Golden Corner Chinese Resaurant

I was looking for a quick meal and ordered the prawn chow mein at this restaurant. The food was okay, but the portion was small. A beer cost $3.50. The staff were not very attentive and the overall experience was very average.

My husband and I placed an order at this restaurant earlier today. After waiting for over an hour without any sign of our food, we decided to call to inquire about the delay. The person who answered the phone claimed they had tried to contact us (even though we did not receive any calls) and as a result, our order had not even been started. They informed us that if we still wanted our food, we would have to wait an additional hour. Not only was I unhappy with this response, but I also found the person on the phone to be extremely rude. When I requested to speak with the manager, they refused and hung up on us three times. After being a loyal customer for many years, I have to say that they have lost my business.

We were seated quickly, but it took a long time to place our order. Despite the restaurant not being very busy (only 2 or 3 tables), the food took a long time to come out of the kitchen. When it finally arrived, it was lukewarm and lacking in flavor, with a slimy coating over everything. It was amusing to watch the staff, from the mysterious hooded guy coming out of the kitchen to the bumbling counter staff reminiscent of Fawlty Towers. Ironically, despite the cheap appearance of the restaurant, the bill was not. As a long-time Cardiff resident, I had always wondered why I had never been to this restaurant before. Now I know why.

The restaurant is conveniently situated in Churchill Way, Cardiff. There is plenty of disabled parking in the street. There is a multi storey car park less than 5 minutes walk away in the Capitol Shopping Centre and Queen Street Station is around the corner. We visited on a Saturday evening In November 2019. There were 7 of us and my wife is Chinese and one of our friends was Thai. I have seen reviews saying the restaurant is scruffy. It is certainly basic compared with some fancy restaurants but we felt scruffy was a little harsh. Several of us have spent time in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand and we felt it was the typical environment you would experience in many good restaurants in China and HK. Many there are far worse. We also felt the food was good and typical of what may be served in a restaurants in those countries. The food on Facebook is described as Cantonese. We felt many of the dishes were Szechuan and there were copious amounts of chillis. Delicious but those dishes are best avoided if you do not like spicy food. We tried many dishes including duck, chicken, pork, beef, sea bass and several vegetable dishes. They were all extremely good. The only complaint we had was that the soups described as chicken and sweetcorn and the crab and sweetcorn were below par. They were too sweet and the texture was not right. On the other hand the seafood soup was very good. The desserts were typically Chinese and would not appeal to most europeans. My wife (Chinese) felt that even Chinese customers would not rate these highly. We concluded that whilst the food cannot be described as outstanding it achieves a very good standard, it is tasty and it is definitely better and more authentic than most Chinese food in Cardiff. This was supported by the fact that the restaurant was full (some tables turned over several times) and 95% of the customers were Chinese. The service was good and the lady in charge spoke fluent English. We had plenty of food and boxed some to take home. The cost for 7 of us worked out at £24 per head which we thought was excellent.

We were the only non-Chinese in the place again, always a good sign. The decor is hardly salubrious and the draft from the front door that does not shut properly is a real nuisance, even in summer, but the food always trumps those niggles.