Lee’s Garden Chinese Restaurant

The buffet is always a great go to for a quick dinner or take is an option. Clean and friendly staff.

Buffet quality going down. We used to go frequently and very tasty but lately not as fresh. You’d think with such a small buffet, it’s easier to keep fresh. Take out is consistently good, however, since they make it fresh. Buffet is two stars, and added one for take out.

Just went here. Horrible place.
I did a take out. No food was on each plate.
Everything is dried out.
Just a horrible experience. Service was… expected, horrible.

Went there for the 1^st time., we were thinking of ordering to go from the menu but decided to do buffet to go instead. Food is decent., but we really love the Chinese donuts and sesame balls. family of 3 for dinner only cost $ 18 and that’s with dessert included. The place needs a little makeover and sushi station should be free of flies. Other than that this place has potential.

I would have given it a 2.5 rating, but that isn’t an option. As another person pointed out, the name is Lee Garden, but whatevs.
I came here solely because of the buffet option. I am very confused by the lack of buffets in North Carolina. Maybe it was a West Coast thing? I struggled to find a decent buffet option in Eastern NC and was excited about the possibilities when moving to the Raleigh area. Onto the review…
The buffet:
Let me explain what the buffet (on a Friday evening) encompassed.
A sushi selection: It was okay? for a Chinese/​American buffet. By sushi I mean rice, seaweed, cucumber, and sauces.
Two rows of hot items (about 14 pans per row): Your standard options leaning more toward the American, bland, deep fried options. Plain wings, fried corn bites, fried spring rolls, egg rolls, crab rangoon, etc. Steamed white rice, fried rice, lo mein noodles, Japanese chicken, chicken on a stick, General’s chicken, green beans, mushrooms, etc.
One row of cold items: Fresh fruit — grapes, pineapple, cantaloupe. Also, the regular pudding options, jello, kimchi, and canned lychees.
One row of dessert items: Like 6 options? All of them being the kind of standard desserts that places like this offer. Nothing I bothered wasting stomach space on.
Price: $ 11.85 for a Friday evening buffet with water.
Value: Meh.
Food breakdown:
My buffet strategy is always to get a smattering of items, test them, and then get more of what I enjoyed. There was only 1 item I actually went back for more of — the crab rangoon. The outer shell isn’t too done or too crunchy. The filling is creamy and just sweet enough. By no means is it AMAZING, but it is the best crab rangoon I have eaten in 2 years of being in North Carolina. The egg drop soup was standard, but tasty. The fried wonton strips were perfectly cooked and complimented the egg drop soup. The white rice was okay? and I ended up eating it with sauce from the chicken and broccoli. The chicken with the chicken and broccoli looked unappealing and the broccoli was a bit overdone, but the sauce wasn’t bad. The «Japanese chicken» is black pepper chicken. It was alright, just not up my alley. The General’s chicken was bad: soggy and dry, with an awkwardly flavored sauce. The pot stickers were less than stellar, but edible; I had two of them. The filling is just a clump of some kind of meat and the dough is a bit chewy. I did like how they had the pot sticker sauce in a little kettle in order to make pouring it easy. What is normally chicken on a stick was some kind of meat on a stick. The meat was unidentified and the artificial bright red color all the way through. It could have been just fine to eat, but I couldn’t get past the first bite due to the artificial red coloring.
Staff wise everyone was very pleasant. If I have a serious craving for crab rangoon or egg drop soup I will order take out, but aside from that I will pass. Contrary to my review breakdown I didn’t have a bad experience, just not one I have an interest in repeating.

Loved the buffet, the sushi was great, and the staff was really sweet and helpful, even offering to prepare more of any dish upon request. This was our first visit, we would definitely go back, especially for a quality buffet such as theirs at only $ 10.99 for dinner.

Always a great place to eat. Family owned and operated. I have been coming here for many years and enjoy the food and the staff. Always friendly and fresh food.
I enjoy the mix of flavors with some sesame chicken, general Tao’s chicken, Japanese chicken, broccoli and beef fried rice plus others I forgot to mention. This way each bite is something different.
With that add some hot tea and you have a very fulfilling meal.
I didn’t mention the sushi not because it’s good or bad but I like my food cooked and not like my women.
This is always on my favorite place to visit in Apex.

While it’s listed here as «Lee’s Garden Chinese,» I cannot help but make note of the glaringly obvious sign out front that very simply reads «Lee Garden.» Was it a mistake on the part of the sign maker? Was there a language barrier involved here in the sign’s design? Who are we to go making those changes on Unilocal all willy nilly? Search your hearts for answers!
Okay moving on…
When it comes to Chinese American food, I don’t put in too much effort. Sure, give me some chicken wings and french fries, whatever. Yeah, I’ll take your fortune cookie. In this case, I ordered spare ribs and white rice. I can eat white rice all day no matter where I get it from, as long as it’s pretty good. There was a time in my life when I ate it three times a day at every meal. You’d think I’d be tired of it, but no. I inhale the stuff, and I inhaled Lee’s. The spare ribs were incredible, which shocked the hell out of me.
I also once had the lo mein, and it was okay. Forgettable, like most lo mein, so no points taken away from them. But the service was kind and fast, the parking was easy, and the place seemed clean. I cannot offer any insight into their buffet action because I don’t mess with buffets. But Lee (s) Garden is definitely a good choice in a pinch.

Absolutely HORRIFIC experience. I ate here last night and the jello and fruit had a strong taste of bleach. Also, as I was paying, the lady at the counter was eating, and before she took my credit card, she spit a massive wad of chewed squid into her hand, then threw it into a plate, did not wipe off her hand or anything, and proceeded to touch my credit card and the pen I used to sign. As I very politely brought this to her attention, she laughed at me and said «it isn’t a big deal, what’s wrong?» I told her it was extremely unsanitary (and I will be honest, I almost lost my entire meal right there in front her from seeing it). She laughed and said «I will remember that for next time» and was extremely rude. I told her it wasn’t something to be taken lightly and she proceeded to scream and tell me «oh well, I spit in my hand, big deal» and I requested a refund for mine, as well as two friends who were with me, meals. She screamed in the middle of the restaurant and said «How dare you ask for ME to pay for YOUR meal, when you eat all my food» and I told her I could give the health department a call, and that would be fine too (which I plan to do anyways), and she lost her mind. She was in my face screaming in her language saying I don’t even know what. She eventually gave us refunds (but they have yet to show up in my bank account), and screamed at us out the door. I plan to contact the health department first thing Monday morning, as well as the Better Business Bureau. There is no telling what they think is sanitary in the kitchen, if they think it is sanitary to spit in their hands!

Went today for lunch not going again. Food cold and no taste. Husband wanted eel roll they finally made it said it was ok.

The reason I decided to check out Lee’s Garden was because of a coupon that was 50% off an adult buffet with the purchase of another. I went on a Tuesday night and there was only one other couple in the entire restaurant. The décor and ambience was nice and the staff was welcoming, although it was very empty. The sushi selection was decent and comparable to other Chinese buffets I’ve been to. However, there were only 2 sections for the hot bar. One was devoted entirely to fried foods, which is my least favorite part of the buffet, The other section contained veggies, stir fry dishes, rice, lo mein, and soups, so you can imagine the selection was relatively scarce. There was almost no refilling of the food while we were there and a large portion of the dishes had obviously been sitting out for awhile. The total for two for dinner, with tax, was $ 23.70 and we saved about $ 6 with the coupon. I had high hopes for this restaurant from the reviews, but this restaurant left a lot to be desired.

This is by far the best buffet food I’ve had in NC. It’s not the largest yet they have a huge selection. The quality of this food is awesome, and I’m extremely picky. Highly recommended. Buffet is ~$ 11.00

Good food, good service but not the cleanest place in the world. Our table was sticky and some of the silverware wasn’t clean. I would still go back though because it’s hard to find decent Chinese food in the triangle area.

We decided to try this buffet after work one night, and being new to the area, weren’t sure what to expect.
The sushi on their sushi bar was good, nothing outstanding, but worth sampling. The entrees and appetizers were well-​prepared. I particularly enjoyed the fried scallops (which are easy to screw up). None of the dishes were at the wrong temperature, and the salad bar was very fresh. I was pleasantly surprised to see lychees there.
We had our 3-​year old son with us, and he enjoyed his food as well.
For the price, the place was great!

Lee’s Garden is close by so we order take out every now and then. We’ve actually eaten there once or twice but it’s been quite some time. We’re more likely to do take out.
Some of our usuals include Dumplings, Fried Cream Cheese Wantons, Lo Mein, Fried Rice, General Tsao’s Chicken and Curry Chicken. The food is OK and they seem to use decent ingredients. I have no complaints. But there’s nothing memorable or compelling about it. We only order from them because it’s close by.

This is the only competent Chinese food that we’ve found in the Apex area. We’ve tried a few others, but keep coming back to Lee’s Garden as being consistently good. We usually have take-​out, and enjoy their hot and sour soup.
The portions for take-​out are generous, they are always on-​time when we arrive to pick-​up the food, and are very welcoming when you pick-​up the food.
We wouldn’t have good Chinese food to eat if it wasn’t for Lee’s Garden. Thanks!

I love a good Chinese buffet and Lee’s is a good one. The real test for me is the sushi. I don’t expect high end sashimi but they should have a good California roll at a minimum. Lee’s has that and more. All good and very fresh. I apologize for the pictures that look a little picked over — that’s my fault for taking more sushi than Chinese hot table items. Sue me. :-)
As for the hot table, they had the usual entrees and they were in good form during the peak lunch rush. Our table of 7 had our drinks refilled often and the dirty plates taken away quickly.
Under $ 10 with drink and tip. I’m SO full and in a good way!

I love this place! I just ate here Sunday and it was amazing as usual.
They have a smaller buffet, so don’t go expecting some wide spread chinese buffet. They keep it small and intimate so you don’t have food sitting out all day drying out. Their hot and sour soup is honestly the best I’ve had. They have a cute little sushi bar, usually with some hand rolls and individual pieces and other rolls. Always good. If you tip the sushi maker he will make you a roll of your choosing or surprise you. He made us a tempura roll with eel on top Sunday, delicious!
The buffet price is reasonable, especially considering the great sushi. About $ 11 and a bit more if you get a beverage. It’s not like the usual just bought from the grocery store sushi, it’s great made in front of you sushi.
They have a togo menu like any other Chinese Restaurant and are super quick. The staff is always attentive to me when I go but I do go there a lot.
I really love this place. I wanna go again this week :)

This place deserves way better than three stars so I’m giving them five! Last night was my second visit to Lee’s Garden. I remember being equally impressed after the first visit. For eleven bucks, you can’t beat this buffet. There is something for everyone on the buffet. There were several different chicken, beef, and shrimp dishes. The Japanese chicken and the sauteed mushrooms were my favorite and the kids loved the chinese BBQ chicken on a stick. On top of the huge selection of Chinese food, the sushi bar had a great variety of rolls. I tried three different rolls and they were all very good.
If you are looking for a reasonably priced meal for the family, this is the place to go. I know we’ll be back again.

I’ve never tried the buffet or the sushi, and usually stick to either the mei fun or lo mein to go. Both are good and served quickly. The staff is always friendly and always remember my «usual».