China Lobster — Restaurant in Lower Burrell

China Lobster: Where Time Stands Still and So Does the Menu

If you’re nostalgic for a world where calories are king and decor hasn’t changed since the Clinton administration, look no further than China Lobster — a place where the food doesn’t need to be good, because the customers have long since given up hope (or taste buds).

Imagine a sprawling buffet pasture (as in cows) where the clientele graze with the slow, unbothered urgency of pre-regulation livestock. Yes, China Lobster isn’t here to compete — it’s here to feed. And feed they do: hungry herds of regulars who settle in for hours, rotating plates like conveyor belts of soy sauce and survival instinct.

The business model? Simple: serve industrial-grade food to volume-driven loyalists, many of whom measure value not in flavor but in square footage of buffet real estate. No need for culinary refinement when the customers are happy with soy-drenched starchy filler that’d make a grain silo blush.

And no, they don’t vacuum-seal the wine — because why preserve leftovers from a $14 glass of wine when your average diner is more focused on crab rangoon than a crisp Merlot? The wine, like much of the experience, is best described as “fine, if opened in your presence and consumed quickly — like a Band-Aid being ripped from your palate.”

Now, is the food bad? Not exactly. It’s more of a shrug in edible form — the kind of thing you eat because it’s there, not because you crave it. If you’ve ever thought, “I wish my takeout tasted like it had just barely passed through a kitchen,” then congratulations: China Lobster delivers.

As for the atmosphere? Spacious yet somehow cramped — an architectural paradox. The bar is quaint if your benchmark is a waiting room at a DMV, and the restaurant seating offers all the privacy of a high school cafeteria. A remodel could help, but why fix what’s working for the core clientele, who treat this place like an all-you-can-eat living room?

And when the check comes, there’s no iPad with a passive-aggressive 30% tip suggestion… but the vibe is there, lingering like the last spring roll under the heat lamp.

In short: China Lobster isn’t trying to impress you — and that’s the secret to its success. It survives (and thrives) not because it’s great, but because some ecosystems reward bulk over brilliance.

If you want quality, try Zen or Asian Kitchen. If you want quantity, comfort, and cuisine that dares to dream beneath the bare minimum, China Lobster awaits — unchanged, unbothered, and utterly indigestible...

This is a buffet. Sushi is not on the buffet and has to be ordered on request (expensive). Host greeting me was very kind. Server was ok. He waited until way after I was finished eating to ask if I wanted a refill. The food tasted subpar. The place was clean for the most part. There was a huge lack of menu items. The rice was that food truck “fried rice” where they just heat it on the grill and throw tons of soy sauce on it. Nasty to be honest. There was one item on the menu that stuck out, that was the weird chicken. Tasted alright but greasy. The general Tso was greasy and off. The sweet and sauce chicken was surprisingly good. The crab Rangoon, coconut shrimp and dumplings weren’t half bad. The egg rolls were standard but not special and they were lukewarm. There is no reason for the price to be $18 for their very small pathetic buffet of food that lacks in flavor and quality. It’s honestly an insult. I won’t...

Going to pass on this place for 6 months-1yr. Anyone accustomed to China lobster being decent w/good service should as well. It's kinda bad right now, probably due to a bad staffing decision.

Delivery manager (Lisping Weasley) is impressively awful at his job. His attitude isn't suited for the position, but what comes off as a really rude manner could just be really awful communication skills. It's like he's purposefully trying to drive away customers. He also doesn't introduce himself/refuses to give his name.

Anyway, he failed at the one thing he was asked: schedule delivery at the end of the night. He should also accept responsibility instead of trying to put on a show for whatever manager was listening. Which is funny b/c they're supposedly extremely busy, to the point my order was ready/delivered in 20 minutes (sounds like a slow Saturday).

The food was mediocre this time, probably because it was...