Dragon Express: A Chinese Big B?

All you poor college students searching for a place to eat that will fill you up without making you have to borrow ten bucks from your roommate, again, needn’t look any further. A new restaurant in town offers great food at low prices, and most importantly, saves you from having to actually cook for yourself.
The Dragon Express, 314 Broomfield Rd., held it’s grand opening Monday. They are located in the spot recently (and still, somewhat mysteriously) evacuated by The Big Burrito.
I was excited to try the new restaurant, as it meant that I would not have to do any dishes that night – a big bonus of dining out. Another cool thing is when the food is as inexpensive as it is at Dragon Express. They offer a steam table combo meal. You get one item (and there are many to choose from) plus a huge pile of steamed or fried rice for only $3.45. An additional item is only 50 cents more. A three item plate is $4.95, but it provides enough food for about three meals.
Since I’m vegetarian, it can sometimes be difficult for me to find things to eat when I am dining out. Sometimes, I’m sure it can annoy the waitstaff when I make strange requests about my food or ask questions about ingredients (it sure as hell annoys my brother). I did not have this problem at Dragon Express. I could see what was in each dish and everything at the steam table is labeled, so I knew what I was eating. I got mixed vegetables with fried rice (which I tried unsuccessfully to eat with chopsticks), a bag of a dozen fortune cookies and a small drink for $5.66. The vegetables were pretty good, and I had enough leftovers for the next day’s lunch. As a bonus, there’s free drink refills for those dining in, a practice that is rare to find at restaurants these days.
Merrideth McNamara, Clarkston sophomore (and my friend), got the sweet and sour chicken (which she said was “really good”), chicken with mushrooms, also “good,” and egg rolls, which were once again, “very good.” It took us about ten to fifteen minutes of waiting in line to get our food, but slow service is to be expected on a restaurant’s opening night. Besides, the food was worth the wait. When asked what she thought of Dragon Express, McNamara replied, “With a place like this, people will never sit around and say I’m in the mood for Chinese food, but I can’t afford it.”
Dragon Express is a family owned and operated restaurant. Manager Kelvin Sun said that the first day was going “pretty good.” He said he chose to open the restaurant because “we owned a Hunan restaurant in Saginaw for 13 years, and decided to sell it last year, to open a Chinese restaurant.” The family chose to open the restaurant in Mount Pleasant.
The Dragon Express is open 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Their phone number is 779-2727. A take-out menu is also available.
The food was good, the service was friendly, and the menu has many choices. Even the fortunes we got in the cookies were good. Apparently, I’m destined to lead a life full of true friendships and my friend has fame and fortune in her stars. But if anyone knows what “what’s vice today may be virtue tomorrow” means, let me know.