East Gourmet Restaurant — Restaurant in McAlester

I had given it a Good review at one time, but since my last visit my opinion changed because of what I heard and saw the other day. While sitting at the booth near the front behind where the 35 year old guy sits setting up silverware. I noticed he had a cough that sounded just like mine. We had been there the week before and had been no where else. This guy is about 15ft me and starts hocking up some lung mucus. I then heard him spit. I thought he was disgusting with just the sound affects and I was curious as to where he spat? I heard him at again so I looked. It was then he spat that mucus in the little prep sink by the drink machine. I was really revolted! More so after I saw him rinse some utensils in the same sink that had had not been cleaned. My husband asks for more water. She takes the cup over there and pours some out of the pitcher, then sets the pitcher in the nasty sink to refill it. She puts the pitcher on the counter where the drinks are prepared. There is no way of escaping all the germs that were spread around there. The drinks are given to the customer, cup infected, now table infected. The rag she is using was rinsed out in the same sink, then everything is wiped down with the infected rag. Remember too the guy is also be doing all the napkins and silverware. I now know where this horrible nagging cough that is in my lungs came from. Dine at...

Let's face the facts ... all Chinese buffet food comes from the same food delivery service, and it's all prepared and cooked the same. East Gourmet is no different.

What makes any Chinese buffet different is how well they keep their food heated, how overcooked or undercooked it is, how clean the restaurant is, and how attentive the servers.

Having said all that, East Gourmet does seem to be a little better than others. They do keep food heated better than other Chinese buffets, and they do seem to be cleaner, and the staff is more attentive than others. They kept my drink filled too.

However, I felt that their rule on making customers wear gloves to the buffet area is unnecessary.

Some food items were nasty, like the Bacon Wrapped Imitation Crab, and the Stuffed Shrimp. Their Lo Mein noodles felt under-cooked. Otherwise, most of their food items tasted and felt on par with other Chinese buffets.

Their Chicken Skewers, however, was delicious, cooked just right, moist, tender, and kept heated. Other Chinese buffets tend to overcook this, making it dry and chewy.

This Chinese Buffet does not have the sushi, nor the Mongolian BBQ, that other Chinese buffets have.

Overall, it is still one star higher than most...

Ok, we chose this restaurant because it is a super buffet and it was after lunch. It was about 2 p.m. People, I have had lots of Chinese food in my short life (lol) this restaurant is not even going to make my top 8. I have a lot of good things to say but when the fork hits the plate 🍽️ we all know it is the napkin's tale to tell! Ok, I absolutely love the atmosphere and the painting on the glass dividers are a huge piece of that. U never see the same painting twice from where you sit (unless you can do the entire owl neck thing) lol. I have to give the people who work there 5 stars, they are wonderful! U will see a large variety of Chinese and American food, which I don't get the American part going into a Chinese restaurant I want Chinese food. The chicken rolls had too much fat in them. The stuffed shrimp, well where was the shrimp? Could have gone with stuffed crab and deep fried shrimp. The general Tso chicken was so hot I had to literally eat a packet of sugar to stop the burn. A lot of over the top spicy, and a lot of fat and not...