Hao Kai Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Warrnambool

I've returned to Warrnambool after (many) years away so this review has been updated to a basis of local all-you-can-eat-chinese buffet.

Hao Kai is a Warrnambool institution. Unless my memory is faulty, it is identical to the one that I first visited years (decades?) ago. The menu is what you would expect if you've ever visited a Chinese buffet.

It is currently finishing a fully re-fit .. which is a reincarnation of my memories. A perfect example of "if it ain't broken ..."

The quality is equivalent to that of a food court while the price is about the same as a single, small dish from the Gateway food court Chinese buffet.

(It's a bit tricky but I think the quality has improved over my memory. The deep fried items were lightly, crisply battered while the vegetables in the mixed dishes included a level of just-cooked crispness which is rare in bain-marie serveries)

The sole caveat/criticism is that the bain-marie items were not heated enough. Either the water settings were too low or the chef was depending on the bain-maries to do the actual heating. However that is easy to fix and I can't do 4.something stars - so 5...

I went today the Friday before AFL grand finale. It a 55 for 1 child 2 adults.they had fried fish pork chicken and calamari. I could eat 1 friend fish others are disgusting. I coudnt try fried rice and Singapore noodles and mixed vegetables since they had pork .I also tried 2 types of chicken plus something beef. The only food we could eat is steam rice with salt.one of my friends family were there and they told me they coudnt eat at well just trying to figure out where can they take the kids next because we are travelling here.if you want really cheap food with yucky appearances that's it.I prefer not to write negative comments but thought to write a review because it's a tourist spot so my review will help someone to make a decision. Its been 2 hours and we are still in shock. You can have a lunch at Roxburg park or taylors lake or sanctuary lake hotel with 4 star food quality .I am not upset with quantity but I never had this quality...

The whole palce smells like cigarettes, not surprising considering the man working there was out the front smoking the entire time unless someone checked out the place. 3 families come in, looked at the food and WALKED OUT. There is not a lot on offer, and even less if you want something you can hold down. the chicken and fish was pink, and the sauces had this thick layer of Sludge that you had to scoop out of the way.

The menu lied about the prices and there is nothing vegetarian unless you just want dessert and potatos.

The smoker was also very unwelcoming and didnt say anything to us when we said hello.

Dim Sims were...