Inconspicuously nestled in the corner of the Bosque River Center next to Cinemark Cinema 6 is Golden China, one of the only two Chinese restaurants in town, where it has been for decades. Stephenville never been known for its Chinese food, however when one craves Asian, Golden China is a surprisingly decent choice to avoid a long drive to Fort Worth.

Having spent a couple of months in China and Taiwan, I’ve fashioned myself into something of an Asian food snob. My preferred establishments for Asian food typically are Phơ restaurants, Sushi bars, and traditional, authentic Chinese restaurants that I have to drive to an Asian district in Dallas to find. Being in Stephenville is not conducive to those kinda of preferences, but in the spirit of making do with what I’ve got, I gave Golden China the old college try.

First of all, rule number one to better Chinese food is to avoid the buffet.  The other Chinese restaurant in town is buffet-only, so I figured Golden China, which offers a buffet during certain periods but is primarily menu-driven, would be likely to offer the better quality food.

After being seated, I was quickly impressed.  After taking the drink order, I was brought a bowl of fried wonton skins with sweet and sour sauce for dipping.  While obviously not authentic, I thought it was a neat Chinese version of Mexican chips and salsa and was a very tasty appetizer.

After perusing the menu, I quickly realized the best deal is definitely the “family dinner” for $9.95. I got a choice of wonton or egg drop soup, an egg roll, a BBQ pork spare rib, white or fried rice, and a choice between about half a dozen or so entrees, which is quite a nice spread for being under $10.00. Since I was there with company, we each got a different soup.  Both soups tasted fine, as well as the egg rolls, and were just standard fare for Chinese restaurants.  The entrees chosen were sweet and sour chicken and pepper steak. I really liked the batter on the sweet and sour chicken, which was fried, and the pepper steak was very nice.  It was a bit heavy on the green bell peppers; I will pick a different entree next time I go, but it was still a good meal, and everything seemed very fresh.

The highlight of the food was definitely the barbeque pork spare ribs.  I had never tried any kind of Asian barbeque before that I can remember, but I was quite impressed. The magic was that it had been basted with the sweet and sour sauce while being cooked, which caused the sauce to be carmelized.  So much flavor came from this carmelization.

This quality offering was topped off with friendly service, therefore this dining experience goes down as a win in my book.  Granted, it’s nothing like what one can find in the metroplex, but for a place to pacify the Chinese food craving in the Cowboy Capital of Texas, Golden China certainly holds its own.