Service is alful,lady that serves you is very rude an very un friendly,food is fairly good,but server is alful

After reading a local review in an old newspaper we found, my mom and I decided to try this out the other night to appease our appetizer snack attack. The 2 stars are for the service, atmosphere, and more-or-less-ok appetizers. Will point out that our waitress was incredible. She pointed out certain details that weren't on the menu to make sure we knew what we were ordering, and I noticed she did the same for other tables. Also was very prompt even though she was working the entire floor by herself with a fairly decent sized dinner crowd. That being said, we were very disappointed with most of the food. We ordered nearly every appy on the list, plus chicken & vegetables, and the lemon chicken to sample and take home for later. The apps were decent, but personally I don't care for sweet crab rangoon. They seem to be a dessert with imitation crab meat added to justify the price. The potsticker and bao dumplings were the same dough with the same filling, just presented a different way, plus overly chewy. Honey walnut shrimp (thinking along the lines of Panda Express' same dish) should more correctly be called Shrimp with Toasted Walnuts, as it was just that. There were simply a few plain tempura battered shrimp with a few plain toasted walnuts in the center, served with a 'sauce' (sweetened mayonnaise). The shrimp were good, but can't see adding a few nuts and charging nearly a dollar more for a dish. The chicken and vegetables had so much ginger, I couldn't taste any other individual flavors. Also the bamboo shoots were really tough. But the lemon chicken....what a disaster. I was so looking forward to it, it looked great, it was presented lovely...and I bit into a tough, stringy, dry, chewy mass with a bland goop for sauce. I know the flavor and texture of something reheated when I taste it. The breading was crunchy, so thinking that they pre-cooked it and then re-fried when ordered? Either way, I only ate 2 pieces and gave up. Thinking our family will stick to China Palace by Walmart...much better prices and the food is fantastic. read more

They serve regional dishes as well as food for the middle American palate but everyone loves the honey glazed pork! I love the stir fried green beans, Mu Er with pork and pork rib stew. General Tsao's chicken is deep fried in a sweet sauce - for the middle American's - but the veggie delight is fresh and flavorful. The staff is limited so the service isn't great but the food is worth it! read more

Best authentic Chinese food in town. I recommend the spicy chicken.

If you only go once, get the honey glazed crispy pork. It is meat candy!!

SO Yummy! Tastes great, huge portions, fast service...truly the best Chinese in town. A bit awkward finding parking downtown sometimes but well worth it. read more

No holds barred authentic Szechuan, complex flavors, good service, just a joy.

I can't say enough about the good food here. Truly love it and haven't had anything bad. The reason for the 3 stars is the service. We showed up for lunch today and stood without being acknowledged for several minutes. As she walked up to seat us she said with a frown what do we have here. It seem like she doesn't want business. Hardly speaks. Impatient..acts frustrated when you ask a question. Just not good service. If you can deal with her attitude, as she is the only one we have ever seen working at lunch, then the food is great! read more

Easily the best pure Chinese restaurant in Bellingham. The food is mainly regional, from the N/NE region of China, although they do have many of the typical dishes your neighborhood Chinese joint will feature. Have been here a half dozen times, and have never left disappointed. 8 out of 10 dishes have been above average. Warning: If you like places like Xing's Panda Palace or Best Chopsticks, then you are addicted to Americanized Chinese food and you won't appreciate this place. read more

Haven't found a really good Chinese restaurant in Bham until now. Server/owner really friendly, food came out fast and was very good, very authentic and also affordable. I'd recommend it to anyone wanting some Chinese food in bham. read more

The waitress was really nice, and did her job perfectly. However, the food was not good! The quality and taste of it was mush; way too expensive for what it was. I will not be coming back. read more

My fiance and I have eaten at just about every Chinese option in Bellingham, and have eaten at many Chinese restaurants around the US and Canada. This really is the best Szechuan either of us has ever enjoyed, and at very affordable prices. As for the staff, we couldn't ask for a more personable proprietor. read more

Amazing! This restaurant has the best chinese food I've ever had, and I don't generally even like chinese food! Get the Spicy Beef! It's not filled with the OH GOSH MY MOUTH IS BURNING spice, but a nice zing that keeps you wanting more! Everything all the other reviewers on here are saying about this place is true! Go there and you will not be disappointed! read more

Finally, a place in Bellingham that serves bao zi! I have only been able to find something comparable in Flushing NY... Delicious! Decided to be boring and get sweet and sour chicken for my lunch special. First off, the tea was standard good tea. The egg drop soup was very good (and not neon orange colored), I liked the shredded carrots and bamboo (I think) in it. The spring roll contained flavorful veggies, and it was not oily. The sweet and sour chicken was tasty. The batter had that great crispy-but-not-too-hard texture to it, and it wasn't greasy. Most importantly, there was more chicken than breading! The fried rice was fine as well. Looking forward to trying other dishes (fingers crossed, orange chicken) and bumping this place up to 5 stars! The prices were quite reasonable as well. Highly recommended! read more

In all honesty, I was rather skeptical upon walking into Dragon River. Something about the red, white and blue waterproof table cloths and the hanging grapes threw me off. Anyway let's just get right to it, THEIR GENERAL TSAO'S CHICKEN IS DAMN GOOD! Friendly and fast service. I've had nothing but good experiences here. Moral of the story, don't judge a book by it's cover. Well done, Dragon River! read more

You'd think that the display menu being in 6pt font and the fact that there was one table occupied at 6PM would've been a red light, but no; I had to try this place for some reason. I'm frankly surprised this place has any positive feedback. Is this the same restaurant? Unfortunately, yes. Someone even stated it reminded him/her of China. Aside from the fact that there is plenty of food in the real China that most Westerners would not want to eat, this place is as authentic as Fairhaven is historic. But, I digress. As others have mentioned, the food is extremely over-priced and the quality is poor, at best. The "Spicy Chicken" was dry, stringy, tasteless, over-cooked, and old. The eggplant dish, while edible, was also essentially tasteless with the exception of too much cheap soy and--again, as others have stated--an overkill of tasteless, dry chili flakes. The two dinner entrees totaled $24 +tax. Laugable. In addition to being over-priced, the portions were very small. Much of my criticism can be applied to virtually all restaurants in Bellingham and that's too bad considering she prides herself on being so progressive. The food is as expensive as any GOOD restaurant in any major city in the lower 48. However, the quality is mediocre on a good day. The customer service in this town? I'll spare you the rant. The customer service at D. River, while friendly, was poor. A woman, who I believe was the owner, stuck her head out a couple of times with a cock-eyed look on her face, but said nothing. She just wandered back into the place where they make this "stuff". read more

this place is a joke there rude at customers and the food is just plan awful dont waste your money dry rice bland food

We tried this restaurant for the first time this past Saturday and we weren't too happy with our experience. We may give them another try in a few weeks before we totally write off the place. The service was not good. We waited for tea, water, and menus. We waited for some to-go boxes. We waited for a to-go order. We waited for the check. The food was okay. We've found a place in Blaine that we prefer, and we are not that far away from some good places in BC. I agree with the reviewer who said there was no heat in the spicy beef. Are restaurants still dumbing things down for us non-Asian folks? We wouldn't order spicy if we didn't want spicy. I have a spouse who loves the hot chili oil usually offered but we saw none available. read more

Slow service, not so good food, there actually is better in the area, but we just drive to New Westminster or Surrey. I read the one reviewer's experience with the gift certificate. I've had several from A&W Asian Bistro and they do exactly as she mentioned: they write down the balance left on the certificate and I use it until the amount is exhausted. No big deal. read more

5 stars for the General Tsao Tofu, 0 stars for the super angry service and all the stern signs posted everywhere throughout the establishment. It's obvious that exactly 0 F's are given about the guest's experience here. read more

This the only restaurant in Bellingham serving real Chinese food. The food is transcendently good, the sweet and sour pork is mind blowing, it seems to have been slow cooked and then deep fried. If that is not your thing, there are a number of equally incredible vegitarian options: the eggplant is sweet and smoky, the dry fry green beans are a classic staple. The portions are generous enough you can easily get another meal out of them. I am a huge fan of the chilli oil that comes on many of the dishes, it's really the stamp of authentic sechuan food. The owners are the staff, they are genuinely sweet people, do not treat them like servants - they are dishing up almost the only Chinese food this town has to offer [except dumpling girls food truck!]. The style of service is as traditional as the cooking and guests should take it as an authentic Chinese experience. Also they started doing take out only service a full month earlier than any other establishment, they are ultra careful about cleanliness and I really appreciate it. read more

Hallelujah! Good Chinese in Bellingham! This place was wonderful. Service and atmosphere was very pleasant. Food was even better. Highly recommend the Szechuan menu, has some unique and delicious items. Try the Honey Glazed Pork. read more

The customer service has always been terrible, but this evening was particularly bad. The chicken tasted like it was about to go off, and not only did the angry waitress not replace the dish or take the uneaten meal off of the bill, but she came back to the table to argue with us. It wouldn't have been much of a loss to the restaurant to just replace the meal, but now they've lost our business. We left with her screaming at us. I have never had worse customer service. read more

There were two 20 year old young men and two 69 year old grandparents in our party. We ordered a variety of foods. Wow! The woman waiting and serving us was fast, efficient, friendly. The food was THE BEST CHINESE FOOD ANY OF US HAD EVER EATEN! We enjoyed appetizers and platters of main dishes. The portions were huge, the prices were affordable and, though the decor left something to offer, who cares? We left happy and sated, filled to the brim and the boys had "doggy bags" they could take home to finish up. Our grandson loved the Mangolian Beef, my husband had the House Chow Mein, our nephew had the cod soup with Chinese mushrooms and vegetables and I ate cashew chicken. It was all so very good. I'm sure the young men will tell other college kids and we will tell their parents to try it. It was wonderful! read more

I have been to this restaurant a handful of times. The food is delicious but going there puts me in the worst mood ever. We refer to the proprietor as "dragon lady" because she really is awful to her customers. Yesterday I asked if her lunch specials were available for takeout and she told me to go the counter to order. I asked if she could tell me the difference between two dishes because the menu had no descriptions, she would give me no description. This woman belongs in the back of the house and should have no contact with customers. Food is good but definitely not worth putting up with the terrible service. read more

Wow, this was a really great find! The food was excellent. The restaurant was very clean. We had the Honey Glazed Pork, Spicy Green Beans and Chicken Chai Main. We will be going again. read more

Food is good the older Asian lady that serves you, have a very bad customer service, didn't have any clue how to treat a human being

We ordered the spicy beef as part of a to go order. It says on the menu it is beef strips sauteed in chili sauce. It was fried to a crisp, to the point of being crunchy and crackly dry like a french fry. Crazy. Never had spicy beef like this before. Have ordered this dish in countless places before, and as a rule the saute makes it tender, not fried to a crisp. Pretty crummy waste of 12 bucks. Not the best quality for the price. read more

I received a $50 gift certificate to this restaurant from a friend. My husband and I went there and ordered one recommended dish (eggplant, potato, & peppers) and spicy pork. I had heard the service was slow, so made reservations--so had no problem getting seated right away, even though the place was packed. Our server was very good, even though she was very busy. The food was OK, but the spicy pork was not very spicy at all--I had to add hot sauce. The eggplant dish was OK, but sweet-and I am not fond of sweet chinese food. I added hot sauce to this so it wouldn't be so sweet. The real problem came when I was ready to pay. When I gave them the $50 gift certificate, they said I could not use it for less than the amount. (our bill was $28) I asked to speak with the owner. She was EXTREMELY rude! She kept saying that it says on the certificate that I couldn't get cash back. I explained that I did not want cash, but to have the remainder of the certificate to use later. She said they could not do that--that I should pay with a credit card. I explained that it would be impossible for 2 people to eat $50 worth of food in one setting, and that the reason we came there was because we had the gift certificate. She got loud--and so did I. I asked her how we could solve this problem, but she was not interested. She said that she had never heard of doing that. I said that I had another gift certificate in my purse where I had used part of it and the establishment had changed the amount left on it. She then said, well every business has the right to do things the way they want to. I said that the certificate said nothing about using it in one sitting. She said if all the rules were on there, it would have to be a huge piece of paper. I then loudly said that I was not willing to pay $50 for a $28 meal. My friend had already paid her $50 and all she had to do was change the gift certificate to indicate that there was $22 left on it, sign it and date it. She told me that I didn't need to tell her how to do her business. She eventually did it. But the experience totally soured me to the place. I made sure to give the young waitress a good tip, because she provided good service. I feel sorry for her. I will probably call for take out with the remainder of my gift certificate, and then never set foot in the place again. I have certainly had better Asian food, (La Patisserie is delicious!) if not Chinese food, in Bellingham. Maybe the place should be called DRAGON LADY! read more

The most authentic Chinese food in town! Every time I go in there, the server totally treats you like family. Come on, people! Do you really go out to eat to get someone to kiss your ~*blank*~?? Calm down and enjoy the Chinese food that you went there for. read more

One of very few Chinese restaurants with authentic cuisine. Quick, well-prepared dishes - they even took pains to tailor them to suit my gluten-free requirement! Highly recommended. read more

Dragon River is a nice looking, clean restaurant. When my party sat down and was ready to order we were joking around about how the place is known to have bad service and the bad service here is no joke! When I ordered a Pepsi, the owner said to me "no free refills" in such a rude manner if I'd been alone, I would have just left. She also asked if there'd be more people coming in a kind of rude way. There was only one other person in the restaurant beside my party of four. I had broccoli beef and spring rolls. The spring rolls are not spring rolls but a large serving of really good egg rolls which is good because the broccoli beef, though it is cooked well, seems to have been just put in some water, quite a bit of salt put on top of it, with no gravy. Granted that we ordered about two and a half hours before closing and it does take a while to close out a restaurant and I suppose she was tired but the service was pretty bad. One of our party had to go to the kitchen and ask her for our checks. The checks are just receipts from a cash register that you can hardly see. Most of us paid with a card and when we left our "checks" were just sitting on the table which is very unsafe. I doubt she'd have minded if we just took them and left. No actual restaurant owner that cares is going to have you sign a cash register receipt then just leave it sitting on the table. A friend gave me some of his crab Rangoon and If I ever went there again - and I could not think of any reason to - I'd just get the egg rolls and/or crab Rangoon. I can't imagine any reason to go there on my own though. read more

We went there for a late lunch on our way to Seattle, based on good reviews on Yelp. The owner/waitress, an older woman, was extremely rude. We stood by the front for a few minutes, and no one came out. The whole restaurant was empty so I walked inside to ask if they were open. The woman came out with a rag and 2 sets of place setting. I asked if they were open and she said of course, meanwhile leaving me standing there. The whole restaurant was empty and all the other tables were set already. So I said "Should we seat ourselves", since she just ignored us. She said, "did you see that sign that says wait to be seated"? We should probably have left then, but I went back to stand beside the sign like a fool. After another few moments, she said from across the restaurant without looking at us, "you can sit down now" and went to do something else. Never walked us to the table. Never smiled or said anything pleasant the whole time. We stayed because it was rainy and cold and we were hungry, but will never go there again. Never encountered such horrible and unfriendly service. Food was so so. read more

When one of the regular waitresses is working, service is good. When they are not, the tables are "served" by an older woman who may be the owner. She hasn't a clue...I waited 20 minutes to order while she stayed around the cash register. I finally left. There were four people in the restaurant. Check who is working before you sit down! read more

Very tasty, fresh & fast! Great stir fires & wontons!

Good food, good service. Economical and good portions.

Amazing. So many things I can't pronounce. So many items I've never seen before on a Chinese restaurant menu. The Di San Xian is addictive. Roasted eggplant, potatoes and green peppers (literally translates into "three earth fresh") are sauteed separately before being combined with a delectable sweet, smoky sauce. Served with rice. I could eat this every day if it wasn't for all the other amazing items on the menu, including Chinese sausage and cabbage, tofu stew and chicken with Chinese mushrooms. Of course, the general items like General's Chicken (no pun intended) are also available but if you want the standard, greasy fare you can get it at any Haggen store. For real authentic Chinese food not available outside of Seattle's International District, however, stick to the first page of the menu at Dragon River. And prepare to be blown away. :) read more

Dragon River! Its just fun to say and also fun to visit. Two of my friends and I visited for the first time on a whim and let me just say like the others on here, "yes best Chinese in b-ham". As someone who has grown up with the ups and downs of American Chinese cuisine these guys are on their way up. The food: awesome! $1.10 for the cup of egg drop soup(college town score). We also tried the string beans, Mongolian beef, and Szechuan chicken. So fresh and tasty. All in all you could tell there was lots of love coming out of that kitchen. The service: meh. Here's my perception. Owner/ Server has a lot on her plate running the dinning room and timing of food orders. She hires college age girl to work the room with her. Well the downfall is training. Server seemed very unsure of herself and her surroundings. Like others said she chose to take orders from those who were seated after us; never a good idea. Also when she dropped off the check with a fleeting glance who were we to know you go and pay up front? Would be 5 stars and hopefully it turns into one with the service getting better as this young restaurant learns to adapt. read more

This is great Chinese food. We had the sweet and sour chicken and the pot stickers last Saturday. This is going to be our new go-to Chinese restaurant. Portions are good and the chicken was so well done. Going to go back soon. read more

We were so excited to finally have some authentic Chinese food in Bellingham. Have tried the restaurant twice, once with a party of 4 and most recently just my husband and I. After our first visit in September, we were very much looking forward to visiting again and trying new dishes. After all, the food was very good and the service time was reasonable at our first visit. However, our most recent visit was quite a disappointment, mainly owing to the service. I don't normally write reviews, but am prompted on this one because I sincerely want this restaurant to succeed, and improve. The restaurant was by no means full, and there were two waitresses ( I believe one was the owner). First gripe, we received our order well after another couple that sat down and ordered quite some time after us. In all, I believe we waited for over 45 minutes for our food, with not a word from the waitress as to why a delay, nor was any apology offered. And it was not a complicated order, just two dishes right off the menu, no substitutions. Second gripe, while we were served water and tea after we sat down, not once did the server return after our food came to inquire as to how we liked it OR to refill our beverages. As the soup was on the spicy side, I sorely desired a water refill. Third gripe, while it didn't take long to get our check after we were finished, it did take us some time to realize that the waitress wasn't going to pick up the tray with credit card. She could have mentioned this when she set it down at the table and saved us the futile wait. I believe last time we were there they did pick up the check and credit card. So, service is definitely a kicker for me. We were in the restaurant an hour and a half in total, on a fairly slow mid-week night, and received 4 quick visits from the waitress... once to bring our initial water/tea, second to take our order, third to bring us a takeout box, and fourth to drop off our check at the table. That was it. This is not up to Bellingham's standards, or any decent restaurant standards. The second disappointment was my food The pork dish my husband ordered was one of the authentic items, with wood ear mushrooms, and it was good. It was fresh, if not spectacularly seasoned. But since it purports to be authentic, we can't comment on the seasoning issue. My fish soup, however, was nearly unpalatable due to saltiness. I have had fish soup, and I am a HUGE salter of food (my family likes to quote the old "shakin' your life away" at me), so for me to complain about saltiness means it was definitely way over the top. It was mildly improved by adding some of my husband's rice to it, but not much. If the server had ever stopped by, I may have commented about the saltiness, but alas no opportunity arose.... Other than the EXTREME saltiness, the flavor of the soup was very good, and the fresh cilantro and green onion added a nice touch. Overall, I am confident that if this restaurant would improve on the consistency of their menu items and most importantly, their SERVICE, they will attain that coveted spot as best Chinese restaurant in Whatcom County. But please please please, hire some knowledgeable wait staff that know how to provide actual service and attention to restaurant patrons! read more