Sherman's Food Adventures: Harbor Buffet

Harbor Buffet

My original idea for our quick visit to Seattle was to dine at Feast Buffet once again.  Viv wasn't too hot on the idea despite the kiddies wanting to go.  I consider Feast to be one of the better, if not the best, Asian-style buffets in the Seattle area.  However, as Viv stated, and I do agree, Feast is one of the more pricier options as well.  So we didn't end up visiting Feast despite staying nearby.  Instead, we tried a new Asian buffet in Lynnwood at a location that once housed an Old Country Buffet (those are closing shop fast!).  Let's get this out of the way first - Harbor Buffet is no feast, yet the pricing is a whole lot cheaper.

Similar to Mandarin Buffet in Redmond, Harbor sports a Mongolian-type grill where you can pick your ingredients including noodles, veggies, protein (shrimp, beef, chicken, tofu, egg or even beef steak) and sauces.  I only modestly stacked my plate in anticipation I would be eating many other things.  One more note, be careful of how many items you put on your plate, it is deceiving and suddenly becomes too much for one person to eat. Once passed onto the cooks, the food was prepared quite well.  The shrimp was cooked just enough while the noodles stayed chewy.  They didn't overdo it with the teriyaki sauce and since I added a tonne of garlic, the plate of food tasted great.  Plenty of caramelization without moisture sitting at the bottom of the plate.  

Right next to the Mongolian grill, there was the Sushi Bar which included the usual condiments including 2 types of pickled ginger and wasabi.  In terms of rolls, there were 10 to choose from and many were California roll-based.  They were pretty average, but not terrible except for the Spider Roll.  I appreciated the fact they were generous enough to use soft-shell crab, but they were fried so excessively, the texture was somewhere between shoe leather and velcro.  As for the selection of Nigiri, it was pretty standard stuff except for the addition of unagi and red tuna.  Although some fish were pretty thin and small, the amount of somewhat dryish rice was not overbearing.  As evidenced in the picture, the unagi was actually well-portioned and on point.

Off to the hot food, I started with some of the Seafood first in the fried Blue Crab, Honey Shrimp, Fried Breaded Shrimp and Fried Whole Shrimp.  Most of the time, I avoid blue crab because there isn't much to eat since they are so small.  But these were fairly decent in size and plump.  Hence, there was plenty of fluffy body meat which was cooked just right.  Nothing special about the shrimp, other than being a bit overdone.  I then loaded up a plate with a selection of food including Stir-Fried Green Beans, Tripe, Chicken Feet, Crawfish, Clams, Mongolie Beef and Chili Chicken.  Clams were pretty solid being cooked just enough while the chicken feet was surprisingly plump and on point.  Even the crawfish were decent.  Green beans were not overcooked and mildly seasoned.  Hey, this wasn't awesome, but it was still pretty solid.

There was a pretty decent Dessert station complete with Cotton Candy, Chocolate Fountain and little treats.  It wasn't anything Earth-shattering, but provided sweet options after a filling meal.  Nearby, there was small selection of fruit and salad, but that was almost a courtesy addition rather than anything substantial.  Overall, the selection at Harbor Buffet is fairly large considering the reasonable-pricing.  Quality of the food is fine for what it is.  Naturally, it isn't Feast, but it also doesn't cost nearly as much either.

The Good:
- Reasonable-pricing
- Good selection for the price
- Decent

The Bad:
- Is not as good as the best in the Seattle-area, but it is also one of the least expensive

- Decor is a little tired looking

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