Zen Buffet

I decided to go here after seeing an advertisment in my mailbox that offered 50% off a 2nd buffet. On Saturday nights, the buffet is $18 per person, so this made the total just about $31 including tax. For a seafood and sushi buffet, this is actually a pretty good price. And if you stick to the cooked food and are okay with overlooking a lot of the not-so-freshly prepared entrees on the hot buffet line, you'll probably come away with a pretty good deal.

The problem with the buffet is that they had way too many items which were not freshly prepared, or perhaps were sitting out under the heat lamps a little too long. The oysters had a strange preparation to them; whoever cut up the sashimi didn't do a good job of cutting them properly so there was a bit more connective tissue in them than I think is usual. Little details like this add up, and make you wonder about the care taken to with the rest of the items.

If you do go, be aware that many of the sushi roll items are actually quite well prepared, the grilled fish is quite tasty and the standard, could-be-found at a Panda Inn items like broccoli beef were done well when they came out fresh; however, the same items looked terrible just after about 15 minutes when everyone had picked over everything and they hadn't refreshed the item yet.

The desserts were a good assortment of pastries and cookies; it's a nice gesture to include these but frankly you're here because it's decent chinese food with some average sushi and seafood dishes thrown in for good measure. Come here with lowered expectations and you'll probably do okay, but don't expect to impress anyone by taking them here.