China Wok Buffet

I have been known, on more than one occasion, to refer to Allentown/​the Lehigh Valley (lovingly) as «the Buffet Capital of the USA.» While obviously a bit of an exaggeration, having grown up in the area (and having made fairly regular trips to New Jersey and Philly), I have had more than what is probably my fair share of experiences with buffets. I can even remember, as a child, sitting in buffets (not this one) for hours with my family and their friends, and watching as other buffet goers would willingly doze off or nap for half an hour before beginning to eat again. What I’m trying to say is, I KNOW buffets.
And frankly, I’m surprised at the negative reviews here. As someone who is actually Chinese (Taiwanese, to be more exact), I have to say that I find China Wok’s food LESS greasy and MORE authentic than most American Chinese take-​out and buffet joints– perhaps it’s the lack of familiarity that buffet-​goers dislike (it’s a Chinese buffet– I understand that fries and wings are usually available at a «buffet,» but I don’t understand how the lack of more Western food is a reasonable basis for saying the «Chinese food» sucks at a Chinese buffet). And it’s not just me– this is the only Chinese buffet in the Lehigh Valley that many of my mother’s (Chinese/​Cantonese/​Taiwanese) friends will go to. For those who know and like fish and seafood (cooked in a Chinese way), this place is an amazing deal for the price. Depending on the day, they have flounder, snapper, salmon, walnut shrimp (a personal favorite), crab, crawfish, etc. None of this is cheap, so I don’t think their prices for all-​you-​can-​eat are unreasonable at all.
I did knock this down a star because the food options have become more sparse in the past half year or so. They used to serve more sushi and sashimi, with raw fish, and I haven’t seen the hibachi grill (which was pretty good) active the past couple of times I went. If they brought these back, the buffet would be an even better deal.

I love my Chinese food and in my 28 years of life never had such horrible food. They barely had food there and charged $ 12. Even the butter for the crab legs tasted strange. Only one rice and it was nasty. My little girl who loves her wings and fries, they had neither. When I complained to the lady she said she’s been hearing that all day. Her exact words in her accent were «people say good service bad food» and smiles. Don’t waste you’re money!!!

This buffet use to be good. Went with a party of five the other day and we were sorry that we did. It was lunch time and the food on the buffet wasn’t hot. There was nothing special on the buffet. No vegetables to speak of. The pork steaks, as they were called, were so tough and dry they were impossible to eat. No one was at the grill and after waiting a few minutes, I gave up waiting. They had a small amount of salad and no oil and vinegar. They charged us for a pot of tea for the table, and the woman at the register/​hostess was far from friendly. I don’t believe we will be eating there again since we experiened so much more at other buffets for the same cost and even less.

Don’t waste your time here … The cook was beyond rude; clearly he didn’t want to be here; tried to talk to the manager who acted like he spoke no English, just kept asking if we wanted more soda — as far as the food, left it on the table when we left — found a great pizza place next door — Vince’s

This buffet was remodeled in 2012 to add a hibachi grill. The food also seems to have improved drastically after the remodel. Crab legs are available every night at no additional cost. But the real attraction is the salt and pepper lobster every Friday-​Sunday. Great service, too.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been here and I definitely wasted a trip. My family used to frequent here until we found better places that don’t charge extra because you want crab legs. I’ve heard they no longer charge extra but I didn’t pay attention because I rarely eat crab legs anyway. And it’s all the usual Chinese buffet food, nothing special.

Food is ok, nothing great but the crab legs are terrible! They are bland and tasted like nothing. Two plates from 2 different batches and both stunk. I complained but they don’t understand English enough to get it… Dinner with crab legs $ 17.99 and a total waste.

Doesn’t have it in the restaurant name but this is a buffet & buffet take-​out place. Standard run-​of-​the-​mill Chinese Buffet items. If you pay about $ 5 more per person then your meal will include crab legs. I believe the dinner prices were $ 12.95 buffet only or $ 17.95 including crab legs.
Their honey chicken & walnut shrimp stood out being really good. Some of the peal-​and-​eat shrimp were soggy. Most of the items were deep fried or soaked in oil. Not many healthy options.
Overall average. Only bonus really is the snow crab legs. Sometimes you have to wait around for them to refill them.

Your average chinese buffet. Nothing spectacular but you’ll get full.