China Lake Buffet

There is a Buffett with all you can eat. The food was very fresh and delicious! For the price and good food, we will be back when we are in town for business.

We travel between Carson City, NV, and San Diego frequently and ALWAYS make a point to have lunch at the China Lake Buffet! The food is GREAT, with wildly varying flavors and always properly done. The facility is very clean and the staff is courteous and friendly… what more can you want? Oh yes, the meals are a fantastic value!

I’m not sure why some people are having stomach issues, each time I’ve eaten here the food is great. I’ve been a customer since they’ve first open for business. The restaurant is always spotless, the management and staff are always very very nice and courtesies. As far as I’m concern there should be a sign that states «don’t take more than you can eat» not everyone is thoughtful enough to only consume what’s on your plate. Trust me the person that wrote that review would be the first to scream if they were cooking and people just PILED there Plates high and then left it. Newsflash for you who don’t understand! Buffet means eat what you want, try everything in small quantities, you can always get more.
Keep up the great work and great food
D

I actually thought it was really good for the area. I took away one star because they don’t have that big of a selection. The food was fresh. Most Chinese buffets I go to serve meat that is dry. That wasn’t the case here. It was pretty good! We will be coming back here for sure.

The food is okay i guess. But it gave my whole family stomach aches and made us throw up. But its clean.

Ok… So they have a sign asking you not to take more than you will eat. They don’t want you to waste «food» aka their money. The sign just made me feel angry… Don’t sell buffet style food and then get upset that your patrons may try food… Not like it… And leave it… Because they want to try something else they may like. Buffet costs more than an average meal. Don’t like what people do… Stop selling buffet foods.
Because the sign made me feel like they were cheap… The food ended up tasting cheap and soggy. I wanted to like this place a lot more than I did. It was gross. The veggies were gross. The meat was overcooked. The sauces tasted old. The water had floaters in it.
Much better options if you happen to be in Ridgecrest.

The food is pretty good and they buffet has always been clean on my visits. But I always get diahreah after

It’s pretty good considering it’s in the middle of no where. Ate here a few times with my crew after working down at the plant in Trona.
+1 staff is very friendly. Don’t speak English very well. But they put up with us and kept the beer flowing.
+2 the little Mongolian style area is Great! Love how they cook your custom dish for you.
+1 the to-​go option is great. If I’ve had a long day and just want to go in and get something. You pay by the pound and the pricing isn’t too bad.
–1 not too many choices and sometimes the food looks and tastes a little old. But they do have a few standouts: coconut shrimp, chicken skewers, chicken teriyaki, and their noodles. To quote a previous reviewer, the taste is «hit-​and-​miss» with these standouts and that’s why they get 4 stars instead of five.

My friend and I LOVE this place! The people are so friendly and the food is great! I can honestly say that I have never had a better Chinese buffet experience than when I go here. I think that their food is even better than many of the sit-​down Chinese restaurants that I have been to. The spring rolls are my favorite :)

I have been here three times so far. The food is great. I was impressed with it. I love the to go option on the buffet, which means virtually no wait to get your food. And you can get as little or as much of one thing or another and experiment with new tastes without getting a lot of something. There is a good variety to choose from. The staff is always nice with a smile and notice that I am a returning customer. The price is per pound and not a bad deal at all. It is hard to find good chinese food, but I have now. Only change I can ask for is .more desserts.

We’ve been to this place a few times and to date, this is our default Chinese buffet place when we don’t have a whole lot of time. The décor is a little… um…1980’s, but we don’t keep coming back because we want to relive the glory days of our childhoods. The buffet itself isn’t very big — 3 small stations in front of a larger one on the back wall. They have a teppenyaki station, but we haven’t tried it.
My 12 year old son LOVES this place. The dishes are hit and miss — the orange chicken is fantastic. The Kung pao chicken with a little shrimp is delicious although the shrimp is sparse and sometimes inedible. The chicken on the skewers is some of the best chicken ever. I don’t know what they marinade it in, but it’s unique and mouthwatering. The coconut shrimp is unlike any I’ve ever had (my boyfriend and son don’t like it, but I do) — it’s puffy and sweet instead of crispy and fried. I like the spring rolls but not the egg rolls (they’re a little weird, chewy, bland. Plus, this last time, I tasted cinnamon for some reason. Bleh). Most of the sushi is good, as is the sweet and sour chicken. Stay away from the salmon in water. It resembles what I imagine would be dishwasher salmon. My son said the jello tastes like the way a bathroom smells. I also didn’t care for the stuffed crab shells.
There are several other dishes I haven’t mentioned either because I haven’t tried it or can’t remember trying them. Like I said, it can be hit and miss, but so far it’s better and cheaper than the other buffets we’ve tried. The staff is very nice and quick to refill drinks and clear dirty plates. They don’t have the larger offerings that some bigger Chinese buffets in places like Los Angeles have — but dude, this is a hot, dusty desert town next to a naval base in the middle of nowhere. You can’t come here expecting the high caliber food scene that larger populated areas have. The pricing is good (for 3 people plus drinks, just under $ 40 for dinner pricing), the food ranges from gross to edible to good, and the staff is great. I would totally recommend. We always leave stuffed and happy.

In route to Death Valley, this is a nice midway point. China Lake has that funky High Desert charm of retired folk, meth addicts and people who engineer military stuff that blows up in the middle of the night. With that said, there was some truly tasty stuff on this buffet, like the fried rice, kung pao chicken and cheese wontons. Hey this is Ridgecrest, and this is probably 50% better than the fast food restaurants that line the main drag.

I don’t trust this place anymore. Their togo prices are a ripoff. They tell you one thing and when you are about to pay, they tell you a higher price. The food isn’t all that great either. They tend to mix the old food with the newly cooked food. The cream cheese wontons are ok. Workers have very poor english and most of the time they don’t understand what you are saying. I was told that if I get something to go it will be X amount a pound. So when I go to pay, they tell me it was X amount PER ITEM. Are you serious??? Never again will I go to this piece of dump. I’d rather drive to Lancaster if I ever get cravings for Chinese buffet. Heck, I’d drive to the bay area! If I could give half a star, I would. That half a star would be for the cabbage and sesame mochi balls.

Decent Chinese buffet. Service is kind of cold but very quick to get you refills. Plenty of food and empty trays are never an issue. A good lunch choice.

The buffet is alright and has a few options that are pretty good, notably the chow mein. However it just absolutely can not compete with China Express and their wonderful buffet. The food here is usually pretty fresh… notice the use of the word «usually» instead of «always» and the word «pretty» instead of «very».

This is my default place to eat out. The food isn’t gourmet cuisine but it is good. It is buffet food. They are very good a switching out old food. I generally don’t eat dinner there as I don’t think the extra expense is worth it.

This is an all you can eat buffet restaurant. On Friday and Saturdays they offer a seafood assortment to the buffet including crap legs. There is no other place in Ridgecrest where you can get all you can eat crab legs at this price and the price is less than $ 12.00! There is also shrimp, sushi, 3 kinds of soups, and an array of other Chinese goodies. These folks do a wonderful job and the service is quick! Highly recommended as one of the few decent restaurants in this desert town.