Dragon Inn Chinese Restaurant

"Szechuan and other Chinese food on Guess Rd in Durham"Nestled in a strip shopping center with "Ollie's" and Italian Pizzeria is this little gem. We came on a Saturday night with a group of 5. The restaurant is fairly brightly lit and welcoming. There were a few other customers, but not many.The menu had Chinese-American restaurant staples (e.g., sesame chicken and the like) as well as a few Szechuan dishes. I went for the spicy eggplant. We shared an order of crab rangoon, and others at m table ordered sesame tofu, a seafood hotpot, and a dish with shiitake mushrooms and baby bok choi. We were brought a pitcher of water for the table, which was nice so we had it as we needed it. Each dish came with a choice of white or fried rice. One nice thing I saw-- you had the choice of chicken fried rice, and the eggrolls (which we didn't order) were also chicken-- good for non-pork eaters.We liked our food overall. My spicy eggplant was absolutely delicious-- perfectly cooked japanese eggplant and seasoning. It was quite mild to my taste-- not really that spicy overall-- but I was looking for flavor over heat so I didn't mind. My son really liked his seafood hotpot-- it had surprisingly little liquid but a mountain of seafood (fake crab meat, fish balls, and more) and tofu in it. My daughter liked the sesame tofu-- I had a bite and it was fine. The crab rangoons were good/ pretty typical. The least popular (but still OK) dish was the mushroom & bok choi... it was oddly slimy and not wonderfully flavored, but again it was still OK. Don't think any of us will order that again in the future, but it was worth trying.The only negative was the pacing of the meal, though this was partly our fault. We didn't get our dishes at the same time, and the polite among us let their dishes get cold waiting for the other dishes to arrive. There was perhaps a 10-15 minute gap between the first and last dish arriving (and weirdly the appetizer came after the hotpot). This all would have not been a problem if we were eating "family style" with everyone sharing dishes as they arrived, but we instead ordered individual dishes, so this was less than ideal (again, partly our fault).Price was fair-- came to roughly $80 before tip. Given this fed 5 of us, and we had some leftovers to take home, that's pretty reasonable.Given Gourmet Kingdom in Carrboro is a bit of a hike for those of us in North Durham, this is a decent option for some Szechuan or other Chinese food in the area-- good chance we'll come back and try more on the menu.

We came here mostly for nostalgia and that's about all we got. We used to live in this area and came to this restaurant regularly over 20 years ago. When visiting the area today we wondered if it was still here and it is! It's a bit seedy. The food is pretty good but not great. Large selection.

The major issue with this restaurant is that everything 'spicy' is cut from the same spice cloth. If you just got one thing, maybe you wouldn't notice - that one piece of cloth is pretty tasty! But when your Chongqing chili chicken, your boiled fish in chili oil, and your dry pot all taste basically the same with a few minor variations, it gets a little much.I'm thankful for the waiter, who overheard me wondering if I could handle triple chili pepper spicy, and reassured us that it wasn't spicy. Having sweat my entire face off in dry pot restaurants in Chongqing and Chengdu, I was skeptical, but indeed - 'three chili pepper spicy' wasn't even enough to bead my forehead.So, taken separately - the chili chicken was probably the best, in a satisfying finger food kind of way. Like much more exciting chicken fingers. This would be followed by the fish, which has a thicker chili sauce/broth and a decent stewy bite. The dry pot, while tasty, is really too saucy to be dry and gives the textural impression of, I don't know, yakisoba.

Just moved here and desperately seeking good (not even great) Chinese food. Dragon Inn is not it. Rice was cold and clumpy. I ordered pepper beef. What little beef there was was thin and nearly shredded. It was tasteless without even a hint of spice. My wife ordered the curry chicken. Again, equally bland. The egg rolls were thick and doughy void of taste.We shall continue our quest. Just not here again.

Great shopping plaza place to eat. Very good menu with many options to choose from. The inside is quaint with tables in front & to the side. Good atmosphere though pretty warm with kitchen other side of wall. Food very tasty. My fav is crab Rangoons with shin San which is chi ken pork lg shrimp & veggies . Can get spicy or not. Truly a savored dish & leftovers!!

I have only order takeout from this restaurant. The food is delicious especially the shrimp foo young and the sweet and sour shrimp ( no one in Durham has this dish except this place). The staff is friendly and helpful.

Our favorite local Chinese place for takeout in the Northern Durham area. Their Moo Goo Gai Pan is scrumptious!!

Still 5 stars. Tonight we ordered chive pancakes from the special menu. Scrumptious! Fried wonton wrappers around chives and scrambled eggs. We didn't see the Chinese menu until after we ordered, but we were pleased with the Singapore noodles (super spicy ) and Kung Pao shrimp. The veggies in the shrimp dish were perfectly cooked. One note would be to be mindful of any allergies. Spouse request his noodles without egg, which was honored. However the chive pancakes arrived with egg, which we did not expect. It worked out well for me because I got to eat spouse's share. We should really go here more often.

Our usual Chinese restaurant of over 15 years had hired a new cook and things have gone way downhill. So we've decided to try some places we haven't been to before using Yelp reviews. We landed here for Christmas even though it's on the other side of town.I actually used to dine at this location many years ago, but I believe it was called something else and maybe different owners. Anyway, we were seated by a not so friendly man who seemed impatient with us as we were trying to decide what to order.I choose the pork egg foo young which was three patties smothered in gravy with white rice on the side. It was quite tasty and I definitely had leftovers. My spouse had the chicken and vegetables which was also an ample portion that she thought was just okay. It also came with an egg roll that she enjoyed.Overall the food was pretty good, but the vibe was kind of strange. I guess if I'm over on that side of town I'd give it a try again, but for now the search continues for our new spot.

Best take out! We love the food and have been ordering from here for more than ten years- cashew chicken is my FAVORITE! The egg drop soup is beyond yummy. Fast and great food