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| - I've wanted to come here for a long time, but maybe I waited too long. Seems like its gone down hill after the rave reviews after it first opened.
The food is mediocre. It was a mish mash of Chinese staples, and more Western food like Yorkshire Pudding and Caesar Salad. The various Chinese dishes like fried noodles, grilled beef, veggies etc, is actually (and perhaps cheaper) at congee wong or something. They did have sashimi and sushi, as well as a noodle station with long pulled noodles with custom made soup.
Not a lot of veggie options, only a handful of dishes. Be sure to also check out the soup area, found a nice traiditonal Chinese soup amongst the clam chowder and cream of [whatever].
What I did love, was the decor. It is very extravagant, and interesting facts about the petrified wood used. I belive you're meant to feel like you were on a boat, and with high ceilings, it was a very comfortable dining experience. I thought it was weird their choice of music. At one point I heard rap/pop, then suddenly Beethoven. Then nothing for the rest of the night.
There is a giant screen at the back showcasing some visuals of ancient chinese actors, would have been nice to hear the audio for it too.
The service was hit or miss. My water was never empty, and plate was always clear. I appreciated that, but when I asked them questions, I would get rude dismissive answers. It was a little better when asked in chinese, but shouldn't make a difference.
We ordered a custom made giant dragon pearl (website says $10.99, but they charged us $12.95). This was no where on their menu, and Ionly knew about it thru their website. I don't know why the price difference, and when we asked the server, he was rude and assured us it was $12.95. I didn't want to argure over $3.
It says that it's made in front of you. It's not, it's at the buffet area, and you are free to go over there and look. I wish he had told us when it was started to be made, so we can watch how this giant hallow ball was formed. It wasn't until we ordered it (they say said 15 mins before we want it), he said they were already making it.
Watching this thing being made was pretty cool, but the ball was already in it's adult stage when we got there. She fries it in oil until it is golden and it continuously grows. Kind of cool.
It was brought to our table, and we got it because I thought it would be special. We are celebrating. It's really just deep fried dough and it's really really greasy. I really didn't think it was wroth it, and we couldn't even finish it. That wasn't the worst part.
As we were eating it, there was a giant clump of custard looking thing attached to the bottom of the ball. At first I thought it was a surprise cream puff or something, but as I poked at it, and tried to remove it, it was stuck there, and I pulled out a piece of meat!! So confused, a little disgusted, we asked the server what this was. He just said, don't eat it, you cannot eat that, which didn't give me a lot of confidence in the matter. It was kind of gross just staring at us.
Eventually, I went to the lady that was making it in the first place and spoke to her in Chinese. She says that it's just a chicken ball and its used to make the ball. The hallow ball can't be made out of nothing, and needs something to give it shape. Traditionally, it was a glutinuous rice ball or some sort, but instead of that they just use a deep friend chicken ball to kick start the process. She says it's edible, but don't eat it, it won't taste good. I don't know what to make of this, but it's an explanation.
Overall, it's like any other chinese buffet. Free for birthday persons for the entire birthday month, if you bring at least 5 friends. Seniors get 50% off. But really it's most worth it to come for weekend lunch they serve lobster and things. And don't get this Dragon Pearl ball, waste of money.
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