Panda Garden Chinese Buffet & BBQ — Restaurant in Norman

This is definitely my favorite place for Chinese. Yeah, it's not authentic, yeah it has a lot of oil, but you don't go to a Chinese buffet to eat healthy. But you can usually find a couple of healthy dishes anyway.

There's all you can eat sushi for starters, but I can't vouch for the taste since I'm not a fan. The free make-your-own Mongolian grill is delicious, and you can pile on as many veggies (or whatever else) as you want. There are sesame balls with bean paste inside that seem steamed, and there are usually a couple of other options, too (like the egg foo yong), if you're trying to eat better. But if you're really trying to be healthier, get the to-go boxes. The price for a full box is usually about the same as a buffet, and you can split it into two meals, or share with someone else.

Now, if you're just trying to get tasty food, eat whatever the heck you want! The sesame chicken, Mongolian grill, and cream cheese wontons are some of my favorites! They've got simple, fried food for pickier kids, too. Popcorn shrimp, fried fish, seasoned and fried potatoes, sweet and sour chicken/pork, white/fried rice, lo mein noodles, and whatever else you'd normally find at buffets. But I like it a lot better than a lot of the generic buffets that seem to use the same food provider. It seems higher quality to me, here.

The interior decorations, music, and lighting are nice, too. And they've always got a couple of big TVs playing sports.

No, I don't work here. I was just a college student with a hankering for a good Chinese buffet, and found one. Now I work in the city, and I crave this place all...

I go to Panda Garden several times per year, mostly for dinner, but occasionally for lunch. I never have a problem with any of the food, and the servers are always quick with beverage refills and clearing finished plates from the table. Their problem is they are too eager to close up for the night. They advertise that they stop seating for dinner at 9 p.m., with to go orders only available between then and 9:30 p.m. Unfortunately, if you show up after 8:30 p.m., expect a poor experience. The hostess will be off cleaning something and won’t be able to seat you immediately. They’ll be moving tables out of booths and running a vacuum cleaner right next to you. They’ll come tell you they’re fixing to take down the desserts, so get them then if you want them. Then they’ll come by and tell you they’re ready to take away the rest of the food. When you go to the counter to pay, they’ll already be counting out the cash register and have you wait for them to get to a stopping point.

If you run a restaurant, and you have listed operating hours, make sure all of your customers get a consistent dining experience during those operating hours. Wait until 9 p.m. to pull the hostess, and wait until 9:30 to start running a vacuum cleaner, moving tables, and start pulling food. Wait until the customers are gone before counting out the register.

Some of us don’t get the luxury of a 6 PM dinner hour all of the time, and it would be nice to get the same atmosphere an hour...

I've driven by twice a day for years. Today I was hungry and had a little time so I stopped. Arrived at about 8. Buffet was $14.50. The place was about 1/3 full, mostly (well-behaved) high school kids. I've seen negative reviews on service-- nobody was effusive but I got everything I needed, when I needed it so no complaints. Food was hit or miss. They did have people changing out half-full pans of food, so they do appear to keep things fresh. Sushi looked good but I didn't try it. The Mongolian BBQ had a line the whole time and I didn't wait for it, but it looked good too. The egg drop soup alone will make me return-- it was probably the best I've had in the metro. Great flavor, not oily. Some of the food items (Cleopatra chicken and garlic fritter chicken) would have also been excellent, but they were so salty that I assume there had been some kind of salt accident in the kitchen. None of the other food items were salty like that. Hawaiian chicken and sweet and sour pork were fine but on the tough side. Glass noodles were pretty good. The seafood all seemed overcooked- I would skip it next time. Dessert looked like standard buffet dessert but I skipped it in favor of an extra bowl of soup. I really loved that soup...I had started with a 3 star rating but I just changed it to 4 because I will be thinking about that...