Grand Dragon (Glendale Arizona)

We went to this restaurant with a large group of hungry people. There were twelve of us, so we made reservations. However not everyone could come and our group size was reduced to eight by time we got there. This restaurant is located in Glendale at 4730 West Olive Avenue... 47th Avenue and Dunlap which actually changes it's street name to Olive somewhere as you are traveling west on the road.

I didn't see too much of the restaurant facility itself, since we were quickly seated by the door when we arrived, but it was an active place and the menu looked like it had all of our favorite and traditional Chinese dishes. It made it hard to choose of course, and so I began to wonder if there was something unusual about this particular food place and so I asked it they had a "specialty." The waitress thought I asked for "tea," offered me some and asked itr I liked hot or cold tea.

Looking over the menu in more detail, we saw they had a Tofu dish, maybe even called Mapo Tofu (which Geo likes) only it was in the vegetable section. Geo asked if they had it with pork. The waitress said no, but she did ask the cook about it, and when it was described, it was way different than he thought it might be so he ordered Garlic Chicken instead.

We ordered a variety of items around the table, I think every one of us ordered something different and three appetizers... all of this and our total bill was under 80.00. I would say that this restaurant is very reasonably priced. The food also, was very good. Everyone liked what they ordered and we liked sampling each others food as well.

For appetizers we ordered Fried Wontons, (which I did not care for) Potsickers and Hot and Sour Soup, both of which were very yummy! Geo had Garlic Chicken and I ordered the Kung Pao. The others ordered things like Teriaki Chicken, Chow Mein, Broccoli Beef and the kid in our group ordered chicken nuggets and french fries, which he ate mostly with chopsticks... that was fun! We didn't even separate the sticks, he just bent them to open them and stuck his fries in.. quite ingenious if you ask me. I think he is a rather intelligent little guy. While we were waiting for our food he drew us each a picture on our place mats too.

I thought the restaurant staff was really nice and patient with our large group and the food was tasty as you would expect, maybe a little salty if you are measuring that kind of thing, but obviously fresh. It got our approval, and of course the prices were not outrageous, making it all worth it. It's an enjoyable place to have a cultural dinner experience with friends... or in our case, family.

Phoenix also has a great Chinese Cultural Center in the downtown area which we would like to try next time we are here. Geo went there last time he was on town with John, and said that it was awesome. This time, we just didn't make it there to eat. We could only drive by, which is also a sight to see. Maybe next time we will eat there, and get the full cultural China experience!

I don't know what you think about Chinese food, but for me, I think I like it because there is just something fun about eating with chopsticks. I usually end up eating my food with a fork just the same. Old habits, you know, are hard to break. I also like the veggies and tasting all the yummy flavors of the orient in one dish!

I do think however that it could be a great weightloss plan to only eat food with chopsticks...
And after visiting all these restaurants, it's a plan I may have to try... if you know what I mean...