China One Buffet

I like China One Buffet a lot. They have a good assortment of items on the hot buffet, and they are prepared fresh. With the amount of traffic they have you know you are getting freshly made food (unlike some of the Chinese places that have come and gone recently).

For appetizers I especially like their steamed dumplings, egg rolls, and crab rangoon, Mongolian beef, also the crab bake stuff I don't know the name of. For main plate they have both white and fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, General Tso's chicken, Broccoli chicken, spicy chicken, a tofu dish my wife loves, a seafood combo with clear noodles, beef with peppers and onions, and numerous others items.

Offerings change depending on time of day -- lunch is different than dinner. They always have a nice baked fish. The soups are usually: hot and sour (my favorite) and egg drop. Assorted desserts, including orange slices, jellos, various cookies, and sherbet. Fountain Coke products. They can put together great carry-out boxes and have them ready for you for pick-up, or you can build your own.

I like that it's a family run place. It's not real fancy, but it is good food and a place that's fast and fun. Plus they have Chinese newspapers AND fortune cookies that are very positive.

Went there for the first time for dinner tonight. It definitely looked kind of crappy from outside, and inside wasn't much better. It was pretty much dead inside, maybe 2 other people eating there. One man in the kitchen, and two ladies working in there. Food looked like it had been sitting there for a while, so I made sure I ate the fresh stuff he would occassionally bring out. Food was average, like any other buffet. Price could have been better, it was 8.99 with a drink at dinner price. I don't think I would go there again unless it was busier - so maybe the food would be more fresh. It was pretty clean inside though, other than one of the booths being piled with books and whatnot which was quite weird.

China one isn't the best buffet in town, but it can get the job done if you're near campus and want a quick meal. The food isn't the freshest, especially if you go outside of the prime lunch/dinner times, but it's usually not too bad. Atmosphere is the standard Chinese buffet kitsch.

For what it's worth, I really haven't gone back to China One since I discovered En Lai - it's on the other side of town, but it's cheaper and fresher.