Golden Palace Chinese - Timaru

Great food smorgasbord could have had more options. Service was top-notch! The restaurant was very dimly lighted which I wasn't a fan of.

A little weary and a wee bit famished I sought out a nice hot meal without the need to be overly social; Chinese takeaway back at the hotel was a great idea. Finding the restaurant was not obvious and when confronted with an all caps sign asking you to keep your dirty shoes out of the restaurant I decided to gamble on the hospitality aspect of the food services industry and risk going up the stairs with my shoes on if you are going to face your maker; do it with your boots on. This is where the average atmosphere rating comes into existence the carpets were a bit more brown then the intended deep red indicated on the edges of the carpet. The decor had what you imagine a Hollywood producer would lull you into believing a Chinese restaurant should look like but it was just a little bit too tired but did its function. I was impressed by the private dining areas for intimate groups as well as normal tables. The ceiling design was fantastic and was lost a little bit by the other aspects. The service was fairly good for a Saturday night at a place that had a few tables and a number of takeaway orders. It did take a while to come out (I had time to walk down to the local PAK'nSAVE, shop for late night snacks and have a 5 10 minute wait). But it was also a good sign as it turns out because it great sign of a freshly cooked meal. Saying that there were obviously regular locals who turned up with brown bags that were taken out the back to have their orders stored in and returned to the trusted local. The service could be improved by improving some of the systems like pay/wave payments and a POS that tracks orders so customers aren't asked what they ordered the scrap pieces of papers are wasting your time in conducting an interrogation and makes the customer feel a little less loved. Now lets talk food. When going to a new place I observe the locals. If you after the best coffee in the morning watch where the early morning tradies go to. Want the best Chinese food, stalk the local Chinese community and where they frequent that's the place; just don't make people paranoid otherwise you might be reviewing the cuisine of the penitentiary. In this case I get the feeling that there was no thriving Chinese diaspora in Timaru but by the frequency of locals heading up the palace stairs I felt this was going to be a good bet. I ordered the satay prawns and vegetables, sweet sour pork (I know safe white person choice) with steamed rice. Priced under $50, hot, great ingredients and HUGE portions. The food made my night and I was unable to finish; large amounts of leftovers for those who enjoy next day re heated Chinese lunch. Golden Palace I salute you.

After much debating on a cold Timaru night, we ended up here. Staff were hard to find, place was virtually empty but.... we'd reached The End. We had zero expectations. We were very pleasantly surprised. The Fu Egg Yung was more of an omelette.. but a very well cooked and tasty. Great texture.. The Chicken cashew was really tasty... NO nasty frozen veg. They have great wee circular booths for larger numbers which could be great fun. Definitely worth a try and a shame to maybe lose it through lack of customers. This was a Wednesday. It might be heaving at weekends.

We got the takeaway family deal, huge amount of food for $70 everything was so yummy, we did wait a while for the takeaway order so best to ring before you go.

Had steak chow mein takeaway weirdly small amount of noodles given they’re usually the cheapest component of the meal but wasn’t complaining as packed full of fresh, hot, veges and beef. Gravy super tasty. The roast spare ribs were tender and tasty. They didn’t seem to be roasted, but they were still very good, though not exactly as advertised perhaps. Staff were friendly and attentive. Service was quick.