Sherman's Food Adventures: Oriental Buffet

Oriental Buffet

Oh my.  This is what you call scraping the bottom of the barrel.  We haven't been to Oriental Buffet in Guildford for at least 18 years.  18 years?!?!?  Yah, not a very memorable meal that's for sure.  The only thing I remembered was that we had watched Timecop in the movie theatres.  Yes, that was a heck of a long time ago, especially given the fact that Jean-Claude Van Dam was still popular (and in shape).  Loved the line where he said (with his trademark accent): "If I cannot go back to save her... this scumbag is not going back to steal money!".  Hey, if I could go back in time to make money, there are a few things that I would do.  One - I would open up the best auto collision shop in Richmond, complete with a full fleet of courtesy cars. Second, I'd invest in some real estate (duh...).  Third, I'd probably just be lazy and win the lottery... Well, apparently, there was no lottery to be won at Oriental Buffet since it didn't really appear they had cleaned it in 18 years.

On the inside, everything looked pretty much the same too...  Much like Timecop, it really did feel like going back in time!  Back when there was actually a selection of Chinese buffets.  However, fast forward to the present and the choices have dwindled to only a few.  So for $10.99 (lunch), we could help ourselves to as much mediocre and greasy food as we could handle.  For myself, one and half plates was as much as my body could take.  The selection was not bad considering the price.  There was a modest selection of Sushi available, but it was not very good.  The avocado had turned brown since the sushi had probably been sitting around for awhile.  It really didn't look appetizing and in fact, was quite poor. The rice was gummy and the fish didn't seem too "fresh".  On the side were some New Zealand Mussels and Shrimp.

There were 2 full sections of Hot Food consisting of Stir-Fried Broccoli, Pork Hock, BBQ Pork, Corn, Fried Potatoes, Fried Chicken, Chow Mein, Sweet n' Sour Fish, Spring Rolls, Mushrooms, Sweet n' Sour Pork, Orange Pork Chops, Spareribs, Fried Vermicelli, Stir-Fried Rice Noodles and Fried Mock Scallops.  Later on, there was a modest selection of Dim Sum which included Haw Gow, Sui Mai and Xiao Long Bao.  The only items worth mentioning was the Fried Chicken and Pork Chops.  The chicken was moist, well-seasoned and fried just right while the pork chops were tender and full-flavoured (if not very greasy).  Otherwise, the other items were pretty forgettable.  The Dim Sum was basically your average frozen variety.  There was also a Grill-it-Yourself section which I didn't get to try since they were constantly out-of-meat.  I did try the Hot n' Soup Soup and it was pretty much as expected - starch-thickened water with lots of sodium and some ingredients.  I won't even talk about the Desserts because they just didn't look appetizing.  I do give them credit for offering hard ice-cream though.  But in the end, the place only served one purpose: to fill someone's tummy for cheap.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Decent selection

The Bad:
- Food is "meh"
- Decor has seen better days

Oriental Buffet 東方自助餐 on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

Rick said...

No more Peking duck there?

Sherman Chan said...

@Rick I think they might still have it during dinner, but not at lunch.

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