Royal Garden Restaurant — Restaurant in Vernon

I m a little conflicted about this place. On one hand I really appreciate how they are prepared for COVID, good quantity of food and reasonable quality. But on the other hand they almost certainly lied to my face on the type of meat they r using. Let me explain. As soon we walked in the door, we were impressed how this place takes COVID precaution seriously. Waiters wears masks, tables were distanced at least two meters apart, and even their buffet are waiter served with a order sheet that u can use! This is the first place we been to that takes it seriously! As we got to order our food, we appreciate helpful waiters and clear explanations on the menu. However, when the food came we were little confused. The Singapore fried noodle was fine, as it is steamy and a little light on taste but the portion was good and toppings were generous. Then, when the beef with snow pea came we were a little lost, because the meat on the plate is certainly pork, as it is pale and white, not beef as it taste light and with no beef taste whatsoever! I asked the waitress, she assured me it’s beef. I asked a more senior staff, they said it might come from a different part of beef that’s why it’s so pale?!?!? I mean unless they r serving me tripe, which it definitely is not, I have not seen beef so pale before! We come from Alberta and we r very familiar with beef and this certainly is not beef! But after hours of driving we were not picky and it taste okay so we thought there were no point in arguing so we just eat it. They were courteous to offer us to change it to chicken if need be, but we thought why waste the food, but if it’s pork with snow pea we will be fine with that but please don’t call pork beef, it’s...

Royal Garden is my 104th eatery in Vernon on my quest to eat at every eatery in Vernon.

I have never dined in at Royal Garden before. I had ordered delivery on my birthday in July 2020.

It was memorable because Skip delivered it to the wrong address, gave me my refund, and then I reordered my food. Two hours later the people living at the wrong address brought over my food. So I had two orders for the price of one on my birthday.

It was great to dine in. I completely forgot about the robot waitress who brings out food for large groups. Unfortunately I was alone so a regular human being brought out my food. I wanted the robot to bring me my food.

I bought a big bowl of veggie chop suey and one spring roll for $17 and $4 respectively. The waitress asked if I wanted chopsticks and hot sauce. Given I travel to Asia for three or more months per year, I said yes to both.

The veggie chop suey is a big portion. It tasted healthier than most chop sueys. The bits at the bottom were a bit mushy but that's okay. It balanced out the big pieces of green pepper.

I should note this restaurant is locally owned and operated despite being in the Anderson Way plaza where most eateries here are chains. The owners are descendants from those who worked on the railroad.

After tax and a 15 percent tip I paid $24.15 for a full bowl of veggie chop suey, a spring roll, and a pitcher of water.

This, Jade's Asian Kitchen, and Asian Avenue are my three favourite Chinese restaurants in town.

104...

Solid chinese food.

Buffet is currently $30/adult, Fridays and Saturdays only from 4:30-7:30. All you can eat with a food waste charge policy.

Was pleasantly surprised to see sesame balls at the buffet, and happy to find that the bean paste wasn't horrifically sweet. Sauce on the sweet and sour pork was a bit more gelatinous than my preference, but that might just have been from being under the hot hold and there was a pan of just sauce for the chicken balls etc. so no big deal. Decent fruit selection at the dessert bar and everything was fresh & separated instead of the kind of soggy fruit mix that all tastes vaguely of pineapple like some buffets. Otherwise everything was as expected, not too sweet, not too salty. Buffet was about 50% meat dishes and 25% each rice & noodle dishes.

... Tbh I'm sitting the car outside right now regretting not grabbing like 3 more sesame balls. I coulda fit them in. wistful sigh

Oh! I will say, the couple at the table next to me got the 3 item dinner combo, and the portion sizes were pretty big. So if you don't think you'll eat more than a plate or two at the buffet and know what you want, it might be a better deal to...