Golden Oak Buffet — Restaurant in Oak Ridge

UPDATE: Below was my review from 4 years ago and I had given it a 4 star. Today I give it a 5 star.

We arrived around 4:11 and it was not crowded. The food ventured between good and super yummy. I had the wonton soup. There were no green onions but the taste of the soup made up for it. The noodle wrap was so soft as to slide off in my mouth yet it was firm enough to hold the meal. I had a little bit of everything and boy did I love it!

The spring roll was crispy yet soft to chew. I dipped it in hot mustard/horseradish. It packed a punch to it but it's good for the sinuses! So be forewarned, when I say pack a punch? It really packs a punch! My eyes were watering and I'm hot!

The chicken in a stick was well cooked yet tasty.

I had some veggies and cottage cheese. The ginger slices were not as spicy but they were ok.

The sweet tea tasted different that in Knoxville but I think it's due to the water they use.

All in all the food was marvelous, the service good. The prices while expensive were reasonable for the quality. You'll notice the taste in quality compared to cheaper Chinese restaurants in Knoxville.

Now to go have some ice cream to cool down. Unfortunately the soft ice cream machine is out of order (4 years ago the ice cream coming out of it was liquid but now it's out of order) but at least they had hard ice cream.

All in all the experience was good.

4 years ago:

The gravy was too salty. There were only there choices of soft ice cream from the machine. The chocolate and chocolate-vanilla were liquid. The vanilla came out ok. Other than that the food was good. The service was very fast, if fact a little too fast. The girl started to remove his meal and he was not yet finished. She kept trying to refill his unsweet tea when it was still full. When it was empty, she was nowhere to be seen and it took 20 minutes to have a refill. And when she did finally come she gave us a...

Golden Oak Buffet has definitely become our favorite Chinese restaurant, bar none. The service is great, the staff is very friendly and the food is awesome! When you first visit, you will most likely start making pre-determinations of the food and service by the exterior, which is so-so. As you enter through the large and weighted wood doors, you immediately feel as though you have stepped into an ancient oriental temple, with the huge water fall wall to the right and the lighted translucent sky tiles overhead. After spending a moment or two in the foyer and being robbed of all loose change for the children to toss to the bottom of the water fall pool, you will enter to find smiling, happy-you-came staff, ready for you to prepay and be seated. Approaching the buffet on the right, you notice that it is one large and continuous bar...nice. No bumper car shenanigans trying to fill your plate from three or four separate bars as with most Chinese buffets. I have been to this buffet four times and have yet to get anything that tasted bad or was not properly cooked. My personal favorite is the stuffed mushrooms. I am also somewhat sensitive to MSG. This food could have MSG, but I have yet to receive the reliable MSG headache that I usually get from eating at other Chinese buffets. The waitstaff is very responsive and on the ball as you enjoy your meal, also. The bathrooms appear clean and regularly maintained. What more can I say, this...

When you walk in you see loads of food filling each sections to the brim, you can hear the water beneath the trays boiling and see the steam. You fill your plate in anticipation of hot yummy food... then get disappointment at first bite. Cold, slimey, food greets you. I tried a bite of everything on my plate hoping for something to be at least luke warm. Nada. Nothing. Zip. The only saving grace was super hot egg drop soup which tasted like dish water and the hibachi bar which is made hot before your eyes if you can get a cook. My husband loves the sushi but I wouldn't touch it since it was room temperature and wilty. It's a buffet, you pay tons of money for but get less than taco bell quality. The "general tsos" tastes like ketchup with honey. The orange chicken tastes like ketchup with orange juice. The pork loin that they put out on the "American" side is the best food they have there, which is super sad. The teriyaki chicken is not what I would call it but if it's hot, it's delicious. Not so much when cold. The chicken on a stick, if hot, is pretty ok. The salad bar is boring. The dumplings used to be amazing, now they are flavorless, chewy, cold, slimey creations. Their crab Rangoon are boring cream cheese and shouldn't be called crab anything. Servers are always right there to fill drink or remove dirty dishes. Silverware and plates always clean. Clean bathrooms minus the flooded wheelchair...