Panda Garden Buffet — Restaurant in Newton

Don't go between 1:30 and 3:00. The food has been on the buffet since noon. It was either dried out or really chewy. Usually the buffet is good, but I will never go again during off hours. They need to keep the food refreshed or shut the doors after the lunch hour and reopen for supper.

Update:. Went at 11:45 on a Friday. A lot of empty trays, four to be exact waited 15 minutes to see if more food came out. They filled one tray. So I missed out on a few items on the buffet. This used to be my go to place but I am now driving to Marshalltown or Okaloosa for Chinese buffet. Panda Garden seems to be going downhill, and I am not the only one that is bypassing them now.

Update: They are getting better, I have ventured there a couple more times. Right when they opened. A few trays missing the first time, the second every thing was there...

This place was amazing! You can tell that they know what they are doing with food here. I went on a Saturday shortly after they opened for supper at 4:30 p.m., and it filled up pretty fast. Sometimes, it was hard to get in between people to get a plate of food, but everyone seemed to be kind, and with a little patience, I got my plate filled. Panda Garden is a 🔥 hotspot in Newton, Iowa. Another plus is that they open at 4:30p.m. so you know the food hasn't been sitting all day long drying out. Be sure to try the peanut chicken! The sauce was excellent, plus the crunchy fried chicken took it to the next level. Everything was fresh and fabulous. 👌 5 out of 5 stars! I left a tip that was more than my bill. Soft drinks are included in the under $20 price for adults, which makes this a great...

Four counters in total. 20 hot dishes, 10 desserts and 10 for ice cream toppings/salads. So the selection was on the smaller side. Des Moines metro buffets usually offered about double the size. $13.99 Saturday night dinner as it only had one seafood dish for dinner, so the price was fair. Food quality was on par with other buffets. Nothing stood out, but everything was hot. The only seafood dish tonight was butter shrimp. It was the tail-on and skin-on headless shrimp deep fried. Shrimp was well fried so the skin was crispy and you could just eat with the skin on without peeling. Definitely the highlight of the night. Place was pretty worn from the outside and a bit dark on the inside, but the service...