During the last 90 minutes of a screening of Dragon Inn at an old Taipei cinema about to close down, the hobbled ticket woman tries to find the projectionist to give him a steamed bun.

After the premiere, Tsai approached the owner to shoot an entire film there, fearing the soon-to-close theater would be lost forever.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Deliberately paced yet absorbing, Goodbye, Dragon Inn offers an affectionate—and refreshingly unique—look at a fading theater that should strike a chord with cineastes.

"[4] A. O. Scott of The New York Times praised the film, writing, "Goodbye, Dragon Inn has a quiet, cumulative magic, whose source is hard to identify.

"[5] J. Hoberman of The Village Voice also liked the film: "And because Tsai is the director, Goodbye, Dragon Inn is also a movie of elegant understatement and considerable formal intelligence.