Golden Star Restaurant

The staff is really nice and always remember me, they waste no time to start making the food after taking your order, and it's always really delicious. 10/10 would highly recommend

Excellent. Always love eating here. The food arrives quickly and the quality is always fantastic. Absolutely delicious.

Soo we ordered the Mongolian beef and the portion was tiny with a huge side of uncooked nasty dried up noodles. Please beware they market on their lunch rate online as well, we did full sized instead for family style. Between that Mandarin chicken and pork fried rice it really wasn’t that good and was still over 50 for takeout. Willing to pay for high end quality and transparency of cost. To each its own, not doing this again.

Wow! What a hidden gem—Absolutely loved this spot. I live near Chinatown in San Francisco, and this place could give quite a few restaurants some much-needed competition. They serve up all the Cantonese classics with a few fun dishes of their own. Can’t wait to come back. PS the staff is HILARIOUS.

We had seeds and pork to start. It was good. Mustard is nice and hot. Ordered 2 dinners and shared. The food isn’t as good as it’s been in the past. Might have been a bad night but service seems to be geared toward pick up and delivery drivers rather than the customers in the restaurant. We waited a long time for an almost empty restaurant. My companion has been coming here since like the 50s or 60s and was disappointed also.

These folks were phenomenal with their customer service! I ordered through doordash, and an hour later, there was still no dasher picking up my order. I called Golden Star, and they completely remade my order when they saw a dasher was coming for the order. Above and beyond what was expected from them. We even shared pictures and had several phone conversations while all this took place. Absolutely amazing restaurant and workers ... period! Would highly recommend.

Fun, delicious, and beautiful...Perfect restuarant for an after work supper with Co workers. You'll love it.!!!

Golden Star is an awesome classic Chinese restaurant. We ordered family dinner #7 and it did not disappoint. Golden Star has the best BBQ pork i have ever had. I'm excited to try the pot stickers next time, they looked amazing. The service was great. We are new to Boise and we have found our spot for Chinese food.

Food was delicious!! Clean restaurant and service was excellent! My favorite is the Pork Chow Mien and it didn't disappoint.

Feels like a retirement home, I think you need to be at least 60 before entering. The food was tasteless and extremely Americanized. For example, the Egg Foo Young had McCormick brown gravy mix as sauce. Never again.

Inside out: Outside is a bit dated, so is the inside to be honest but I find it charming. The design is relaxing, open, and feels like a family owned restaurant in a good way. The service is incredibly lovely and kind. No complaints. Food: the amount of vegetarian options has truly expanded! The generals tofu was good, everything my family ordered and shared they enjoyed. It isn't the mind blowing Chinese food but it is good! The prices are reasonable and good portions. Overall: worth it to visit!

Today's visit was quite the experience. The last time I came, my server got me hooked up with everything I wanted! No issues. Today...... what a nightmare. They have a special on the board for 15 bucks. You get Mandarin chicken, special chow mein and an egg roll. That sounded all fantastic! I did want to swap the special cow mein for the basic crunchy chow mein. Yo, it was going to be 4 extra bucks!! What?!? 4 extra bucks for celery and bean sprouts. Lol So, I changed my order to a #7 dinner which was Mandarin chicken and the chow mein I wanted. I got the same meal last time and added a bowl of rice. Well, I guess they don't serve bowls of rice anymore. I would have to pay 8 bucks for a side of fried rice. Then my server kept saying do this meal or do this one. All the other meals she pointed out were nothing close to what I wanted. So, I just grabbed my #7 meal and an egg roll. The egg roll is a good sized roll. It was fried nicely. It did come with a side of hot mustard. The egg roll filling was on the saltier side. It needed more of a crunch element in the middle. It was kind mushy. The hot mustard was good but very watered down. It would have been nice for a little sweet and sour sauce to go with it. I wasn't going to ask for some cause it's probably 3 bucks for it. My dinner came out nice and hot! The Mandarin chicken was crunchy and savory. The sweet and sour sauce was good! My chicken wasn't drowned in it. The Chow mein will always be my favorite. It had a great savory note to it. The veggies were crunchy and fresh. My meal would have been complete if I was able to get that side of rice. I wasn't half way into my meal and my server asked if I wanted a box. Didn't ask how everything was going. When I did finally finish i packed up my food and got rung up. To top of my annoyance level, my server direct me to the tip chart and said "circle this one". Ya, needless to say, that was the most annoying service I have experienced. The food was good but my server today flopped.

We were seated almost immediately waters as we were seated from there it went downhill! It took over 10 min with 3 other tables one of which didn't have their whole party yet for our order to be taken. Didn't ask If we needed any other drinks other than hot tea. 2 employees were having a very lengthy conversation instead of helping customers. The decor has not changed since 1980 The food tasted old veggies undercooked thain dish was swimming in sauce.

Never been.. Had time to kill at lunchtime and this place was across the street.. Waitress was delightful.. Too many menus...food was not good.. We split a combination sort of plate and when she asked if we wanted a box.. we declined.. Left food on all plates.. Fried rice was tasteless..Fried shrimp were gummy doughy coating fried in old dark oil.. Best we can say was the waitress was charming.. My husband noted the menu made reference to extra egg charges for the foo young until the prices normalized... like sometime in the last year?? One time was more than enough for us.. Lucky Palace on the other side of town.. Hot, fresh, tasty, cooked according to your preferences..

Went here at the recommendation of my daughter and I wished I had known about it earlier. The service we received was great. I thought tea offered when you are seated had gone away, but this establishment has that old school vibe and all the things that made me love Asian cuisine (Americanized or not...they are all awesome) are present here. I already mentioned how good the service was, but it's worth mentioning just how good they were and they are really great. I cannot say enough about this place. I plan to go again soon and do an even deeper review (I suspect it will be a lot of bragging)!

Pros- Easy parking right in front of the restaurant. Arrived just after 7 PM on a Friday, and it was not busy inside. I think this location is much busier for lunch. The dining room appeared clean and orderly. They have a large menu but an even larger special board, when you walk in, to choose from. The food arrived quickly and was very delicious with good-sized portions. Usually you can choose any table in the dining room you would like. Waters were constantly refilled. At the end of your meal, they will bring to-go boxes before you even need to ask. I ordered the tofu and mushrooms with steamed rice and the sauce was incredibly flavourful even without the heat. . Cons- Menu modifications are not a problem, but everything comes with an up-charge. As soon as we sat down, the server tried to get our order, but we were not ready, so she instructed us that when we were ready to order, to look over at her and wave. Surprisingly, the rice that comes with your meal is a very small portion, and if you ask for more, that is an additional charge. Also, if you want hot sauce on the side, that too is an additional charge. We sat at a round table with a spinning lazy-susan in the center, but when the food came out, the server awkwardly reached to hand them to us, instead of simply using the lazy-susan to spin it around to each person. I believe the server was slightly upset when I did not realize she was handing the rice to me when I was still getting the dinner plate sat in front of me. They do offer a choice of heat levels from mild to medium to hot. I chose the medium and could not taste any heat at all, so I would probably recommend getting a hot because if you try to get hot sauce on the side, they will charge you! I think what bothered me the most was that when she presented the checks, she expected immediate payment from everybody. I WAS STILL EATING! She said that she did not want to make multiple trips to run the credit cards, so she expected us to pay all at once! She handed us several extremely dirty pens to sign our credit slips. And I really wish they would get new pens. She made sure to return and get the signed credit slips before we ever stood up. This felt awkward to us. I honestly don't understand the rush because they were still open for another hour+, after we paid. . Maybe our server was having an off day, but I could see other servers that were much friendlier and knew how to smile that we may request to be with them on our next visit.

Food here has been a standard bearer of classic Chinese food in the Boise area. Always a great location for classic hot tea and the food is always set to a high standards. A favorite place to visit.

Every year for a long time now, we've eaten Chinese food on Christmas Day. We were looking for a new place to try and discovered the Golden Star. I'm not sure what most people seek out in America when it comes to "authentic", but some reviews were not favorable to here. By no means am I an expert, but this restaurant and its staff deserve some Kudos on our first visit. Honestly did not know this place existed. We don't live in the immediate Boise/Meridian area. However, whenever it works out again, we will definitely return. We were impressed on how well they were handling the influx of people on the holiday meal train. We were early, or so we thought, in getting here by 4, but the place was already in full swing. We were seated quickly and had our order placed within 10 minutes. The food was well prepared and had great flavor. We ordered the #4 dinner special for two which was plenty of food for us. The appetizers were great, and the egg drop soup set the tone for the rest of the meal. I do wish they served hot and sour soup though! As another reviewer stated, don't walk away by the strip mall exterior. The inside does remind me of some places I've been at in larger cities with the old school feel of days gone by. The staff here was great, and not one of them seemed to mind how busy they were. We left here happy with our food and glad we stumbled upon the existence of this place.

I love finding local, hole-in-the wall type places that don't cater to the tourists or the folks that want the same old same they can find in any town (chain restaurants), so I was excited to stumble onto the Golden Star Restaurant. We were immediately seated and given menus. There are lots of options and the prices are a bit higher than I expected. But we ordered a few things that looked good. The food was just ok. The egg flower soup was very creamy and thick, but hardly any taste. The broccoli and beef that I ordered had a strange gravy-like sauce on it, but the flavor wasn't terrible. My wife ordered sweet and sour chicken and ended up packaging it up for later-she could not get into it. It wasn't horrible, but I don't know that it was anything that I'd be eager to return to. Although I really dig their retro décor and the service was great.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR $$$!!! I am visiting from out of town, my sister brought me here. Waitress is RUDE when I asked to get more than 1 napkin she had an attitude. When I asked for hot mustard and ice for my water, she had attitude! Then because she walked away before I could ask she got MAD at me and would not give me her name! The food is horrible, and the service WORSE!

What a fun place to stop for lunch! The restaurant is pretty neat to see. It reminds me of when I was a kid and my family would go to our local Chinese's spot weekly (in the 80's). Service is always spot on and timely. Picks up during the lunch hour and there are many delicious item to pack your belly full. Lots of options so plan not knowing what you want because there are many tempting items. Mongolian beef (pretty salty), general chicken, sweet and sour chicken, and Mandarin chicken are the usual dishes we eat. If we are feeling extra hungry we split an order of egg rolls (they are huge so don't get your own order). I am ready to branch out and try other dished but haven't been disappointed with the food. Nothing too crazy over the top here, but a good stop if you curious how the food is. (Chicken dishes have sometimes been overcooked but I don't mind that.) Tea is an added cost. We assumed the first time it was offered it was a free but it isn't. We still get it but just know, it isn't complimentary like it initially feels.

Oh. My. God. I'm a sucker for steamed dumplings and Golden Star has the best that I have tried in Boise! I started out with one order of sesame dim sum (which is also great!) and one order of the steamed dumplings. I inhaled everything and then I had to order another batch of the dumplings! Everything is made from scratch and you can definitely tell! I highly recommend giving them a try!!

Figure out how to hand out to gos. Had to tell him 4 times just to wait 20 minutes for him to ask again and it turns out it was done the whole time. Don't waste my time

Five star review for the Golden Star restaurant! We ordered to-go the # 6 family dinner for four (BBQ pork & seeds, Mandarin chicken, fried shrimp, beef & broccoli, and special fried rice) and won ton soup. Everything was delicious and we had plenty left over! Service was very friendly both when placing our order over the phone and picking up our order at the restaurant.

Next best thing is a drive to Oregon! I wish they would door dash, there food is great and their open to half orders so you can always make your order right. I believe I'm going to head that way tomorrow

Really bad service. Sat for 15 minutes. No one would wait on us. Won't go back. Other people were waited on that got there after us. They pretended they didn't speak English. Didn't deserve even 1 star

Very disappointed. We ordered around $100 worth of food. Steamed dumplings came out cold so we sent them back. They sent us the same dumplings back, microwaved... then we sent them back again. They sent us the same dumplings back yet again. Finally after explaining that we weren't going to pay for cold dumplings, they reluctantly brought us a new order. Had to ask for more water. Wait staff was not very attentive . Food was decent, but the service was not worth ever going back.

We go a lot to Golden Star they are very kind! We went for Christmas Eve and it was very busy but the kindly helped us. They even got our food out at a timely manner. We love them and will keep going back!

We were really in the mood for "junk" Chinese. The food was beyond awful even for American Chinese. Everything was beige and fairly tasteless.

I don't think in the 57 years that this restaurant has been in business has ever change their decor or upgraded there tables. I must say that they are in good condition but they do give you 70s vibes. Other than their decor and old style chairs and tables they do have great food. My daughter loves their fried rice and I love their general chicken oh wait their crab Rangoons are delicious. For Being a Friday night and only having about 5 or less people working they tried their best service was a bit slow. My raggoons where a bit cold but still good. My hot tea was delivered very late. I order the general chicken with rice it was delicious as always. My nephew had the same thing with noodles he has never been here but he really loved the food. This place is doing something right they have been in business for such a long time and the food says it all. We keep coming back and we will continue to keep coming back we love there food.

Star has been our GO TO for over 20 years. Even through the pandemic and necessary price increases, we have stayed with them and tipped very nicely. We always order the same dishes: Chicken Almond Ding Sweet & sour spare ribs Special fried rice The rice and ding were on par tonight but the ribs must have sat for a week. All bones, shredded meat in sauce that was unidentifiable. Food $49 plus tip, you have pushed it to the limit Star. Gotta have quality and consistency to pay that much. Disappointed.

Worst food I ever tried so far in Boise . Very expensive for the price small quantity portion . And they include you to tip even if you order a to go meal .

This is by far the best Chinese food restaurant I know of. And I've been a lot of places for Chinese in the USA. Yeah there restaurant could be updated. But the price and quality of their food and service outweighs all that by a long shot. I LOVE THIS PLACE. Cheaper than Panda Express, and better than P.F Changs. A lot better

I grew up on the "Golden Star" food and it has its own flavors. I love it, and I lived in Asia. Don't expect fancy, but their food is consistently good. I remember when they had their fire and they had to remodel! I'm ordering from there in a few hours!!

Just had my favorite to go order to start my long weekend. Sweet and Sour Chicken is my

Their service is really "trash" , this is the only word I can use to describe it , the lady workers here are super rude and mean , can't imagine how they trained 这一群大妈服务员可能是我见过最烂的了，真的，嘴碎而且态度差，一个个都像来养老的，我平时对服务员很尊敬，但是这餐厅的大妈们真的打破了我的想象，中国人欺负中国人我是第一次见

I would absolutely NEVER eat here. The way that I was treated tonight as well as the quality (or lack thereof) of the food speak volumes as to why this place was empty when I arrived during busy dinner hours. My boyfriend had placed a to-go order for a small order of pork and seeds and a number 11 (fried rice and spicy general tso's chicken). When I arrived, the place looked very dingy and a little dirty. I got my food and paid. My gut was telling me to look at the food before getting home. The chicken was dry and hard, the rice was even worse. I tasted the sauce and it looked like it had been sitting all day and this was the bottom of the barrel. I called and immediately asked if I could bring the food back and get a refund. I was met with hostility and she hung up on me. I went back into the restaurant and the man was rude to me and told me no refunds over and over then he told me he wasn't going to talk to me anymore and then claimed to not speak english? He walked away from me and said something to his coworkers and everyone after that kept walking by me and refused to even make eye contact. I waited there and then finally the lady who hung up on me came and finally looked at me and then I was told I'm not getting a refund and how do I even know what good food tastes like? She then also walked away from me and went into the kitchen and started yelling in Chinese and once again I was walked by and ignored by the entire staff. My boyfriend was on the phone with me the whole time because I was incredibly uncomfortable with this entire situation. I eventually left because I was flat out being ignored. I don't understand why I have to pay for food I didn't eat or more importantly, why was I met with such disrespect when I wasn't disrespectful and only wanted a refund for the food I didn't and couldn't eat. I could understand if I had eaten most of it, but I hadn't. I settled for taco bell tonight, if that tells you anything. Don't go here, total nightmare. Update: called back today and asked for their manager they said wasn't in and guess what? Also not in today. I asked when and she just kept saying "I don't know, I don't know" I wish they'd stop playing stupid and doing the right thing. I am contacting my bank and disputing the charge at this point.

Sad to report, not a great experience. We ordered our usual #6 for 3 people. Super small portions, pork and seeds, but no seeds. Barely enough for 2 people. $65 ridiculous price. Looking for a new favorite place, sadly...

A tried and true Boise restaurant! Best pork fried rice in the valley and yummy lemon chicken. Oh, and the fung wung chicken (tip: add hot mustard to the sauce) is a nice change from mandarin chicken. Think of it as Asian chicken cordon blue, minus the cheese, of course.

When the twin dragon in Boise closed some time back options shrank for these wonderful 70s Outdated decor nostalgic American Chinese gems. With excellent service and great tasting food takes me back to the 70s and 80s visiting these venues with my siblings and parents.I ordered the crab rangoons and "they were awesome never ever had food like it before" (says my 9yo) . We never tire of these great places. Halfway drank sodas quickly refilled along with plenty of water. Appetizers arrived very quick. Moments after ordering, fresh hot and delicious. The completely mist matched forks and cups are a testament to how old the golden star and simply adds to the experience. Chow mein here is different than most similar places. We think it's better. Food arrives pipping hot and delicious. They make the mandarin chicken the best way we like it. Years ago when I first ate Panda Express I hated it. And it was because of the greatness of these great restaurants. We certainly noticed like everywhere in this past year prices much higher while portions smaller in the proteins. Not surprised giving the forced cost of everything inflating by the current administration. But I digress. We will be back again just like always.

I had a delivery order. I have done this testing out different restaurants just to see who is the best as far as price to of course taste how fresh etc. I will say this," this is the first meal I have ordered through different types of food and service. It was left at my door and still so very hot heat wise????? I'm very impressed and thank you I rate you as a 5, I've a feeling this will be on my GOOD LIST

We have dined here for years, but they have so badly discredited their business with poor customer service and lack of kindness. Also, they've gradually raised prices, considerably high add-on prices for substitutes or extras. Now they charge for the complimentary tea, and no fortune cookies. !! They also hovered over our table waiting for us to sign our bill. I'm resolved to find a more pleasurable restaurant experience without price gouging and attitude!

Horrible! Food was awful. The little flavor it had was fishy from the rice to the chicken it was terrible.

I love their tofu options! Their Thai tea is delicious and they are always very kind and attentive.

Fried Halibut lunch special is FABULOUS! Hot, crispy, fresh fish...quite a value at $13!

This has to be the best Chinese food restaurant in the entire northwest. Everywhere I have ever gone I have always compared to this place and no one comes close.

My family and I have been coming here for as far as I can remember. However, after a long time away this was the first time back. Upon arrival, my mother and grandfather were asked to put on masks. They went to go grab one from their car, but they were offered masks by the host. After sitting down we realized prices have changed, which was nothing to complain about. But, when we ordered we ordered from the specials menu. Taking into account how much the prices were, we were shocked when we got the bill and we're charged more than menu pricing. My mother, sister and I do not eat pork. When we asked to switch the pork fried rice to chicken, we were told it would be a $3 charge per person. We politely declined and asked for NO meat, just plain fried rice. When reviewing the bill, we were each charged an extra $1 for PLAIN FRIED RICE. My moms drink was also an extra $1 for no reason. The host then continued to give my mom excuses for the bill, and she was then told the extra charges were for the masks they had been given upon arrival. This was not stated and would have gladly walked back to the car to grab their own. Not quite sure what the reason was but we didn't ask for anything extraordinary. But the hidden charges and lack of communication ruined our experience. Sad to say it, but this place we loved and have come to for years is no longer on our list.

Golden Star is an Americanized-Chinese restaurant located on Boise's Central Rim neighborhood. It opened in 1965 and is one of the oldest surviving Chinese restaurants in the Treasure Valley. The exterior looks unflattering, but when you come in, it feels like you are transported to an old restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown. Golden dragons adorn the walls and red lanterns hang from the ceiling. If you're looking for authentic Chinese food, I don't think you can get that from here. I could name a few legit Chinese restaurants in Seattle and in the Bay Area where there's a larger Asian population. However, Golden Star does serve some fine, tasty food. My go-to is the Mongolian chicken (pictured). It's sweet and savory. The chicken is cooked to perfection. But it seems like they use a lot of soy sauce. The place is run by a warm, friendly Chinese staff. I love them! I've been here a couple of times and they are consistently hospitable. They gave me a box of candies on Chinese New Year. They are amused when I use my limited Chinese vocabulary, and they try to teach me new words and phrases while I wait for my order. Solid four stars for this place!

The soup was amazing, possibly the best I've ever had to the point I bought some to go. The fried food though was questionable and hurt my stomach which is why only three stars, couldn't finish it. The service was really great although I do agree with a slight language barrier.

Okay yes it's authentic it's okay I mean depends who you get as a waiter, almost need a translator 'but I will say it's tasty Chinese food it's not the greatest' one person $31 for two it's okay- house chow mein with beef sweet and sour pork - egg rolls- Inside needs a facelift for sure'

They have the best mandarin chicken. Always pleasant staff. Great takeout menu as well.

The food was not all that , my broccoli and beef was way over salted and I could not eat it . The food was not the best . The portion size was good , customer service was okay . But I definitely had better food elsewhere . I will not be coming back .

To Adrienne (Karen) Just had a great lunch at this iconic Boise Chinese restaurant. Only bad thing to report were the 2 rude Karen's complaining about their generals chicken. They were rude to the staff and and made some other customers uncomfortable. 5 or 6 other diners had the generals chicken with no complaints. This place has been in business since 1965. I've personally been eating here since the late 70's early 80's. It's even the restaurant me and 2 friends decided to join the Marine Corps over delicious chow mein and hot tea. That was 1990. People complaining about the rise in cost and no fortune cookie?? Everything thing cost more. It's not a fancy place (awesome for the price) or known for their gourmet dishes but it has all the favorites. I assume these ladies are not from here. Golden Star is not a fancy San Francisco Chinese place. Go back if that's what you want. It's been voted best of Boise multiple times. Heres your fortune cookie-don't be a rude, privileged jerk to the staff and customers. Eat somewhere else. From Born and raised in Boise.

Best pork fried rice in the world. I've been eating it for 37 years and won't be stopping anytime soon.

Well, this place has lost its way. Now charging $2.00 per cup for what used to be complimentary tea. 20% increase in prices, $5.00 charge for a lesser cost substitute, no fortune cookies. They believe the way to success is to give less, and charge more. I'm not going back, and that's a shame they have decided to take this route.

Wow worst customer service ever!! Food was decent but When they messed up my order and I let them know very nicely the front desk gal said We needed to watch the video footage of me ordering she didn't believe me Ha! That's a first! Needless to say definitely would put my business somewhere else especially since the food is just ok

I have been going to this restaurant for many years. But, I will never return after having lunch with friends this afternoon. The waitress had an attitude from the start. OtherS in the party asked for lemon in their water. They received slivers of lemon, and were charged $1.00 each! The generals chicken was over cooked, and the fried rice was tasteless After each of us paid, the waitress became aggressive because some gave no tip or not a big enough tip in her opinion. She was loud, trying to intimidate us in front of other customers. I got up and left and the rest of the party followed. None of us will ever return. I tip when the food and service is good..... The waitress expects a big tip in this place, it is not an option ! There are other dining option for us. I can no longer recommend this place to others.. It is sad.