Golden Star Restaurant

My family and I love this restaurant. I will rate it 5 stars because it's just amazing, the food is really delicious, customer service is amazing, they greet, and attend you as soon as you walk in the door. As of now I know they accept cash and debt or credit cards because my family has used from all 3 different ways to pay here. I really think it's worth it to go here. Plates ranges ($-$$) for single person, when it come to family I can range from ($$-$$$). I simply love it 💯❤️

Stella made it absolutely a wonderful experience. She has such a wonderful heart and is so efficient she makes a quick lunch very enjoyable. The food was fresh and quite good. I like their offerings as well, a little bit different for the day-to-day Chinese restaurant

I've been coming here for years. My family loves their Chinese food. We love that we can call our order ahead and have it ready by the time we arrive. I love seaweed soup, but theirs isn’t my favorite. It’s a little too watery and I’ve realized over the years that I like the broth thicker. Still doesn’t stop me from ordering it though. (Mentioning that for all of you seaweed soup fans)

I am from the UK and our Chinese food is very different from that served in the USA. I spent 6 months living in Monterey and we would go to this place once a week. It was super value for the price and quantity. Lunch is a soup and then an enormous plate of your dish and rice. I always had chicken cashew nut and rice, plus a small desert. The old lady who serves is utterly delightful. For me, this was a wonderful discovery and I miss it.

One of the best kept secrets in Salinas. Large portions and friendly, amazing service. Try the War Wonton with Chili oil🤤🤤 it's my must have once a week

Dannielle Delmenico

One of the best kept secrets in Salinas. Large portions and friendly, amazing service. Try the War Wonton with Chili oil🤤🤤 it's my must have once a week

Loved this little gem!! Food was delicious!! Classic. 👌🏻

Sandy and Stella are great. I like the service and the food is so tasty. Wor Won Ton soup is one of my favorites as is the Beef egg foo young. Sesame balls are always perfect. Thank you so much for your hard work and service to the community. (Sandy and her family have retired and this place is now under New Ownership since 2021)

First time coming to this place omg I love it so delicious friendly ppl this is my favorite place from now on 👍🏻

Excellent experience. We took our 10 yr old grandson. We all loved it; the food, hot tea, the service, the comfortable seating. The waiter couldn't have been more attentive and the cook even came out to see how we were doing. My husband didn't stop talking about how it was the best Chinese food he'd ever had and my grandson tried to remember the name so his parents would take him there. Thank you Golden Star. We'll be back, even though we don't live in Salinas. It's worth the 40 minute drive though.

The place was nice Friendly. Good service Good food ! The waitress was excellent.

Food was delicious. Very large portions so be careful. The service was great and super responsive. The atmosphere could have been a little better. It’s very old school. That’s just personal preference though. Overall it was great and we will back again.

Best Chinese food in Salinas hands down , food is always fresh made to order . Highly recommend

TaraLynn 805

Loved this little gem!! Food was delicious!! Classic. 👌🏻

Jose Carranza

Best Chinese food in Salinas hands down , food is always fresh made to order . Highly recommend

Veronica Ramirez

First time coming to this place omg I love it so delicious friendly ppl this is my favorite place from now on 👍🏻

Central Coast Polishing & Restoration

Food was delicious. Very large portions so be careful. The service was great and super responsive. The atmosphere could have been a little better. It’s very old school. That’s just personal preference though. Overall it was great and we will back again.

steve delay

Best Chinese food I have ever eaten. Ordered the single person plate dinner and was stuffed; so good that I ate every bit. Tony, our waiter was excellent and very attentive. He was always smiling and making sure we were happy with our meal and the service. The cook even came to our table to see how we liked our food. I highly recommend it.

Sylvia Delay

Excellent experience. We took our 10 yr old grandson. We all loved it; the food, hot tea, the service, the comfortable seating. The waiter couldn't have been more attentive and the cook even came out to see how we were doing. My husband didn't stop talking about how it was the best Chinese food he'd ever had and my grandson tried to remember the name so his parents would take him there. Thank you Golden Star. We'll be back, even though we don't live in Salinas. It's worth the 40 minute drive though.

Chris Bible

Sandy and Stella are great. I like the service and the food is so tasty. Wor Won Ton soup is one of my favorites as is the Beef egg foo young. Sesame balls are always perfect. Thank you so much for your hard work and service to the community. (Sandy and her family have retired and this place is now under New Ownership since 2021)

It was great service was a little slow but that's okay the food was made it worth it

+2

Got just what we expected, an inexpensive Chinese lunch. The food is good but service is needing more help. Assuming they were short a staff member the two ladies running the busy restaurant apologized for not delivering items we didn't ask for but did manage to do it in a timely manner. We frequent this place because they serve sour soup and I'm never disappointed with what I'm served.

Under new management but still great tasting food!

+1

They have great lunch specials. They are also very accommodating for people that are in a lunch break. In the past, I worked in the agriculture industry and we would call ahead and they would have the plates already on the table covered keeping warm. The staff they have had in place for many years and they do an amazing job.

I had lunch special on Sunday (they charge additional $2 for weekends.) I got good food for a reasonable price: shrimp, soup, and egg roll. The food was tasty. Would go back again.

Ok food, good prices. Wor Wonton, large portions though.

Gina Hinds, REALTOR

They have great lunch specials. They are also very accommodating for people that are in a lunch break. In the past, I worked in the agriculture industry and we would call ahead and they would have the plates already on the table covered keeping warm. The staff they have had in place for many years and they do an amazing job.

Wil Gong

Ok food, good prices. Wor Wonton, large portions though.

Sophie Ca

I had lunch special on Sunday (they charge additional $2 for weekends.) I got good food for a reasonable price: shrimp, soup, and egg roll. The food was tasty. Would go back again.

Rex

Under new management but still great tasting food!

First time trying this place & I’d definitely come back in the later hours. Food was debatable but I feel like it has a good & okay days. Stuff was friendly & really loved the bar area you can eat alone if you decide to. Wine list was nice as well. Loved the decor even if looked a bit dated.

Some of the food is good but some has changed in taste such as egg flower soup. It's no longer like a soup but taste like it has starch added to make it thicker. It takes some of the flavor away. I don't enjoy it so much anymore.

It was a take out order, so service and atmosphere doesn’t really apply. I used to love this place and had high hopes for when it changed hands, but dude! What happened to your Egg Fu Yung?? It was once your “go to” dish is now a deep fried bready brick. The gravy is still excellent, but are you guys ok?? The lemon chicken has agree flavor, but instead of clusters, they are cutlets that breading falls apart. The flavor and vegs are great for Kung Pow, but had a weird texture. The Mongolian beef is improved but isn’t amazing. Please go back to your previous cook or recipe!! I’d rather sit in a dated dinning room and enjoy delicious Chinese food, than a nice dinning room with over priced mediocre menu. I really want to continue to support you. I’ll try again in 6 months for lunch. Not doing this again for dinner.

Food was ok. Nothing that special. Soup was scalding hot. Great on a cold windy day. The chow mein was with those thick noodles, that personally, I don’t care for. Kung Pao chicken was spicy and flavorful. All in all, not a bad place for Chinese in Salinas, but not my favorite Chinese food.

Brandon Cohrs

Food was ok. Nothing that special. Soup was scalding hot. Great on a cold windy day. The chow mein was with those thick noodles, that personally, I don’t care for. Kung Pao chicken was spicy and flavorful. All in all, not a bad place for Chinese in Salinas, but not my favorite Chinese food.

Absolutely worst Chinese food I've ever eaten. It's like they're trying to imitate Chinese food and it falls flat. The service is good in the atmosphere is nice. Lots of parking in the parking lot behind. But save yourself the hassle and go somewhere else.

The majority of business looks to be takeout orders. No one at the restaurant spoke English. Just Spanish. The food was edible but not good. Would not recommend.

Even though my rating says 2 stars, I actually give it 1.5 stars. Here's why: I ordered a sizzling seafood dish with some rice on the side, but when I received my food, there were more veggies than I expected, and less meat than I expected as well. The food didn't taste that good either, as some parts tasted like they were chemically created, or had plastic in them. In addition, I found a hair in the rice that was served on the side. A HAIR. I found that really disgusting. I barely ate any of my food as a result of all of this. Also, the atmosphere and food quality made me think that this was an imitation restaurant rather than an authentic one. Really the only thing that was actually good about it was the fountain drinks. If you planned on going to this place, consider going somewhere else with a higher rating.

Walked in grabbed a menu and sat down. No server in sight. Within about 2 minutes the server came (1 server for the whole restaurant). Ordered the Kung Pao chicken lunch special and unsweetened ice tea. Took about 20 minutes to get the food. Soup came about 3 minutes before the Kung Pao chicken. Large portions of food. Soup was average. Kung Pao chicken tasted like soy sauces and something sweet. Did not like or hate it. Was not what I was expecting. Wanton had almost no filling and the same for the egg roll. Towards the end I noticed that the chicken was reddish inside. At first I thought it was the sauce but it wasn’t. Not sure if it was cooked properly, a different type of meat, or marinated in a different way. I stopped eating when I noticed. It’s been 5 hours and no digestion issues. Price was low for the amount of food you get ($14 dollars plus tip). I wanted to give it a higher score but cannot. Not planning on go there again.

Greg Rolsky

Walked in grabbed a menu and sat down. No server in sight. Within about 2 minutes the server came (1 server for the whole restaurant). Ordered the Kung Pao chicken lunch special and unsweetened ice tea. Took about 20 minutes to get the food. Soup came about 3 minutes before the Kung Pao chicken. Large portions of food. Soup was average. Kung Pao chicken tasted like soy sauces and something sweet. Did not like or hate it. Was not what I was expecting. Wanton had almost no filling and the same for the egg roll. Towards the end I noticed that the chicken was reddish inside. At first I thought it was the sauce but it wasn’t. Not sure if it was cooked properly, a different type of meat, or marinated in a different way. I stopped eating when I noticed. It’s been 5 hours and no digestion issues. Price was low for the amount of food you get ($14 dollars plus tip). I wanted to give it a higher score but cannot. Not planning on go there again.

Kristian Lara

Even though my rating says 2 stars, I actually give it 1.5 stars. Here's why: I ordered a sizzling seafood dish with some rice on the side, but when I received my food, there were more veggies than I expected, and less meat than I expected as well. The food didn't taste that good either, as some parts tasted like they were chemically created, or had plastic in them. In addition, I found a hair in the rice that was served on the side. A HAIR. I found that really disgusting. I barely ate any of my food as a result of all of this. Also, the atmosphere and food quality made me think that this was an imitation restaurant rather than an authentic one. Really the only thing that was actually good about it was the fountain drinks. If you planned on going to this place, consider going somewhere else with a higher rating.

Went in about 6:30 for dinner. The gentleman that took my order was a very kind young guy and he wrote down everything I ordered. The kitchen however ended up missing half of the order. This place used to be delicious. But the sweet and sour pork was chewy at best. More like sweet and sour god knows what they deep fried back there. The broccoli and beef was mushy as hell, and the beef was almost all sliced fat. I discovered there was almost no actual beef on it what so ever, just fat. They didn't include the orange chicken, they gave me a container of some thing that looked like rice crispies? And then gave me a bag of fried shrimp that I didn't ask for. The chow mein was just greasy and unedible. The fried rice seemed like it had been sitting out for about an hour. Will not eat there again.

With the new ownership, I finally decided to give it a try. The waitress was nice, the portions were large. But the food was the most bland Chinese food I’ve ever had. I couldn’t even “doctor” it up at home to make it taste better. Read the yelp reviews for more confirmation, sadly it’s not the same. Won’t be going back.

Sweet and sour chicken is sweet and sour breading. If there is any chicken in there it's dried out & taste like the dry overcooked breading. Beef broccoli you get 90% broccoli 10% beef. Only good thing was the fortune cookie.

I ordered takeout for 3 persons the gourmet Dinner the soup was way over cooked wonton very mushy and fall apart and no flavors Egg rolls ad wonton greasy and no crunchy at all Sweet and sour pork meat taste weird and sweet and sour sauce no flavor taste like water Brocoli beef no flavor and chewy Combination Chow Mein no flavor also I will never comeback End up throwing most of it

The food I ordered was super bland. I tried my tofu which was bland, under cooked and had hard peas and carrots that were probably added from frozen, not fresh. The vegetable tofu was also incredibly bland. White rice was ice cold. Orange chicken had hard bits in it. I definitely won't order here again.

Usually go to place on Park Row but they were closed that day. Walked in. Place is dark/dingy. One guy took my order on a back of an empty order pad, and he said about 25 minutes. Went out to my car, came back in 25 and nothing. Waited another 20 min. People were pouring in with call-in orders and waiting 15-20 min for their call-in's. The front of house server takes orders then disappears in the back for 10-15 min, presumably to help the kitchen staff, so you have no idea of the status of your order. The guy finally reappeared and I asked about my order and he asked what was my name. I told him, "you didn't ask for it" and described him my 4-item order. He didn't have much to say and I waited another 15 min, and a few other customers came in, and that was all I could take...and walked out. The Park Row place you call-in, they say 10 min, and you walk in and food is sitting there ready...EVERY time. And it tastes better.

This used to be our favorite Chinese food. We had heard that it was under new management but tried it last night anyway. Called in a takeout order of our usual favorites, was told it would be 15 minutes. Arrived 30 minutes later and still waited 15 minutes for our food. The young man at the counter was very pleasant and professional. Everything was hot and smelled good. We ate the sesame balls in the car, delicious. We got home to our entrees and everything went downhill. Vegetable chow mein was flavorless and greasy. Hunan chicken was so flavorless it didnt even taste like chicken. Orange beef had a decent flavor but was overcooked and mostly crunchy breading. My jalapeño rice was actually pretty good but not spicy at all despite there being ample jalapeños. Service was decent but food was terrible. Very disappointed in the quality of food.

Hey guys I ordered orange chicken was falling apart (literally the breaded part of it was just hanging off like literally peeled), broccoli beef (drenched in oil and broccoli was overdone), fried rice ( no flavor) and shrimp vegetables (drenched in oil and maybe like 4 shrimp on the dish). Also, I ordered the chicken nugget combo meal with fries (Big disappointment, couldn’t even make the chicken nuggets right). Will definitely not be buying or coming back ever again. So much for Sunday take out. They said wait time was 10-15 min, try more like 30-45minute wait. If I could give 0 as a score, I would.

So i got a lunch special on a Sunday. Additional $2 dollars since its a weekend and since it was a take out order i did not receive the soup. They charged me for a full side order (no small sides) only one size. Order came out to about $19.98 if i recall correctly for one person, for a lunch special of fried rice, chicken chow mein, 1 spring roll, and side of broccoli beef. I could immediately tell it was under new management from the food and how it was cooked and the prices. Unfortunately, i will not be going back and will be looking for a new chinese food place, anyone got any recommendations?

Definitely 100%… not chicken. It was like a fish consistency. I could mash it with a Fork??!?! I don’t know what meat I was eating but DEFINITELY not chicken. Reviews must be fake, no way 4.2 star rating using substitute meat. The veggies were not at all fresh. The spouted beans were old in particular. Everything was overcooked except the broccoli. I could tell this was leftover-leftover-leftover food. The rice was overcooked and tasted like a sticky rice consistency. I know some places aren’t consistent but how they cooked I can tell this is the norm. This is not Chinese/Chinese-American food. This is a 5 year old in the kitchen playing “guess”. Food was inedible I had to throw it away.

Alyssa J

Definitely 100%… not chicken. It was like a fish consistency. I could mash it with a Fork??!?! I don’t know what meat I was eating but DEFINITELY not chicken. Reviews must be fake, no way 4.2 star rating using substitute meat. The veggies were not at all fresh. The spouted beans were old in particular. Everything was overcooked except the broccoli. I could tell this was leftover-leftover-leftover food. The rice was overcooked and tasted like a sticky rice consistency. I know some places aren’t consistent but how they cooked I can tell this is the norm. This is not Chinese/Chinese-American food. This is a 5 year old in the kitchen playing “guess”. Food was inedible I had to throw it away.

This is honestly the worst Asian food ive ever had, the chow main i couldn't tell if they gave me chicken or chickens, vegetable beef looked great but all I can taste is overwhelming garlic, our egg drop soup is so thick it doesnt move and has a gross texture. Im pissed.

Came in but wasn't greeted nor did anyone check to see if we wanted to order just plain rude customer service wouldn't recommend ended up going to the other side for chinese food cantonses chinese food and they had wonderful service

Everything we ate last night except for the crab ragoon and egg rolls were horrible. I know they usually have decent chow mein but did not get it this time. The sweet and sour chicken was actually pork and over cooked to the extent that it appeared like it was old or cooked twice because it was old. The soup was way salty and noodles had weird texture. This place used to be pretty good. But since they changed owners it's gone down in quality.

I came here yesterday to pick up a prepaid online DoorDash order. When I arrived, the older lady at the counter charged me a second time. Mistakes happen, and I wasn’t upset about that, but what happened afterward was extremely concerning. When I came back to clarify the double charge, the employee refunded me in cash for $24.04. I left the 4 cents in change on the counter since I didn’t need the coins. Instead of ignoring it or simply leaving it there, she threw the coins toward me and said something along the lines of “don’t insult me.” A couple of the coins did hit my body. I was stunned. I’ve never had a restaurant employee throw anything at me before, especially after I had been overcharged in the first place. It was unprofessional, disrespectful, and completely unnecessary. And this was during lunch hour, so there were other customers in the place. At no point was I rude or had confrontational body lanuage. She didn't apologize. She didn't clarify. She just walked away as if assaulting a customer is normal behavior. I tried calling the next day to speak with a manager, but was told “no manager” before the person hung up the call. I called again right after twice, and they just let it ring. I’m leaving this review because I believe customers deserve to be treated with basic respect, even when the restaurant is busy or understaffed. I hope management addresses this incident seriously so it doesn’t happen to anyone else. I hope I can get in touch with the manager/owner but I doubt they care.

Tanay Pattani

I came here yesterday to pick up a prepaid online DoorDash order. When I arrived, the older lady at the counter charged me a second time. Mistakes happen, and I wasn’t upset about that, but what happened afterward was extremely concerning. When I came back to clarify the double charge, the employee refunded me in cash for $24.04. I left the 4 cents in change on the counter since I didn’t need the coins. Instead of ignoring it or simply leaving it there, she threw the coins toward me and said something along the lines of “don’t insult me.” A couple of the coins did hit my body. I was stunned. I’ve never had a restaurant employee throw anything at me before, especially after I had been overcharged in the first place. It was unprofessional, disrespectful, and completely unnecessary. And this was during lunch hour, so there were other customers in the place. At no point was I rude or had confrontational body lanuage. She didn't apologize. She didn't clarify. She just walked away as if assaulting a customer is normal behavior. I tried calling the next day to speak with a manager, but was told “no manager” before the person hung up the call. I called again right after twice, and they just let it ring. I’m leaving this review because I believe customers deserve to be treated with basic respect, even when the restaurant is busy or understaffed. I hope management addresses this incident seriously so it doesn’t happen to anyone else. I hope I can get in touch with the manager/owner but I doubt they care.

Michelle Rojas

Came in but wasn't greeted nor did anyone check to see if we wanted to order just plain rude customer service wouldn't recommend ended up going to the other side for chinese food cantonses chinese food and they had wonderful service

Andrew Wilson

Everything we ate last night except for the crab ragoon and egg rolls were horrible. I know they usually have decent chow mein but did not get it this time. The sweet and sour chicken was actually pork and over cooked to the extent that it appeared like it was old or cooked twice because it was old. The soup was way salty and noodles had weird texture. This place used to be pretty good. But since they changed owners it's gone down in quality.

Caitlyn

The food I ordered was super bland. I tried my tofu which was bland, under cooked and had hard peas and carrots that were probably added from frozen, not fresh. The vegetable tofu was also incredibly bland. White rice was ice cold. Orange chicken had hard bits in it. I definitely won't order here again.