Driftwood Restaurant Port Alberni (Golden Dragon) in Port Alberni

We had Sunday lunch. The food was okay, which is sad for the price of this buffet. I enjoyed the chicken wings, the dim sum was very tired, the chow mein once replenished was good, the sweet and sour pork was not lean. The garlic prawns were good. Perhaps if the price was lower the restaurant would have more turnover. The value for money is not there! We have ordered take out twice in the last two months. The dinner for two. This last time we ordered dishes. BBQ Pork egg foo yung, special fried rice, beef with black bean sauce. I have to say both times we were pleasantly surprised. Fresh and tasty, with generous portions.

Fantastic food and excellent service. See u again.

I worked there for over a year, let me tell you, crappy food, greedy owner, on fathers day we had to give out plastic forks and knives because they were too cheap to have enough forks and knives, the cheapest food possible with msg, the list really does go on and on DO NOT SUPPORT THIS RESTAURANT. doesnt help that food can sometimes take over an hour to get to you and they will do anything in their power not to refund you.

Our favorite restaurant in Port Alberni now has a robot to bring out the food ... first one Ive seen.

Very good food. Lot to pick from. My toddler enjoy the food. The staff was nice

Best Chinese food I have had in ages .. if ever. The service was friendly and helpful. I will definitely be going back.

Food very tasty . Delivery individual very pleasant and very honest.

For thirty bucks a person the service definitely should have been better, the table was wobbly, restaurant needs a good scrub. I havent seen a bathroom like that in a restaurant for a long time. We did however really like the food!

Always a hassle everytime you order out, its like trying to pull teeth. Lady cant take an order or hold a phone, Always some new rule to ordering everytime, or they tell you they dont have drivers when they do, call back 3 times they will finally tell you they have drivers, sometimes will deliver under 30$ other times they wont, Russian Roulette if you will get your order. 3 restaurant names and they cant live up to even one of them.

The worst Chinese food we ve EVER had. This restaurant used to be ok, just ok. Now it s horrific. Higher prices, smaller portions and disgusting quality. Whoever took over this local eatery needs to do better. Your food is terrible, especially the Wonton soup, broth was water. We ve ordered from this restaurant for 40 years, but never again.

Food always tastes good. The ambience is decent and the service is very welcoming

Went tonight to try the buffet! There were over 20+ choices. Everything my hubby and I tried was flavorful, hot & super delicious! Definitely recommend and we will definitely be back. We left very full and totally satisfied!

Good basic Chinese schmorg

2nd time in, adore the Wor Won Ton, excellent female server (she served me twice) she@/ timely, attentive, does a great job. Def will keep coming in.

I have read many bad reviews, and thought it important to say that my experience was great. Food was hot and tastey. There was quite a bit of food for the price, and food was ready quickly.

Delicious food, friendly service

2024 update: Fairly close to what the original Golden Dragon used to be in the good old days The manager Michelle does a great job of keeping everything humming along. Bathrooms are neat and tidy with no bad smells. Food: One of the long time Golden Dragon chefs (Francis) returned back to the Driftwood awhile back to bless us with his talent. Very consistent from week to week with what is going to be served to you on your plate. They have no problem with accommodating various needs (allergies) to your order. Considering the way food prices have risen over the last year or so the menu is pretty good value for your money. 2023 update: Now owned [for a while now] by Driftwood Restaurant (they have multiple locations in other Island communities). Theyve done much needed repairs to to the seating in the booths with new material replacing the very worn out seat bottoms - thank you owners! Ive visited a few times since the year started and have had good service by the wait staff. The food came fairly quickly and was very nice and piping hot. Portions were generous. Just a FYI - they are under going renovations ATM. I havent stopped by during the day to see if they are open but definitely closed at night. I know that they are trying to get open ASAP, even if the reno is completely finished. Looking forward to smorgasbord in the near future. Ill post some new pictures of the new look as soon as I get my foot in the door. Owned and operated by Ken and his wife Lee. Daily smorgasbord plus full menu of both Chinese and Canadian cuisine. Full bar service. Senior staff are long term employees. Available for private functions in two banquet rooms that are separate from the main restaurant. Special smorgasbord on Chinese New Year - I try to never miss out this event. Side street parking is available (its all free).

Im sorry but its just not good. Only reason why I placed a take out order today is because Wait You was closed. I picked up my order, brought it home like maybe 4 blocks away, and it was cold. Barely lukewarm food. Chow mein is greasy and seemed like a little over cooked or mushy. Chicken balls were inedible. Literally did not eat them. Just a small hard lump of rubbery chicken in the middle of a ball. So weird. Sweet and sour pork was alright. However, the girl at the front counter was very nice. :(

Used to order all the time. Stopped 6 months ago as we had a bad experience. Tried again for Christmas Eve and flavours were no good. Not sure what happened won t be back

All the items served in the buffet were thoroughly enjoyable!

I split a large wonton soup with another, it was plenty for two to make a whole meal of it. The waiter was very professional, and a bit fun even did a stunt toss of the fortune cookie. Ill visit again Kid-friendliness: Booth seating

Very delicious smorgasbord

Worst egg rolls ever.,took 3 hrs to get food. Curried prawns ...they forgot the curry...sooo sad ...used to be sooo good

Ticks all the boxes for a buffet

Awful, i went to order a dinner for four combo here which has seafood in two items . And to get an item without it they want 5 dollars per item. Way to punish someone for a seafood alergy.

We are traveling and staying at an inn we ordered delivery and were totally blown away!! The very best Chinese food we have ever had in a remote location. Excellent service from delivery providing plates and forks plus microwaveable container for left overs to dishes I want to order again so tasty thank you very much for an excellent experience!!

We went in , there was 3 tables of people..2 waitresses on ..It took maybe 4 minutes for someone to sit us down and after 20 minutes sitting at a booth with no water and no menu and no one serving us we left .. To bad cause I heard the food was good again.. We will give them another chance probably..

I will never go back to this Chinese buffet. There wasn t enough food and some of the food looked like it had gone through a battle. The buffet food trays were empty when I got up there. Much of the taste of the food seemed to be overly infused with 5-Spice. Some of the dishes, for instance the duck dish had to be an experiment (I think it was duck). Traditionally duck has never been cooked in a Chinese restaurant in the manner that it was. Chinese take a lot of pride in how they cook duck. Normally the fat is properly rendered from the meat and the skin is suppose to be crispy. Such was not the case. It was rubbery and tasteless. The shoo mai (pork dumplings) looked unappetizing and like they had been sitting there for ages. They tasted awful. I tried them out of curiosity . They were dried out and lifeless. To be fair the chicken wings were good. They tasted like they were freshly prepared. The bright spot of the evening were the helpers as they were very friendly and attentive. I love the location of this restaurant. The classical Chinese decor and the layout of the restaurant was very nice. But this was a total rip off, from start to finish. I do not recommend it.

Its been better. I felt like I was unattended to. The food grade was not like it has been in the past. I asked for a root beer and received a no name brand root beer in the can.

I m editing my 5-star review to add this as I went a couple days ago and the service was terrible. My brother and I decided to go here for dinner and get the buffet. It s very expensive ($26 each before taxes and not including drinks) for the quality of what we received. Some of the options were very lukewarm and obviously not fresh and one dish was incredibly salty. The spring rolls tasted alright, but were pretty burnt. It was also quite greasy, but that isn t surprising because a lot of fast-food Chinese places can be like that. We get greeted and seated fairly quickly, but the booth we were taken to was visibly dirty and sticky, so we moved to the next table over. It was also sticky. We then wait for our server to come and ask us what we d like (buffet or something off the menu) and if we want anything to drink. We both ordered iced teas and never got them nor did we get napkins given to us except for the one included with our cutlery. We did get water, but that was never refilled once. We get finished eating and I see that we were charged for the iced teas after we had already paid. After the poor service and lacklustre quality of the food we had, I decided to go over to the cashier desk and mention it to the server. We never got an apology and he only spoke directly to who I believe was the manager standing there at the time. I said don t worry about refunding us, since it would have only been about $8 total and I just thought I d bring it up for next time. The server was then rather rude and dismissive even though despite the service we had received, we still tipped quite well. It honestly felt like a slap in the face. I probably won t ever be getting food from here again. Their chow mein and fried rice is the best because they add a good amount of flavour unlike some places I ve been to where it s all very plain. Some of the food can be a little too greasy or doughy for me, but that s more personal preference than anything. The portion sizes are also extremely generous. You can order two meals and feed four people. The containers they use for delivery are also reusable and dishwasher safe. It s way better than the styrofoam/paper containers most restaurants give you that leak everywhere. They definitely don t deserve the reputation they get and most people who say negative things about this restaurant haven t even been there in years.

Not the same as the other driftwood restaurants. Very disappointed with the regular order I get from Campbell river, Parksville, and Nanaimo.

Great food and friendly service! Got there at 4pm and had the buffet. The food was fresh and tasted really good! The restaurant is quite popular and easy to understand why, good value for dollar! Highly recommend!

Food was great ...Service was excellent !!

Had the smorgasbord there and the food was decent

Experience always varies. Extremely hard time order take-out over the phone and cant bring myself to do the buffet although that used to be my favorite place in town.. Food quality and service just arent even close for the cost of the price unfortunately.. :(

Go mad

public hair, lost food and eggshells

Enjoyed the food.

My food was very greasy. The oil overpowered the taste. Our waiter seemed rushed. The food portions were enough for two people.

Buffet is awesome

Photo of deep fried wontons with a Tic-Tac size shrimp In them Very disappointed Charged me $14 dollers more on my order than what the bill amount was Food came 35 minutes late Food was vary small portions with very little sauce on the soggy sweet and sour pork Deep fried wonton have nothing in them but a tic-tac size of shrimp (not kidding) No fortune cookies

Very good

Meh

There food is excellent

So good! Everything was hot fresh and delicious.

Always friendly and passionate about their restaurant. Definitely recommend.

Super nice people, friendly service. The food is out standing.

All vegetables I ate taste like they come from a freezer bag, 100% not worth it very low quality

Tried for 30 minutes, both phone numbers, off and on busy or no answer at 5pm on a Sunday when they said they were open! May need more staff if you cant keep up with phone calls and delivery service!

Wheelchair accessibility: Nice

Great food, lots of choices, even better service!

Fresh food. Lady was awesome server.

Just a all around nice place

Enjoyed the supper buffet! Everything was fresh and delicious! Staff made sure the buffet was well stocked to keep up with the flow of customers replenishing their plates. I would recommend the Golden Dragon to anyone!

Slow service, lacking service, and food buffet isn t maintained.

This is a small town, and the very fact that you can t do any substitutions on sub-ing for chicken chow mein to chicken fried rice (when they are exact same price on the menu) is ridiculous. You just lost out on more business. Cause small town is word of mouth. I ll be sticking to other long term good businesses. Yes that s correct; he flat out said no! I m like alright then, thanks anyways.

Went for the buffet. Food was good but service was terrible. Plates were piling up at the table. Took a long time to get our bill. Other people seemed displeased as well.

Vegetarian options: Hardly any vegetarian options, but we requested to replace chicken with tofu and it was done! The meal tasted great.

Love the buffet and kids love it too. Might stop eating here soon if I get one more fortune that tells me I need to catch up on chores though Parking: A few parking spots on the street but lots on the front of the restaurant Kid-friendliness: All the servers are very good with my kids, highchairs are a plus! Wheelchair accessibility: No stairs and ground level entrance!

Equally as good as the Driftwood restaurant between Courtenay and Campbell River. Yuuummm.

Waiter very attentive. Food was you average buffet style. Wish there was less seafood, as I dont eat it. Beef n Broccoli, almond Chicken or sweet n sour chicken balls would have been a nice add for those who dont like seafood. But, Id come back:) Thank you for dinner

Great buffet selection, fresh quality, good service and reasonable prices... keeps me coming back

My kids love the buffet so dose my dad its good food over all but service was lacking they kept forgetting to bring drinks till the meal was done

Loved the taste of the food very good selection

Large portions eat in

Better Chinese food at Quality foods for better price... Buffet costs 25$ per person

$20 all you can eat. Not bad when you double down with prawns and mussels, a pot of tea and then some vegetation. Interesting

Really good chicken chow main and deep fried wontons and nice staff

Fast, friendly service with great food.

The food was fresh, plentiful and a huge variety. We couldnt have been happier.

Absolutely incredible, best buffet I have ever had on Vancouver Island and for the most part all of Canada. Excellent value and the variety of yummy items was over the top. Lots of seafood a must for BC residents and Tourists. Dont miss a chance to try this out you will return for sure.

Nice place..

Poor service, unorganized. Does not have most of drink items on their menu. Waited 45 min for just a drink. :(

Fast friendly service

I really enjoyed their deep fried prawns. I would really like to know the recipie as it was so delicious :)

Dirty delicious egg rolls ... Amazing

Got takeout and my boyfriend and I had driven down to the beach to eat.. he got sweet n sour pork got about a quarter way through, pulled out a piece and a big thick black hair was hanging from the pork. We were so disgusted we threw the rest out. Also my hair is long dark brunette and my bf has short blonde so was definitely not ours lol. Not going there again

Used to go a lot as a young child with my family- hadnt been here in years- very pleased with the service and the food!

Terrible service.... Made us wait 3 hours for delivery said they would bring it right away after calling back and never did... lady on the phone was so rude

Happy to find this place open on a Sunday evening (in a small town) and it was a great buffet dinner for $23 per person. Good quality food and a wide selection of rice, noodles, meat, seafood, a won ton soup, some desserts and ice cream. I believe it is a family-run place with attentive and friendly staff. Was great to also see so many locals coming in to eat.

Our first time trying take out from The Golden Dragon in PA, and we were very happy with the portions, price, and quality. The spring rolls are likely the largest Ive ever had.

Place closes at like 4pm the food is nasty and the girl working there actually hung up on me . Just wanted a simple take out order. I was treat myself to the spicy prawns the chow mein a friend rice a almond chicken and a Szechuan chicken. And a war wonton for lunch tom. Would have been a $200 order. Bunch of incompetent OWNERS.

We were very disappointed with the food. Chop sueyhadtoomuch broccoli,food was not hot when we picked it up . Dinner for 2 was listed 26.50 and we paid 38.80 please update your website . It will be a long time before we go back

Not bad place

Very nice restaurant. Great server too!

Very good food. Under relatively new ownership. Smorg is no longer daily. I recommend you check in advance. Otherwise come in and enjoy the terrific full plates from their kitchen.

Good

Good service good food always like the smorgasbord

A little dissappointed. I live in another municipality but was attempting to procure a suprise birthday dinner delivery for my mother and the restaurant would not allow it

Not as good as the last time we were there. Was disappointed overall most food trays were empty and low. The girl who took us to the table was nice and friendly but we waited for the bill to come and decide to go up front and pay . We stood for a while before some one came and there were servers watching us who never approached us or got anyone to come ring us through. Also while I was paying and waiting for them to finish sale they started serving other customers transactions before finishing mine and made me wait till the newer customer were taken care of. Over all was not happy with the experience especially when we were so happy with the last time we were there. So big thumbs down this time!!? :(

Fast friendly service and good food.

Excellent!

We havent been to GD in a long time, this was a great first experience with the new owners, the food was excellent and fresh, and service was good.

Or server was very friendly nice food wasnt what I expected

Love the wor wonton soup here and the buffet is good too

Excellent customer service & enjoyed very delicious food from the smorgasbord!

Hot and tasty.

Good food, we did a pick up order, got all the way home and they missed 2 parts of the order. They delivered the missing items; charged us for it; then tried to make us feel guilty for not tipping the driver. Husband gave a tip on the first order. Not our fault they didnt check to see if it was all there.

Ordered at 6:15pm they said about an hour but not its 8pm and Im still hungry lol

inconsistent pricing in the last few months, ordered the same food multiple times for it to be different totals for the same dishes on multiple occasions. Ordered delivery, person who took the order wrote down the dishes for two of my items wrong and its taken over an hour for it to be fixed. Was told it would go out with the next delivery and over an hour later (over 2 hours since original order time) it is still not here. 2.5 hours after our order the food is yet or be here. We called once more to find out the delivery driver was not notified of the mistake as well as our food wasnt even made. Not happy and wont be ordering again.

The food there honestly wasnt too bad and the prices were really good.Id say its a bang for your buck.

Deliciousness

Yummm

Honestly the worst chinese food I have EVER had. The sweet and sour pork has the weirdest after taste. All 4 of us hate all this food. 10/10 do NOT reccomend.

We had take out and the food was absolutely delicious!

Waited too long for meal while others at my table were already eating. Sweet and sour was crunchy and way too sweet. I did like the chow mein.

Good eats. Mothers favorite place for smorgasbord

The best buffet in Port Alberni and maybe the island

Absolutely not interested in local wild vegan produce (mushroom) even almost given for free (a bit of something to taste I asked) for 4-5lb various chantarells ) and then I learn that their buffet not today only Fri-Sun 4.30pm-8.00pm and I say ok I will come on those days then. And then I ask for bathroom, she is able to say no, you are not customer...sic

Awesome smorg nite (peeled prawns)

Terrible service and cold food ... also unsanitary

Staff are friendly. Food is salty and sugary.

Awesome Food! Check out the Dragons Chinese New Year Brunch. Its epic!

MENU HAS CHANGED!!! HAMBURGERS + FRIES ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE!! Theyre off the menu.6 FRIED RICE HAS CHANGED! SWEET + SOUR SAUCE HAS CHANGED + TASTES GROSS! PRICES HAVE DRASTICALLY INCREASED FOR SMORGASBORD + THERES LESS FOOD!! RESTAURANT ONLY OPEN TO 9:00 EACH NITE!! EVEN WEEKENDS!! The staff is still friendly + place is still clean. New owners bring new changes.

New owners have made great improvements to the food! The buffet was amazing!!

New menu, lots of seafood , great food and service!

Friendly

Better than CJs

New owners have ruined the charm

Hate this place. Food is always old tasting and they are really expensive

Sevice great, food i would say 2 out of 5 and price is too high I will not be back.

Great food, The new management is great

Food over cooked , not much selection

Fantastic buffet

Hot and spicy szechuan shrimp plus other favorites. Liked it.

Great service and wonderful new smorgasbord, very fresh.

Busy today

Was a good buffet, nice variety!!

We came for Sunday lunch, visiting from Victoria. The buffet is good, better than the buffet in Victoria. Lots of shrimp, hakaw, siomai. The food is freshly cooked. The place is large, with two private rooms. Not sure why there were not a lot of people though.

Great buffet

Order for delivery waited hour and half and called back to see where the food was and it still didn t leave the kitchen, Terrible customer service

We were here in May. Ownership changed in February, and now the food is absolutely amazing. We had the buffet. Each dish tasted different, because each dish is prepared individually, so each flavour is unique. LOTS to choose from and absolutely delicious. We re south of Ladysmith, but the next time we want Chinese it ll be absolutely worth the 90 minutes it ll take us to drive there. Clean. Great staff, and the food was the best Chinese we ve ever had! Thank you

Delicious food, tuns of flavor. I will definitely eat here again

Food is fantastic

Great buffet. Mussel and squid are excellent

Great food, great service and friendly staff.

Buffet Osm in non veg

Loved the food , great quality

Great staff good food everytime

Long time customer just a bad experience tonight. Order for pickup and said it will be ready in 20minutes and it takes 45minutes and had girlfriend sitting there waiting forever. The food wasn t very good.ordered pork fried rice and it had frozen vegetables in it. Not good. Breaded almond chicken had no almonds.

Greatly improved food with new ownership. Friendly service

Loved the variety of food in the smorgasbord

Food is always good and lots of it

Really miss the old owners .prices are high foods ok at best

Best buffet in town.

Faster service and friendly staff

Best Chinese smorgasbord around. Lots of fresh seafood. Very happy, great value. Come hungry.

Food was delicious and service was great!

Selction limited. Food not up to temp

Awsome late dinner..been awhile..but worth it. .

Always the best

Fantastic from top to bottom.

My chicken fried rice had two big egg shells in it.

Mediocre at best, lack of other options

Lunch buffet is a very good value at $11.95. Variety of traditional canadiana chinese food. Salad bar had my favourite jello. Service was excellent. It is also clean. Family friendly. Maybe i should give it 5 stars.

Its about what youd expect from small town Canadian Chinese food. It tries to be as inoffensively flavoured as possible. Which is a shame. Its no longer the 1970s or 80s. Small town palates have come a long way since those days, they can handle spices and flavours.

Not bad food and good service

If youre really hungry and you dont care what junk you eat - this spot is for you. I have been to good Chinese buffets and this one 1-2 out of 5. Not too many entrees to choose from, low quality shady deep fried chunks of something, half dirty plates, a bit weird ppl... This place has it all.

Chiken

The food was acceptable. The service could have been better. Everyone looked sad except one woman who ran the check when we paid (she had two buns on her head. Very cute). I overheard a man who was unable to pay being chastised and it seemed like they were going to charge the server for his bill. I sincerely hope that isnt the sort of thing this restaurant does. If you want a quick meal, this will work.

Went in at ten pm for dinner was told it s to late even though they close at 11. Why be open till 11 if you won t serve people?

My 8 year old son LOVES this place. He says Everything here is SUPER delicious.

Good service

Everything was over cooked very dry I orderd a 7up and it was flat worst Chinese food place in town

Flat pop, greasy over cooked chicken and shrimp. Found a baby crab inside the rice. Do not eat here.