China Bar Express — Restaurant in Melbourne

I recently had the pleasure of dining at China Bar in Epping, a restaurant that has skillfully adapted to changing times and tastes. Fondly, I remembered the days of China Bar's tantalising seafood buffets; today, however, I discovered that their grilled meat offerings are just as mouth-watering.

The customer service was exemplary. A warm and engaging server made sure to explain the new layout to us and displayed meticulous attention to detail by continuously replacing our grill. This not only kept the cooking plate clean and non-burnt but added to the overall pleasant and seamless dining experience.

What genuinely stood out to me was the impressive selection of meat. The freshness and presentation were both on point. Every piece tasted exquisite and was a testament to the quality they strive to maintain. I particularly enjoyed the lettuce leaves, impeccably fresh, crunchy, and perfectly shaped for wrapping the meat. My partner was delighted with the fried food and the yum cha offerings, though limited, were scrumptious and satisfying.

One piece of advice for prospective diners: don't forget to smear butter on your plate before grilling the meat. Not only does it enrich the flavour, but it also helps the meat cook more evenly and prevents sticking - a tip I picked up during my visit.

The dining experience did see a shift towards convenience as I noticed they switched to disposable plates. While this definitely streamlined the cleaning process, it did take away a touch of elegance from the experience.

Dessert lovers won't be disappointed either. Although the selection has been pared back, the choices remain delightful. The chocolate and red velvet cake were irresistible, but the pièce de résistance was the durian ice cream. Honestly, it was some of the best I've ever had!

Regarding value for money, the prices were surprisingly reasonable, considering the high cost of dining out these days. The restaurant offers a two-hour dining limit, which was more than adequate for our 90-minute stay.

In summary, the evolved China Bar in Epping, with its transition from seafood to grill, has not lost any of its charm. It offers a wonderful selection of food, excellent customer service, and great value for money. I wholeheartedly recommend it, and I am eagerly anticipating...

I have been a number of times, all have been enjoyable. The food is of high quality and a vast range from seafood, Chinese, Vietnamese, Australian, Japanese, Moroccan, at least they have something for everyone. If you want a stake it's cooked while you watch if you want and how you want. Fish is cooked to order as well and all the food is part of the buffet price. If you love seafood, you will love the seafood buffet with its prawns, crab, lobster, oysters and other seafoods that are available. Dinner is the best time to go for seafood lovers, lunch is cheaper than dinner because seafood is not guaranteed.

Lunch time you still get all the other foods and lots of them. Lunch is also quiter then dinner.

To finish you meal, you must visit the desert bar and for the kids and big kids there is the lollies and chocolates at the lolly bar, also a chocolates fountain and icecream bar.

When it comes to drinks, you are served water if you want but all other drinks are charged separately (see drink menu).

The staff are friendly and come around to clear your table regularly. You will need it cleared to keep eating comfortably. The manager is also very nice.

You can pay by eftpos or cash but one bill per table one payment. So if your paying separately work your money out first beforehand.

Remember, public holidays like Christmas day are booked and with all the people and children it can get pretty loud. Don't worry there will be enough food for everyone.

Best to book first no matter what time you want to go.

Parking & Transport. There is a lot of parking just might have to walk a bit. All buses that run in Epping stop there because it's located at Epping Pacific (Epping Plaza ).

Cost: Based on the lunch price, it's much cheaper and far better value for money then some other places close by that you would just get a main (stake and a few prawns) for more $$ then the China Bar for all food.

Remember that they can get busy, so sometimes patients is the key to good...

I used to go to this buffet often with my boyfriend, but after a recent experience we will never be returning.

As we are both lovers of seafood, an all you can eat seafood buffet is a quality meal for us. We arrived at the beginning of the dinner service, and after being seated, we headed straight to the oysters to begin our meal. As soon as we neared the seafood, we noticed the unpleasant odour of spoilt food. Somewhat apprehensive, we picked a varied selection of food (oysters, prawns, crab, muscles and bug), and returned to our seats. The rotten smell followed us.

It soon became apparent what exactly was the cause of the smell, as several of the oysters tasted bad and the prawns were mushy and completely lacked the usual firmness when you bite into them. A quick sniff of one at the end of the fork was enough to turn your stomach. You know when you go to the beach and there's a dead fish on the shore? Exactly like that.

Naturally, we called over the wait staff to shine light on the issue, and after some difficulty getting through the language barrier (because many servers here speak minimal English), she said she would get the manager.

The manager arrived and smelt the food, and agreed it was definitely off, but tried to tell us it was the only thing that was off. We told him about the oysters and about the strong smell coming from the seafood buffet. He apologised and said he would rectify the problem, however all he did was look at the seafood and leave it out for other unsuspecting customers to consume. Considering how sick you can get from eating spoilt seafood, we were horrified that the food wasn't thrown out immediately.

Perhaps there's a reason why there's a hospital just a 10 minute walk away. Save your health and avoid...