Golden 99 Buffet — Restaurant in Kokomo

Pretty clean and spiffy about almost a month into their open.

Today was my first try of the new place.

I recommend coming with a BIG appetite and adventure to try new things!

This is the first time I've found a restaurant this far north with the viet cajun Croix fish boil (lots of garlic and old bay). First time also eating croix fish... Not bad at all! Ate like 4 tails. The king crab legs are also great and meaty. There were muscles and oysters as well! Both also good!

Also a sushi bar where they are consistently replenishing it with offerings AND they had a bamboo boat on the corner of the station with fresh sashimi cuts (tuna, salmon, maybe mackerel?)

FROG legs... EXCELLENT thick froglegs. Actually better than the chicken wings they had at the other station.

Buttered Scallops on a clam shell surrounded my noodles and a bit of spices... Worth a try, especially if you dig seafood.

The stuffed mushrooms with cheese ... AMAZING... Like crab Rangoon in a mushroom... Probably the cheese filled muscles are similar.

Actual crab rangoons were okay... Cheese not a creamy as the stuffed mushrooms, believe it or not.

Hot and sour soup with multiple species of mushrooms 🧐👍

The fruit! Fresh Pineapple, Honeydew, Orange slices.

Also fresh Sherbert and ice cream cups in a freezer... I believe my brother also tried out various cake pieces, including a cheesecake with graham cracker crust.

Did not get to try... But there IS a hibachi/grill where you can present ingredients and have them cooked for you live.

Dislikes: The Lobster Ginger scallion... Lobster meat was good... But the texture wasn't something I admired (personal taste... Biased by steam lobsters of Maine). The Split Blue Crabs... Delicious crab meat... BUT whatever they were cooked in made the legs and shells harder to crack and more difficult to get into the meat.

The shrimp with the heads on them of the viet cajun croix ... After peeling off the heads and shells .... It was mushy and rubbery; dislike 👎

All the veggies in the foods were fresh and suitable for the different foods enjoyed.

All in all... Heard lots of people complain about the price... About 24-25 bucks a head... Dunno if that's all the time or just on weekends (attended on a Sunday afternoon).

Hence I re-emphasize. Come with an appetite and an adventure to try things...

This is your head's up so you don't have to complain about the pricing.

Be grateful that there's still new restaurants coming to this area that has been written off as a dead car factory town for over 2 decades...

Give Golden 99 a try when you're really hungry and really ready to...

I wanted to like this place, but there are too many things wrong here. Maybe they are still trying to figure everything out. This is a $12 buffet pretending to be a $24 buffet on Sundays. Everything is just disappointing (except the frog legs and french fries). I can break this review down into two parts.

The Food What can I say except that much of the food was cold, not luke warm, cold. The crab legs were fringed, the chicken wings cold, the steak cool. We were there at 11:20, nothing should have cooled down by then. The flavors of most everything was bland. The orange chicken tasted just like what I can only assume was honey or general Tao's chicken. No difference in flavor at all. The pepper chicken had no spice, none of the chicken had any spiciness to it. The crawfish boil was overdone and not flavorful, someone picked out all the crab legs from it, and they didn't bring out more (corn on the cob was decent). Sushi was not flavorful and was overpowered by whatever seaweed wrap they used. Crab Rangoon was sweet and crunchy, definitely one of the stand outs. Pot stickers had very little flavor. The two best things I had were the crunchy french fries and the frog legs. They did those two things justice. I'll go back next time and just get a pound of those. It is very hard to get any crab legs at all. I went up three times before I managed to snag any crab legs. They they put the small plate of them out, they are gone in 2 minutes, then you wait 15-20 minutes before they refill them. How fresh crab legs came out cold, is beyond me. If you are going there for the crab legs, which I assume is a large part of the price, you will be disappointed.

The Service Our drinks went empty many times. Several times I had to get up and ask for refills. Couple plates piled up on the table. Wish they just had a cart to put your plates on. When the table behind us left, they mopped the area around the table. The floor was left wet, they never came back to dry mop it. A little slick, not terrible, glad I was not wearing dress shoes. We didn't have to ask for the check, so...

Wow, the food was simply perfect! The decor was beautiful and the variety of food was impressive. Everything was fresh and served hot. I have several favorites and some that I would like to try. The dinner on Saturday and Sunday costs $20.00 per person, and the lunch menu is priced 13.99 during the week. Trust me, it's well worth the money! However, it's important to note that there is a 15% fee added to your bill for groups of 7 or more, and they also charge for ice cream. Not a large variety of fruit or dessert. Overall, this restaurant has quickly become my new favorite spot! The service is the best. Everyone is smiling and very happy.

Ok, on 3/5/2024 I went with a friend and there were a couple of hairs in my Pepper Chicken, the Coconut Chicken was made of fried chicken skins with sauce. The fish had a gross film over it, shrimp tasted spoiled. Bad waitress, had to ask for refills, she forgot to return my credit card, she didn't speak or smile. No one was friendly, no smiles today. Understaffed also. It was clean. The Hibachi grill wasn't fired up, so I suppose what little that was out was leftover from the previous night. Nothing was warm. Should have been fresh and hot. What has happened? My friend said that she felt the same today and didn't eat much at all. We should have went to McDonald's. We still paid and left a tip. I honestly didn't feel she earned a tip, maybe a tip would cheer her up and encourage her to refill drinks. 😠 Not sure that I will return. I have been there 5 times since opening. But today was my last. I will return to the Great Wall.. Very disappointed and this...