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Golden Bowl exterior - Mobile, AL
Golden Bowl Mobile, Alabama Gift Shop

Golden Bowl Mobile, Alabama Gift Shop

We recently visited the hidden gem that is Golden Bowl, located at 309 Bel Air Blvd Mobile, Alabama, 36606. Restaurants that are hidden gems are one of our favorite finds, especially when we’re hungry. Golden Bowl is a hiding in plain sight in Mobile, Alabama just across from Bel Air Mall. Compared to all of the other Chinese buffets in town, and arguably across the entire state, Golden Bowl has them beat. This fine Asian restaurant serves Cantonese, Hunan, Thai, Japanese (yes, there’s sushi on the cold bar), and Szechuan. This is genuine Chinese food when you order from the menu. And we haven’t ever had Chinese food this good outside of Chinatown.

Their hours of operation are 6 days a week, Tuesday-Thursday: 11:00AM to 9:00PM * Friday & Saturday: 11:00AM to 10:00PM * Sunday: 11:00AM to 9:00PM. They are closed on Monday. They can be reached by telephone at (251) 470-8033 and Fax at (251) 470-8030.

General Tso's Chicken with Fried Rice

General Tso’s Chicken with Fried Rice

The outside of Golden Bowl is markedly deceptive: It’s in a building that’s been around forever that was a Chinese restaurant 20 years ago when Bel Air Mall was the biggest deal around — long before Amazon had ever been conceptualized. When you walk past the golden lions and enter the front door, you will find yourself inside a very interesting Chinese gift shop filled with lucky cats, real bamboo, jade Buddha statues, and stress balls. Very shortly after, you should be greeted and brought into the main dining room where you can have a regular table or Hibachi any time of the day.

Once you’re seated (and if you’re new to Golden Bowl) one of the employees may give you a very thorough walkthrough of the menu. You should also be alerted that there’s a hot and cold bar that includes ice cream when you’re done with your meal. If you’re doing take-out, the hot and cold bar isn’t available, so there’s a perk to dining-in. There’s a large variety of different items that you’d expect from a Chinese restaurant such as Pepper Steak, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Sweet & Sour Chicken, and everyone’s favorite General Tso’s Chicken.

Golden Bowl Mobile, Alabama Hot Buffet

Golden Bowl Mobile, Alabama Chinese Buffet

Most of these full entrees, plus the hot and cold bar, are available for $9.95. This also includes white or fried rice. Lunch is just $6.95 during the week and $7.55 on the weekend. That’s honestly a steal considering what a large Whopper Value Meal at Burger King costs. Hibachi starts at a modest $6.95 at lunch and $8.50 for dinner.

You’d think that with prices this cheap that the quality of food is going to be poor, but you’re very wrong if you do. Golden Bowl serves extremely fresh food that’s made to order. If you’ve put off Chinese food in Mobile, AL since you’ve gotten burned by China Chef or Golden Dragon, Golden Bowl is the best place to go in, arguably, the entire state and Gulf Coast.

Don’t forget to like Golden Bowl on Facebook or check in to “Thai Fountain” since they have a Pokemon Go PokeStop at their location! Golden Bowl also has an amazing new website at http://goldenbowlmobile.com. Enjoy!

We recently visited the newly opened Dragon City Buffet, located at 28611 Hwy 98 Daphne, Alabama, 36526 on opening night (also St. Patrick’s Day) for a review since we’ve enjoyed so much of their delivery from their Dragon City restaurant further down 98. The restaurant is located in the old Rousso’s and Ruby Tuesday’s building, near the intersection of Van Buren St. and Hwy 98. They serve a wide variety of foods including Cantonese, Szechuan, Hunan, Sushi and even Hibachi. It’s not a traditional sit-down Hibachi Grill, but nonetheless Hibachi made-to-order and unique to any other Chinese Buffet in the area.

Their hours of operation are 7 days a week, Mon-Thurs.: 11:00AM to 10:00PM * Friday & Saturday: 11:00AM to 10:30PM * Sunday: 11:00AM to 9:30PM. They can be reached by telephone at (251) 626-5666 and Fax at (251) 626-2838.

Our initial impressions were that they were very busy…and the restaurant was quite loud with customers.  Lots of kids, so we would say it’s family friendly. The adults were being louder than the kids, but that’s to be expected in Alabama. There was a lot of activity from the staff attending to the buffet, but not really focused entirely on customer service or any type of personal attention. Room for improvement there.

Their Health department rating was at a 94 when we visited. We didn’t stare at the ratings, so not entirely sure what those 6 negative points were for. The food also leaves something to be desired. Almost the typical feeling of being full with Chinese food and then an hour later starving again. We sampled just about everything we could before we got stuffed. The pork-on-a-stick was very tender and fresh, but the NY Strip Steak was almost rare and we couldn’t find a knife in sight. The sushi had a very fishy taste to it and there wasn’t a huge variety and it wasn’t restocked before we left. If you want sushi, go to a sushi restaurant like Furama.

The lighting bad in some of the dining areas. The men’s restroom sink was completely covered in water and towels. It didn’t seem like somewhere we’d want to wash our hands and leave the bathroom with clean hands to eat. We’ll still give it to them that it was opening night, but still a very important place in the business to make sure is tidy.

When our drinks were empty, we did receive prompt attention. After that, however, we were served our bill way too fast. We felt like we were being rushed out so that they could turn as many tables as possible in their first night. Not exactly how we’d want to feel when trying to enjoy a meal. At least ask if there’s anything else they can get us or what we thought before the check arrives.

The cost of two people, both soft drinks and buffet, cost $24.70 – sort of pricy since you’d almost expect the drink to be included for that amount and the quality of food. Lunch is cheaper, but they don’t have the Snow Crab legs like they do at Dinner.

Our Scores: Reviewer 1: 6/10; Reviewer 2: 7/10 – Overall score 13/20.

In closing, the buffet doesn’t match their other restaurant in Daphne that fortunately delivers, and we’re totally grateful for delivery, decent Chinese food in Alabama. If you’d like to order their delivery service, which in our opinion is 100 times better than the buffet, call them at (251) 621-8501 or visit them at Fountain Square, 2101 Hwy 98, Suite J, Daphne, Alabama 36526 (across the street from the AT&T Store).

Don’t forget that TurkReno provides website design to Mobile, Alabama and the surrounding areas!