Chow Time Grill & Buffet

Reviews 4

JA

Jay Barber

Chow Time is one of my favorite places to eat when visiting Panama City. It really is many restaurants in one. Usually, it has a very satisfactory oyster bar, (but there was only a sign "No oysters, sorry" when I went there twice this weekend. Called to see if this was permanent and the answer was that the owners are not sure, but no oysters in the near future.) But even if there isnt oysters, theres plenty more. Its very good sushi place. Lots of options to pick from plus all the accessories. Its a good Chinese buffet with an interesting selection of Chinese dishes (especially if you are like most Americans and like the dishes loaded with meat or seafood). Its also a great seafood restaurant with quite a variety of shellfish and fish. I like the fried catfish and there is plenty of grilled salmon (though I like my salmon less cooked, but thats impossible on a buffet.) The seafood (shellfish) is really outstanding for a Chinese buffet. Their fried shrimp is quite good, but they serve shrimp in many other ways: boiled and chilled on ice with cocktail sauce; spicy shrimp in a delicious oriental sauce; sort of a gummy powpow shrimp like at Bonefish Grill (its interesting and good flavored). Then theres other shellfish like crawfish, steamed clams in a black bean and jalapeno pepper sauce, calamari, artificial crab and, of course, crab legs, but as another reviewer said, dont expect great crab legs at a Chinese buffet (because they sit in the hot water). I also read that crab legs are only available on weekends, but since I only eat there on weekends, I dont know differently. Continuing, its also an interesting restaurant for meats. I had some great crispy duck there last weekend. They regularly have a very satisfactory BBQ ribs. There are petite (probably) sirloin steaks, which, if you look, are sometimes medium rare to medium. Also ham, chicken is various forms, wings, something for even the most finicky eaters. Its also a desert restaurant. I love the "scoop your own" ice cream bar with 6 flavors (my favorite is butter pecan) with fixins and cones if youre in a hurry, macaroons (which I love), apple pie, chocolate cake and a bunch of others. Its also a salad bar with more than the usually add-ons to the typical salad bar. And its also a Mongolian BBQ restaurant with fresh meats and vegetables to mix with one of the four tangy oriental sauces and have cooked while you wait. So, if you cant decide what you want to eat or where you want to go or if you have a family that cant agree where they should all go together, I highly recommend Chow Time as six or seven restaurants all wrapped up into one restaurant where there will be something (and most likely many things) for everybody to eat and lots of it.

G

g evans

Used to be a great place but recently customer service and food quality have been horrible. Last night was my last visit. We have gone there 5-6 times a month at least for a couple of years. It was a great place for a family that can not agree on what they want for dinner, there you have your choice. Over the last few months on a few occasions the food has not been what it was before, dried out shrimp, chewy seafood, etc.- thought they may have new people in the kitchen so gave them the benefit of the doubt. Once about a month ago we went a little later in the evening - 7 PM or so - the selection of food was about half of what it normally is and of course all of the best foods were either empty or dried out. I asked about it and was told that they were getting ready to close. I thought at the time that if they were serving old food and limited choices they should have offered some kind of a discount but they did not. OK, again we gave them the benefit of the doubt. Last night I took my son to dinner there - we both went up to the dessert bar for something sweet and they were completely out of, again, the most wanted items. I had noticed when we came in that it was getting low but figured that it would be replenished by the time that we were ready for dessert. Nothing had been replaced and there was nothing there that we wanted. This time they were no where near closing, the restaurant was full of people. When I went to the counter to pay the bill I told the girl that I would like some kind of a discount because of the dessert bar being empty. She looked at a lady behind her who then went to check the dessert bar as if she did not trust what I was saying. She came back a few minutes later and stated, fairly rudely that they were only out of banana pudding - at that time I said "no maam, that is not correct and told her exactly what they were out of. She then turned to look at the bar like she was going to say something else or make another excuse - she just wanted to argue with me as a customer instead of offering even a 10% discount - I just paid the bill - left the server a $4 tip because it was not his fault and nope will not be going back....

CO

Cody Price

Where do I even begin? The wormy Crab Legs, the bathroom stall thats about to give out when your on the toilet at any second? Or the fact that i believe im digesting a household pet. It all started last year around Spring time Decent day, perfect weather for a jog. lots of kids playing at the park. After my jog I had a craving for some Chinese food so i decided to go to Chow Time. It was a great idea. That was until I arrived at my house and bowels started churning like a sea from the depths of purgatory. So I rushed to the bathroom and like the destruction of Pompii, my bowels were obliterated and came a dog collar with the name Lucky on it, And how that came out my butt I have no clue. After my week long recovery I returned to the resteraunt to make a conplaint. Come to find out they had been shut down for a couple days by the HD. So i decided to take a peek inside and the bsck door was open. It lead straight to the kitchen and just like a horror movie skinned cats and dogs were hanging by hooks from the cealing. As i thought was empty I hear a noise come from behind me and its an Asian man with a Katana yelling franticly in the Chinese dialect I was unable to comprehend, so I made a beak for the exit. I managed to escape by throwing a deceased cat at his torso and running away never to return again. Not many people believe my story, but hey just wait. It might happen to you too.

CH

Chris m

We have always liked this establishment. Yesterday I drove 80 min (one-way) just to take my mother here for her birthday. About 10 min after arriving they began bringing out crab legs. No one in our party eats them except my 11 yr old. Before we left she decided to get crab legs on her last trip. She set her plate down which contained only 3 small crab legs and set off in search of shell crackers. Id already paid the bill and left the tip. The waitress came running to our table with her hand out for my daughters plate and informed me she billed me for lunch, not dinner...so I could either pay more or she was taking my daughters plate...and she did. My 11 yr old came back with her shell crackers in hand and began crying. Three pitiful crab legs? I wasnt aware Id not been charged for dinner. No one in our party had dinner items except for the 3 crab legs. We sat there in disbelief over what just happened. Usually they charge us less for the 11 yr old but I looked back at my copy of the bill and theyd charged us adult price for her. It wasnt handled professionally. We made the 80 minute commute back home and I cant say we will be back again.