*~~~~ (1/5)
I haven’t been to an asian buffet in a really long time. My last time was in Toronto a few years ago and it was pretty good. In BC though, I haven’t been to one in even longer, and the standards are definitely a lot different. I’ve actually been wanting to go to an asian buffet recently, and whenever I pass by the oriental buffet in Guildford, I’m tempted to go. But shortly after parking and seeing New China Kitchen in Coquitlam, I got really hesitant. I didn’t say anything though, and we decided to eat the $9.95 lunch buffet. Before we actually went in, our friend told us that our other friends hated the place. Not a good first impression.

We were quickly seated, and headed straight for the buffet line, sadly a lot of the trays were empty. The place wasn’t busy at all, as maybe 8-9 tables had people in them. There were only two lines of food, and then a small dessert table. They had some standard dishes like fried rice, fried noodles, sweet and sour pork, fried chicken, dimsum dishes, and onion rings (haha yes I call onion rings standard, at least here in BC). Then they had some weird dishes, like Honey Garlic Sausage! Yes, this was what seemed like skinnier Vienna sausage, fried, then put into a honey garlic sauce. Being Filipino, I am accustomed to my vienna sausage, and the dish was one of the most flavourful and tasty dishes they had, but, the three of us who ate it, left with stomach aches.

A lot of the food was overcooked, or just had been sitting there for a while. Things like the honey garlic chicken, and sweet and sour pork were very dry and hard to chew. Yes, I know it’s a buffet, but at least some buffets completely switch trays, not just stack the new food ontop of the old food.

After my second fairly small plate, I didn’t want anymore. None of us had more than 2 plates of food. Surprisingly they had oreos and other Mr. Christie cookies, as well as ice cream for dessert. I didn’t touch it.

The only thing that I liked about New China Kitchen in Coquitlam is that they were good at serving us tea and getting us a new pot whenever ours was empty. Then again, there weren’t that many people to deal with. It might be the new thing with H1N1 lurking around, but they had antibacterial dispensers at the start of the line.

I’m not coming back. The food was lacking in variety, amount, flavour, and texture. If you can’t enjoy the food, and eat more than a plate or two of food at a buffet, why even go? If you leave the place with a stomach ache, that’s even more reason not to come back. Supposedly there is another New China Kitchen in Langley, but given the experience I had here last week, I’m not going to be going there. Heck, maybe this place has scared me away from buffets in BC forever. I’ll stick to my AYCE sushi, or golf-club and wedding buffets if I want some All You Can Eat. Maybe I’ll just go on another cruise.

New China Kitchen
100 Schoolhouse Street, #112
Coquitlam, BC V3K6V9
Tel: (604) 526-1336

One good thing that came out of this experience, is that I found a Greek restaurant called Kefi that I want to try. Wish I went there instead.