freshly prepared and delicious. The menu has not changed in the 10 years I've been coming here. Standard buffet items include:

* Fried Rice
* Steamed Rice
* Pad Thai Noodles
* Broccoli Beef
* General Chicken
* Orange Chicken
* Sometimes Asparagus / mixed veggies
* Deep Fried Calamari
* California Rolls (Only Sushi item, if you can call it that)
* Egg Rolls
* Pot Stickers
* Cheese Wontons
* Egg Drop Soup
* A Mixed Salad
* Other random items I can't remember

More than enough variety to keep it interesting for me the once-a-month or so that I make it here.

So for $7, for me, this is a great deal. I usually am only in this area of town running errands now at the lunch hour, so it is nice that they also let you have a "to go" box option as well. So I stuff the box up, and take it back to work with me. Usually, I only eat half, and have the rest for lunch the NEXT day. Good deal.

THE LOWDOWN

An above average Chinese buffet eating experience!

Walked in on a Saturday lunch break from the Social Media Weekend conference at University of Phoenix. Owner john Li had a great sense of humor and up sold us on some way worth it Egg flower Soup. I always like the family style bowl. Our hungry table of five slurped eagerly.

Everyone ordered a combo plate - lots of food. good, hot big plates of egg rolls, chow mein, rice and a main dish.

great eats, fast service and an easy lunch.

I feel bad giving them only two stars because the service was so good, but the food is just pretty awful. It won't like, make you ill or anything, and it will fill you up, but the quality and flavors are probably worse than Panda Express. To their credit, they kept the buffet well stocked and everything was hot. I guess that's to be expected of cheap ass Chinese lunchtime buffet, but still. I probably won't be back. It was a fluke that I was even in Natomas to begin with.

If I do come back, I'll avoid the buffet and order from the menu. Maybe that stuff is better.

My husband and I eat here A LOT! Whether we dine in, take out or have it delivered, we always get great service and excellent food!

The owner is super nice. In the couple of years we've been eating here, we've only had 1 mistake (a very small mistake) but the owner guaranteed us a free plate on our next order, and he upheld his promise. He knows who we are, everytime we go in.

It's hardly ever busy, but they should be. Dragon Palace is by far the best chinese food in Sac!

I'm pretty new to the neighborhood, so I really have no idea where to eat out. The bf and I drove all around from the Natomas shopping centers, down Northgate and W. El Camino...we ended up here because it was pretty much our last resort.

It was a Tuesday evening and we were the only customers there. I don't know if that was the reason why they treated us so well, but I really liked their service. Very polite and tentative. They served us the egg flower soup to start. We ordered the crabmeat cream cheese wontons, beef w/ tender greens, sesame chicken, rice, and fried rice. Yeah, they were huge portions, we tried a bit of everything and had to take the rest home.

Decent prices, huge portions, great service; I think I'll come back.

Yummalicious! Parking is a pain at lunch time, but $5.95 all you can eat buffet? Come on!

This is the best deal by far. Not only do you get all you can eat pot stickers and crab meat cream cheese wontons, but they have some basic California rolls, chicken wings, those bao type rolls with some kind of meat inside, 2 types of soups and your basic offering of chow mein, rice, general chicken, vegetables, everything chinese you need!

Not only that, there is rarely a wait for a table and the employees there are very efficient with table clearing and drink service as well as keeping the food freshly stocked.

This is our go-to place when we don't want to travel too far for Chinese food. The food is consistent and the waiters are friendly.

The owner asked us if we were Filipino (we are) and then offered us kangkong (probably spelled wrong). I asked him what that was and he said, "Oh my! You're only a little bit Filipino. I'm going to order some for you." Turns out it was a vegetable dish (kind of looked like sauteed seaweed) that was sauteed in a little canola oil and garlic. It was pretty awesome and a great change from the normal heavy honey walnut shrimp that I order. He even shared where to buy it and then declared, "See, you're a Filipino now!". Haha.

The only downer is the high chairs. Moms and Dads, be sure to bring a high chair cover, you'll need them here. Not even several anti-bacterial wipes could take off the grime of those chairs.

Living in the Natomas area, we used to order from Dragon Palace quite often. Now, just every once in a while. Not because the food and service has gone down or anything negative, but because there are a few places closer by that are just as good and a little more convenient.

The Chinese food here is great. It tastes like actual Chinese food and not the "Americanized" versions you'd find at places like Panda Express.

They still offer "family" style dinners and the owner is a really nice guy and seems to remember regulars. If you don't know what exactly to order, the owner can be helpful as well. Example: we wanted something with shrimp, but not the typical honey walnut shrimp or baked shrimp. He suggested us a "soy sauce" shrimp. It was pretty tasty and the shrimp were good sized.

When it comes to eating Chinese food, I definitely don't mind ordering from here. Another plus, is that they also have local delivery service as well.

There seemed not to be an option to give no stars so they get one.

I was seated and then not acknowledged for the next 20 or so mins.

When I finally did get to order, they guy was rude and very short, and there was only one other person in the restaurant. And that one other person had a kid, who wasn't sitting with them, that watched youtube videos on his laptop at full blast no headphones.

Plus the food was bland, General's Chicken is spicy, not here. Either they got my order wrong or they have a recipe that no one else does because that was the sweetest chicken I've ever had...

I won't even drive past this place again...

We live out of town, but have decided to support small businesses, so when we recently went to Sac on business, we decided to try out this restaurant. We ordered a variety of foods. We did not care for their iced tea, it was horrible (instant via a machine), but we loved all the six items we ordered. I especially loved the chow mien. The waiter was very friendly.

i highly recommend this restaurant. It has a very cheap (I think it's under $7) lunch buffet which we did not eat.