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Ming Dynasty
290 Storke Rd, Goleta
Phone: (805) 968-1308

  • Category: Chinese
  • Hours: Mon-Thu 11am-9:30pm, Fri 11am-10pm, Sat 11:30am-10pm, Sun 11:30am-9:30pm
  • Price: $10 - $20
  • Serving: Lunch, & Dinner
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Reviews by the General Public

No water, check on the table right after the food came!, 4/12/2010
Reviewer: Kelly M. from Santa Barbara, CA
And when I confronted the manager about the lack of service, water and check dropping off before we'd taken a bite his response was "Well we were really busy." "Is it customary to place the check on the table before your customers have begun their meal?" I asked. "Well yeah when we're busy." No apology? No attempt to assure it would be better in the future? Just an excuse. I guess business must be good enough to be able to not treat customers with respect. Completely disappointing. Definitely won't be returning.

good range of options for varying tastes, 2/20/2010
Reviewer: lemonjelly from santa barbara, ca
I finally ate here for the first time, bringing my mother on Chinese New Year. She helped us order from the Chinese menu, although I nearly always try to get a typical Taiwanese dish - Three Cup Chicken. This time we got Three Cup Lamb and it was lovely, a favorite of the meal. We also got half a Chinese roast duck, which was dry, but on the positive side, not as fat-laden as others. A third dish was a plate of fresh sauteed pea shoots, available seasonally. Finally, there was rice, which may not seem all that exciting, but I thought it tasted very good! Nice, separate grains.
The buffet looked typical, and was very popular with most of the diners at the time we were there. For those looking to fill up, and at a low cost, this is a good deal. We did not order it, but I'd like to go back for a work-week lunch and sample the fresh Mongolian BBQ portion of the buffet. There were lots of vegetable options, plus lamb, chicken, beef and pork as meat options.
There is a dim sum menu, probably the most extensive in Santa Barbara, just keep in mind that they aren't made from scratch in-house.
I have to give extra props to the cocktail lounge. The style is a kitschy asian exotica, serving zombies and mai tais in tiki cups. In addition to a lunch, I'd like to go back for happy hour, 4-7 pm, to share a scorpion bowl and half price appetizers. Gong hay fat choy!
ming dynasty , 8/2/2009
Reviewer: Nancy Lin from Santa Barbara, CA
I've been to this place many times. The buffet is adequate but the reason why I enjoyed my visit there so much was for its dishes from the Chinese menu. But you have to ask for the chinese menu. We had around 7 dishes, all of which were authentic tasting and creative art pieces. The wait wasn't long and the waitresses there are polite and quick. The dishes were delicious while still light on the taste buds. We had the chef personally deliver our dishes. Although the dishes from the english menu and the buffet area aren't too great, just for its dishes from the chinese menu, I highly recommend this restaurant to all those who want real authentic chinese/taiwanese style dishes in santa barbara.
Absolutely Delicious!!!!
Reviewer: Shani from Santa Barbara, CA
We don't live in Santa Barbara, although we do work here every day. We were in the mood for Chinese, but since we could not find any restaurants where we live, we ordered take out for me to pick up on the way home from work. We ordered four entrees, and every item was fresh and tasted great. This has to be one of the best restaurants for Chinese food in the area.
Great quick lunch, good buffet
Reviewer: Nicole from Santa Barbara, CA
I just ate lunch here today and loved it! The mongolian bbq buffet was great. I'm not sure how authentic everything was, but who cares, you get to make your own chow mein! I loved how paper thin the meat was and how I could control my portion size, what was it in, etc. The cook and staff were incredibly friendly and polite. I was able to eat lunch quickly and get back to work. The price is also good, $8.95 for lunch, though I think they should update their website. Oh, and I really loved how they had shrimp in their mongoloian bbq buffet. Maybe it's not the freshest (clearly frozen shimp) but it's $9 for all you can eat, what do you expect? I do agee, the pre-cooked items are not the best, the sauteed green beans were not good. The sugar buns are good though!
Very Slow Delivery
Reviewer: carmen from Goleta, CA
This place has good veggie options. The food is pretty good-- nothing to rave about, but what you'd expect for the average Chinese restaurant. The prices are decent, as are the portions. However, the delivery is so, so, so slow. Tonight it took an hour and a half, even though they quoted us 1/2 hour-45 minutes. We've had this problem a couple of times now. We live, literally, about 5 minutes from the restaurant, so distance is not the issue. We never eat here unless we're feeling too lazy/tired/busy to leave the house, and then order take out. But, I won't do it again. Try Red Pepper which is awesome. No take out, but the food is really good, and the service is excellent (and the prices are better). If you go, you MUST order the onion pancakes.
Saturday Night Delivery
Reviewer: Lillian from Santa Barbara, CA
This Saturday night I ordered a Complete Special Diner($14.95) from the Ming Dynasty delivery menu. The package arrived hot and intact in a mere twenty eight minutes. The appetizer assortment of one beef satay stick w/ spicy mustard sauce, vegetarian egg roll and crispy shrimp w/ sweet sauce was a complete delight. My wonton soup garnished with green onions, although small in portion, was well put together. I was most satisfied with the entree i selected from the varied selection. The imperial shrimp was plump and generous in portion along with lightly cooked broccoli and snow peas in garlic sauce. What a splendid surprise from a restaurant which surely deserves more positive reviews!
Bad food, good service...
Reviewer: Chris from Santa Barbara, CA
Ever since I moved to Goleta 5 months ago, I wanted to try Ming Dynasty. The restaurant is a few blocks from where I live and I really liked the idea of having a chinese food restaurant within walking distance. Too bad the food isn't very good... My wife and I went on a Friday night. We wanted to try the buffet, which included Mongolian BBQ. As we walked in, we were greeted with a pungent fish odor. I love fish, but this smell was not pleasant. I have been to countless chinese food restaurants and I have never smelled such a strong odor upon entering. We were greeted by a friendly waitress who showed us to our seats. She instructed us to go up and get whatever we wanted. We started with an order of Mongolian BBQ and then we added random foods from the buffet table. The Mongolian BBQ was very disappointing. After adding all of our ingredients, we added the sauces in the correct amounts, which were listed on a nearby chart. The meat was cooked well enough, but it was very chewy and did not mix well with the sauces. It seemed like very low quality meat. The sauces, also, did not taste very good. I detected an extremely high amount of fish sauce, which is common in thai cooking, but I have never ran into it in other Mongolian BBQ restaurants. It totally overpowered the flavor of the meal. I gave up and went to the buffet table. The broccoli and beef looked like it had been sitting there all day. The orange chicken was greasy and bland. The vegetables were not crisp or fresh at all. The only thing that I really enjoyed was the white rice. Everything else seemed low quality and old. The waitresses and waiters stopped by our table many times to see how we were. They refilled our drinks promptly. They were also very friendly and smiled often. Too bad the food can't match the quality of the service. I do not recommend Ming Dynasty. If you do go, do not go to the buffet side of the restaurant. Go to where they actually serve meals from the kitchen and maybe you'll have a better experience than we did.

Nice host, food fair
Reviewer: Glenn from Buellton
Got the lunch special to go. The hostess was extremely nice and no language problems. Looks nice inside, can't comment on the buffet. Food was Ok.
Buffet not very exciting
Reviewer: Sudipto from Goleta, CA
Recently I tried out this place. The facade of the shop was really nice, and that was the only nice thing. The dinner buffet had two parts, one where you can make the chowmein of your choice. The other part of the buffet was food already cooked, and was horrible. The food tasted bad, and also looked bad. The food was not replenished frequently. The service wasn't too bad though. I expected better food from a place that beautifully decorated. This is the worst chinese food I have ever had in and around Goleta/Santa Barbara.
INEDIBLE
Reviewer: Matt from Santa Barbara, CA
Literally, this was probably the worst meal I have ever had. I have never seen food that was of such low quality and so unfresh. Simply terrible, I don't know how anyone could recomend this place. This may have been because I had the buffet...
Surprisingly good!
Reviewer: Justine from SB, CA
I have to admit I had never been inspired to try this restaurant since it is so *blah* looking from outside, but I have learned not to judge a book (or an eating establishment) by its cover. Recently I accompanied a group who had already decided to eat there, and was pleasantly surprised. The interior was very elegantly decorated, and in addition to the menu items, there was the choice of Chinese buffet or Mongolian bbq. I decided on the buffet, which was really tasty and a great deal at $12.95. Unlike so many buffets, the food was fresh and delicious and did not seem to have been sitting under heat lamps for hours. They also offered one of my favorite dim sum items: sesame balls. I look forward to returning for the bbq and other dishes off the menu in the future. Glad I tried it!

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