Starlight Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Airdrie

Went here for the first time tonight and we weren't disappointed. The service was hands down the best service I have ever recieved at a buffet, anywhere! We were asked for our drink order, someone checked on our food quality, stopped by to talk up the dessert, to confirm the food quality again, and to ask if we needed more to drink. I have never been asked more than what I want to drink. The extra effort by staff does NOT go unnoticed!

Most of the food was really great! I'm surprised at some of the other reviews. The chicken balls had a great balance of dough to chicken. Neither was overwhelming. The Shanghai noodles were fantastic! Great taste and flavour! The dry ribs and chicken wings were also on point! Nice, crispy, and juicy. The chow mein was really good too! Any of the black bean, sweet and sour, teriyaki, and ginger dishes were also very yummy. I could see why some people may not like it. The texture of the meat is very soft, very tender. The outside batter on any of those items were crispy and sauced well. The wonton soup had excellent broth! I didn't get a chance to taste my wonton as I was too full by the end of my meal.

We were able to squeeze in some dessert, which was typical Chinese buffet dessert. Jello, fruit, bars, tarts, and ice cream. I was really impressed with the soft serve ice cream! It could give DQ a run for their money. They also have hard ice cream if soft serve isn't your thing. The lemon tarts were really good!

The only issue we encountered was that our table wasn't quite clean enough. There was a big yellow sticky spot. Easy enough to remedy though.

This place left us with a great first impression and we will be coming back for the first...

I don’t even want to give a star to this place! Went here last night for dinner, I love Chinese’s food very much. Had eaten here twice prior! Was extremely disssapointed in the service as well as the food. All of the food was either cold or over cooked, looked like it had been re warmed. The chicken balls were so hard I could barely put a knife through them, the vegtables in the mixed veg tasted disgusting & that’s my favourite dish! The Lemon chicken looked under cooked, I refused to eat half of the meal I had picked. When the server seen I had a plate of food left, she got the manager & he very rudely came over & loudly said in front of many tables of costumers in which we’re now staring how I should have “ taken what I liked and should’ve went back up for more if I wanted more instead of taking as much as I did, then he said that I wasted 2lbs of food” when I tried to explain it was disgusting hard & tasted gross he was very rude to me I ended up paying $10 extra on a plate of food I wouldn’t have even given to my dog cause it was hard and gross! Very disappointed in the way I was treated & the respect I was not given! I will no longer be giving this place my service! & neither will many of my family members who really enjoy eating here & do regularly! I would have had no problem paying that $10 if the food was cooked properly & it wasn’t over cooked & cold. I also wouldn’t have made such a big deal about paying extra for a meal if he would’ve waited until I finished my meal & went up to pay! You do not treat your customers with such disrespect & be so unprofessional! Customers mean money, without customers you have...

The food is fine, the restaurant is fine, the service was great.

Starlight isn’t anything to rave about but it hits the spot when it comes to buffet style Chinese food. All the usual dishes where there with a few I didn’t expect like the cheese wonton. That was a pretty tasty surprise. Otherwise it’s straight out of the North American Chinese textbook. Buffet has enough variety to suit most, along with a salad bar, soup area and desserts.

There are some questionable things regarding the restaurant itself like having the island in the middle for the tills also be storage for cases of pop and stacks of cups just waiting to fall over. Half the restaurant has the lights off and seems to be used as storage for other essentials which makes me question. If all of that is out on the floor, what’s stacked up in the back? One look at the bathrooms or peek into the kitchen area will give you the information you need. Though clean, this place is showing it’s age. A makeover is required and not only in the seating area.

This is clearly a family owned business, as our meal was minding down and we were one of the last in the restaurant the whole staff sat down at a round table to share a meal together. This is a wholesome moment that can resonate with anyone who has a family. They are doing what they can in a market that’s very hard to navigate.

Though my family does not have Chinese often rest assured we would gladly step foot in here again, and I look forward to any renovations or upkeep they maintain...