South China Buffet — Restaurant in North Cornwall Township

I heard about 'South China Buffet' from some friends that stopped by about five (5) months ago as they passed thru the area. Today, 12 Aug, 2023, I made a three (3) hour trek to check it out myself ... spoiler alert ... wasn't worth the trip, at least today it wasn't.

The restaurant has some age to it, but seems to be holding it's own although it could use some work. The exterior signage is weathered and faded while the businesses on each side have newer signage that stands out as you approach. The dining area has definitely seen it's share of customers over the years. The buffet itself is well laid out and consists of three sections, two (2) hot and one (1) cold. They advertise that they offer "over 80 items" on the buffet and while I didn't stand and count the exact number of items, I can confidently say it wasn't eighty! Their lunch buffet is $11.99 (+ tax) & dinner will run you $14.99 (+ tax) per person, drinks not included.

Their General Tso's Chicken & Crabmeat Bake were probably the two (2) best dishes I tasted today. The General Tso's Chicken was well balanced, not overly sweet & not too spicy. The Crabmeat Bake was delicious. The Fried Dumplings were good. As for the remainder of the items I sampled, they either were dried out from sitting on the bar too long or being overcooked to start with, or were lacking in flavor. The Teriyaki Chicken was dried out, but had zero flavor! Although the Peanut Butter Chicken sauce had good flavor, the chicken itself was dried out and tough. The Pepper Steak wasn't even warmed up in the kitchen before being put on the buffet. It's the first time I've ever encountered cold beef on a hot bar. Inexcusable! Coconut Shrimp & Egg Rolls were ok, nothing to write home about. The Fried Wontons were a big disappointment. You find them on just about every Chinese buffet, but the wontons at South China Buffet are woefully subpar to just about every other Chinese buffet I've eaten at. While I'm not sure of how many employees were working this afternoon, I only saw three (3) that were doing anything. One (1) was more interested in something on her phone than attending to customers while another was running her tail off. Staff was lacking on attending to customers drink refills this afternoon which cost them one (1) star right off the bat!

I'm probably stretching giving South China Buffet three (3) stars overall, it's probably more deserving of two (2) stars, but I'm sticking with my initial thoughts on the score. Probably won't be back, but definitely won't be driving over three (3) hours to give them...

Today I decided to give these guys a second go. I did a end of the day food report, this is my mid day report on the food here. OK the good. Food is nice and hot, flavor is amazing. For a small shop they nailed it when it comes to variety of food and combinations. Lots of Asian foods less American food which is good. I don't eat American food at a Asian buffet. So my reviews are solely on the food that is specialized. Coconut shrimp amazing, peanut butter chicken is spot on sushi is fresh. Lo mein had the right taste and texture. Now the bad. For some reason there was no rice of any kind which is weird, the sushi looked like someone dumped the tray out and was like there you go, you piggys. All the sushi was tossed about and I found myself feeling like I was a Walmart trying to find a good movies in the 3 dollar bin. After I found the sushi I wanted I saw squid and had to try it. Well that was a mistake, they definitely forgot to treat the food in lemon to to draw out the dirty fish market taste. One bite and I was at the back alley of a fish market in chinatown, fighting over the price of fish heads. It was that bad. The desert is plain however it is quite good. The waiter was nice but hovering over the person that's is writting the tip get me a little mad. I judge grutuity on how well the service is not how much the bill is. If you think I'm wrong then maybe you should find a new job. It's a buffet. Refill my glass take my plates and bring me the check. I don't this I should even tip but I tip good anyway. I love this place even though it's not perfect, it's worth the 30min drive. It's also next to golden C. But if you want a lot of bland food and good...

So I was told this is the only Chinese Buffet in Lebanon, PA so I wanted to give it a try. For a while the place was closed due to being burned down from a kitchen fire. They finally opened back up and this is my first time here and will most likely be my LAST time here. I heard that before the closing of the business that the food quality was terrible. I thought maybe with the reopen they with improve the quality of everything; I was completely wrong. The options are little to nothing (they have two rows of hot food items and one row of dessert items). Everything is super salty so you drink more water than you eat food. Seems like everything has just be sitting in the warmers for hours and have completely dried out. They have rice sitting in two big rice cookers that have probably been sitting in there for hours. The atmosphere is obviously outdated. I go on and on but what’s the point? For $14.99 on a Sunday it’s just not worth it. Now, They did bring out fresh food as soon as I emptied one of the food items in a warmer which was good. Although the Mongolian/Hibachi grill was small, it’s your best bet for anything fresh/hot and somewhat tasty. You can check it out for yourself but I promise you will not...