La Mei Zi

La Mei Zi is a gift to Asian Square. We’ve always gone next door to Ming’s BBQ, but finally decided to try this place out after craving serious Taiwanese food. This place has an extensive menu of a mix of Taiwanese and Sichuan dishes.
We went on a Saturday night, and it wasn’t incredibly busy. It has to be said that La Mei Zi is incredibly understaffed. We waited almost 20 minutes (after every one had already picked their dishes) to finally get someone to take our order. We flagged down one of the managers at first, and he said someone would be coming. It was another 10 – 15 minutes before someone actually came to take our order.
Besides that, the food came extremely quickly, and everything looked delicious. Our group didn’t want to do family style since a couple of us have dietary restrictions, but everything that came out looked amazing. Collectively, we ordered the Sichuan Fish Fillet, Ma Po Tofu, Pork Cutlet Rice, Beef Noodle Soup, Spicy Sliced Beef, Pork Dumplings, and etc.
My appetizer was the pork dumplings, which were actually really great considering I haven’t had decent dumplings in Atlanta yet. Much tastier than Gu’s in Krog Street, and a lot more wallet friendly. Around $ 5 for 8 healthy-​sized dumplings. I could definitely order 3 servings of this and consider it a meal.
Then I split a beef noodle soup, and the fish fillet with a friend. I definitely preferred the fish fillet, which although comes out looking intimidating due to all the peppers, was extremely savory. I definitely wouldn’t consider it spicy, but the fish was tender, and the flavoring paired nicely. The beef noodle soup was as I imagined. The beef may have been a little bit too chewy, but overall, I’d order it again.
We all agreed that La Mei Zi is definitely a place we’d venture too again!

Came in on a Sunday afternoon and it was a full house — looked like the lunch buffet was pretty popular. Interior was clean and nicely decorated. I ordered «Stinky Tofu,» something that I have never tried before. It was very well done — aroma was extremely off-​putting and the taste was definitely not for the delicate of palate, but I’m glad I tried it anyway. Servers were extremely friendly; I believe one of them was the owner. She was very helpful in making suggestions for what to try on my next visit. I will definitely be back!

We went on a Friday night at 8pm and the place was full but we got a table within ten minutes. Sat down for another ten minutes but nobody even came by to offer glasses of water or tea. We tried flagging down one of the three waitresses to order but were told someone else would come by to do it. One woman came to ask if we wanted tea but when I didn’t decide in the first five seconds she walked away. Ended up being a half hour total of waiting. So we got up and went to bbq corner on the other end of the plaza.
I will give this place another try after I stop being angry about the poor service. The food did look good on the other tables, but they really need to put more waitstaff out there on a Friday night. Maybe I will try again on a weekday.

Never having tried Taiwanese food, my friend and I decided to plan a lunch there.
For a Friday lunch, they were consistently busy although never entirely full. Upon being seated, our waters arrived quickly. They have a lunch menu which customers can order off. It’s a lengthy list of options with proteins like chicken, pork and fish. Each lunch entrée is served with soup or appetizer and steamed rice.
From other Unilocal reviews (thanks!) I was determined to order the fish in hot bean sauce (which is on the lunch menu) and my friend wanted the eggplant dish. The woman that took our order suggested eggplant with basil instead of eggplant with garlic sauce. And finally we couldn’t resist the green beans so between the two of us we got three mains. (Yes a little greedy).
The soup served with the entrée was a broth with radishes, the broth was flavorful but the texture of the radishes didn’t win me over.
I am glad we tried three dishes because each one was unique and gave us a taste of Taiwanese cuisine. The green beans are little like the sichuanese dry fried green beans and just as flavorful and delicious. The eggplant was crisp from the frying and creamy and the basil added a new flavor dimension that I’ve never tried with chinese style eggplant. Eggplant is cooked with pork. The fish was my favorite of the three, if I had to choose, because it was in a black bean sauce and the fish was perfectly cooked.
The prices for lunch were very reasonable, $ 7−9/entrée which included a soup and rice.
Everything we ate was excellent and I can’t wait to go back with my partner.

This place is so awesome. The restaurant is clean with a nice interior. The waitress/​waiters are extremely nice and not too overbearing. The food is good too. Their portions are ginormous and it tastes great.
I especially like their walnut shrimp. It’s sweet, but not too overbearingly sweet. Honestly everything at that restaurant is good. I always come out happy and full.

Awesome authentic style Taiwanese restaurant. Food would be family style and what you expect to eat at a casual family restaurant or mom’s house.
Definitely a good place to go if you want to try some good Taiwanese food.

Absolutely love this place. Have not tried too many items, as I keep returning to the lamb with leeks and cilantro. This has to be on of the best dishes in Atlanta. I have this every 2 weeks. Heaven.
Stuff I have had with my star rating: —
1. Lamb with leeks and cilantro — 5
2. Salt and Pepper Calamari — 3
3. Salt and Pepper Chicken — 4
4. Eggplant and Garlic — 5
5. Spicy Fish Hotpot — 5
6. Green Beans –4
My only disappointment is the Calamari. There is better on offer on BuHi.
Service is fantastic, and very friendly. Most times we have been, my wife and I are the only non-​Asians in the restaurant — a very good sign.
Have not tried the Buffet on weekends.
Will be back time and time again.
«This is an update on the Calamari. Had it a second time, and it was nowhere near the first time I had it. It is really good, and I have had it several times since. Highly recommended! Updated to a 5 out of 5 stars.
No alcoholic license, so byob.»

Great! Try the shrimp with fried onions and numbing peppers– sooo good.
service– they know what they’re talking about– true taiwanese people! woot woot!
price is not bad, and it’s located in a the big shopping complex where 99 ranch used to be.

Every time I come here I leave more and more happy.
At La Mei Zi I really enjoy:
— Chinese and Taiwanese classics executed well
— Nicely priced
— Good service with enthusiastic staff willing to help navigate the menu
— Great selection of items from apps to mains to a spicy Sichuan items to noodle and broth only soups
— Good weekday lunch specials
La Mei Zi offers a brunch buffet on Saturdays and Sundays. Lots of variety!

La Mei Zi is located in Asian square (tucked in the back). Although this place is supposedly good for their spicy food, there are definitely non-​spicy alternatives for people like me who can’t eat very spicy.
I ordered mapo tofu, spicy fish fillet, beef noodle soup, and gua bao. My favorite dish was the gua bao (comes in two buns) — it was very authentic and reminded me of the ones I used to eat when I lived in Taiwan. The bun was soft and had pork belly, pickled vegetables, cilantro, and peanut powder. I also enjoyed the spicy fish fillet, it was very flavorful and surprisingly not as spicy as I thought it would be. I thought the map tofu and beef noodle soup were just A-​OK. I feel like mapo tofu is pretty standard and hard to make poorly so it wasn’t bad per say, just nothing exceptional. I will say I was impressed to see the side of pickled vegetables (suan tsai) come with beef noodle soup — they know their food for sure!
Food was great, but service was also good. They waiters and waitresses were really polite and even helped us pack our leftovers.

I came here as part of an outing with some fellow Unilocalers. I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve had food from other places in this very shopping center and others nearby. You can really tell the difference in the quality of the food. This place is above everyone else in quality, freshness and even the wait staff is amazing (they are sweet as pie, they know their customers by name, keep up with their families and stories too).
FYI they offer a weekend brunch that’s $ 10 – 14 but it gets very busy. They offer what they offer on a table you and go in buffet style. You will be sitting with strangers at their large round tables that seat up to 10 – 12 folks.
Bao– This did not have an English name. Just the symbol. — It’s braised pork belly, pickle with steamed bun $ 5.95 It was decent, not my favorite place to get a bao.
Smoked duck Taiwan style $ 8.95 great smoked flavor. It’s served cold. I’ve had duck before but this duck had a great smokey flavor.
Walnut honey shrimp $ 15.95 It’s really good here, it had a great balance of sweet sauce and creamy sauce and crunchy fried shrimp. Often time it just tastes like fried Shrimp and mayonnaise but here they got the right balance of flavor, I finally get this dish! It’s often served a weddings and very special occasions.
Salt and pepper calamari $ 13.95 It wasn’t peppery enough for me. I always enjoy a good calamari but it wasn’t a top dish tonight.
Lamb with cilantro and hot bean sauce $ 15.95 I did not care for this spicy and oddly flavored dish. I’ll pass next time.
Lotus root — this was a side veggie. Sautéed with ginger paste and shiitake mushrooms — It was very good and a good change from your typical veggies.
Grilled egg plant — This was also great, they know how to season an eggplant.
Spicy fish filet Sichuan style in hot pot 14.95 very good. A deep throat hot
3 cups bone in chicken with basil $ 11.95 (yes that’s it’s name) It was very basily and tasted delicious.
Stinky Tofu– I am told they make it very authentic here. It was indeed stinky (like rotten cheese/​feet) and boy did it taste worse. It’s definitely an acquired taste.
Overall this place is one of my top places to visit for Taiwanese/​Chinese food. They have very traditional dishes, and very authentic recipes. You can tell it’s fresh and made well.

One of the best Chinese joints that I’ve been!
Portions were perfect, flavor was great, and best of all didn’t leave feeling greasy or with a tummy ache!
It’s located in the back of the Asian square plaza, same plaza with Sweet Hut. We ordered the salty & pepper calamari and pork, string beans, minced pork noodles, kung pow chicken, and pork buns for 5 people.
Salt and pepper pork was my favorite out of our order. It was everything you can ask for, salty, spicy, and and meaty. Salt and pepper calamari was great as well but I felt that it was more flour than tasting the calamari. Kung pow chicken was surprisingly more on the sweet side, but was still good. Pork buns were a bit below expectation with the bao not as moist, soft, and warm.
Overall, everything was very flavorful!
One recommendation is to sit far away from the kitchen. I believe it’s the stinky tofu smell, but it was awful every time the kitchen doors swung open…

Located towards the back in Asian Square, this location used to be a billiards spot. This place cleaned up nicely. The interior is simple, spacious, and clean. You couldn’t even tell that this place used to be a pool hall. We came here last night for dinner. La Mei Zi did a great job with accommodating our large group of 26. They serve incredibly authentic Taiwanese cuisine.
Our group tried a medley of menu items. Items we tried were: Braised Beef and Scallion Rolls with Hoisin Sauce (Appetizer), Taiwanese Smoked Duck, Spicy Fish Fillet Sichuan-​Style in Hot Pot, Three Cup Bone-​in Chicken with Basil, Gua Bao, Lamb with Leeks, Cilantro in Hot Bean Sauce, Chinese Okra, and Fried Stinky Tofu. Dishes came out fairly quick after we placed our order. Majority of the dishes were delicious. My absolute favorites being the rolls, fish fillet, and the chicken with basil. The memorable dish of the night was definitely the Fried Stinky Tofu; definitely an acquired taste.
Solid Taiwanese spot. Michelle, Karen, and their staff were very hospitable. We went on a weekday so service was great. I would definitely return to try other dishes. :)

La Mei Zi is a Taiwanese restaurant that opened at Asian Square in May 2015. It’s in the same shopping center as Sweet Hut and Quoc Huong Banh Mi, but in the back next door to Ming’s BBQ. It’s actually easier to get to La Mei Zi by taking the back entrance into Asian Square via Shallowford Road rather than turning in from Buford Highway.
This restaurant is authentic and popular among the local Chinese/​Taiwanese community. Some of the same people who were behind the original TJ House in Duluth — when TJ House was serving Taiwanese food (they’ve since changed management/​chefs and are now a Cantonese restaurant) — are the ones who opened La Mei Zi. Sisters Karen and Michelle (
) run the show and they do a great job. I was a big fan of the old TJ House (
) so it’s no surprise I’ve become a fan of La Mei Zi as well. The food and service here are fantastic!
La Mei Zi replaced Chicken World which was a dump. This back corner of Asian Square has been revitalized with a clean, polished, and vibrant restaurant. The interior has an open layout featuring hardwood floors, simple décor, and pendant lighting. There is a mixture of round tables, booths, and banquette seating. The biggest tables can seat 10 each and there are four of them. I estimate this place can seat a total of about 100 guests.
Video:
Many folks are fans of La Mei Zi’s $ 11 weekend brunch/​lunch buffet. It’s a good deal. The weekend buffet gets so busy that separate parties sometimes get seated together at the same table. If you go for the buffet, prepare perhaps to dine with strangers and make new friends.
Here are the business hours:
. Note the restaurant is closed on Tuesdays.
The menu contains over 100 dishes. While the cuisine is predominantly Taiwanese, there are over a half-​dozen Sichuan spicy dishes, mostly of the hot pot variety. Weekday lunch specials are available for under $ 10 a plate. Outside of weekday lunches and the weekend buffet, you can expect to spend about $ 6 – 10 each for most appetizers, cold plates, and soups, and $ 11 – 16 each for entrees. These are reasonable prices, especially for the quality and taste of the food you get.
Some dishes I’ve tried and recommend (using unedited dish names from the menu) include:
Vegetables:
* Stir Fried String Beans
* Eggplant with Basil
* Eggplant with Hot Garlic Sauce
* Chinese Okra (seasonal, not on menu)
Appetizers and Cold Plates:
* Braised Beef & Scallion with Hosing [sic] Sauce in Roll. (hoisin sauce)
* Braised Pork Belly, Pickle with Bun (gua bao)
* Smoked Duck Taiwan Style
* Fried Crispy Stink [sic] Tofu (stinky tofu) ^
House Flavors:
* Lamb with Leeks, Cilantro in Hot Bean Sauce
* Three Cup Bone-​in Chicken with Basil
Numbing & Spicy:
* Spicy Fish Fillet Sichuan Style in Hot Pot
Special:
* HeySong Sarsaparilla Taiwanese soft drink
* Taiwanese Mooncake
The Chinese Okra is my favorite of the vegetable dishes I’ve tried. Chinese okra is like regular «American» okra on steroids. It’s consistency is soft and similar to zucchini or squash. The okra is sliced and served in a light yet savory sauce. The other veggies I’ve tried (string beans, eggplant) are prepared Cantonese style (or very similar to it) — stir-​fried with lots of spices and seasoning. I prefer the Eggplant with Basil over the Eggplant with Hot Garlic Sauce, though both are good. The former is served with slivers of chicken while the latter comes with ground beef.
The Braised Beef & Scallion Rolls, Pork Belly Buns, and Taiwanese Smoked Duck are all very good to excellent. Another suggested dish similar to the rolls, which is not mentioned above, is the Scallion Pancake. The flaky rolls/​pancakes are scrumptious! The gua bao comes thick, hearty slices of pork belly inside steamed bread. The smoked duck, served bone-​in, is tender and flavorful.
^ Stinky Tofu is an acquired taste. It does indeed stink and La Mei Zi serves the real deal. Pungent to the nth degree, this one is for adventurous eaters only.
The Lamb with Leeks and Three Cup Chicken are terrific. Both are packed with flavor. The lamb has no hint of gaminess and actually tastes quite beefy. The chicken is served in a hot pot, coated with a delicious semi-​sweet sauce.
The Sichuan Fish Fillet in Hot Pot is spot-​on. It’s hot and numbing thanks to the liberal use of Sichuan red peppers and peppercorns. Generous amounts of meaty fish and cabbage.
Try the Sarsaparilla Taiwanese soda. Well-​known from decades ago, this old school soda tastes (to me) like a variant of root beer and sweet plums. Very «Asian» tasting. The mooncake I had had rich, thick jujube paste filling.
Orders come out quick and the servers are friendly and attentive. Thank you, Michelle, Karen, Esther, and company!

«Let’s skip out on the wiki facts and focus on the food. I’m trying to find out what to order on the Unilocal app before the server gets back.»
[Time & Date of visit]: Weekend late lunch
[Party Size]: 2
[Location/​Ambiance]:
Location — The restaurant is in the rear of Asian square, to the far left. Past Mings BBQ.
Parking — I think it’s easier to just exit through the back of Asian Square, via Shallowford Rd. The back parking lot gets pretty sketchy at night, so park closer to the other shops
Inside — They still had their brunch buffet setup when we entered, but the setup has old school Asian restaurant furniture. Rectangle four up tables with a long running both on the right of the restaurant and bigger round tables for larger groups on the left.
Vibe — Feels casual, old school Asian restaurant feel. But newer décor.
[Service]:
Full service.
We were greeted as soon as we entered and brought over to a four top table. After she sat us, a different server guy took care of us. He was spot on with our tea pot refills. Food took a little bit to come out, though we were only one out of three tables still there. Entrée’s came out before the Pork Belly Bao.
[Food Highlights]:
Chrysanthemum Tea — $ 2.50 — Not as sugar’d up as other restaurants, and a good balance of flowers for flavor but not bitter. Good alternate choice and shareable.
Due to the wait, our server brought us a free banchan like appetizer of seasoned cucumbers. Which were still crispy, so not really pickled. The sauce wasn’t bad. Pretty ok.
Pork Dumpling (steamed) — $ 5.95 — Don’t let the inconsistency of the shapes fool you. This looks more like homemade vs pre-​made frozen. Though there was one dumpling that appeared it wasn’t cooked all the way. Ehh =\. Maybe go for fried instead to play it self. A little salty on the filling, even more so when dipped into the soy sauce. Ehh — so, so.
Braised Pork Belly Bao — $ 5.95 (Two per order) The fatty parts are, well… fatty and chewy. Some might prefer it, but I like mine crispy. The ratio of fat content to meat varies. As for the meat itself, pretty tender. The bao was fluffy and slightly chewy which was good. I didn’t care much for the relish. I think Ah-Ma’s version is better so far though. Worth a try at least for an appetizer.
Fried Pork Chop Rice (Plate) — $ 8.50 — Three cuts of pork chop atop a bed of minced braised pork, veggies and rice with a hard boiled egg. The pork chop was slightly more salty than expected but tasty. A bit well done, so not as juicy but still tender with a slight crispy skin. It was easier eating it with the rice together. The egg was meh. Only the outside was flavored. The minced pork and veggies had a mild overpowering taste when eaten with the pork chop together. Pretty good overall though.
Fried Chicken Leg Rice (Plate) — $ 8.50 — A jumbo chicken leg, deep fried w/​crispy skin served similar to the Fried Pork Chop Rice plate. I actually kind of liked the chicken, its fried with a crisp skin though a tad dry. Not bad, but the fried pork chop plate might taste better.
[Total Bill w/​Tip & Tax]:
$ 33.60 + $ 6.28 tip.
{Summary}:
I’m not sure if we were missing out on coming late for the buffet. The fried chicken and pork chop plates are single entrée styles and good for those in a hurry. We didn’t try any other dishes besides appetizers, but weren’t wowed by them. Might visit just to taste my usual Taiwanese dishes to see how they stack up. 2.5 — 3 Stars if food alone. Solid 3 just cause of good service.

PORK DUMPLINGS
— uneven cooking of the meats inside the dumplings (noticed this when we dissected them)
— they seem to look homemade since all the dumplings had diff. pinching patterns and folds
— dumpling stuffing had no veggies in them whatsoever
— dumpling sauce was mediocre. I’d say buffets’ dumpling sauces beat LMZ’s
GUA BAO (pork belly buns)
— comes 2pc per order
— the steamed buns were the biggest I’ve ever seen
— meat ratio does not match the bun
— pork belly was not tender enough nor «melt-​in-​your-​mouth» texture
— sauce was a tad too sweet for my taste
— it didn’t have any peanut powder like an authentic Taiwanese gua bao
— pork belly meat was somewhat bland when I isolated it from the rest of the bao
PORK RICE PLATE
*keep in mind that this particular dish is a signature and a very popular item in Taiwan. therefore, I always order this dish to feel out their menu and flavor profiles
— the fried pork had decent flavoring on the batter
— pork was tenderized in a decent manner
— meat was cook thoroughly this time
— the veggies were somewhat scarce in comparisons to the ratio of the rest of the plate
— the minced pork meat sauce was mediocre. wish it had more flavor
— braised egg was bland, but I’m guessing only bc they cooked the egg along with the bland/​mediocre meat sauce
— can’t request for grilled pork since they don’t «own a grill» BOOOO
CHICKEN RICE PLATE
— not as «good» in comparisons to the fried pork
– everything else is the exact same as the previous rice plate, so REREAD above to see my other points
in conclusion, I thought the food was mediocre to okay. would I come again? less likely. it would be my last option but it wouldn’t hurt to revisit later on to see if they decide to season their food better. other than that, the service was great! no complaints in that department :)
2 stars explains it best — «meh, I’ve had better»!

This restaurant is located in the same shopping plaza as Sweet Hut all the way in the opposite corner. Parking seems to be kinda limited back there.
Came here on a Sunday for lunch. Place was fairly crowded. On weekends they have an all you can eat buffet for around $ 10. We decided to order from menu, but they seemed to had a decent variety of foods such as shrimp, dumplings, few meats, and soups.
There is plenty to chose from the menu. It seems to be a mix between Taiwanese and Sichuan food, but mostly Taiwanese. There was only my girlfriend and I, so we couldn’t possibly order too much, but we got to taste a lot.
**Braised Beef and Scallion with Hosing Sauce in a Roll
I saw a few people on Unilocal give great reviews for this appetizers so I had to get it. My girlfriend didn’t think it was going to be good, but after taking a bite she had to give it props. You get 4 rolls so pretty good for sharing, but you’re not going to want to. I can come here and get 2 orders of these and be perfectly happy. Absolutely delicious and highly recommended.
**Pork belly bun
You get 2 nice size buns with this order. I was honestly only expecting one, so I was pleasantly surprised. The meat is cooked very well and wasn’t too fatty. The buns themselves were also very good and the relish sauce they add wasn’t bad.
**Fish Fillet w/​tofu in hot bean sauce
This is found down in your numbing section so I knew my girlfriend would have to have it. You get some really nice pieces of white fish and, as my girlfriend described it, «mouth melting» tofu. It’s not overly spicy or numbing as other Sichuan foods I’ve had, but it was still enjoyable.
**Salt & pepper calamari
Finally, the calamari was a very nice dish. They were very garlicy tasting, but it wasn’t overdone. You get a good amount of calamari with this dish and it was cooked very well. Probably some of the best calamari I’ve had.
Service wasn’t the best; they seemed as though they didn’t have enough people. But food came out relatively fast, and all the servers were very polite and kept us updated with how fast the food was coming out. So I’m not going to knock off any points.
Looking forward to coming back to try more.

For delicious Taiwanese cuisine, look no further! Do not be startled by the odd scent you might encounter when you walk it – it’s probably just the stinky tofu.
You’re might be thinking, «Who would eat something called ‘stinky tofu?’» Well, I for one would eat it, and moreover, it’s one of the best things on their menu!
Upon walking in, we were seated immediately. They were very courteous and told us ahead of time that the kitchen was busy due to a large take-​out order that had just been placed; I can appreciate that. Overall, the service was great.
We ordered the Fried Stinky Tofu appetizer, Beef Noodle Soup, the Taiwanese Pork Chop over Rice, and the Taiwanese Smoked Duck. All were amazing. There were many other things on the menu that I wanted to try, like the minced pork over rice as well as stinky tofu hot pot dishes – another time perhaps.
The prices were very reasonable. For example, for a very large bowl of beef noodle soup (which is a Taiwanese specialty), it’s about 9 bucks. Order the same thing at Ah Ma’s in midtown, and you’ll pay 15 bucks. Not a bad deal at all!
The bathroom were very clean. Bathrooms at Chinese food places, in my experience, tend to be dirty, so I was pleasantly surprised that their restrooms were well maintained.
Parking is very simple – it’s in the Asian Square plaza so there’s plenty of parking.

New Taiwanese restaurant opened May 9^th, next to Ming’s BBQ — if you’ve never been to Asian Square, La Mei Zi is in the very far back corner on the left. The interior space is completely redone — looks very nice. This review is for the weekend buffet only, which is available Sat-​Sun 10:30 — 2:30pm. $ 9.95/adult, and different pricing for children based on their age.
I went two days in a row (yep I really did), and the selection was exactly the same … looking at the other buffet photos on Unilocal,most of the dishes look the same with exception of maybe 1 – 2 selections. Hoping they have plans to refresh the buffet selection.
When we came on Saturday, they said we couldn’t order anything but the buffet. On Sunday we could see some tables ordering other things from the menu — not sure if Sundays are exceptions or maybe b/​c it was Father’s Day.
Buffet selection incl. 16 different lunch items, 4 soups and 2 sweets (yogurt drink and watermelon — later popsicles when they ran out of watermelon). It’s interesting the buffet items on one side are labeled but not the other. They will bring rice to your table. Also there is homemade plum juice (also incl. in the buffet price) — look for it in the big drink dispenser in the back bar area — it has an interesting and unexpected BBQ smoke flavor though …
My favorite items were the drunk chicken w/​scallions (tastes similar to Haiwanese chicken — looks boring but very flavorful; they marinate in rice wine), salt-​n-​pepper shrimp (super messy to eat if you prefer to peel shrimp vs. eat whole shrimp incl head and shell), stir-​fried string beans, pickled veggies, and the clam ginger soup. Not a fan of the black bean bitter melon (but my friends who love bitter melon loved it) or the kelp seaweed. Other buffet items that I recall incl. dumplings, shrimp roll, salt-​n-​pepper fish filet, fried tofu, scallion pancake, shredded tofu, cucumber pickles, sauteed cabbage, vermicelli noodles, Gen Tso’s chicken, unsweetened soy milk, green peas and rice soup … there’s also a minced pork soup but I really think that may be a minced pork sauce for your rice.
Overall 3.5 stars rounded to 4 — there are a couple gems in there (drunk chicken and the salt-​n-​pepper shrimp), and the rest are ok. But I love AYCE buffets and I love the variety and the price is good. I just wouldn’t come often since the selection doesn’t seem to change. The place isn’t that big so if you come during peak time, you may have to wait for a table. Which is also a good thing b/​c that means the food turnover is high. I definitely plan to come back to try the dishes from their regular menu esp. after reading Praveen R’s 5-​star review :)
FYI they’re closed Tues. They also have lunch specials Mon-​Fri 11−3pm.

La mei zi, a new Taiwanese style restaurant at Asian Square strip mall, opened it’s door for business. If you didn’t know, Asian square also houses popular bakery/​café, Sweet Hut, as well. With restaurants like Mamak, Quoc Huang, Ming’s bbq and BBQ corner II, already part of the Asian Square I was actually surprised to see new one popping out but I am always for new restaurants — it keeps the scene fresh. It’s is located right next to the Ming’s bbq.
La mei Zi roughly translates into ‘Spicy sister’ or ‘Spicy girl’ and during my research, I read somewhere that, culturally girls from Sichuan and Hunan province are referred to as ‘La mei Zi’, not just for their food preference (and kind of food they cook) but also for their personality. Now I don’t subscribe to the part about personalities but you get why the name ‘La mei Zi’. They serve spicy/​hot food.(There is also a reference to a popular song ‘La mei Zi’ in youtube — check it out).
So yeah, on a Wednesday evening, three of us, my mom who is visiting us from India, my partner and myself, went to try La mei zi after our grocery shopping at Buford hwy farmer’s market. We were immediately welcomed by host and asked for our preference of table or booth and quickly seated!
There are only handful of Taiwanese restaurants in and around of Atlanta — Ping’s place in GW market, Kanpai café, Bento Café and Ah Ma’s in midtown. TJ House used to be one, but since new change of ownership they are serving Chinese food and the chef moved to La mei zi. I was excited to know that because the Taiwanese food at TJ house used to be excellent.
The inside of the restaurant was quite spacious and I can already see Daniel B hosting a BuHi UYE here. The menu looked quite heavy but luckily it didn’t have endless number pages and items. There was cheaper, single page length of lunch menu and three pages of dinner items.
We ordered the following,
1) Scallion pancake beef roll
2) Gua bao
3) San bei ji
4) Ma po dofu
5) Fried porkchop over rice
***Scallion pancake beef roll is essentially a street food in Taiwan. It’s pretty much beef cooked with five-​spice rolled into scallion/​green onion pancake, typically cut in small rolls and served/​brushed with sweet sauce. The pancake was perfectly flaky inside and crispy outside and I was happy that sweetness of the sauce wasn’t too overwhelming. We all enjoyed the app.($ 6.95)
***Gua Bao — Pork belly served with mustard leaf relish on a steamed open bao (bun). This was our favorite appetizer of our meal. Even my mother who never had pork belly ever before, immediately taken a liking for this dish. There was generous piece of pork belly in the bao, the mustard leaf relish was juicy and adds to the flavor of the dish. And, unlike Ah Ma kitchen’s over priced Baos, this was just $ 5.95 for a pair of Baos! MUST TRY!
***San Bei Ji — you may have seen in menu of other restaurant as ‘Three cups chicken’. Some restaurants might give an option of choosing between bone-​in and boneless chicken. But here in La Mei Zi, you only get bone-​in version and it was delicious. And even though it was bone-​in version, we had several pieces of chicken with no-​bone in it and my mother really appreciated it. And i thought, Basil leaves added an extra layer of flavor in the dish — nice touch. I should note though, La Mei Zi’s version is touch sweeter than I am used to from other restaurants.($ 10.95)
***Ma po dofu — Spicy dish made with soft tofu and ground pork. I always order this dish at any new Chinese/​Taiwanese style restaurant, more like a litmus test. In my opinion, if they can’t make a worthwhile ma po dofu, they really aren’t worth dining at! The dish at ‘La Mei Zi’ was one of the best I have tasted. Especially the sauce was very tasty with nice hint of garlic and chilies. We couldn’t have enough of this over rice! GET THIS!($ 9.95)
***Fried porkchop over rice — We were only going to order ‘House Fried rice’ for my mother but the waitresses insisted that one can get ‘Fried rice’ anywhere but their chef’s specialty are Fried porkchop or chicken over rice. So we went with this. It was basically tonkatsu styled fried porkchop, mustard leaf relish we talked about earlier and some ground pork based sauce and soy marinated boiled egg over white rice. The pork was crispy, nicely salted and for the price it was a good deal. ($ 8.50)
The service was quite nice and they checked on us quite a bit to refill our hot tea and water.
Also, they have brunch buffet on Saturday and Sunday at just $ 9.95 — it comes with rotating menu of stir fried items and shrimp rolls, vegetable rice noodles, minced pork sauce for rice, scallion pancake, dumplings and soy milk, plum juice. And it’s totally worth every penny! MUST TRY!
They are closed on Tuesday. On Sun, Mon, Wed & Thurs, they are open from 11 am — 10 pm and on Fri and Sat from 11 am to 10.30. Amex not accepted.
Overall, we enjoyed eating at La Mei Zi and I think it’s a great addition to the neighborhood.