Peking Buffet
| Address: | 93 2nd St, Coralville, IA 52241, USA |
| Phone: | +1 319-333-1347 |
| Site: | m.facebook.com |
| Rating: | 3.4 |
| Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 6
MA
Matt Uhlman
For those who are in love with the food here, I think we need to have a talk. Having grown up in the buffet line, Im a fan of places that serve food in hog trough style, but its gotta be comida thats at least worth what you pay for. This was unfortunately not that case when we visited the Peking buffet. Ive got nothing against places that have some grime going on or that are busy enough that some things are out, but when the food is truly not worth eating, thats my limit. We wandered in for a late dinner this past week after seeing 6 days of lines coming out of the place after the grand opening. The decor inside is actually very authentic and the servers were fantastic (they kept the place open late for a number of us who came in 20 minutes before closing) - extra star for service. Thats where the good stuff ended. The buffets were nicely stocked, the chandelier (with a rotating colored light above it no less) adorned said buffets, and the place smelled of Chinese buffet. We counted about 12 different types of chicken and to be fair, these were decent - our favorite was the peanut butter chicken. Crab rangoons were solid as well. At that point however, things got rough. Our first hint that things may go south was when we saw the frog legs...yes frog legs at a Chinese buffet. They were interesting, not gross. The egg drop soup was pretty bad - may have been because its made with Coralville water, but either way, I didnt finish it. The dim sum offerings were a chicken rice and a red bean roll - these were unfortunately sub par. The sushi bar was exciting until we tasted the sushi. Again, Im glad the attempts are being made, but the sushi needs to be fresh - these tastes like old fish. Didnt have any of the Mongolian BBQ, but suspect its okay as its hard to mess up. The desserts were iced cream and a number of rolls. The ice cream was not real high quality (I know, its a buffet) and left much to be desired. Getting a big bunch of store brand would be a step up. They do the standard fried Americanized Chinese food really well here, but you can grab that at a grocery store. The "real" Chinese dishes were really cheaply done and left way to much to be desired for even the $12 that the buffet cost. The positives included the service and the decor - you can tell theyre excited about the place! Based on the lines, we were expecting to be blown away, but aside from the "insert location or ingredient here" chicken and other fried goods, the food was really sub-par. If we want fake Chinese (which we often do) well grab it at Hy-vee.
A
A Private User
We used to eat at Peking Buffet every so often before the floods in 08, and although the place could have been cleaner, the food was decent. We decided to check it out again tonight since we hadnt eaten there since the re-opening. The front lobby (and the decor in general) was quite impressive. Everything else left a lot to be desired. For starters, while they had a huge selection of food (sushi, Mongolian stir-fry, a few Americanized Chinese dishes, and a few items like frogs legs that I didnt expect to see on a Chinese buffet), everything I had was bland. The General Tsos Chicken had very little spice. The fried scallops had no flavor. The lo mein had few vegetables and was sparsely seasoned. The salmon used to make the sushi tasted as if it came from low-quality fish. While I know that Chinese buffets arent renowned for haute cuisine, I do expect the food to have flavor. I also noticed that Peking Buffets cleanliness problem has stayed with it through the rebuild. There were stacks of dish tubs sitting on the floor in kitchen areas visible to the dining room. The restroom, while not the worst Ive seen it, needed attention. There were several flies buzzing around the buffet and in the dining areas. We were swatting flies away from our plates throughout our meal. I might have said something about these problems to our server, had she checked on us. She greeted us promptly upon our arrival to the table, brought us our drink order, and did not come back until it was time to drop off the check, which came to around $30 for 2 adults and a 3-year-old. We will not be returning. tl;dr: Nice decor, but the horribly bland food, abundance of flies, cleanliness issues, sub-par service and high prices made for a very disappointing meal.
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Traci Williams
Stopped after hearing how good this place was,and wished we would have kept going! When we walked in, the lady who led us to the table was not the friendliest. It took a few long minutes for our waitress to to take our drink order, I looked around and they were not busy at all! Finally we were ready to see what all the hype was about. Yes they had a variety of food and it "looked" good however we were quickly disappointed! Many of the pans of food were less than half full some were empty. The food was lukewarm and not the best. during our visit no employee had walked around the buffet to check on things...I can say this was the worst food I have ever eaten at any buffet! We were ready to leave and we waited and waited for our bill. Looking around for our waitress we found he in the corner with her back to us wrapping silverware. I dont mind that she was wrapping silverware but she should have been in a position where she could see if her customers needed anything. Finally after about 10 minutes of waiting for our waitress to get done we were given our bill. We will not be visiting this establishment again due to the poor food and horrible service we received.
JO
Josiah lopez de victoria
so. we live in davenport but i go to the VA hospital up there and me and my gf stopped in for dinner. was around dinner time. the decor was nice but that was the only good thing about it. i have traveled all over the world and the United States and this was by fat the worst buffet i have ever been to. the food was just drenched in grease. just thinking about it makes me want to vomit. they had about 8 empty trays, and trays that needed to be refilled or replaced with fresh food, the cooked shrimp were so salty i could only eat one without feeling my arteries hardening. i told my gf she makes better frozen chinese then what was there. we didnt dare try the sushi or dessert. if you like quality buffet food and excellent service avoid this place. we will not be back.
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Christine Ewert
Ive gone a few times and enjoyed it. Overall: a positive experience. Ill return for that price! Pros: Good variety of food. Ice cream, duck, octopus, red bean dumplings, frogs, pizza, its a crazy mix so everyone can find something. A few authentic dishes mixed in with the Americanized ones Service has been friendly For that lunch price? $7? Totally worth it! I went during typical hours and they refilled things quickly enough Cons: The quality is really on a case-by-case basis. Some dishes were subpar. Some delicious. Its a gamble. Could use more authentic dishes. As is the case with every Chinese buffet Ive visited, dont go for the pizza,mac and cheese and etc, those are cheap and lame . I cant speak for the sushi or takeout prices.
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Terry Lechat
The food is terrible and the service worse. Not quite warmed up leftovers (dinner only food cold at 5pm), peel and eat shrimp floating in cool water, etc. Big service warning: if you have 11 people in your group you will be charged an extra 10%. This is industry standard, I know. It is to ensure that a large group doesnt take a lot of the servers time and then leave a $2 tip. But at this place it has a different meaning. Since the server is getting $12 no matter what happens, that group can now be totally ignored with no loss of tip. Big food warning: this place had the most health inspection violations of any place in the county. 26 critical and swing violations. Rather impressive.
