Northern Palace

One of the best places in p.g
For Chinese
We drive across town 25 mins to get better dinner & good atmosphere
If they take good pride of front if the house, they must also care about back of the house!
Almost always have great food.
Twice have been disappointed
Please, keep up fresh good food & clean restaurant & you will be sucessful!

Prince Gastronome. I've been orbiting around the inevitable for several months.

"Orbiting" is the appropriate word. Through this tireless exercise, I've sampled Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese, the latter two I've consumed twice already. And despite having taken in every other Asian alternative, I've failed to dip a toe in the waters of China. The reasons are obvious, as Chinese food has an unfortunate reputation of monotony. You could almost call it homogeneous, as nearly every Chinese restaurant you could walk into in North America offers the same same mélange of nontraditional westernized Chinese dishes.

I am biased. Under full disclosure, I visited China several years ago, and it remains one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. Two weeks long, and nearly every moment remains burned into my long-term memory. One aspect of the trip still clear in my mind was that I never ate a single morsel relatable to the Chinese cuisine we are accustomed to. Most of where I ate was dim sum, relatively easy to find in Vancouver but nonexistent in a northern town like Prince George (and no, I don't count the pre-frozen crap at Fortune Palace). Here, we have more Chinese restaurants than all other Asian-themed restaurants combined. In fact, you could throw in all the McDonalds and it still wouldn't surpass that number. You'd swear they were all members of a franchise offering the same variations of combination platters. It's my fervent hope that with the influx of Asians moving from the south, reflective in the aforementioned Vietnamese, Thai, and Malaysian restaurants, that we'll see proper dim sum or more traditional Chinese restaurants in town.

Someone may mention that, like Thailand, an opinion of Chinese food is reflective of where you live, and I may not be aware of how many people in China eat exactly the same food as we do in the west. That may be correct, but I still feel it's no excuse given the amazing varieties of food I had over there. Has anyone heard of Dong Bei food? If not, you're missing out.

I need to start eating Chinese now, else I'm stuck visiting one every week for the next three months at the end of the first stage of this blog. However, I won't make it easy on myself. To start, I've traveled clear across town, from limit to limit. This involves driving down into the plateau of the main city and then up the other side to find a well built, easily located place called Northern Palace. I know that's Chinese as it contains one of the four compulsory words all Chinese restaurants apparently must have ("Great", "Palace", "China", and "Asian"). The restaurant is well made but lacks any real markings of heritage. The chairs, tables and general décor make it look like any nonspecific eatery built in the foundation of a Sandman...only without the Sandman. If you think I'm exaggerating, I notice that there are no chopsticks on any of the tables. I order a lunch platter and add pot stickers for additional variety. The combination is your typical assortment of chicken chow mein, sweet & sour pork and the standard egg roll accompaniment. The chow mein is dry and tasteless. The egg roll is crunchy and uninspired. The pot stickers are good and...well, it's Chinese food. It tastes exactly as one would expect it to taste. If it achieves the standard flavor without any surprises, how could I complain?

Well I do because how could one stand above the others if they taste all the same. With Northern Palace, they've the distinction of being one of the ONLY Chinese restaurants this side of town...assuming you forget that the Hart Wheel, a kilometer down the road, also offers Chinese.

Northern Palace has one big compliment coming to them, and it's a big one, one that may encourage you to eat there if hungry, if you're driving by, if you live in the area, AND if you're desperate for immediate food. Northern Palace is cheap. It's real cheap. The combination platter I order comes to only $7.50, and with the pork pot stickers, still barely breaks $13. I won't lie, all these dishes taste like the frozen counterparts you could buy from the Save On across the street. This is in antitheses to Mai Thai where the food is a shocking collection of flavorful traditional dishes unfiltered from the homeland. Northern Palace is as Chinese as Boston Pizza is Italian, but if you know that and want something without any revelations, it may be worth the momentary distraction.

Hey, at least they still offer the fortune cookie.

Mine says, "You are incredibly clever. Others often come to you for advice."

Not bad. Not much of a fortune, but it sure helps with confidence.

Food: 2/5
Service: 4/5
Presentation: 3/5
Value: 4/5
Recommendation: 3/5

Northern Palace Restaurant Ltd
3788 Austin Rd W, Prince George, BC V2K 2H6
250-962-6838

Fresh vegetables, perfect chicken chow mein, deep fried shrimp were perfection, and the sweet'n'sour pork was yummy! I enjoyed a Cranberry Spritzer....reasonably priced...great service. Loved this restaurant, a gem of a find!!!!

The staff are so friendly! Veggies were done perfectly. Enjoyed combo #10 as always 👌