More Takeout from Golden Island

During the fall, I received news that the kitchen staff at Golden Island had experienced some turnover.....the interesting news was that the "new" folks were from China Max...which BTW, still looks quite far from any construction, even though they said they would be reopening this year (2022). 

I decided to place a takeout order and headed on over.

There were actually people dining in and it just seemed quite "normal"......

For whatever that would mean. One of the reasons I keep returning is the manager, Michael is such a nice guy. I asked him about the staff change and he confirmed that yes, the kitchen staff had changed over.

So, I went ahead and ordered what I believe is one of the two items they do well; the Shrimp Siu Mai.

This was actually better than what I'd had here before; moist, tender, and just toothsome enough. Good shrimp flavor without "muddiness", the wrapper wasn't as dry and tough as before, though it's now $7.45!

I also went ahead and ordered something that was recommended to me, the Baked BBQ Pork Bun ($4.99).

   Not a big fan of these; though the bun is nice and fluffy, it's quite dry and bland. The cubes of char siu are really tough and the "sauce" also seemed quite bland as well. Even though it's one of the most inexpensive items on the menu, there's a bit of a shortage of filling as well.

Well, it seems like there was some improvement; so I waited a few weeks and did a revisit. This time I ordered  an item I wasn't very happy with before, the Har Gow and a recommendation, the Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf.

The Har Gow ($7.45) was a bit better.

 The wrapper was a bit more pliable, the shrimp was still on the drier side, but this had a nice "shrimpiness", with no off or muddy flavors. Nice large pieces of shrimp, but I bit more chewy than I like.

Still this was definitely better than what I'd had before.

I also got the Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf ($8.69).

This just wasn't very good.

You can easily see the issue I had with this, right? First off, the seasoning hadn't permeated the sticky rice.....plus there were some undercooked rice in this; really hard and not good eats. There was a whole shrimp, which was on the hard and chewy side. And there was just not enough filling to give this much flavor. I brought one home for the Missus. After heating; She opened it...there was no real fragrance, She took a look at the fillings and gave me a look, telling me; "well, this one is for you....."

Sooo.......I decided to return in November. I had been craving Kwai Fei Chicken and the version I'd had from here on an earlier visit was one of the two items I enjoyed. 

I also got the Soy Sauce Noodle ($12.99)....because you know....I needed some carbs to balance out that chicken.

This was pretty good, though I would have preferred a bit more soy sauce. Still, all the noodles were firm to crisp and well coated. The bean sprouts were also still crisp; but the dish could have used a bit more "wok hay" as well.

As for the Kwai Fei Ji ($17.99).

 What the heck happened here? This was so disappointing. The chicken had all these weird and somewhat bitter "brown spots" and was very dry, the overall flavor was a bit off. The "sauce" tasted a bit off and lacked assertive ginger tones. This is basically why I ended up trying the Kwai Fei Chicken from Eastern Dynasty.

Needless to say, I was quite disappointed. 

It's too bad about the inconsistency as I really like the manager here; though not quite sure on the service as I always arrived at my assigned time and always had to wait for my order. 

Though they do have "Jazz Night" if you're into that sort of thing.

Golden Island
10660 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126

Comments

[kat]

bummer

[Loren]

Personally speaking I love Michael, my family and I met him years ago when he rose from a pretty low position to the manager of Jasmine. He always treated us great and he was (and is) an absolute pleasure to be around He's the reason I went for so long to Fung fung, now Golden Island, and he's one of the only cases where I'd follow the guy to any restaurant. The food has been good to me there but I also admit I probably know squat about proper Chinese food. My family has never been a serious fan of it but we do try to go from time to time. I'm glad that at least some things are improving there.

[Soo]

Doh! I visited a few days before xmas and we enjoyed our meal.

[Kirk]

I know Kat!

The main reason I keep going back is because Michael is such a nice guy Loren. The food seems to be getting a bit better - but it seems like a "one step forward - two steps back" kinda thing to me.

The inconsistency of the food has been an issue for me Soo.

[Junichi]

That is one sad looking sticky rice. Glad to hear they're improving.

[Kirk]

Yes....though there seems to be inconsistency issue Junichi!