Review: King Dragon
Author: Indy Food Geek | Filed under: Food Reviews, Location: Indianapolis, IN
King Dragon
2134 Broad Ripple Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46220
I think most everybody has that standard “I just don’t feel like cooking” takeout spot. Am I right? That place for me is, and always has been, a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant. I find one in every town that I inhabit for an extended period of time. Since moving to Indianapolis, I have relied solely on Side Wok Café on Broad Ripple Ave and have rarely been disappointed. This week, however, I decided to venture just a few blocks east to try King Dragon. All of the reviews (mostly positive) suggest the steamed vegetable dumplings. The only negative review that I read referenced soggy General Tso’s Chicken. WAIT…uh oh… That’s my standard order at a new restaurant! “It’ll be okay Geek, you just gotta adapt,” I told myself.
What impressed me right off the bat was the cleanliness of the little 12×15 foot dining room/register area. There were posters, flyers and pictures all over the wall but that just tells me that they care about their food and their community. Almost an entire wall was dedicated to photographs of practically the entire menu…and I’m not talking about the same stock backlit pictures you see at every other strip-mall spot. They had dutifully photographed their food in their to-go containers. Complete disclosure and no surprises. The newspaper clippings on the wall sang the praises of King Dragon’s steamed vegetable dumplings, so I knew I had to try those.
What I Got: Hot and Spicy Chicken Combo ($6.85) and Steamed Dumplings ($4.50).
Immediately after they started my order, I realized I had made an error. I order the “Steamed Dumplings” and not the “Steamed Vegetable Dumplings!” They were separate on the menu and spaced out enough that I didn’t see two different types of dumplings, so too late now. I usually love the ground pork in Asian dumplings, so I didn’t throw a fit.
When I unpacked the goods at home, I really liked what I saw. The fried rice looked stellar. It contained green onions and real roasted pork (not neon pink). The rice wasn’t even yellow! My usual place serves the yellow dye #5 weird “fried” rice. Why I put up with it, I simply do not know. Anyway, the chicken dish looked delicious too. Julienned carrots, onions and celery with sliced green peppers and chicken. The sauce was a garlicky, soy-based sauce with a slightly sweet finish. It tasted great with the little bit of wok-char on the veggies. It wasn’t very spicy at all. In fact, I probably should’ve asked for extra-spicy. The egg roll was perfectly cooked as it was not greasy at all; it was crispy, but pretty typical in flavor.
The dumplings were heavenly. While fairly dense, these bao-like dumplings were packed with sweet garlic and ginger that urged me to eat half of them before even sitting down. The sauce was very flavorful and helped accentuate the sweetness of the savory pork filling. If these are any indication of their dumpling-making ability, I have no doubt that the much-praised veggie versions are very good as well.
Would I Buy It Again? And leave my beloved Side Wok? YUP! This was really good. It somehow felt lighter and less salty than most takeout Chinese food. They also offer brown rice as a healthier alternative.
In the comments section, please tell me YOUR favorite “Don’t wanna cook” takeout place. It doesn’t have to be Chinese!
-Indy Food Geek
Tags: Broad Ripple, Chinese food, dumplings, hot and spicy chicken, king dragon, take-out
We’ve got a few places that we go to way more often than we should. Steer In (call it in they can be slow because its cooked to order) you can get anything from amazing stuffed pizza to great burgers, fried chicken, and tons of other great things. Also enjoy The Patio on East Washington great gyros and cheese fries. And for great Mexican REA on East Washington.
I’m right with you on this one. Whenever the girlfriend and I have that “don’t want to cook” feeling we probably also jump right to our favorite Chinese place. For us it’s Hong Kong Cuisine in Fishers. My favorite thing there is pretty much the exact same meal you got. I always get the chicken with garlic sauce combo and some dumplings. They also have really good fried rice with real roast pork. I can’t go back to eating the neon yellow stuff anymore. Also, if it’s just me sometimes and I don’t want to cook or spend very much dough I always zero in on Taco Bell. Not sure why. It’s just one of those quick guilty pleasure meals.
I just have to chime in on the..yellow #5 weird “fried” rice. The place I normally go for “Chinese” for lunch also servers that non fried yellow rice. Eastern China 96th and College.
Nothing really special about them, just just seam to do a decent job at everything I’ve tried there.
But their weird, yellow, non-fried, fried rice just sucks! No flavor, just filler. Why DO we put up with places that do that? Shouldn’t there be some requirement to actually FRY the FRIED rice? If it isn’t FRIED, maybe they should list it as yellow rice……
I’m struggling to find a GOOD hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant in the Fishers/Noblesville area. Hong Kong Cuisine has never impressed either myself or my wife in the several times we’ve gone there over the past 7 years of living up here. My wife loves General Tso’s and when I read the review on here I decided to give it another shot. I even read her the review and she got excited. Of course that excitement turned to disappointment with her first bite. There was little spice to it and it was overly sweet, which is the same issue she has everywhere she attempts this meal. I, on the other hand, am growing very jaded at the inability of these restaurants to make a decent Mongolian Beef. All restaurants list them as spicy, but the only way to make it as spicy as it should be is adding Sriracha sauce after the fact, which I really hate to do. Also, the “sauce” they cook it in is very bland and lends nothing to the overall flavor of the dish. All the other restaurants pretty much leave us with the same feeling. The only hole-in-the-wall my wife will patronize at this point is Chow Express at 75th and Shadeland. If I lived closer and had my way, however, we’d eat all our Chinese meals at Fast Wok at Mitthoeffer and Washington.
@Lance – Sing it, sister! United we can change the world…… of takeout Chinese food.
@Josh – Have you tried King Chef or Golden Wok in Fishers? I’m partial to King Chef, myself.
My favorite “Don’t Wanna Cook” place is Gumbo-a-Go-Go at 86th and Ditch. Love the bourbon chicken, the B&B, and that they’ll put crawfish in the chili cheese etoufee. Only thing that sucks is I have to make a special trip of it- wish they’d put one on the south side, as the hubby doesn’t really like Yats (sacrilege, I know).
I’m not a big fan of American Chinese Food… my go-to is usually some form of pizza (depending on how spendy I feel – either Puchini’s or Gramboli’s… or Papa J’s / Domino’s / etc, whoever has the best deal)
I usually hit up a local takeout place called “Beijing Chinese” when I’m the mood for that type of thing. The local Pizza King makes and amazing Texas BBQ sub, too! There are several “too lazy to cook” comfort food spots in my town
When I lived in Indy, King Dragon (short drive) or Yats (walking distance) were my go-to “Don’t Wanna Cook” takeout spots. I’m definitely one of the steamed veggie dumpling evangelists–and I’ve made the “steamed dumplings” mistake myself. Once. The non-veggie ones are good, but the veggie ones are… You’re going to have to get them. Since moving to the DC area, I’ve spent a tragic amount of time trying to find a King Dragon veggie dumpling replacement.
@Adam Bomb – Texas BBQ sub at Pizza King? What exactly would one find in this little gem of and off-menu sandwich?? And where could one purchase these vittles?
@Josh
If you were that disappointed with Hong Kong Cuisine I’m not sure how much hope there is for your quest for “hole-in-the-wall” Chinese. I live in the same area, and I was struggling to find options as well. I used to get takeout from Great Taste which is over near 141st and 37, but that place was terrible. I’m not sure what else there is. When I lived in Muncie there were 2 very good places and both delivered which seems to be something that no one will do around here.
Loved this review, as per usual! If I may provide a hypothesis: the larger the city, the harder it is to find a decent hole-in-the-wall American-Chinese restaurant.
“Huh?” you ask. Example: one of the best restaurants of this genre I will likely EVER eat is in a small Ohio town. The restaurant from the outside looks like it could double as an abandoned old shanty in Detroit, and the inside has a dungeon-like bathroom in the basement, which is terrifying. But the food….. wow. Its a local institution and always makes me happy when I indulge. Fast-forward and I am living in Muncie, IN. No fan of buffets, but of all the Chinese places there, the best two were buffets (and one had a review claiming they served dog!…. oh well, still ate there fairly frequently)
Fast forward further, and I am in Fishers, and while I was only there for 3 months, I tried several of these types of restaurants… maybe in due time I would have found “the one” (this is why “the bachelor” and “the bachelorette” are awful shows… you need time to find true love!) however I had little success topping Muncie, which had little success topping “tiny & creepy Ohio place”. Fast forward yet again, and I am in the heart of Chicago… There is fine dining EVERYWHERE. but where the H do you find 8 dollar, sloppy, delicious American-Chinese that serves it with tolerable rice and stands out among the crowd? Maybe, as I mentioned above, I will find it in due time… I need to search alleys and ghettos and suburbs… but I swear, the more options you have, the less any one individual place can stand out – thats just my opinion.
Again – awesome review! You should stick true to your “General Tso’s test”. Bummed you strayed from the protocol.
WOW I cannot wait to try King Dragon! I had no idea this place was worth a shot, for some reason always wrote it off. I also hear they have pad thai and other non-Chinese dishes. I have been pining for decent cheap fast Chinese in Broad Ripple for a LONG time. Going tonight
@Erin – I would suggest waiting to order at the counter instead of making your decision over the phone… this way you can choose based on the pictures on the wall-o’-food! You’ll have to pop back in here tomorrow and let us know how it was. I hope you enjoy!
So glad you guys reviewed King Dragon! It is high on my dont-wanna-cook list and I looooove the veggie dumplings. Also Yats, Patties of Jamaica and Sahm’s Place at 65th and Keystone for carryout…although half the time I show up to get my take-out I end up sitting, having a drink, chatting and eating out of the box right there.
@d-bagger
Yeah the buffets in Muncie were actually pretty good. King Buffet has been around awhile and it’s always been above par with other Chinese buffets I’ve went to. Recently a new one has opened called Tepanyaki Grill that I think is even better. Neither of those two were places I was thinking about though. The places I used to get takeout from were First Wok which is next to Incredible Yogurt on Bethel and China Kitchen which was in a plaza on Tillotson and River Rd.
Favorite don’t want to cook choice… any pizza place. I would’ve wrote this place off, but glad to know there is something worth stopping for.
King Chef or, if we don’t want to cook but have a bit of ambition, we get a roast chicken from Costco, a bag of salad and bread.
Thanks for the tip IFG! I didn’t get here last night, too cold to leave the house
but can’t wait to try this place SOON
Our favorite take-out place isn’t a traditional take-out place; we love to get to-go orders from Bob Evans. Their entrees are delicious and taste homemade. We’ve tried various things on the menu and have never been disappointed by the taste or the price; meals including a cup of soup and entree (which always include fresh baked rolls) are pleasingly affordable. Cheap eats that don’t taste cheap — always a plus in my book!
Chinese in Noblesville: Peking Garden has great mu shu pork and kung pao chicken. The shrimp toast is also killer.
(http://www.yelp.com/biz/peking-garden-restaurant-westfield)
Chinese in Fishers: Sichuan for the most american-chinese buffet M-F and authentic chinese on weekends (http://www.yelp.com/biz/sichuan-chinese-restaurant-carmel)
Italian: Matteo’s in Noblesville for killer lasagna; they pack a whole basket’s worth of their bread, cheese and oil in a to-go order (www.matteosindy.com)
Pizza to go: Quattro cheese with added pepperoni + risotto
Pizza delivered: Pizza Harbour, love the harbour hot chicken, add bacon! (www.pizzaharbour.com)
Try Happy Dragon at 71st and Binford
Very good food at good prices
We are Steak n Shake regulars when we’re feeling lazy!
King Dragon’s wonton soup is a favorite of mine. I find myself ordering it more often than I probably should, usually with some chile sauce added for a little kick. What sets it apart from other wonton soups I have experienced is the care they take in heating the wontons separately (to order even, perhaps) from the broth. They don’t hit the broth until your order is ready to go. The result is infinitely better than restaurants that allow the wontons to soak–and cook–all day, until they are tough and unpalatable. I will truly miss this dish when I move back to Muncie, but the prospect of a freshly made (as in, the we watched the chef make the rolls right behind the counter), affordable sushi at Teppanyaki is exciting.
@Dan – I can only assume that you’re referring to Domo – home of the Domo Roll… The midwestern pseudo-Japanese equivalent of the Big Mac…. Shamefully delicious.
I’m sorry, but I don’t get the love for this place. (King Dragon) Got food from them the other day for the first time, $30 worth – various items, including those recommended veggie dumplings. I regret to say everything tasted to me like mediocre to bad American-Chinese concoctions. Those veggie dumplings were singularly unappealing to me – much too thick a wrapper, the filling overwhelmed by celery, a one-note taste; the sauce (and others provided) all not much more than flavored starch goo. I’ll definitely pass on going back.