The Peking Buffet

When the flood of '08 happened, it devoured the Peking Buffet in Coralville. While I wasn't heart-broken, I know this place was a staple for many buffet-goers of the Iowa City area and when I saw it was returning I was mildly curious to give it a try. While I'm not a fan of buffets, I like to keep an open mind (most especially when I know it's as clean as it's ever going to be.)

Score (based on 5 stars):

Friendliness: ***

Cleanliness: **

Tastiness: *

Affordable: ***

Overall: **

Friendliness:

I'll give them credit that this place just opened up but at the same time it seemed like the staff didn't get a lot of time to work on training and procedure. I believe our waiter/waitress changed once or twice, which isn't such a huge deal, but it did cause some confusion as to who had what drink. Maybe with some time and more training it will run a little more streamlined.

Cleanliness:

Keep in mind this is a buffet. You can't really call it clean when you watch the 8 year old jam his hand into the bin of egg rolls after wiping his nose with it. However, for the first day of opening they kept a good job of cleaning spills and plates from tables. While I can't really fault the staff at Peking Buffet for knowing when their customers violate their food, people should know that it happens, and I witnessed several people ignoring safety barriers and sneeze guards to handle the food. You've been warned.

Tastiness:

This is why I'm not a real fan of buffets. You can't really call any of it terribly fresh except the sushi bar. All of it was extraordinarily chewy and overcooked. Everything was overly sweet too, and coming from someone who adores things sweet, it was even too much for me. I can't attest to if the spicy dishes were any good seeing as the tiny bit of spice sends my mouth screaming for help, but everything else was either too bland, or too sweet.

Affordable:

For a soft drink and the all-you-can-eat buffet it came to about 12 dollars. While that's not TOO bad, you can get a much fresher meal from Hu-Hot at a lower price with a soft drink. However, seeing as most single entree meals will run you into the above 10 dollar range, it's not a terrible deal either.

Overall:

I find myself having to give a lot of stipulations to the people that would enjoy eating there, so here's the breakdown of that list:

'Can you eat at the Peking Buffet?'

• Do you care if unknown strangers touch your food?
• Are you used to Americanized Asian cuisine?
• Do you really, really like sweet things?
• Do you enjoy really chewy meat and fried items?
• Are you unable to get to Hy-Vee?
• Do you lack taste buds?

If you answered yes to those questions, you'll probably like the Peking Buffet. I honestly can't say I'll go back, at least my stomach is pleading not to, but if you're a buffet goer or one of those 'bottomless stomach' folk, then give it a shot and see what you think.