New China Buffet

Quality of food and price $10.40 includes tax for dinner buffet! Does not have sushi like other china buffets but not taking a star off for that as sushi is a japanese item, not chinese!

Four stars because not all the food is great like the tiny fried crabs and some of the vegetable dishes are super greasy but I do enjoy their salmon, fresh fruit (they use to have lychee but not anymore boo!) and ice cream. I lvoe their sweet and sour chicken (not so much the sauce but the chicken is nice and crispy). The crab ragoons have a sweetish flavor but I like it :) I always come here and always will!

I'm baffled by all the moderate and good reviews this place has.  I think I've made my position on pan-Asian buffets clear:  I'm for 'em.  Inauthentic, greasy, cheap, gluttonous goodness.  It's a "sometimes food."  This buffet is, in fact, worse than other Chinese buffets.

Pair of guys in Starter jackets standing inside the front vestibule selling bootleg CDs?  Check.

Low-quality key chains, bracelets, and rings being sold by the woman at the hostess stand?  Check.

Tureens of crusted-over Americanized Chinese and Chinesified American?  Check.

Families of screaming children?  Check.

Booths with sagging springs and duct-taped vinyl?  Check.

Those bananas in pink goop that show up at every single Chinese buffet?  Check.

Look, this food was just plain not good.  I tried as many things as possible and it was all completely flavorless.  I found myself wishing they used MORE MSG.  The noodles, rice, and chicken dishes were lacking in spice.  The fried things were under-salted.  The macaroni and cheese was BRIGHT NEON YELLOW and also had no flavor.  The crab rangoon tasted funny, and halfway through the meal my boyfriend reported not being able to shake a bitter taste in his mouth.  He stopped eating.  We tried some fresh fruit, and both pulled horrible faces.  The pineapple was SALTY.  WHAT.  The garlic Texas toast (another bizarre staple of Chinese buffets) was under-done and slightly soggy.  And in a nod to the neighborhood, what looks like a bottle of ketchup at your table, is in fact, taco sauce.  Not hot sauce.  Not mustard.  Taco sauce.  You're welcome.

They seemed slow re-filling dishes, which was a double-edged sword.  On the plus side, every time I looked around there was something new! (Where there had been an empty tray.)  On the down-side, I waited 20 minutes for them to bring out more of those sugar donuts.  (And let's be honest.  The noodles, veggies and potato wedges are just an excuse.  I'm there for the donuts.)

That said, there were some redeeming dishes, although maybe not enough to draw me back.  The lo mein was palatable with lots of veg, and it was better than the other rice and noodle dishes.  The green beans were tasty.  The pot stickers were actually quite good.  The garlic chicken wasn't awful.

As a final note, as in many restaurants, there are bits of decorative glass between sections and topping the booths.  When people are eating all around you is not the time to break out the Windex and wipe them down, clearly insane plate-clearing lady.  Nothing goes with mediocre food like a thick whiff of ammonia!