Red City Buffet, 12551 Jefferson Ave #109, Newport News (757.877.7888, Fax 757.877.7885)

Announcing they had Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian Grill & American Food, Red City Buffet opened with a major faux pas when a vision impaired customer with a service animal was turned away because “no animals are allowed in the restaurant.” A local news program caught wind of it and broadcast it. While this experience may have left a bad taste in Stephen Banks’ mouth, other things didn’t set right with Randy, Sandi and I when we dined there Monday evening.

First off, unless you like seafood, there’s not a whole lot for you to eat. Other than the General Tsao’s Chicken, Chicken with Broccoli, Pepper Chicken, Pork Chop, and Roast Beef, almost every dish is shrimp, crab (or krab), or fish based. For Randy, who’s allergic to seafood, this was a problem. The General Tsao’s (or the stuffed mushroom caps) had curry in them, which Sandi is allergic to.

Other than those, let’s look at the food. The Roast Beef has to be carved by the buffet goers, and for some reason has been baked, covered in ketchup, taking on a very meatloaf like taste. The Mongolian Grill, simply put, isn’t. It’s a Japanese Grill, but with choices of shrimp, beef, or chicken that were paired with your choice of Chinese cabbage, carrots, or snow peas. There’s no selection of sauces to flavor with, and the sauce the cook used ended up making the dish sour, as if it were flavoured with Rice Wine Vinegar only. The sushi selection was sparse, because the sushi maker was also having to man the Japanese (Mongolian) Grill. The few pieces that were available were filled with avocado that had turned brown. The only bright spot were the chese wontons, which were perfect.

Missing were the traditional “potstickers” (fried dumplings), while Dim Sum was available. The sweet and sour chicken was tough, and greasy. The green beans had no flavour.

Service was spotty at best — while we had no problems keeping the table free of excess plates, we had to track down the server for refills to our drinks.

The bathrooms, normally not included in a review are mentioned here because they were in serious need of cleaning.

Overall, the $8.95 price wasn’t bad, but there does not seem to a single thing that Red City excels at; it’s almost as if, in trying to do so many things, they fall short in doing any of them superbly — a common downfall for many Chinese buffets these days.

Food: (1.5)
Service: (1.5)
Price: (2)
Overall: (1.5)