A Review of the Flying Dragon Chinese Restaurant in Houston, Texas

When I read about the opening of the Flying Dragon Chinese Restaurant in Houston, Texas I was excited to try something new but sadly, the owners and cooks at the Flying Dragon don't seem to understand the concept of edible food - let alone Chinese food. My husband and I went to the Flying Dragon in the Heights and based on the menu alone, we knew it wasn't going to be good. The menu was unlike most Chinese food restaurants in that it was missing popular items like General Tso's chicken, sesame chicken, hot and sour soup and Singapore noodles. It was therefore difficult for us to order since everything on the menu seemed to read exactly the same: deep fried something with water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, onions and pea pods. But we were already there so we ordered anyway and lived to regret it.

Staff

When I placed the order to go, two other customers came in after me and the staff seemed frazzled. Obviously they were new and had recently opened but customers should be a good thing for a new business. The man who took my order couldn't concentrate and kept forgetting what I had said despite my ordering one dish at a time to make it simple. A woman - presumably the man's wife - was in charge of placing the orders with the kitchen and bringing out the food and drinks to the customers who dined in. They were both pleasant but noticeably inexperienced.

Décor

The Flying Dragon in Houston, Texas was simple and understated but not too plain. They had red chairs with black trim, beautiful oriental light fixtures on the wall, glossy tables with paper placemats - the kind where the Chinese astrology signs are listed - and minimal art.

Soup

Hot & Sour

Though the Flying Dragon Chinese restaurant in the Heights did not list hot and sour soup on the menu, I asked if they could make it. I was told they do have hot and sour soup but only in a large container. So I requested hot and sour soup for my husband and asked for it without pork which they obliged. My husband thought the soup was bland as in it had absolutely no flavor. There was no hot and there was no sour. It was boring soup with mushrooms, egg, and tofu.

Egg Drop

I ordered the egg drop soup without chicken and was told they could do that but when I opened my container, I saw there was more chicken than there was egg in my soup. And it wasn't just chicken, it was fatty pieces of chicken. Obviously I was disappointed that they didn't listen to my request but was willing to overlook it since I love egg drop soup; unfortunately, this soup tasted nothing like egg drop soup. It was basically salt with some sort of opaque broth mixed with clumps of unstirred eggs. It was a huge disappointment and honestly, for a restaurant to serve something that salty is just insane. It could have killed someone with high blood pressure.

Entrées

Sweet and Sour Chicken Combination

Because it was a good deal and we were both craving sweet and sour chicken, we ordered the sweet and sour chicken combination plate. This came with a large egg roll and pork fried rice. My husband ate the egg roll and thought it was the best part of the meal - not because it was so good, but because everything else was so bad. My husband thought the pork fried rice was "not bad" but it lacked flavor.

The sweet and sour chicken was the biggest disappointment of the night because it was basically black chicken - yes black, goodness knows which part of the chicken it was - that was overly deep fried and not edible. My husband's description of the chicken was "disgusting," and I'd have to agree. My husband joked that the black pieces were beak and for the chicken alone, I would advise the Board of Health to inspect the Flying Dragon.

Chicken Lo Mein

Chicken Lo Mein is a dish that should be difficult to mess up but somehow the cooks at Flying Dragon in Houston, Texas managed to screw that one up too. The noodles were extremely yellow with the same opaque gooey sauce that was present in the egg drop soup. The chicken was actually healthy white meat cut into cubes which was a big surprise, and it was accompanied by onions, scallions, pea pods, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, but sadly there was no flavor. They couldn't even manage to put spices or seasoning in the Lo Mein.

My husband hated it and I just loaded mine up with lots of hot mustard and soy sauce to make it edible. The next day I stir-fried the leftovers with ground ginger, ground black pepper, ground chili powder, soy sauce, and hot mustard and magically the dish came alive. The cooks should have done that part but at least I was able to eat the leftovers; my husband, however, was not willing to try the leftovers based on his experience the night before.

Conclusion

We ended our meal with the pre-packaged fortune cookies which I'm happy to report were delicious - needless to say, the cooks at the Flying Dragon Chinese restaurant in Houston, Texas didn't actually make them so of course they were good.

I would not advise anyone with taste buds to eat at the Flying Dragon Chinese restaurant in Houston, Texas. I think this restaurant will get many customers since it is a new restaurant, but few will be repeat customers. If you live in the Heights, do yourself a favor and go to the Empire Seafood restaurant on Airline Drive if you want good food.

Flying Dragon is located at 1710 West 18th Street, Houston, Texas, 77008. Their phone number is 713-861-2190. They are open daily from 10:30 AM - 9:00 PM, and accept Visa and MasterCard - not American Express.

*Disclaimer: This review is based on my opinion based on the dishes we ordered on August 8, 2009. We had a bad dining experience with the food at the Flying Dragon in Houston, Texas, but if you dine there, you might have a positive experience. If so, write your own review and let potential customers know which dishes you enjoyed.