Chen's Garden Buffet — Restaurant in Minden

This is the fourth time I’ve tried this place and it’s the third time I’ve tried the buffet. I came here on a whim for my second visit when Popeyes drive though was packed, We came this trip because some friends from church were coming.

My 2nd Visit I was handed a glass when I walked in and told to sit anywhere I liked. So I got my drink and found a table. I scanned the buffet first to get the lay of the land and then proceeded to load up my first plate. I’m not a fan of the fried rice. It definitely needs help. I tried little bits of a lot of dishes so I could make a good assessment. Most things were below average fare but the House Chicken struck me as being the best dish I tried but that's not to say it was great by any means. It was chicken in a somewhat spicy sauce with mushrooms. 🍄 The spring and egg rolls left me wanting something better.

A girl came around and checked on me a couple times but it’s like most buffets, they just leave you alone.

Update: After 4 tries, I'm done. This place is terrible and we always leave feeling gross. I don't know if it's the MSG they load it up with or what but it's a total waste of money. The food isn't good at all. In fact, it's barely tolerable.

So would I go back? Absolutely not. If you are looking for Chinese food, go to Yummy Sushi, Shreveport/Bossier, or choose another cuisine in Minden, This just...

Would be 4 or 5 stars BUT...

They recently raised prices without informing anyone. Three of us including myself ate there at around 9:30 a few nights ago (It's January 2018 currently) and ended up paying over 40 Dorrah for just 3 people! That might be a fair price in Dallas or even Shreveport, but not in a town as small as Minden, Louisiana. Food was very good as always. They even have sushi here! They usually make you eat you Chinese Japanese food (sushi) with a fork for some reason, it just feels wrong, lol. Waiter was very nice and told us they had raised prices about a month ago, but that's not tru because we had actually eaten there 2 hours earlier with another group of people (roffle). and the prices were what they should be normally. I have no idea if he just didn't like us or if it was a slow night and they needed the extra money but something weird was going on. Who know's maybe they did decide to raise prices permanently in the middle of a dinner service. Oh yeah, they played some REALLY annoying nasally high pitched singer lady of the speaker system and I think it was to try to get people to want to leave as soon as possible. I might just be getting paranoid at this point though.

TL;DR

Food is GREAT! They have sushi you have to eat with a fork, and prices are high ($40 plus for 3 people...

Usually love this place. Got a to-go order of general tso chicken, and a pork egg roll. the egg roll was perfect, I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the chicken was so spicy that I wasn’t even able to eat it, I’ve had the same order for YEARS and I’ve never had this chicken be this spicy. I was really upset about it, and thought that maybe I just got a bad batch, until my father in law told me that the same thing happened to him a week before. I’m not usually one to complain about spice, but my lips were BURNING it was so spicy. I’m not sure if the recipe was changed, but the recent general tso to-go orders are WAY too spicy. I much preferred the general Tso chicken that had a moderate amount of spice and was actually edible. hopefully...