David E.
Yelp
First of all, I am shocked by the negative reviews on Yelp for the Red Dragon. Our experience was so good, it's hard to believe the restaurant could fluctuate that much in service and quality.
I had wanted to try Red Dragon because my friend's sister raved about it and my disabled son wanted to try it after his favorite place (Peking North) closed a few months ago. We got seated and waited on quickly by Jeanette. Shortly after this, more people came in and Jeannette was very busy but she didn't fail to keep checking on us.
My son is very particular about the food he orders and at first was dismayed when he didn't see a particular kind of beef he wanted but was happy when he saw a type of Kung Pao beef. He ordered that and my friend Dan and I both got the #4 combination which had celery pork chow mein, almond chicken, fired rice and bbq pork.
It was fantastic! We were all given a bowl of egg flower soup and it was great. I cannot fathom how some people complained it was barely warm. After the soup, we had an appetizer of BBQ pork. The pork was better than I had ever had at other Chinese restaurants. Sometimes BBQ pork is a little on the dry side but this was moist and tasty. The only thing that could be improved (imo) is to separate the hot mustard from the sesame seeds. I like the red sauce and sesame seeds but not a fan of mustard.
The chow mein was just perfect with plenty of the crunchy noodles - the almond chicken as good as any I had ever tasted, the fried rice also very good.
I'm 71 and have always regarded the Cathay Inn as my favorite Chinese Restaurant. After our experience at Red Dragon, Cathay Inn may have some serious competition for #1!
As a side note, if you like Spokane or Hillyard history, there is an interesting fact about their parking lot just east of their building. Years ago, there was a building there and it was the Rialto Theatre. If you look closely at the outside brick walls of the Red Dragon and the building to the east, you will see evidence of a slanted floor that used to exist in the building that used to occupy that spot. The slanted floor is higher on the south end and drops down as it goes north. This was of course to facilitate movie theatre seating where the back of the theatre was higher to allow movie goers to get a clear view of the movie screen over the heads of those seated in front or them.