Hong Fa Restaurante — Restaurant in Santa Cruz de la Sierra

There was a one star review here but written a couple of years ago and since then, only 4 or 5 star reviews, perhaps as someone said that it was under new ownership, so I thought I would give it a chance (also the person who wrote a bad review, did not say WHY it was only worth one star and often people have specious reasons). Well, I don't have those reasons but quite legitimate ones, so read this and be the judge of whether or not you want to come here and be aware that this is the LATEST review.

First, at a buffet you want to eat a lot, and it's hard to when it's hot weather, it was 90 degree outside that day. This place has an open front where hot air can enter and once inside you are terribly uncomfortable, they do have fans and air conditioners which you can barely feel unless you are exactly one table away, the tables on the other side have windows that are open which cancels the air conditioning, I was sitting the one table away fortunately, because the person who took me there took me to the wrong place at first, and I was so insistent on going to a buffet (thought they might have dim sum) which I wanted him to try and he might have been very upset if we had to leave this place also. The cement walls and ceiling make the place very noisy (not helped by the fact there were large families with children) so you couldn't hear each other speak. The seats were VERY uncomfortable and if you were short like I am, they are low, so the table seemed a little too high.

Secondly, although there was a lot of different foods to try, the quality of the food is poor, meats were fatty, thus greasy and overly salty. My friend got bad indigestion and did not feel ok all night and I had loose bowels just short of diarrhea. Also because the front of the restaurant is kind of open, flies can get in and they were hovering around the desserts and cold salads making me feel uncomfortable that they might have landed on the food. The drinks were terribly overpriced, the lemonade was half ice, but didn't dare ask for without ice, in case it was not cold. The food was 59 Bolivian dollars a plate, the drink was 35 a pitcher, my friend said there was no free water.

The only reason why I did not give it a one star rating, is that the cost was extremely reasonable for what you get. My friend and I had previously gone to a sidewalk cafe and got a plate of fish apiece, it was run down looking and no a/c either and the plate we each got was about the same price as this buffet. I am not writing or translating this in Spanish, as I figure this would be adequate for Bolivians with not much money, but people used to GOOD Chinese buffets should best avoid this. And BTW, they do NOT take credit cards (something they should change as this is a regular restaurant not a sidewalk cafe but I guess it keeps the...

Bueno, no sé qué ha sucedido con ese restaurante pero la experiencia de anoche me dejó con sabor a poco o nada. Para empezar no tenían el aire acondicionado encendido, solo estaban funcionando los ventiladores que movían el aire caliente. Los cojines de las sillas están completamente desgastados lo que hacía que se sintiera la madera al sentarse. Por lo general todos los platos del buffet eran picantes lo que es contraproducente al paladar de algunos que no les gusta el ají, sobre todo para los niños. Los vasos eran desechables, creo que eso no es correcto, la buena atención comienza con una buena presentación de la vajilla. Mi recomendación es que hagan un esfuerzo e inviertan un poquito de las ganancias en mejorar su presentación no solo en la variedad de los platos del buffet sino de la misma...

La comida era agradable ,no me toco nada mal,en lo personal me gusto mucho. Su atención departe de las chicas era buena,recogían los platos que dejaban después de comer. Lo único malo para mi es que hacia mucho calor,no hay aire acondicionado solo ventiladores,lo que es su piso estaba.. nose si decirlo asi.. húmedo? El caso es que varias veces me resbalaba por la húmedad del piso. Lo que no me gustó ver, quizás debería aver alguna chica viendo como nos servimos, es que una niña con la supervision de la madre tocó la torta servida con las manos y y sacaba lo que tenía de decoración. Eso estaba super mal en si uno come lo que toco una niña. Eso me desagrado total y no...