The ONLY reason this place gets one star is because I cannot leave zero stars. My husband and I did not read the reviews before going BIG mistake! This restaurant is absolutely disgusting! I am not even sure why I actually ate there. I guess I didn't want to feel rude after they sat us at the table....I'm not sure. There was food all over the floor. It looked as though a heard of toddlers were let loose in the restaurant left to their own devices. The buffet looked disgusting and it didn't disappoint on that aspect. The food was horrible--I mean REaLLY awful. Now for the big gross factor! There was a woman at the buffet using her hands to grab all fried food and put it on her plate. The waitress was sitting there and said nothing!!!!!! OMG disgusting! Just please do yourself a favor DO NOT GO. DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. JUST SAY NO! Ps. I got some nice food poisoning too. Fun times...
(1)
Kurtis A.
They should rename this restaurant Disappointment. Ever since I've moved down here I've been jonesing for some Chinese food. Keep in mind that i had my bar set low knowing that i was going into a buffet style restaurant. Even with the bar set so low they found some way to slide underneath it. Now maybe I'm a little spoiled for buffet style Chinese food, being that I'm originally from the city that invented cashew chicken, and that we're so close to the coast. Before i get to lost in my ramblings let me tell you about this establishment. From the outside this place looks like any other buffet that Ive been to before (and believe me I've been to a few, as my pant size continues to remind me), but on the inside you are immediately hit by the restaurant trying to push their trinkets on you to squeeze any money out of you as you can. You find it almost hard to believe that its a restaurant at first. I thought i had just walked into a tacky gift shop at a swap meet. I immediately took notice of the dim lighting to distract you from the water stains and cracks in the office building style ceiling that is obviously past its prime. Next you notice the cock eyed pictures on the wall like someone just slapped this place together in 5 minutes. finally you notice the food covering the floor. It's safe to say that the store is not visually appealing. Now on to the food, what can i say about the food? The rice is just terrible, the chicken is a joke, the crab rangoon is fried bread and cream cheese. This place honestly needs to go back to square one and start all over. I am proud to say that i will not be returning to this establishment, because honestly I've had chicken wings at a buffet before that still had the feathers on them, and the food here has disappointed me more than that experience had. Please do yourself a favor and drive to another Chinese restaurant, you'll thank me later.
(1)
Jimmy H.
Strange foamy ham substitute in cube form in the fried rice, as well as the hot and sour soup. Which was awful. MSG is out of control. First of all, it wasn't sour, it was sweetened with what tasted like high fructose corn syrup, and a weird red color. Any Chinese place that can't even use real pork, an incredibly cheap meat by any standard, needs to think long and hard about whether their priority is serving good food to their customer, or the profit margin. Speaking of profits, I could tell something was wrong when a huge volume of non-food stuff i.e. bamboo and trinkets were for sale in the foyer. Come on... I've been many times to Hong Kong, the real metropolis in China, and this place does not live up to that name. Except for maybe some of the gritty parts of Kowloon. The take out cashier was nice. I'd give another star, but I was just so so so disappointed in the food. I can't.
(1)
Elizabeth A.
Me and the husband were out looking for a good chinese buffet. We saw a billboard for this saying it was only 1/4 of a mile away. So we quickly decided that we would try it out. I feel like that may have been a bad mistake. As soon as we walked in I felt like the atmosphere was all wrong. They were selling bamboo, and buddhas, and multiple other items. I felt as if I had just walked into a bad knock-off shop. I looked around the corner and noticed that indeed it was a restraunt. Feeling like I shouldn't judge from what I see we agreed to get a table. Walking in it looked like there were a few different buffet stands. However, I later found out that it was just a mirror that made it look larger than it was. Hoping that the food was better than the appearance we went up to the buffet. At first glance it looked like there was the normal everyday chinese food that you get, so I was ok with that. What I was not ok with was the taste. The crab ragoun was basically only cream cheese, not even any other spices. The only thing that I found good was the popcorn shrimp and the tempura chicken, but for it being Florida I kind of expected that the shrimp should be good, if not that would be a big problem! Another thing that we were amazed was that they even messed up the ice cream. The machine was not set up to even keep it cold. We ended up paying $17.18 for our meal. Not worth it. To end on a good note the waiter was great. Always there to fill up the drinks, but becasue you really cannot do much as a waiter at a buffet it did not fix the other problems.
(1)
Barry F.
Ugh... We sent here after we tried to go to House of Chong and were too late for lunch. That was even after reading the reviews here. The reviews were right--we will not go back. I like Chinese buffets and have been to many and this was definitely the worst. The food did not look appetizing. The curry chicken did not have any chicken in it. The Buddah Delight vegetables were heavy on celery and bland. The Hot and Sour soup was sweet rather than sour. The green beans were wilted and tasted as though they had sugar on them. Even the ice cream was ho-hum. Usually Chinese Buffets have good ice cream! Don't let the large number of cars in the parking lot fool you as we were fooled. Apparently there are many people in Pensacola who have never had good Chinese. For buffets, I recommend King's Buffet on 9 Mile Rd, Chow Tyme on 9th Ave, and even Happy China on Mobile Hwy is better than this place! The best Chinese I've had in Pensacola by far is House of Chong on Navy Blvd, next to Gene's Lounge.
(1)
Christine D.
So I didn't read the reviews before going . Big mistake !! The food was horrible , I'm just praying not to get sick from it .
(1)
Annie K.
My husband and I were both craving Chinese and we stopped here on the way home and I can definitely say I don't think we will be going back ever. All they had for dinner was a buffet and it was pretty much a buffet full of over fried food and some traditional Chinese options that again were not very good. Although this was the cheapest dinner I think we have ever paid for eating out I felt like this was a place that just put out whatever they had, deep fried it and set it on the buffet. Service however was very good, our server was attentive and polite. The environment was lacking too. Seemed a bit neglected and run down. The bathroom was horrific! I didn't want to breath let alone touch anything! I'm surprised places like that pass health inspections! I am pretty sure it hasn't been cleaned in months. Just my opinion and some people may love this place but I guess I just didn't catch a good vibe.
(2)
Mikaela D.
This food was so terrible and the meat had a very strange consistency! I assumed it would be good because the phone was ringing off the hook... Not the case.
(1)
Richard L.
It's a good prices buffet but the food was only so-so. It had all the standard dishes and some unique ones like someone else mentioned before (crawfish and frog legs). The food is the typical Americanized Chinese food so don't expect Cantonese style food here. Again good price for an okay buffet...
(2)
wayne b.
Me and my gf had our first visit to Hong Kong today. First off,the price was good,around 7.50 including drink. The problem was the overall flavor of the food. Each dish seemed like it was missing something. I am used to General Chicken having tender breast pieces in a light sauce. These were very hard and crispy,mostly breading and the sauce wasn't very noticeable. The salt and pepper crab was terrible. I got three just to make sure it wasn't just a bad claw or two. When you cracked open the claws there wasn't anything inside them. They would have done better by just steaming them and putting them on the bar unless you like tasty crab shells. I agreed with an earlier poster about the egg drop soup. It was too thick and once again,no flavor. It was like everything has lost it's flavor in the heat of the kitchen or the sun lamps on the bar. I did like the lo mein noodles and the fried pork nuggets. The chicken on the stick had a weird flavor that I couldn't even describe. It was like cinnamon and soy sauce,but too sweet. The same with the popcorn shrimp. It was over sweetened. The tea melted the ice and never got any new refill of ice. There are too many other better places for the same price to return again. I suggest Shang Hai in the Target Shopping Center for a consistent Buffet everytime.
(2)
Mari G.
Usually when I don't like the egg drop soup of a Chinese restaurant, I won't like their food. But, that's not the case here. Their egg drop soup was entirely too thick-- more sauce than soup conisistency. Their food was pretty good. Definitely not too greasy and their noodles were real "Chinese" noodles. I hate when Chinese restaurants will use regular spaghetti noodles and call it lo mein. Just doesn't taste right. The service was great. Always there to offer help, but not annoyingly so. The spacing was a bit crowded and they seemed to seat everybody into one corner. They could have spread people out more, but maybe somebody called out. It didn't look like their were many waiter/waitresses out-- not that the actual service was affected. There is some sushi, but limited which is expected in a strictly Chinese restaurant. Everyone needs to try the sesame balls with bean filling. Absolutely delicious and I'm about to try and cook it myself. I did like that the egg rolls were flavorful, but not full of grease. Our bill was less than $25 and that's with 2 adults and 3 kids (one being younger than 2 so she was free.) Food was well worth the price and I would have gladly paid more, not that I suggested that ;P
(3)
Sarah R.
Why oh why do I do this to myself? I love the taste of chinese food but it never agrees with me. I checked out this place for dinner. The dinner buffet is super afforable (less than $10). They have a large variety of your typical buffet food as well as sushi. The spring rolls were particulary yummy as were the lo mein noodles. ***I assume they use msg because I had stomach pains within 20 minutes of eating. If you can handle msg then eat here because it was yummy --- but you have been warned if you have a weak stomach.
(3)
Melissa N.
This is by far the weirdest review I will probably ever post on here. I used to eat here all the time and LOVED it!!! That being said, I always got delivery. I would definitely NOT recommend eating there and would not recommend using their bathroom for any reason. If you get take out, try not to look around too too much (I agree all the crap they sell in the front room is super tacky but most chinese food places tend to be on the tacky end). So to conclude, this place is very bad....but also soo sooo good? It's kind of like going to a dive bar I guess.....only for Chinese food.
(3)
Thela C.
Ok so don't let the gross outside or even inside fool you. This was a last resort place for us because all the other Chinese takeout spots were closed. We decided to take the risk. The food looks and smells really good. It's not bad if you can brave the run down look of this place. The way I see it is if I can't see how they cook it then I'm good. If I don't know I'm eating cat and it taste good then so be it. But in all seriousness this place is aight . I'd give it a 2 and a half for the dingy appearance of this place but like I said the food is good .
Takes Reservations : Yes Delivery : Yes Take-out : Yes Accepts Credit Cards : Yes Good For : Lunch Parking : Private Lot Bike Parking : Yes Wheelchair Accessible : Yes Good for Kids : Yes Good for Groups : Yes Attire : Casual Noise Level : Quiet Alcohol : Beer & Wine Only Outdoor Seating : No Wi-Fi : Free Has TV : No Waiter Service : Yes Caters : Yes
The popularity of Chinese food in America can be adjudicated by the appearance of China Town in many major cities in the United State of America. The popular trend of ordering or opting for Chinese take away food isn't unknown in America. Chinese take away food comes to rescue when you're too tired from work or too exhausted to cook. No one can resist the temptation of eating spicy noodles, shrimp, chicken, beef or pork cooked in the sweet and spicy sauce. The cooking method of authentic Chinese food is a lot different compared to what is served in America.
Generally, Chinese use dark meat small bones and organs to cook dishes but this changes when you are eating American-Chinese fusion food prepared using white boneless meat cooked with broccoli, carrots and onions. Back in China, the food is less spicy and oily as they favor steaming and braising method for cooking the most popular dishes. So, if you have a taste for authentic Chinese food, then try finding a real Chinese restaurant in the city. You can also try the most popular fusion Chinese food like Pecking Duck, Chicken Feet, Hot Pot, Shrimp Dumpling Soup, Mapo Tofu, Wontons, Chop Suey, Egg Rolls and not to forget Fortune Cookies.
There are not many restaurants in America serving authentic Chinese food. A little research on Restaurant Listings directory can help you locate the best Chinese restaurants in the city. Chinese cuisine is continuously evolving, and you can find a variety of dishes categorized as the food for lactose intolerant, gluten intolerant, vegan, vegetarian, and diabetic friendly. So, if you have a group of friends with different taste patterns, save the hassle and visit the nearest Chinese restaurant in your city.
Tara E.
The ONLY reason this place gets one star is because I cannot leave zero stars. My husband and I did not read the reviews before going BIG mistake! This restaurant is absolutely disgusting! I am not even sure why I actually ate there. I guess I didn't want to feel rude after they sat us at the table....I'm not sure. There was food all over the floor. It looked as though a heard of toddlers were let loose in the restaurant left to their own devices. The buffet looked disgusting and it didn't disappoint on that aspect. The food was horrible--I mean REaLLY awful. Now for the big gross factor! There was a woman at the buffet using her hands to grab all fried food and put it on her plate. The waitress was sitting there and said nothing!!!!!! OMG disgusting! Just please do yourself a favor DO NOT GO. DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. JUST SAY NO! Ps. I got some nice food poisoning too. Fun times...
(1)Kurtis A.
They should rename this restaurant Disappointment. Ever since I've moved down here I've been jonesing for some Chinese food. Keep in mind that i had my bar set low knowing that i was going into a buffet style restaurant. Even with the bar set so low they found some way to slide underneath it. Now maybe I'm a little spoiled for buffet style Chinese food, being that I'm originally from the city that invented cashew chicken, and that we're so close to the coast. Before i get to lost in my ramblings let me tell you about this establishment. From the outside this place looks like any other buffet that Ive been to before (and believe me I've been to a few, as my pant size continues to remind me), but on the inside you are immediately hit by the restaurant trying to push their trinkets on you to squeeze any money out of you as you can. You find it almost hard to believe that its a restaurant at first. I thought i had just walked into a tacky gift shop at a swap meet. I immediately took notice of the dim lighting to distract you from the water stains and cracks in the office building style ceiling that is obviously past its prime. Next you notice the cock eyed pictures on the wall like someone just slapped this place together in 5 minutes. finally you notice the food covering the floor. It's safe to say that the store is not visually appealing. Now on to the food, what can i say about the food? The rice is just terrible, the chicken is a joke, the crab rangoon is fried bread and cream cheese. This place honestly needs to go back to square one and start all over. I am proud to say that i will not be returning to this establishment, because honestly I've had chicken wings at a buffet before that still had the feathers on them, and the food here has disappointed me more than that experience had. Please do yourself a favor and drive to another Chinese restaurant, you'll thank me later.
(1)Jimmy H.
Strange foamy ham substitute in cube form in the fried rice, as well as the hot and sour soup. Which was awful. MSG is out of control. First of all, it wasn't sour, it was sweetened with what tasted like high fructose corn syrup, and a weird red color. Any Chinese place that can't even use real pork, an incredibly cheap meat by any standard, needs to think long and hard about whether their priority is serving good food to their customer, or the profit margin. Speaking of profits, I could tell something was wrong when a huge volume of non-food stuff i.e. bamboo and trinkets were for sale in the foyer. Come on... I've been many times to Hong Kong, the real metropolis in China, and this place does not live up to that name. Except for maybe some of the gritty parts of Kowloon. The take out cashier was nice. I'd give another star, but I was just so so so disappointed in the food. I can't.
(1)Elizabeth A.
Me and the husband were out looking for a good chinese buffet. We saw a billboard for this saying it was only 1/4 of a mile away. So we quickly decided that we would try it out. I feel like that may have been a bad mistake. As soon as we walked in I felt like the atmosphere was all wrong. They were selling bamboo, and buddhas, and multiple other items. I felt as if I had just walked into a bad knock-off shop. I looked around the corner and noticed that indeed it was a restraunt. Feeling like I shouldn't judge from what I see we agreed to get a table. Walking in it looked like there were a few different buffet stands. However, I later found out that it was just a mirror that made it look larger than it was. Hoping that the food was better than the appearance we went up to the buffet. At first glance it looked like there was the normal everyday chinese food that you get, so I was ok with that. What I was not ok with was the taste. The crab ragoun was basically only cream cheese, not even any other spices. The only thing that I found good was the popcorn shrimp and the tempura chicken, but for it being Florida I kind of expected that the shrimp should be good, if not that would be a big problem! Another thing that we were amazed was that they even messed up the ice cream. The machine was not set up to even keep it cold. We ended up paying $17.18 for our meal. Not worth it. To end on a good note the waiter was great. Always there to fill up the drinks, but becasue you really cannot do much as a waiter at a buffet it did not fix the other problems.
(1)Barry F.
Ugh... We sent here after we tried to go to House of Chong and were too late for lunch. That was even after reading the reviews here. The reviews were right--we will not go back. I like Chinese buffets and have been to many and this was definitely the worst. The food did not look appetizing. The curry chicken did not have any chicken in it. The Buddah Delight vegetables were heavy on celery and bland. The Hot and Sour soup was sweet rather than sour. The green beans were wilted and tasted as though they had sugar on them. Even the ice cream was ho-hum. Usually Chinese Buffets have good ice cream! Don't let the large number of cars in the parking lot fool you as we were fooled. Apparently there are many people in Pensacola who have never had good Chinese. For buffets, I recommend King's Buffet on 9 Mile Rd, Chow Tyme on 9th Ave, and even Happy China on Mobile Hwy is better than this place! The best Chinese I've had in Pensacola by far is House of Chong on Navy Blvd, next to Gene's Lounge.
(1)Christine D.
So I didn't read the reviews before going . Big mistake !! The food was horrible , I'm just praying not to get sick from it .
(1)Annie K.
My husband and I were both craving Chinese and we stopped here on the way home and I can definitely say I don't think we will be going back ever. All they had for dinner was a buffet and it was pretty much a buffet full of over fried food and some traditional Chinese options that again were not very good. Although this was the cheapest dinner I think we have ever paid for eating out I felt like this was a place that just put out whatever they had, deep fried it and set it on the buffet. Service however was very good, our server was attentive and polite. The environment was lacking too. Seemed a bit neglected and run down. The bathroom was horrific! I didn't want to breath let alone touch anything! I'm surprised places like that pass health inspections! I am pretty sure it hasn't been cleaned in months. Just my opinion and some people may love this place but I guess I just didn't catch a good vibe.
(2)Mikaela D.
This food was so terrible and the meat had a very strange consistency! I assumed it would be good because the phone was ringing off the hook... Not the case.
(1)Richard L.
It's a good prices buffet but the food was only so-so. It had all the standard dishes and some unique ones like someone else mentioned before (crawfish and frog legs). The food is the typical Americanized Chinese food so don't expect Cantonese style food here. Again good price for an okay buffet...
(2)wayne b.
Me and my gf had our first visit to Hong Kong today. First off,the price was good,around 7.50 including drink. The problem was the overall flavor of the food. Each dish seemed like it was missing something. I am used to General Chicken having tender breast pieces in a light sauce. These were very hard and crispy,mostly breading and the sauce wasn't very noticeable. The salt and pepper crab was terrible. I got three just to make sure it wasn't just a bad claw or two. When you cracked open the claws there wasn't anything inside them. They would have done better by just steaming them and putting them on the bar unless you like tasty crab shells. I agreed with an earlier poster about the egg drop soup. It was too thick and once again,no flavor. It was like everything has lost it's flavor in the heat of the kitchen or the sun lamps on the bar. I did like the lo mein noodles and the fried pork nuggets. The chicken on the stick had a weird flavor that I couldn't even describe. It was like cinnamon and soy sauce,but too sweet. The same with the popcorn shrimp. It was over sweetened. The tea melted the ice and never got any new refill of ice. There are too many other better places for the same price to return again. I suggest Shang Hai in the Target Shopping Center for a consistent Buffet everytime.
(2)Mari G.
Usually when I don't like the egg drop soup of a Chinese restaurant, I won't like their food. But, that's not the case here. Their egg drop soup was entirely too thick-- more sauce than soup conisistency. Their food was pretty good. Definitely not too greasy and their noodles were real "Chinese" noodles. I hate when Chinese restaurants will use regular spaghetti noodles and call it lo mein. Just doesn't taste right. The service was great. Always there to offer help, but not annoyingly so. The spacing was a bit crowded and they seemed to seat everybody into one corner. They could have spread people out more, but maybe somebody called out. It didn't look like their were many waiter/waitresses out-- not that the actual service was affected. There is some sushi, but limited which is expected in a strictly Chinese restaurant. Everyone needs to try the sesame balls with bean filling. Absolutely delicious and I'm about to try and cook it myself. I did like that the egg rolls were flavorful, but not full of grease. Our bill was less than $25 and that's with 2 adults and 3 kids (one being younger than 2 so she was free.) Food was well worth the price and I would have gladly paid more, not that I suggested that ;P
(3)Sarah R.
Why oh why do I do this to myself? I love the taste of chinese food but it never agrees with me. I checked out this place for dinner. The dinner buffet is super afforable (less than $10). They have a large variety of your typical buffet food as well as sushi. The spring rolls were particulary yummy as were the lo mein noodles. ***I assume they use msg because I had stomach pains within 20 minutes of eating. If you can handle msg then eat here because it was yummy --- but you have been warned if you have a weak stomach.
(3)Melissa N.
This is by far the weirdest review I will probably ever post on here. I used to eat here all the time and LOVED it!!! That being said, I always got delivery. I would definitely NOT recommend eating there and would not recommend using their bathroom for any reason. If you get take out, try not to look around too too much (I agree all the crap they sell in the front room is super tacky but most chinese food places tend to be on the tacky end). So to conclude, this place is very bad....but also soo sooo good? It's kind of like going to a dive bar I guess.....only for Chinese food.
(3)Thela C.
Ok so don't let the gross outside or even inside fool you. This was a last resort place for us because all the other Chinese takeout spots were closed. We decided to take the risk. The food looks and smells really good. It's not bad if you can brave the run down look of this place. The way I see it is if I can't see how they cook it then I'm good. If I don't know I'm eating cat and it taste good then so be it. But in all seriousness this place is aight . I'd give it a 2 and a half for the dingy appearance of this place but like I said the food is good .
(3)