jiā yóu

Location:

Hong Kong Buffet

1831 W. Henderson Rd.

Columbus, OH 43220

Well, I can't say anything other than "try harder" - pronounced "jiā yóu" in Mandarin - because the Hong Kong Buffet used  to be one of my favorite places to eat.  Perhaps it's a lunch-buffet-only problem, but the day we went it was packed and yet the food still had that hours-old feel to it.  We went on a Sunday afternoon, feeling hung-over and knowing that a Chinese buffet would be the perfect remedy.  We had both been there in the past, and I'm not sure when he was there (lunch or dinner) but I had only experienced their dinner service.

This lunch was incredibly disappointing.  The crab rangoon was fair, not crispy enough and definitely not hot.  The egg rolls were passable - meaning I should have passed on them - and the only winner on the fried food bar was the spring roll.  I found this almost amusing since usually their spring rolls are pretty gross, but this time they were perfectly cooked with just the right amount of filling.  I have no idea if they make them in-house or order them out but either way something changed & it was for the better.  I didn't even bother to get my favorite flower-style steamed bun because it looked half dead lying there in the basket.  My friend opted to get practically everything on the bars, including General Tso's (chewy), Peanut Chicken (gristly), and some kind of beef ("just not good" he said).  Nothing was hot, which as a Chef who is ServSafe certified I know that food must be held at or above 140 degrees Fahrenheit.  This stuff was definitely in the danger zone, which I realized immediately.  As I've mentioned before, I've survived e. coli and salmonella so there isn't much I won't eat... but then I ate some Singapore Noodles off the bar.

So, I LOVE Singapore Noodles.  They involve some of my favorite ingredients: super fine noodles, curry, vegetables, and msg (monosodium glutamate).  This day was a sad day for Singapore Noodles.  They were practically cold, there were no vegetables except a random scrap of something green in every fifth bite, and the flavor was just lacking.  Within ten minutes of consuming these noodles I knew that something had gone very wrong in my stomach because I instantly felt nauseous.  I'm sure if I hadn't been hung-over the feeling probably wouldn't have been so bad, but this was just yucky.  I gulped down two more glasses of lemon water, picked at some broccoli on my plate, and watched my friend eat the rest of his food.  At the end of the meal we both agreed that we would probably never come back there again.

I will give the Hong Kong Buffet one more try for dinner.  They always have crab legs in mounds and mounds at dinnertime, and they are always fresh because, well, for $11.00/person, everyone there takes at least one or two full-sized plates back to the table with them.

Check out the Hong Kong Buffet website here.

Overall Scores: (1-5, 1 being lowest, 5 highest)
Cleanliness: 4
Value: 2
Accessibility: 5
Friendliness: 5
Menu: 2

A sign on the door at Hong Kong Buffet...  Makes me nervous to work there.