"Priscilla H. Ballou" wrote:

> I have yet to see a Chinese buffet period. I gather they're a
> midwestern invention? Here in Boston we have Chinese restaurants where
> you order from a menu. Some are more Chinese than others, but I have
> yet to see anything like a buffet other than the extra steam table where
> you pick up shellfish and chicken feet, etc. when having dim sum.

They are quite common in southern Ontario, I can think of at least a dozen
in this area alone. Some of them are not all the great, like the one I went
to with my mother for lunch last summer. I can't complain about the price,
but you get what you pay for. The Mandarin chain just opened a new outlet in
this area. Their weekday dinner price is $16.99. It's more on weekends
because they have seafood on the buffet, and they have been packed every
night since they opened two months ago.

The buffet includes soups, won tons, egg rolls, spring rolls, peel and eat
shrimp, shrimp salads, crab legs or lobster, various other salads, at least
a dozen chinese dishes, some Cantonese and some spicier Szechwan dishes and
curries, roast beef, chicken, sushi, pizza and a dessert bar.

I don't usually go for buffets because I would prefer a smaller amount of
good food that all you can eat mediocre food, but I have to say that I found
their food to be quite tasty. I think that I got my money's worth with the
crab legs alone. Fortunately, a lot of people tend to go for the high starch
Cantonese dishes with sweet sauces. For what my mother ate at the buffet it
probably would have been cheaper for her to have a $6 special. It seems to
balance out.