China Palace

Delicious, affordable buffet loaded with good Chinese style food. Great hot and sour soup and awesome chicken wings!

Disclaimer: I’m in no means an expert in critiquing food, but my taste buds were not satisfied. Do not expect much from this buffet. Your choices are limited: poorly seasoned and overcooked.

The China Palace is celebrating 23 years of food service. They seem to have gone by the wayside a decade ago, after the New China Buffet opened up about 2 blocks away
I popped in yesterday to see what, if anything, had changed since my last visit (long long time ago). It was crowded, but not packed, with the ‘after church’ people.
I was told to go sit anywhere. I sat in a booth along the far wall. I sat a couple minutes waiting on someone to take the drink order. I gave up and fixed a small plate of food. As I returned to my booth they had already sat two older men at it. I excused myself as I reached across the table end to scoop up my already opened bundle of silverware and replaced it with an unopened set for that man.
As I ate I studied the bar layout and there is no comparing this buffet to the New China Palace. Here, there is an ice cream station, a salad bar, a dessert bar and a horseshoe-​shaped food bar.
One strip of the horseshoe is dedicated to fried foods and three soups. The top of the horseshoe is pudding and some odd looking fruit. The other strip of the horseshoe had fried rice, baked fish, one beef dish, four chicken dishes, Lo Mein noodles, mushrooms in a sauce, and a dish with tons of shrimp in a white sauce.
I took the broccoli from the beef and broccoli because that is what I do at New China. The sauce used at New China is darker and the broccoli absorbs more flavor from it than this did today. It was good but I know I can find better, so no 5 stars for their broccoli.
I got a small amount of Lo Mein noodles because they looked dry (I always pour sauce from the mushrooms over my noodles anyway), but there wasn’t enough sauce in the mushrooms to coat a big serving of noodles. So, no 5 stars for the mushrooms and Lo Mein.
I got a small piece of fish and it was much better than New China. But, they use two different fish. This today was a white fish and New China always only uses Salmon, and it is ALWAYS too dry to eat. 5 stars for the fish today.
There were no labels defining the dishes today. I don’t know what the name of my favorite was. It had a white sauce, cauliflower, broccoli, fake crab and packed with jumbo shrimp. This is a 5 star dish based on the quality and quantity of shrimp (this dish is not on the New China buffet).
I finished that sampling, pushed my plate to the other side of the table and amused myself with the place mat. It had the Chinese horoscopes on it. I still had not been approached by a waiter at this time.
I tried to study the dessert bar without going to it and I could only remember seeing a couple different pound cakes. I didn’t want to eat anything sweet so I had to stop thinking about it.
Holy Hell! I am about to leave when what should appear but a waiter. Of course, he was very apologetic and didn’t see me sitting there (along the wall… in a very well-​lit area). He asked what I would like to drink. I told him I was almost on my way out and there was no need for a drink. He asked about water or even a Pepsi and he wouldn’t charge me for it. I told him I was OK.
I sat for a couple minutes just taking in the sporadically hung Christmas decorations. A glittery stocking on the wall at my booth, a tinsely bell on a wall across the room and a couple strands of garland on top of the buffet.
The waiter reappears, still apologetic, double checking on my drink situation. I assured him I was still OK. He dropped off the check and walked away.
I had sat there long enough for the thought of that shrimp dish to pop back into my thoughts. Yes, I had to have just a little more. There was no need to rake around and move vegetables to find shrimp, there were massive amounts of shrimp.
I don’t have a camera on my phone but if I had one I would have taken a snap of that dish and the amount of shrimp.
I went to pay ($ 9.99 without drink) and by the time I got my change to go tip, my table had been cleaned and reset. First they don’t see me, NOW they can’t get me out of there fast enough. I walked around the corner and waved a dollar at the waiter to get his attention.
I know some of you probably think that was an insult of a tip, but what was I tipping him for? What service did he provide me today? It was his sincerity. You could feel it in his voice and read it on his face, he was really sorry for not noticing me, and that made me feel good.

Did I ever get burnt out from eating here. Came here at least six times while in town. Yes, they made me a fan. Huge Chinese buffet, lunch $ 8, dinner $ 12. Huge salad bar, fresh lettuce and many items to choose from. I enjoyed how very clean this restaurant was.
You name it, they have everything you might want. Plenty of grilled foods, chicken, shrimp, salmon, grilled vegetables. Fried foods, oh my this bar is always a huge hit with fried chicken, fried okra, fried shrimp, fried potatoes, fried everything. Makes you wonder why so many people have heart problems. They have a fresh sushi bar where you can walk up and request anything. Four different soups to choose from, which were very good.
They even had an American food table with pizza, hot dogs, beef, chicken wings, fries, macaroni and cheese, perfect for kids. The dessert bar is huge offering all kinds of jello, puddings, cakes, cookies, doughnuts, pies etc…
The sushi was good, the grilled foods were excellent, salad bar fantastic, great soups, especially the wonton. Normally I am not a huge fan of Buffet’s, you always eat to much. But when you can come and pick out some good healthy eats without over eating it is great!
By far one of the best places to eat in this town. Well worth the money.
Always crowded but no worries, the place is very large. Service is good everytime.