Golden Palace Buffet

I heeded the advice of several reviewers and did not partake in the all you can eat buffet; I ordered from the menu instead. The hot and sour soup was good but it lacked a little flavor. Not heat, flavor. Perhaps because it has a vegetarian rather than poultry or pork base. The eggplant and garlic sauce was quite good and plentiful. The fried rice that came with it however was tasteless and sticky. I think because it is made in such large quantities, to supply the buffet, it is not of the highest quality.
The deep fried squid with spicy salt was very good, as was the roasted duck.
I think the key here is to order items that are freshly made in small quantities. The restaurant has an extensive menu.
This restaurant is close to where I live, so chances are I will be back.

I had previously came here with a friend during lunch. We went to the second floor for buffet. But boy was I disappointed! The food did not taste good at all, the selection was very limited and the place did not look like it was clean enough. I decided not to ever come back but decided to give it another try to see if the food that was to order was better. We went to the first floor to check it out. To our surprise, they had a Chinese menu (limited dishes). I ordered one of my favorite dishes which was thick noodles with beef. The food came 15 minutes later. The serving amount was little and it didn’t look like they had put much on it. It was supposed to have things like carrots, bean sprouts, broccoli or veggies but it didn’t have much. The noodles tasted like nothing, it had no flavor and it didn’t look too appetizing. On top of that, it was over $ 10 for that dish. Overall, did not enjoy the food there.

Absolutely the worst Chinese food I’ve ever had. I will never set foot in this place ever again. I had to throw away more than half the dish because it was inedible.

Please do not go to the buffet. I do not trust anything that I just put into my mouth.

THERE WAS A MOUSE IN THE CELING LIGHTING RAFTERS DO NOT GO HERE. I repeat do not go here.
Pointed out the mouse to the restaurant staff and the woman just ignored it and continued to ring customers out. Even the police and everyone in the restaurant just stopped eat. Absolutely discusting.

I am in like with this place. Greasy, sweet American Chinese Food is a new classic and this place kinda nails it. It is not super clean or sophisticated, it just does what it is supposed to do. Go and stuff your face and get along with your day. No glitz and glamor here, just some straight up gluttony.
By the way, don’t get the takeout boxes from the buffet. It makes you look like a ween.

Wow is all I can say! The buffet was very limited and seemed empty for most of the part. In addition, the food was luke warm/​cold. The hot and sour soup I thought would be good but was watered down, and lacked flavor. The waitress was kind though and provided us drinks and cleared our table in a timely manner. Just wish the experience was better. I guess if you eat cheap food you get cheap quality food!

Not as good as the Golden Palace Buffet in Oakland on Forbes Ave.
Apparently owned by same family. Downtown location has sloppy-​er presented/​made food. They used to have fried chicken but have gotten stingy and no longer do.

Ok, I’ve read these silly reviews. This place is not catered to American Chinese Food. If you want something good & tasty, get the steam chicken or soy sauce chicken. If you know authentic Chinese dishes then menu has a lot to offer.

Screw you haters. I don’t know what exactly you expect from a Chinese Buffet, but this has all the essentials.
The food was very very satisfying. From the lo mein, to the general tso’s, all the way to the soups and the watermelon, everything was very very tasty.
Additionally, they have great customer service and helpful staff!!!
The buffet was $ 8. It was a steal in my opinion.
Definitely going back there.

I had fond memories of Golden Palace from my child hood. My folks worked downtown across the street, we love chinese food and we were regulars. Sad to say, over the years Golden Palace has tarnished to a Rusty Bronze Shanty.
The best of the food was mediocre and the worst was inedible. Most was extremely over salted, nothing was fresh, and the vegetables were soggy, overcooked, and disgusting. I feel like my happy child hood memories have been stolen away. I’ll cross my fingers that in another few years they rise like the phoenix from the ashes back to their former culinary glory!

Go elsewhere.
I was needing some General Tso’s and other Americanized Chinese fare for lunch. Having already tried one place downtown and coming up short I figured I’d give Golden Palace a try. Fail. Golden Palace’s buffet is on a table that measures 15′ x 3′ and doesn’t offer much variety. This would make me think the limited choices make for better food. Wrong.
The food housed on this small table is not fresh, is not tasty, and is not appealing. I was almost tempted to just ask for my money back. Instead I rolled the dice and tried the General Tso’s, the fried rice, and the chicken and peppers. Hope you like gristle, salt, and high fructose corn syrup because it’s all you’re going to taste.
Bleck.
Golden Palace is also expensive.
*I began with a 2 star, but relegated it to 1*

I decided to give this place a try again after a few years. The buffet still is pretty bad. The buffet is small and the food quality is 2 stars at best. I hold the 1 stars for absolute disasters. Food has little taste. Interesting there is no seafood (shrimp) on the buffet. The wonton soup is chicken. Most of the vegetables are soggy. Pork was «bad». Chicken dishes were OK but were mostly dark meat.
It does a decent business including carryout. I won’t be back.

I have indeed experienced better. I usually eat upstairs which I would rate at 3 or 4 stars, however this time I decided to try their first floor take-​out menu and that was a mistake. I ordered General Tso with Fried Rice to go, I expected a 10 to 15 minute wait … I waited 4 minutes. That should have been my first warning flag. I walked back to my office and opened it, the smell seemed a little off. A couple bites into the meal I simply had to stop eating. At first I just thought I was being picky … but then a couple co-​workers confirmed the food smelled funky. So … yeah … one-​star until proven otherwise.

This review is about the 2^nd floor buffet, not 1^st floor menu.
Relative small buffet with the usual favorites. Soups: chicken wonton, veg hot & sour, egg drop. Lots of starch: white rice, plain fried rice, rice noodles, veggie noodles. Chicken included General Tso’s (kind of gooey), kung pao chicken (greasy), chicken & broccoli, «special chicken in spicy sauce», sweet & sour chicken (i.e., breaded chicken fingers, sauce on the side). Also sweet & sour mushrooms (see chicken), Mongolian beef (or something close), veggie egg rolls, Szechuan pork, string beans, mixed vegetables, «doughnuts,» cut up melon, maybe one or two more items I forgot. Drinks included.
Food is good by cheap Chinese buffet standards. The sauces are a bit heavy (especially General Tso’s), but have some flavor. Despite the labels, nothing is really spicy (including the hot sauce — I’ve eaten here several times before, and they used to put out a very nice chili sauce. I don’t know if the change is permanent or something happened today.). The fried stuff is not over greasy.
Everything well marked, quickly replenished (always crowded at lunch, which I guess is a good sign, with a steady stream of take-​out as well) and so relatively fresh. You will probably have to wait a bit at lunch for a table. $ 7 plus tax.

Open all the time. Good Chinese for what it is. Could be cheaper but it’s reasonable.

I was walking by and the sweet smell of «Chinese» food captured me. I went for the buffet because I was pretty hungry. Now, for a fair warning, this is not real Chinese food because nearly everything was deep-​fried candy General Tso’s and imitation crab ragoons. I knew what to expect, that is why I am giving this place three stars. You know when sometimes for breakfast you get the itch to go order a bunch of donuts even though you should be eating 2 slices of 100% whole wheat bread? It was kind of like that since I hadn’t eaten this kind of crap in a while. It fulfilled the indulgence. So, pretty much what I saw were all the American classics like General Tso’s chicken, Sweet and Sour pork, beef and broccoli, and some others with some steamed and fried rice. Most of it tasted pretty horrible, as was to be expected, but I rather enjoyed the General Tso’s chicken and the fried rice.
It’s not the classiest of joints, but what can you really expect for $ 7.50? The waitress gave pretty good service (she seemed sweet too)
*They accept all credit cards*
Food Quality/​Taste = 1 Stars (Chinese food) /​3 Stars (American Food)
Portion Size Given Price = 5 Stars
Price = 4 Stars
Service = 4 Stars
Experience with Staff = 4 Stars
Décor = 2 Stars

Good food at a reasonable price. I didn’t try the lunch buffet upstairs but ordered a meal downstairs. Service great and very quick.

You know, after going back to the convention for a second year and eating at the Golden Palace Buffet again, I have to say that ordering off of the menu provided a significant improvement over the buffet.
The food wasn’t nearly as greasy and was actually quite flavorful. I was pleased with my meal and I’m sure my friends were, too. My friend, who was wearing a giant costume, was treated with courtesy.

I come to downtown Pittsburgh annually for a convention and I eat here at least once per trip. I’ve ordered from the regular menu in previous years and only noticed this year that they were also having a dinner buffet. The buffet part of this restaurant is actually fairly mundane. The selection is smaller than most Chinese buffets I’ve been to. From the regular menu, on the other hand, the pan fried noodles are pretty decent.