Silver Dragon - Chinese, Oakland

835 Webster St, Oakland CA 94607
(510) 893-3748
Parking: street parking and pay parking in nearby lot

Last Visited: November 20, 2004

Food: 2 to 3 stars
Service: 3 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Price: n/a

Silver Dragon has three floors – the lower floor is a smaller dark dining room, and the two upper floors are typically reserved in the evening for large dinner banquets. The lobby area is shared by the stairwell and elevator.

There are dance floor facilities on both of the upper floors. The only inconvenience being that on the third floor, there isn’t a restroom. You’ll need to go back to the second floor for that. Large chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and the room is light colored. One of the walls is lined with red fabric, an ideal background behind the host table of a wedding banquet. A thick green line is painted on the edge of portions of the ceiling to give the room some color.

The tablecloths are pink and the center of the table is topped with a lazy susan, standard amongst most Chinese restaurants.

- Cold appetizer plate – The cold plate contains shrimp (sliced in half along the body), ham, meat, and sliced meat from a roll. Jellyfish is placed in the center. All of these are fanned out in a circular pattern and makes for a colorful display. Although the presentation looked okay, I found the shrimp bland. Worse yet, there was a very tiny bug moving around one piece of shrimp, and well, that just killed most of our appetites.

- Deep fried stuffed crab claw - Crab claws are stuffed with shrimp paste and deep fried. They are placed on top of deep fried rice noodles and served with sweet mayonnaise. I found the mayonnaise a bit too sweet, but the crab claw was hot and good.

- Shark fin soup with chicken and dried scallop – Shark fin is served in a thick broth along with very thinly sliced chicken strips and dried scallop. The dried scallop was separated into individual strips. The flavor was good, but the shark fin was somewhat hard to find.

- Black mushrooms and mustard greens – Large black mushrooms top braised mustard greens. The greens were fresh and had a clean flavor. The dried mushrooms are rehydrated by soaking in water and the outcome was tender. Good.

- Seafood Bird’s Nest – Scallop, shrimp, and squid are accompanied by celery, carrots, and scallions in a deep fried shell made from potato. The shell is shaped like a bowl, and the sautéed seafood fills the bowl. The seafood was tender and not stringy. The shell was crispy though slightly too golden on the bottom, but as a whole, it was good.

- Braised Lobster – This was probably the best dish of the night. Lobster is braised with ginger and scallions. The taste was clean and the lobster texture was just right. The braising created a sauce that accentuated the lobster flavor. Very good.

- Steamed fish – Two fish are steamed whole and served with green onions, ginger slices, and light soy sauce. The fish was cooked okay. When it comes out just slightly undercooked but able to break away from the bone, the flesh is considered cooked just perfect. These fish were cooked slightly more than this. Nice clean flavor. Good.

- Fook Kin Fried Rice – Rice is topped with a sauce containing small shrimp, scallops, and chopped greens. If you’ve never had this before, think risotto and you’ll be pretty close. I personally prefer the rice to be a little softer. When biting into this rice, you can still taste that it’s a little hard in the center. I prefer to have the entire grain of rice soft all the way through, but not so soft that it’s mushy. The flavor of the topping was good. Okay.

- Red Bean Dessert – Red beans are boiled until they begin to fall apart in water with lotus nuts. Sugar is added to taste. Not profound, but Good.

The food would have received a three star rating, but since the shrimp had a tiny bug, the food rating is now two to three stars, and really would be even lower had I been the one to select that particular shrimp.

The dishes as a whole were average or better considering they were served banquet style. I hope the bug was a fluke and not a regular occurrence. Since the shrimp was laid out, it’s hard to determine whether it could have been found before serving. Just watch what you’re eating.
I recently returned for another banquet, but this one was served buffet style. The portions were generous and the food was fresh and for the most part, every dish was at least average or better.
- Black Pepper Beef – Beef is served with red and green bell peppers. The beef itself could have been more tender, but otherwise, the flavor was well balanced between the peppers.

- Shrimp with Broccoli – The shrimp was succulent and the broccoli was crisp and green. Good.

- Chow Mein – Hong Kong style noodles are cooked with vegetables. The noodles were easily separated from one another and the flavor was light. Good.

- Fried Chicken – The fried chicken drumsticks were tender and the skin crisp. Good.

The food remains a three star rating, but could be moved between three and four based on the lunch experience.