The Great Wall — Restaurant in Bedford

Tonight we decided to go to our old standby for a dinner buffet. We've been to the Great Wall restaurant many times before and have been very satisfied. I really enjoyed their steak teriyaki. Nice plump and juicy pieces of beef on a stick. The Ma Pao Tofu was very tasty. Selection was good if not great.

Tonight however, was a whole different story. The buffet was sparse littered with scraps of what was at some point a dish. It was like a left overs buffet. No more steak teriyaki, but replaced with pieces of chicken on a stick. I waited almost 15 minutes before taking these pictures in hopes that the buffet would be refilled. Even when the buffet was refilled after us asking, it was half filled and the food was for lack of a better word, disgusting. After being empty for over 15 minutes, the chicken wings were refilled with a few wings and a few drumsticks. Talk about stingy. The mussels were not fresh and over seasoned with some black bean sauce. The rest of the food were of a similar nature - over seasoned with some salty brown sauce. One dish was so old that the white sauce started to coagulate.

When I complained to the front desk, they just looked at me with a blank face and offered an obligatory "sorry". No "what can we do to make it up to you." or "would you like to order something else on the house." or "we deducted half the price off your bill." NOTHING. When asked for the manager, their reply was "she's off today." I even asked the waiter in the beginning if I can cancel my buffet after having only the soup and a few pieces of awful mussels. No obliging me there.

So look at my photos and you be the judge. Is the buffet worthy of...

A few of us went to try their lunch buffet last Sunday. We arrived at about 12:30pm. Being in a strip mall, there was a large parking lot with an abundance of spaces. It is a large restaurant and appeared very clean. It has upscale decore and good spacing between tables. Throughout our meal, the restaurant was never more then 25% full. Our soup came hot. I had the hot and sour soup. It was very bland with a marked absence of spice. The buffet was of average size. A selection of appetizers, main dishes, rice and noodles. The food was ok, but just ok. The kung pao that I had did have hot peppers in it but totally lacked spiciness. Even tasting the peppers directly revealed very little heat. Sadly, most of the food was very bland. It was very typical of old-style suburban American Chinese food. Good colors and textures but no real flavors. The standouts on the buffet were the egg rolls (a style I am fond of but are hard to find) and the Peking dumplings. Yes, I would go back again. Parking was good the restaurant was clean and pricing was not outrageous. My expectations will be lower next time, so that may help things a bit. Yes, I will be back, but it will be awhile as I'm in no rush to return. It's too bad as I had higher hopes for the restaurant as I had seen so many...

This place does exactly what it needs to. You know when you get that craving for American Chinese food ? Ya this place hits the spot. I was in heaven grabbing as much as I could at the buffet. The music at this place was amazing. I was scooping kung Pao chicken to Beethoven's 5th and I never want it any other way.

The food quality was also stellar. I had many plates and after I wasn't hung 3 hours later like standard takeout. They were resupplying fresh made food as well even at the end of the night.

Now the staff , oh my god angels from heaven. The staff were so nice and attentive and made sure I ate a lot. They would check up on me and make me feel like I was in a home and not just a restaurant. There was a woman with AMAZING style and an white hair , she was fantastic and even came over to chat with me after I ate. I will be back.

I also saw some of the cocktails and they LOOKED FULL AND SMELT STRONG. IMMA NEED A DD NEXT TIME I COME AND THEY ARE GONNA HAVE TO PULL ME OUT FROM UNDER THE TABLE.

I think I may have found my go to spot. I will be back. Maybe I'll go back again this week. Ah who am I kidding. I will....