Lucky Dragon - Goleta

Lucky Dragon is awesome! Really great schezwan flavors!.. I love their dumplings in red chilli oil, dan dan noodles, mapo tofu, fried chicken, hot pot, kung pao chicken, spring rolls, fried pork ribs and many more items that I'm probably forgetting to mention.

Best place in Goleta to get your Sichuan food fix! My favorite Sichuan dish is 鱼香肉丝 （yu xiang rou su）， which on the menu of most restaurants is called pork in garlic sauce. Their version of it is okay but the flavor is not the best I have had. The worst version of this dish though is still amazing! I would say if you want to try something new, different, and slightly spicy this place is for you! Avoid the traditional American Chinese dishes and and go for the 'pork in garlic sauce ' and then get something else that looks good in the picture! I took my brother, who has never eaten sichuan food before, here and he was blown away and couldn 't stop talking about it for weeks.

This cozy restaurant offers truly authentic Chinese cuisine. The food here is incredibly delicious, and almost everything on the menu is worth trying at least once—except for the hotpot, which I wouldn't recommend. Make sure to bring cash or have Venmo handy, as they only accept up to two cards per group. The service can be a bit slow at times, especially when the restaurant is busy. While the food is great, don't expect large American-sized portions; the serving sizes are reasonable, and you likely won't need to take leftovers home. The green beans are especially outstanding!

We ordered just the spicy duck heads and the rice wine dessert with tapioca to take home. The duck heads were delicious, perfectly balanced with just the right amount of spice and numbness, and not overly salty. The flavors were well-rounded. The rice wine dessert was also good—some may find it a bit less sweet than preferred, but we didn't mind. A higher alcohol content in the rice wine could really elevate it, though. This place was relatively new at the time, and we thoroughly enjoyed both items we tried. However, their menu prices seemed to be on the higher side compared to other Sichuan restaurants. That said, the dishes that other customers ordered looked appealing as well.

This is the only place outside of Chengdu where I've had Sichuan food that tastes this amazing! It takes me back to my study abroad days eight years ago. The Bashu Fish with Mixed Vegetables in Chili Oil is one of the best dishes I've ever had—just be prepared to sweat because it’s incredibly spicy! The stir-fried vermicelli with ground pork is also excellent and not quite as spicy. I wasn’t as fond of the eel compared to the other two dishes, but we also ordered the eggplant with string beans, which provided a nice break from the heat. Overall, this place is fantastic!