Worth the wait? Is Di Dragon Restaurant The Best Chinese Restaurant in Jamaica?
Worth the wait? Is Di Dragon Restaurant The Best Chinese Restaurant in Jamaica?
What happens when a social media influencer proudly proclaims their pick for the best Chinese restaurant in Jamaica? Well…. absolute pandemonium naturally!!! *shoulder shrug*
If you happened to be one of the many social media users that were patrolling the Jamaican tik tok streets a few weeks ago (more like months 🙃), then you likely saw the chaosed frenzy that ensued when a popular local tik tok creator praised Di Dragon as the best Chinese restaurants in Jamaica.
Followers and viewers arrived in their droves to try and experience what is considered one of the best Chinese restaurants in Jamaica. Mixed reviews flew in left and right about the food, the ambiance, and most importantly…the wait time. So…. It begs to question ‘Is it really as good as the influencer says? Is it really worth the wait?’ Well let’s find out shall we.
How To Get There
Tucked away just off Portmore's backroad, Di Dragon Restaurant is a cozy little eatery that when you get there feels like you went to a relative or friend’s house for dinner. The drive is approximately 20-30 minutes from Kingston via the toll road.
If you’re familiar with how to get to Portmore's backroad then you’d know the road begins at a left turn just a little after you exit the toll way. Once on the back road then it’s a straight drive pass the different fisheries and restaurants like you’re heading towards Port Henderson Road. You continue straight until you’re almost at the round-a-bout that carries you onto Port Henderson. Right before you reach the round-a-bout there is a turn into a community on the right hand side. It’s literally someone’s neighbourhood so don’t be alarmed when you’re passing people’s houses. You continue on that road heading down then taking a left all the way until you reach a dead end that will look like a mini harbour with a boat or 2. Once you’ve reached here you can breathe a sigh of relief because you’ve made it.
I’m not going to lie when I first arrived I was a little confused because like I said it seems like you’re at someone’s house and having dinner in their backyard; but for food my wangagut I will go almost anywhere. The parking area is a bit small because you don’t want to obstruct the neighbour’s driveway entrances, still it was pretty adequate for the dining area provided by the restaurant.
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The Ambiance
Di Dragon is a fairly quaint restaurant. It’s quite nondescript to be honest. It’s a family owned business that looks like its in someone’s backyard because it basically is. The seating and restaurant is not fancily decorated. In fact, the decor is pretty much absent with a mix and matched array of tables and chairs for patrons to sit and dine. It’s a simple aesthetic. If you're coming for the aesthetics then this isn’t really your scene. This is really not the place you go to for the social media ready/ Instagram worthy pictures because you won’t get that here. There is no oversized marquee or sign with the restaurant’s name to pose under or a decorated swing or any other such area. Rather Di Dragon is somewhere you go for good food and simple vibes.
The Food
Now the restaurant has been around for a few years and it has always been recommended that you order in advanced to cut down the wait time for your meal. Unfortunately our full party was a bit late and I can’t quite remember if we order in advanced or not but I know there was some conversation had before about the menu options. We weren’t the only group there so our wait time ended up being around 30-45 minutes. Honestly the time kind of flew by because I was with good company and we were talking which distracted us a bit. I know the recent complaints were about the wait time and how long it was but I think it may be attributed to the restaurant being overwhelmed by the massive influx of customers and the restaurant really wasn’t prepared for the attention. Like I’ve said or alluded to earlier, the restaurant is pretty small. It’s a cozy nook meant to serve small numbers at a time in their seating area but mostly takeout orders.
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Okay, now that that’s out of the way let’s get to the meat of the matter…. the food. Is it really that good? Survey says……. Yes it is. I don’t know if it’s the best in Jamaica because I haven’t tried that many restaurants but I will say the food is damn good. It is absolutely scrumptious.
Dishes are served in shareable platters. For out trip we got 5 dishes to share among the 4 of us. We got sweet & sour chicken, chicken in black bean sauce, garlic shrimp, chicken fried rice and special lo mein. Let me tell you, the platters came out hot and ready. We were first mesmerized and drawn in by the scent. Just the smell of the food had us salivating and excited for meal. Then when we finally took our first bite, our tastebuds erupted into applause and thanked us for making such a great decision. The food was so tasty and I’m not just saying this. Their food is really good. I’m getting hungry just typing this to be honest. Drinks were a selection on juices, soda and water and they can be made at the time of receiving your meal.
The Service
When we went there, there was only one server working in the restaurant which made the service a bit slow. The server also operated as the hostess that seated guests so sometimes it would take a while to get her attention so this was a bit disappointing. The server herself was fine. She wasn’t rude or anything but seemed a little overwhelmed serving in so many areas. I think the service could be better overall with an adequate staff complement to serve the restaurant. I’m not sure if other staff were off at that time but that was my observation.
Things to know:
Reservations are required
Cash only. They do accept direct bank transfers but not cards. (Imagine our surprise when we heard they are a cash only operation when not one of us brought cash -_-. Fortunately they accepted direct bank transfers or we would be washing dishes)
Ordering in advanced is recommended
Overall Rating
Overall I think it was a scrumptious outing. The ambiance simple, not too fussy. The food was good. The staff was decent. I would say it's a solid 7.5 out of 10 experience on the delectable-experience scale. I would probably go back and try other items off their menus to see how they measure up.