House of 9 Dragons

[Update - Closed as of Summer 2015 - It is now a wings place]

One of our friends wanted to have lunch at this Bonita mainstay, House of 9 Dragons.

I hadn't been here in a long long time, like pre-blogging days, which makes is pre-2006. I think it has been more than a decade come to think of it...


We walked in at 11:45 am. No one was there. For a good minute or so, no one came out.  My friend walked to the back and said, "Hello? Anyone working...." and finally an older Chinese lady came out (not the owner)...

One other person came in to have lunch and he was lucky the lady was out when he came through the door. Right after that, another customer came in, saw that we were seated but left after no one came to the front to greet and seat here. They really need to work on their customer service here. At least put a bell sensor on the door or something so that you know someone came in. Huh.

Our friend wanted us to try her favorite snack there. Meanwhile, we all ordered from the lunch menu, which as you can see is your basic Americanized Chinese food


I made mine a 'combination' plate, so the egg drop soup came first...

which came with those crispy La Choy noodles (or maybe it was another brand)...

Here was our friend's side order, which she called the "carnitas" (aka "char siu"). She told us that the owners were friends of these folks who owned a Chinese restaurant in Mexicali, where she grew up. There was a well known (but now defunct) Chinese restaurant called "Diecinueve" (which means "nineteen" in Spanish). She said that there were a lot of Chinese over on Mexicali and the restaurant was a favorite with many of the Mexicans over there.

The pork was served with small saucers of hot mustard, ketchup, and their house made sweet and sour sauce.

Mr. TJ's Kung Pao Chicken combo (with a flattened eggroll and fried rice, which they should really call soy sauce rice)...

He did NOT like this at all. It was quite salty and he didn't even take it home.

This was my lunch special, the Fried Shrimp (4 pieces). I wasn't expecting the batter to be so thick. I thought it was going to be breaded actually.

The egg roll was crispy feeling but tasted like it was fried in old oil. The filling was vegetables. I didn't really like it nor did I like the fried rice.

La Ley and our friend got the same thing, the chicken chow mein, which was mostly bean sprouts. For some reason, I thought there would be noodles in this but no.

Mr. TJ hated the food but liked the soup. We all liked how quiet it was in here but didn't like that the service was spotty and at times, nonexistent. The prices were reasonable and the portions were decent but the quality wasn't that great.

House of 9 Dragons
4164 Bonita Road
Bonita, CA 91902
(619) 267-3200

There is no website (not a surprise) but here are the mixed bag o'reviews from that four lettered site.

To be honest, it's not worth a special trip for this place alone. You can get comparable or eve better Chinese food at your local ABC joint. The ambiance, at least when we were there was very very quiet. Hardly anyone there, which was nice if you don't like crowds.

IF you do go down to Bonita, I would recommend these other places instead:
Ono's Cafe - a Hawaiian/fusion sushi place
Hans and Harry - an Austrian bakery known for their fruit strudels
The (original) TJ Oyster Bar - it's tiny in here but worth the wait
The (new) TJ Oyster Bar - has more space and the prices are a tiny bit higher
and Romesco's (that post is forthcoming, since they recently rebooted themselves as 'Romesco's Mexiterranean")