Golden Gate Café

This is a great little Chinese restaurant! I’ve been coming here for over twenty years (I can’t believe it’s still there) and have watched as the different generations of the family have grown. In that time the neighborhood («Midway» St Paul) had improved but has now declined considerably following light rail. This little restaurant is the gem in that rough. The service and the food are both very good (I usually get the meatless chow mein because I like it more than the chicken). The food is piping hot and they give you a ton of it. Check it out if you get a chance.
Incidentally, I was checking out the other reviews and I would encourage any reader to concentrate on the positive reviews. Why would I say that when I’m obviously biased? Because after looking at the negative reviews (check them out yourself) they sounded really shallow. One guy gave one star after only eating fried rice and another gave the same because he didn’t like the décor. Seriously? As stated in a couple of the positive reviews, you don’t come to a place like this expecting Kobe beef and white truffles. You come here for, as one reviewer put it, comfort food.

Ehh, not too much to say about this place. Typical Chinese Take out place. The entrance is unremarkable, inside is kinda old looking. Not somewhere I would take my girlfriend on a date to. I came here a few years back when I first moved to Minnesota. I didn’t know any good Chinese Take-​Outs, so I tried this place. I got their large shrimp fried rice, which came out to be around 10 bucks… Kinda pricey, but they do give you quite a bit of food. It wasn’t that good, but it’ll do. The owners were nice and friendly though. This place is definitely catered towards the Non-​asian crowd.

Before I review, I will fairly state that we went here out of convenience on a weeknight after running errands. It was a toss up between GGC and Subway.
I read on a review that they only accept cash, which isn’t true. Maybe it was an old review. We are kind of garbage children and ended up ordering a large chicken fried rice, 2 orders of egg rolls (4 total rolls), and shrimp chow mein for two. It came to $ 30. While it was a lot of food, I think $ 30 was steep for what it actually was.
Chicken fried rice– OK. I mean, it’s pretty hard to mess up chicken fried rice. There was a slight burn taste, and could have used more onions, bean sprouts, etc.
Egg rolls– No better or worse than Tai Pan frozen ones I could have gotten next door at Rainbow. That’s not really a put-​down though, because any egg rolls that I’ve ever had tasted the same. Unless they were bad.
Shrimp chow mein– Another caveat out of fairness; I subconsciously wanted to eventually check out GGC because I have an obsession with San Francisco’s Chinatown. THE PRAWNS! So naturally, we got shrimp chow mein. Yes, I knew it would be shrimp chow mein, not prawn chow mein. That being said, this dish was the biggest cause for buyer’s remorse. San Francisco comparisons far aside, I felt ripped off after opening this container. White steamed rice. OK, fine. Maybe fresh greens. Maybe. Mushrooms were OK. The shrimp were comparable, if not the smallest frozen option available at Walmart. They were tail-​off, but NOT deveined. So I paid $ 30 literally for poop. I didn’t even finish the box.
I know this is ‘American’ Chinese food, and that’s fine with me! But I have spent less at WAY better joints. Something about paying double what I could buy in the frozen food aisle sets me off. I won’t be visiting again. Luckily, Twin Cities are choc full of Asian takeout.

The first thing you need to understand about Golden Gate Café, is that it’s an +oldschool+ Chinese-​American place. They serve the type of Chinese take-​out food popularized by ‘chop-​suey joints’ during the first half of the 20^th century.
If you’re over 30 years old, you know the drill: Chow mein is ground pork and celery in brown sauce over dry noodle, egg foo young is a chubby deep-​fried omelet with onion, bean sprout and and meat of your choice. Egg rolls are about the size of a toilet paper tube, and stuffed with shredded cabbage, meat and other veggies in a deep-​fried egg pastry wrap.
If this is the kind of food you’re looking for, almost a comfort food for many of us, they do it very, very well. My favorites here are the chicken fried rice, the pork egg foo young and the egg rolls. They also do one lunch combo which includes the rice and foo young, and adds a serving of sweet & sour pork. Great lunch special, and a great deal at $ 6.95. The straight-​up chow mein is great, too — but maybe ask for a chicken subgum chow mein ‘cooked to order’ for a really nice treat.
Once again, as I’ve mentioned in several of my reviews, I rate a place based on its ability to be the best place +of its type+ that it can be. I mean to say, you’re not going to expect beef carpaccio on crostini with olive oil, capers and shaved parmesan at White Castle now, are you?
Point being — I would give the best White Castle (or imitator.) in town a 5-​star rating. It almost makes sense in a way, eh?
Golden Gate gets 4-​stars — it’s a grubbing little place, that makes the kind of Chinese I grew up on — but better than that we used to get from Rogers /​Mothers on St. Clair Ave. (remember them? Ha!). I get exactly what I expect and want, every single time I eat there (or take-​out), and have never once had a gripe with their chow.

Might be more impressed, but I guess it was my bad for thinking Kung Bo Chicken might resemble Kung Pao Chicken. Took it home and found I had Cashew Chicken with a few red pepper flakes mixed in.
The Crab Rangoon was utterly unimpressive. I wish I had gone somewhere else.

I honestly cannot understand how this place has such good reviews. The food was nothing short of TERRIBLE. I’m almost positive that they unthawed and deep-​fried the awful food and served it straight out of a Sam’s Club freezer. Do not waste your time (or your money) here. The only decent thing we had was the fried rice, but it was in no way good enough to justify going back. SO DISAPPOINTED

Decided on some take out the other night and ended up here.
Was craving egg rolls, fried rice and cream cheese wontons. Ended up ordering all 3.
–Egg rolls were alright. They weren’t super greasy which I appreciated, but the texture inside kind of gave me the creeps. It reminded me of a big tube of Jimmy Dean pork inside my egg roll. I just couldn’t get past the weirdness inside.
–cream cheese wontons were really chewy. I’ll have to see what they are like as left overs.
–Pork Fried rice was alright, but really dark, and a little burnt.
Defintely a place for take out although there are tables inside. Ambiance is a bit predictable with the greasy spatter panda calendar on the wall, and the kitschy inexpensive decorations adorning the waiting area.

I can’t for the life of me understand why this place has such great reviews. I went there with some friends from work for lunch and was sorely disappointed. It’s not a place you would want to eat in as the décor is more take out (i.e. there is no real décor). The food was for all three of us described as lame. I’ve had better by my own hand and I’m not that practiced in the Asian arts. If you must go stick with what has been well reviewed here — egg rolls and fried rice.

Best fried rice in Saint Paul. Whenever me or my wife is in the area, we’ll grab some food here. I always get the fried rice and egg rolls, which are also tremendous. I would rate it four stars for the maddening fact that they do not accept credit cards, but the food is so good, I’m willing to overlook that. If you’re in the midway area and hankering for some Chinese, this is the place.

Burned flesh in his mouth!
Went here recently for lunch. We both had lunch combos and DPs (diet Pepsi, not coke at this establishment), along with 2 egg rolls for an appetizer.
Egg rolls — rocked.
Lunch combo of sweet and sour pork, chicken fried rice, and egg foo young — rocked.
Lunch combo of chicken with pea pods and fried rice — rocked.
Service is fast and friendly, food is hot and way good, and prices are reasonable. Less than $ 20 for the whole thing and neither of us (both big eaters in case you haven’t noticed) could finish our meals.
They also have combination dinners for extremely reasonable prices in the evening.
Go, you’ll find something for everyone that won’t disappoint. I go here very infrequently and after I leave, I say, «I need to go back there more often.»

The Fried Rice! Best Fried Rice in the Cities. Make sure you have cash, they have a bad credit card policy but the food is amazing. I am not happy they recently jacked up the price but it’s still pretty cheap.

If you are craving excellent «Americanized» Chinese food, you won’t find any better. It’s not on the menu, but I HIGHLY recommend the House Fried Rice — you won’t regret it. The sweet and sour dishes are excellent, and they provide the S&S sauce in a separate container if you take out so that the chicken or pork can’t get soggy on the drive home. This is a family owned and staffed restaurant with consistently good food and service.