Panda Garden Buffet — Restaurant in Roseville

I have been going to this buffet for about twenty years, and it is one of my all-time happy places. The staff are sometimes friendly but usually seem like they'd prefer customers weren't around, and they occasionally have loud arguments with each other during service, all of which I genuinely see as part of this restaurant's enduring charm. Also, the music they play around the restaurant generally seems to just be someone's personal playlist off a phone or computer, so the music mix is usually pretty rad. Genuinely, you should grab lunch here. For the price (I only really ever go for lunch), I think it's a decent value, but I can eat a lot, and I'm clearly biased because I've formed so many memories around this place. I'd recommend the fried shrimp with a dousing of the sauce from the sesame chicken if they've just brought out the sesame chicken and there's a lot of sauce there. I'd also recommend the jalapeno chicken, because it's just really good. I find most of their normal fried things are slightly better than average, but they do vary a bit from visit to visit. Their teriyaki chicken is also pretty good, as is their egg foo young, and you can hardly go wrong with any of their meat & vegetable dishes or their just-vegetable dishes, and it's nice that they always have those. Their baked fish is always hot and buttery, and that's good too. They don't have a ton of options overall, but what they offer is tasty, and they also have a pretty extensive salad bar if that matters to you. Like, for the size of the whole buffet (effectively three hot bars, one salad bar, and one counter with desserts and drinks), the salad bar is pretty amazing and has almost as many separate containers as the whole rest of the buffet combined. The salad bar containers are just smaller, and they contain salad stuff. Two or three of them stealthily also contain pudding. Important info, if you like pudding. You might not think to check between the veggies on the salad bar for pudding, but that's where it is. One of the nice little features of their setup is they have a self-serve soda machine -and- a self-serve soft-serve ice-cream machine right there next to each other, so you can actually make your own floats (my favorite is orange), but you HAVE to be careful about your ratios, because combining soft-serve ice cream and fountain soda can get VERY foamy VERY fast, and you shouldn't be making extra mess for the staff to deal with. I also like getting a little dish of peach slices or pineapple chunks and adding a bit of vanilla soft-serve on top. You can make a lot happen at this place if you get just a tiny bit creative. Anyway, I would recommend this place to anyone who really enjoys cutely-decorated, modestly-priced, basically-delicious strip-mall Chinese buffets, because that is exactly what this is. Seriously, I've been going here for twenty years, and it's never let me down, but also my standards aren't super high, because I really love cutely-decorated, modestly-priced, basically-delicious strip mall Chinese buffets. If you're as into that sort of thing as I am, this one's a...

Anybody who values their health wellbeing and dignity should not visit this restraunt. upon arrival I noticed it was warm in the restaraunt, but it wasn't until I had stripped off my down jacket as well as my scarf that I realized my attire wasn't the cause of my perspiration and discomfort, it was the obscene temperature and humidity of the restaraunts that was to blame! I was there not even 45 minutes and was soaked in sweat. the air quality was ridicululous...the humidity completely out of control. I am sure there must be mold issues in the walls and carpets. Next our table was obviously not cleaned, the plates at the head of the buffet were questionable. not sure if completely sanitized as there were traces of food still on them. Don't even get me started on the food itself. I filled my first plate, ate about half of it, each thing worse than the last. the white rice was even gross. the egg foo young dry and hard, the Low mein incredibly oily and slimy. the fried rice I dare not try, and im pretty sure the egg rolls were days old. I was appalled, but still ventured back after consuming only half a plate. my roommates were as horrified as I. for the second round, I passed by the curious mashed potatoes and scary looking garlic toast, hoping for a salad. the iceberg lettuce looked wilted and coated in something wet, so I played it safe and went for some shrimp noodles. not safe, no taste other than that of cheap frozen shrimp cooked poorly. I wish I stopped the second I walked through the door, but I had too much faith in a Chinese buffet that wasn't worthy. Time cannot be traveled to the past to stop myself from the horrible mistake of consuming this garbage. I will learn from my mistake rather than dwell on it. the second I left the "restraunt" I was filled with regret. and naseua. I went home, where I consumed water and retreated to bed, only to wake up and vomit profusely until I cried. then I...

Update 5/20/23: I haven't been there for a while, went back recently because I missed it. The food is still great, but it seems the bathroom is growing too much mold and other stuff to be safe. I am not sure how they can pass an inspection with such a horrible bathroom. It makes me sad, because I truly love this place.

About a year ago: This is one of my favourite buffets to visit when I need comfort food. When it comes to Chinese buffets, there really is not a lot of difference. I have been to over 50 spanning coast to coast. About 90% of the dishes are the same. What sticks out at this buffet is the flavour profile. Each dish tastes like it was made in small batches and there is a full flavor to them. They also have a lot of seafood such as clams, mussels, tilapia, shrimp, etc. My favourite dishes are butter mushrooms and calamari.

The resteraunt proper seems a bit rundown, like it had its heyday 20 years ago. The plates are not always clean. The bathrooms need some upgrading and cleaning. Overall, these are the same exact issues I have experienced at every Chinese buffet I have visited. The dessert bar had a lot of choices, albeit generic fare from the same place that stocks most of the Twin Cities buffets. They do have a nice salad bar and fruit bar. The ladies in the front of the house are friendly. I highly recommend stopping by the next time you are in the area. An adult meal is about $16 and that includes everything.

Panda...