New China Buffet

eaten here about 5 times in the past 2 years, never had a good meal there… stay away from the raw oysters.

Great selection, hibachi and sushi.

Ate here last night.
I was very impressed with the quality of service. Even though we were there late, they made it clear if something wasn’t available, they’d cook it, etc. Checked on our table several times despite being a buffet style place, something more could do as we do need beverages, etc.
Food was really great. True, maybe the tuna on the sushi wasn’t sculpted in perfect summitry — but there was a lot of it, and it wasn’t like the discount grocery store stuff that’s for sure either in quantity or quality. I was very impressed with the quality of the eel.
The rest of the buffet had the usual offerings — and a few that were surprises, like the miso soup (I haven’t noticed that on a buffet around here) that had lots of miso, tofu, and seaweed, not some cheap money saving broth.
They even got me to like the «cheesy crab meat». That isn’t easy i am not a big fan of crab esp if it is poor quality or poorly cooked (as both are often the case).
Every type sauce you could want, and then some. More sauces than Carter has pills.
Well rounded desert bar.
The oolong tea was good quality. I love good tea, and really get irate if place serve up nasty, watered down, or otherwise inferior tea.
Didn’t check out the Mongolian food bar thing much, but it looked good.
This place doesn’t have fancy décor, but at the prices they charge who can complain with the good food? Clearly, the management spends time and energy on the food, and the small details that go with food prep.

I used to love «Hong Kong Inn» on Chestnut & Glenstone until it burned down and was rebuilt as a Super Mongolian Buffet — and their quality was no longer the best. So I’ve been looking for a buffet for me and the family.
We went on a Friday night and it was packed! Crab legs were on the buffet line and they had a tough time keeping it stocked — people were crazy and stacking their plates high with legs and taking it back to their tables.
Sushi area was as listed by others — not the best looking, but good enough.
The crab rangoons were the best I’ve had! Slightly sweet and generously stuffed in not your regular wonton wrapper, but perhaps flakier springroll wraps? Regardless, I thought they were the best (but my wife didn’t).
Also enjoyable on the buffet was the Peppered Chicken, General Tso’s (a little heavy on the vinegar), and for $ 11 dinner with crab legs, it was worth it!

Tip: if you go after the lunch rush is over, the food will not be as good; that’s kind of a general rule for most buffet places I guess, but especially this one.
That said, they have lots of good food and really tasty sushi rolls– my fave are the eel and california. A few items on the hot bar I wouldn’t bother with but I know what I like at this place and always get a great value for my dollar here which is why I rate it pretty highly.

People who rate buffets proportional to the number of tables might not rate New China Buffet too highly. It only has one long buffet table of Chinese dishes, a table of Mongolian barbecue/​hibachi ingredients, a sushi buffet, and a salad bar/​dessert table. Other buffets in town have considerably more and longer tables.
But the thing that really matters is, within the limits it has, does it have enough of the dishes you want to give you your money’s worth? In my case the answer was yes – at least, barely. The buffet included all the staples of Springfield Chinese buffets: cashew chicken (helpfully labelled «Cashew Chicken (Springfield)» just in case anybody forgot where we were), Mongolian beef, pepper chicken, etc. There were even some non-​Chinese dishes, too, such as pizza. (I did not try any.)
I should also say a word about their crab rangoons. As a rule, I don’t LIKE crab rangoon, because in most places it’s all «rangoon» and very little «crab»: a great big sheet of unappetizing dry fried noodle with a tiny little lump of cream cheese and crab in the center. But the New China Buffet’s crab rangoon is some of the best crab rangoon I’ve ever had, because there’s a lot more center and a lot less corner to it than at most other Chinese places. I HAD to grab more with every new plate of food I got. The crab rangoon is good enough I’m sorely tempted to bump this review up to 4 stars just for that – but it might give the wrong impression about the rest of the place.
All this is not to say the buffet does not economize on some things. Where other buffets might have a soft-​serve ice cream machine, for instance, it instead has a freezer full of single-​serving dishes of Blue Bunny ice cream of various flavors.
(When I had some, the ice cream was frozen more or less rock solid. If you are eating here and plan to have some for dessert, you might want to get a dish or two of your preferred flavor out at the same time you get your entrees, and leave them at the end of the table to thaw while you eat dinner.)
The reason I came to eat here in the first place was the presence of a sushi bar. I had googled on sushi bars in Springfield and the Unilocal reviews had come up, so I decided to check it out. The results were mixed. The bar had a number of more commonly-​ordered rolls out, such as California Rolls, Philadelphia Rolls, Eel Rolls, Spicy Salmon rolls, etc. And they all tasted quite good.
They LOOKED a bit sloppy, though. Like they were made in a hurry and not crimped with a bamboo scroll the way most places do. There was a tendency for the rolls to stick together, so that taking one roll would pull its neighbor apart. It was not exactly conducive to going back for more – or to ordering nigiri, which was not part of the buffet but available at an extra charge of $ 1 to $ 1.50 per piece.
The staff were all polite and eager to help. When I pointed out that the buffet was out of rice noodles they promised to get some more out soon – though it was about 10 minutes between the time I requested it and the arrival of the new tray.
When my check came, I was also handed a small box that contained a wall scroll 2010 calendar. (See photo.) It is a nice little knicknack; quite cheaply-​made and with the restaurant’s logo and phone numbers on it, but it has a decent photo of the Great Wall of China on it and I think it looks nice hanging on my wall. I don’t know how long they’ll continue handing them out, however.
The price has apparently gone up a bit since some of the previous reviews here; it was a little over $ 8 rather than a little over $ 7. Nonetheless, for what you get, it is a pretty good deal (especially considering the sushi bar; it may LOOK sloppy, but on the other hand it’s all you can eat, and 12 pieces of California Roll will run you $ 6 at the mall sushi place or Wal-​Mart).
That being said, it does not stand out enough to rate more than three stars from me. I would probably eat there again if I was in the neighborhood at lunchtime, but will not go out of my way for it.

So I get it. It’s kind of cliché to review a Chinese restaurant in Springfield, MO, but who cares. This place is not bad, it’s like every other Chinese buffet no matter where you are. A couple of pluses might be they have some basic sushi rolls there. For what they are they are good and they are made fresh so that is a plus. They also have a hibachi, some would call it Mongolian BBQ, but in reality it is more of a Japanese flair. You don’t get the show, but the food is great. Now for the best part it’s only $ 6.25 for lunch. You really can’t beat it. They only reason I gave them three stars is that it just doesn’t have anything that is unusually good.
I guess you can call it a solid 3 stars!