Golden Canyon Oriental

Came here on a quick lunch break the other day and realized it was a sit-​in restaurant, but since I was already there I figured why not try it out. First and foremost the inside is nice! Nothing to crazy and not boring. The service was fast. The menu is extensive and seemed very good! I ordered the chicken lo mein which came with a soup of my choice. I chose the wonton soup and it was delicious as was my main entrée. A big meal with soup and soda came out to 9.00 before tips. I really enjoyed my meal however, the service was a little off. I didn’t see a single smile or urgency to make a customer feel welcomed. Bottom line is food is good, but service can use a little fixing.

Our favorite place to eat. Good food at Very decent prices. Trying the shrimp lo mein tonight. We live three hours south of Mesa, but always make it a point to stop here before we head home.

This place used to be great but has changed. The employees are unfriendly and the place needs an update. The bathrooms are a disaster and dirty. One of the employees was brushing her daughter’s hair right in the dining room and then served food without washing her hands. I am surprised this hasn’t been checked by the health department. Staying away until cleanliness improves.

This little Chinese restaurant, tucked into the corner of a small mall, on the corner of Dobson and Southern, is a hidden treasure.
They have great food at amazing prices. It’s an old school, chinese restaurant with no frills, bells or whistles but large flavorful dishes, house made eggrolls, dumplings, wontons and attentive service abound.
I definitely appreciated my meal and thoroughly recommend it to anyone who wants to escape the standard commercialized chinese food that abounds in this day and age.
Kudos to this hidden Asian gem!

We go to Golden Canyon often and we love the food, which is why we keep coming back. Unfortunately the service leaves much to be desired. Very unprofessional. Talking on cell phones and ignoring the customers. I think sometimes they feel that one they drop the food off at the table that’s the end of their duty to the customer. If you get a drink refill you are lucky. Last visit I saw another customer get up and get a pitcher of water for his table because the waitress had not been back around. Two of them were sitting at a table in the back talking. If it were not for the service I would give five stars. If the food were not so good we would not go back.

Good value. Fresh Ingredients. Orange chicken was still crispy when it arrived. I’ve had takeout from here too. Always good.

I have been coming here many years. Everything I have ordered has been good. The service is quick but a little unprofessional in that they will quickly drop off the food and leave with out checking to see if you need anything.
The restaurant itself is large but out dated. It’s clean but old. It could use some remodeling especially the bathrooms.
I’ve tried other Chinese restaurants but always come back to this one BC the food is consistent.
Everyone I’ve brought to this restaurant has liked the food.

One of the better Chinese restaurants in the Tempe/​Mesa area. Soup & egg rolls are very good. Entrees are large, fresh and most importantly, have good flavor. Noodles and rice are both good here. Chicken tastes real and nicely breaded. Sauces are the right consistency with good flavor.
I’m from Kansas City and have been to many very disgusting Chinese restaurants here. This one is above average. I give it four stars for this area. P. S. the food comes out in a short time, but the servers aren’t the most courteous bunch.

Great food and good prices! We will be back soon. The location is a little bad but i think it will be worth it for any one to make the trip here just bring in your valuables lol

We have been going to Golden Canyon Chinese for 17 years. The first 10 years were awesome and then they changed recipes with the sweet and sour chicken. They would ask «old style or new style» now it’s just new style… which are beer battered fried chicken lumps. The egg drop soup frightens me now… lots of corn starch and corn. Hardly a veggie in their food. I decided yesterday’s visit was our last. Thanks for the memories Golden Canyon Chinese food… you used to be the best!

Tucked away in the complex corner and a little hard to find. Came here with a friend to check out the specials. Plus it is close to my work. Nice!
Inside has the basic Chinese theme going on with lighting that could be improved. It was hard to see the menu and even the food. Now where is my trusty flashlight app?
Ordered the Hunan Beef lunch special and my friend went with something that had sweet and sour sauce. It may have been Lemon Chicken. They both came out with a small cup of the soup of the day. That day it was Egg Drop with small pieces of corn in it.
The food was basically the standard Americanized deal. The sauces are pretty heavy and you end up finishing your plate with a spoon. Both dishes were good and could easily be ordered for take out and it would probably not make much of a difference.
Service was decent with a small language barrier. It was fun watching them deliver the different orders to the tables. They had a small push cart and it would travel slowly around the room.
The best part to this restaurant is the value. The prices are very reasonable and the portions are rather large. Give them a visit and see what you think. FORTUNE COOKIE SAYS … !
3.25 STARS

I used to go here as a kid with my dad at least once a month and our staple meal was as follows:
–A cup of wonton soup that had a rich, brown broth, hearty wontons with tender meat, and these lush dark green, leafy vegetables that I ate happily even though I was a very picky child who didn’t care much for vegetables.
–A huge eggroll that would spill out vegetables and ground pork with a flavor I couldn’t identify then, but in retrospect I’m pretty sure they had a hint of nutmeg. They were so big you had to eat them with a fork because picking them up to dunk them in their deep red, rich sweet and sour sauce looked a bit clumsy.
–Shared Broccoli Chicken or beef with meat so tender it defined what «melt in your mouth» meant to me as I had never had meat like that before. The broccoli was perhaps overcooked to some people’s standards, but again, for a kid with picky vegetable tastes, it was always perfect for me. I still like my broccoli well done and soft.
–Fried rice that was a hearty dark brown, not this orange or yellow pale color you find at most places. It was filled with egg, peas, carrots, onion, and bean sprouts. Amazing.
In my 20s I took my boyfriend to Golden Canyon and we both discovered their huge crab puffs that was just full of crab and not just a fried cream cheese puff. These went with the fantastic sweet and sour sauce perfectly.
As an adult, my tastes expanded so I discovered that their tender chicken was also found in their lightly fried Lemon Chicken as well and the lemon sauce tasted unreal with their fried rice.
I haven’t lived in the Mesa area now for about 11 years and I’m not entirely sure how long it’s been since I’ve been able to make my way over there, but tonight I found myself in the area and went to pick up some take out. Knowing I wouldn’t most likely be back for a long time, I decided to pick up two meals so I’d have some leftovers and could drag out my enjoyment.
I was looking forward to tasting all of my old favorites and this is what I found:
–Wonton soup with a dark, rich broth with pale leafy bok choy and small wontons with very little meat inside.
–Egg rolls half the size that they used to be, sad skinny things with a poor balance of dough to filling. And I don’t know where the nutmeg went, but it’s not in here. and their dark red sweet and sour sauce is now a brownish orange.
–Tiny crab puffs with a faint trace of crab.
–Broccoli beef that was as tender as I remember, with far more garlic than any dish should ever have. And I’m Italian… I love garlic.
–Dark, flavorful fried rice… absent of peas, carrots, and sprouts… and very little egg.
–Lemon chicken with one full breast of chicken… with no breading. NONE. And additional breast pieces from another breast with very light breading, that wasn’t anything like the previous kind of breading.
I am so disappointed that the food I loved for over 20 years is just gone at this point. It’s clear that while raising their prices (which of course I’m fine with, I understand inflation) they also removed most of their high quality ingredients and minimized their portions.
That being said, the meal, overall (except the lemon chicken) was still better than most places that deliver. The wonton soup’s broth outdoes anyone elses that I’ve had over here in Chandler. The sweet and sour sauce, though different than what I remember, was still rather tasty. The meat is still tender, not that tough garbage you find so often and similar places. If you live nearby, I’d say this is a good option for a decent Chinese meal. Which is why I gave it 3 stars.
I won’t recommend the crab puffs at all. They were wimpy, crabless, and too sweet. The fried rice still had a great flavor, but I really miss the other ingredients. My biggest disappointment has been the eggrolls. Raising the price and cutting the portion in half is a low thing to do to customers and honestly it makes me not even want to go back myself because I feel cheated. It’s the part of the meal I was most looking forward to only to find the skinny, poor excuse for an eggroll in the bag.
I won’t likely return again, after over 20 years of loving this place so much, I’m a bit disillusioned by this new reality. Perhaps I’ll check the reviews again in a few years and see if anyone has noted any improvement, but otherwise… I bid you farewell… Chinese restaurant of my childhood.

I gots me a Jones for General Tso’s Chicken. Great place for Chinese food. My wife and I have a ritual where we go to get a massage at Fiesta Mall then we dine on delicious Chinese food. Plenty of food for the money.

I have been here half a dozen times. This visit I had the Mongolian beef, egg drop soup, fried rice, an egg roll, a crab puff and the obligatory fortune cookie ($ 5.95 for lunch). It was a lot of food. The egg drop soup was very good and the scallions on top were so fresh they were crunchy, the crab puff was pretty much all cream cheese and the egg roll was crispy but the stuffing was gray and unidentifiable. The fried rice and beef were very good.
I was seated promptly and the food came out in a timely manner and was very hot. The flavors were not as spicy as I usually find with Mongolian beef. I could have used a knife to cut a few of the larger pieces of beef but none was provided. The décor is typical Chinese with gold Chinese characters on a red background. The seating is a mix of booths and tables and chairs. The dining area is clean, I was unable to see the kitchen so can’t say about that. Parking is close to the door. Service was OK today, but has been spotty in the past. Looks like this is a family business. Parking is ample and close to the door.

I’ve been here several times and the food is consistently Amazing! It’s hot, fresh and always tasty. Every time I come here I order something different and I’ve never been disappointed. Great service and take out as well. The price is average or low, for the quality it’s unbeatable. I’ve been to a lot of bad Chinese restaurants, this is not one of those places. 5 stars on food quality and 4 ½ on service. If you love good food, be sure and give this place a chance!

Well I have heard about this place, and looked at their website. They advertised that the chicken dishes were $ 7.50 add $ 1 and get fried rice, egg roll, and 2 crab puffs… Well the prices are a little higher, but for $ 9 wow… all that plus soup and it is enough food for 2 meals. The honey chicken was great, the rest was just meh, but the chicken was good. Overall it is about average, but I think I will probably stay with ACE up on Main Street unless i don’t have time to go up there.

Golden Canyon is one of my favorite Asian restaurants in Arizona. When I lived in this area a few years ago, their dinner specials were often a guilty pleasure for my far too frequently. I have only eaten in once or twice but the take-​out was always extremely delicious and steaming hot! The amount of food you get for the money is almost criminal.
At the time when I was frequenting Golden Canyon most often we would see the owners often enough that she always spent time chatting with us and made the extra effort to learn our names and get to know us. I even invited her to my wedding! This is the type of business owner that communities need!
Beyond that though, the food is consistently great and I have never had a terrible experience. It’s not exactly fine dining but it is mouth-​wateringly good Chinese food on a very small budget.

This place is amazing in a way that makes it’s glaring faults meaningless. The Orange Chicken, Walnut Shrimp, Lemon Chicken, and Honey Chicken are all what great Americanized Chinese food should be. The fried rice and white rice are both always just right, and the soups are always hot and delicious. Their crab puffs have just the right mix of cream cheese and crab, and the egg rolls are pretty darn good as well.
I mean, sure, the people who work here obviously don’t like you, but they at least put in a TV recently, to replace the old creepy year round Christmas music. The tacky carts they bring the food on are off-​putting at first, but after a few trips and a few delicious meals, the cacophony of sound from the old cart creates a Pavlovian reaction. Now the sound of a rickety cart across a hard floor makes me hungry!

Like any other Chinese place in the valley this place has its «Great» Dishes and it’s «ok» dishes. With that being said the only way to order the chicken is «old style» (it’s a chicken breast fried and sliced) otherwise the chicken is battered and fried. As a patron who has been coming here for 20+ years I am partial to this place however my review will be very HONEST. There are times the wait staff is slow. There are times the food portions are smaller. The food quality is always good and if there is a mistake they are very quick to make things right.

I love that you can order things w/​out msg here.
My favorite thing has always been and will always be their sweet and sour chicken, old style. Its very important to order it this way. They new batter just does not compare.
Their takeout staff is always great. Some waiters are more pleasant than others though.
If you want an authentic Amer Chinese experience (from the décor to the food) go here.
And who knows, you may even see a local celebrity. ;)