Golden Star Restaurant

Always a five star place. My family has been coming here for years and it’s the best Chinese American food I have ever had. I lived in San Francisco for 4 years and Portland for two and couldn’t find anything even remotely as good as Golden Star. Best pork fried rice and mandarin chicken. Ask for white meat chicken and sauce on the side. Also love their vegetable chow main.

Great friendly service. Food was good, fairly priced and hot made then and there. The outside and inside definitely could use a facelift. Went there with the family for Chinese and it was an overall Great experience. Thank you for the genuinely friendly service.

Really good Chinese food and great service with my favorite server Sue.
Order is served quickly and efficiently. Food is hot and appetizing
Servers are always smiling and eager to please
Gotta try it
The visit on 12÷31÷15 encountered a busy place. Upon leaving the cashier just said here and tossed my card and receipt toward me. No need to be rude because it’s busy. Survive was not good and food was merely warm
Unfortunately they lost a good customer

I used to go to the Golden Star quite regularly a long time ago and by that I mean 30 to 40 years ago. It’s been here in Boise for a VERY long time now. But back then there were not a lot of choices in the way of Chinese food in Boise. Today the Golden Star has good Chinese food BUT as I recently told a couple who just moved to Boise it’s definitely not extraordinary Chinese food. Or outstanding in any way. It’s fairly mediocre frankly. And the portions are small IMO — for the prices they charge these days.
The last two times I have been to the Golden Star was earlier this year (2015) and I was disappointed in the Kung Pao Chicken that I was served BOTH times. I specifically asked the waitress who took my order — both times — that I wanted the Kung Pao to be EXTRA Spicy. However, both times, the Kung Pao Chicken that I received could not even be called spicy — let alone EXTRA spicy. It was as mild and unspicy a version of Kung Pao Chicken as I have ever had and that’s saying a lot because I have been ordering Kung Pao Chicken for more than forty years now.
If you are a fan of Kung Pao dishes, like me, then I’d advise going any place OTHER than the Golden Star because clearly they have no clue how to make Kung Pao dishes properly.

The worst Chinese food ever. I took my wife to a new restaurant out of the 2015 Boise Best Restaurant guide in the newspaper and was unable to finish anything we ordered. We had General Chicken with fried rice, Kung Pow Chicken with fried rice, and a cup of egg drop soup. The soup was thick as maple syrup and was just as sweet. I think they used a cup a sugar just in my soup alone. oh and it came with saltine crackers… American saltines with egg drop… really? Then the General Chicken was not chicken… Chicken is not a red meat… oh and again I think 2 cups of sugar was used to make that dish alone… Then the Kung Pow… 5 cups of sugar to make the brown gravy in my dish… What the heck? I have spent many years in San Francisco especially China Town, I know what these dishes are supposed to be. Not like this… oh and I asked for chopsticks and I was given wooden /​bamboo disposable ones, that’s fine but Not second hand ones with dried food still on them that taste like dish soap. Now the tables were clean and the staff was very nice we just quickly paid for our meal and left hungry. 2015 Boise Best… not even close.

Always consistent fresh and friendly staff very reasonable pricing we go there for lunch and have ordered a few things good food

This is one of my consistent go-​to spots for chinese food.
Pros: Very friendly staff! All the people working are attentive and smiling all the time. Also, this place is open late (until 11pm) every night which is important since I get off work late. Their meals are consistent with decent portions and are tasty, with a pork fried rice that is to be reckoned with!
Cons: The interior and exterior are pretty dingy and the whole place maintains a dive feel. The cleanliness is always minimal and sometimes their parking lot can be a bit shady, leaving you glancing over a shoulder as you find your car.
Overall, the quality of food and standard of service combined with late hours will keep me returning!

I’m not sure what is up at the GS but I had one of the worst meals of my life here tonight. The chicken was so effing hard I thought I chipped tooth. And it was a if they poured a gallon of sugar in the sauce. It was inedible. I hope to get their shit together…

My go-​to for Chinese take out .all the favs are here… also our traditional go to on Christmas day…

The Golden Star has legions of fans. Sadly, they’re probably the same people who first experienced American-​Chinese food when this venerable Orchard Street eatery opened in 1965.
My Hong Kong-​born ex-​wife would call this gweilo Chinese, American-​style dishes for non-​Asians. I call it bland.
I ordered Kung Pao chicken and fried rice on the lunch menu. It wasn’t objectionable, but there was little flavor and no spice.
The staff was friendly, but that wasn’t enough to overcome the blandness of the meal. I liked this kind of meal when I was a kid, but 50 years later, I expect a lot more from a Chinese restaurant.

I was told by a customer from out of state that this restaurant chain does not have buffett islands. If that is true then I apologize for the mistake. If I was still living in Idaho I would go back and redo my review with more accurate facts. I hate being wrong, but in this case if I am wrong… my bad.

I’m giving this restaurant a solid 4. You have to think about where you are going and rate it based on that. This is a better than average family owned Chinese restaurant. The people are friendly and the service is fast. We went on Christmas Day because I wanted Chinese food and to not cook. They were absolutely packed. Now for the most important part, the food. We ordered a family dinner for two and the food was plentiful. I thought the price was reasonable for the portions you receive. We had chicken almond ding, sweet and sour pork and pork fried rice. The food was really good and very fresh. The egg rolls were huge and obviously homemade. The fried foods were crispy and flavorful and not greasy. I really enjoyed the drumlets that were cooked perfectly. I would highly recommend this as a go. I wish it was closer to home so when the Chinese food craving hits I could stop here or get takeout.

Just had lunch on a recent visit to Boise and it’s great to see there are still family own businesses around instead of franchises. Great food and home feel dining. We had the beef and house special chow mein, prices and portions were just right.
Eaten here for years when we lived in Boise, heard they just celebrated 48 years of business. Wow, that’s support from the community!

Overpriced and ho-​hum.
For years I have eaten at Golden Dragon but am sick of the way they keep raising the prices, reducing the portions and charging extra so that you can, for example, get *enough* noodles to go with your chow mein by asking for more noodles than they serve. I’m done with Golden Dragon.
I don’t understand that «quaint, quintessential Chinese restaurant décor» rave from the other reviewer who has apparently never been to a restaurant in a Chinatown like San Francisco, Manhattan or Los Angeles? The décor at strip mall Golden Star is ultra ho-​hum.

Had amazing lunch here. Be sure and ask for no msg. I had the vegetable chow mein with pan fried noodles lunch special and it was great. Will definitely go back.

Wow. Gave this place another shot last Saturday evening. Chicken did not taste right. Raced home for the bathroom. 2 out of 2 is enough for us. Eat at your own risk.

excellent choice for Chinese food. I don’t know why those otherguys are saying rancid oil or whatever, but the food was excellent the only thing I could wish for would have been bigger portion sizes! but then again I’m fat, and I really like to eat ;-) I had the mandarin chicken with fried rice it was excellent! Imo it was by far the best mandarin chicken I’ve ever had in my life! :-)

Jesse’s family love Golden Star and they said «It’s dependable.»
We came here during the holiday and yes they were opened on Christmas Day. We got seated quickly. They have pretty big selections of American Chinese food on their menu. You can get combos which equal to fried rice or chow mien and one entrée.
I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken and Fried Rice. My meal was just alright. The Kung Pao could used more salt and pepper. The Fried Rice was okay. I think overall this place was just okay. I don’t know how they got the Best of Boise from 2008 – 2011 because they aren’t bad but they aren’t great either. One thing for sure, you will leave this place with a full stomach. That’s about it.

Ugh! Two words to describe this inedible food «rancid oil»! This place was voted #1 Best of Treasure Valley Asian Food for 2008 – 2011? Oh, come on Boise. I ordered chow mein with fried shrimp and that was a big mistake. I could smell the rancid oil when I got my meal. There was only celery and onions with sliced sandwich meat on top of crunchy noddles with 2 poor little deep fried battered shrimp on the side. I tried one bite of the hunk of celery and I chewed and chewed and chewed and the more I chewed the more stringy and tough that celery got and I ended up having to spit it out cause there was no way I was going to be able to swallow it. The shrimp smelled so much like rancid oil that I only took a little nibble. Yep, totally rancid. It all tasted so bad and so wrong. Leave this place to the over 70 crowd that likes Chinese food right out of the can. I came home and took 2 alka seltzer and a peptol tablet. This is #1 of my top 3 all time worst meals. It even tops the one where I got food poisoning.

Maybe I’m just sick of Chinese or maybe this place just sucked! I had the generals chicken and it wasn’t spicy at all it was kinda just bland. Plus the service was mediocre at best. Wasn’t impressed with the lunch special at all. The portion was really small especially considering that it only cost one dollar less. Unfortunately it didn’t satisfy my Chinese craving because of the bland taste. The rice was ok but again really small portions. I have been there before and had the egg rolls which are ok but not up to my expectations of how it should be. Wouldn’t recommend this place to go if your wanting chinese you could go to panda express and get better!