China Palace Super Buffet — Restaurant in San Marcos

I've read quite a few negative reviews but they were all about the buffet. I ordered delivery through door dash as I've worked in a Chinese restaurant that offered both buffet and takeout/delivery and the thing that particular store did was that besides soups and rice everything was made to order for takeout and delivery. I don't know if I received a lunch or dinner sized order or if it's all the same but I ordered at 15:24 and received the following; 1 small egg drop soup,1x 8ct crab Rangoon, a sesame chicken entree w/ steamed rice and an order for 10 ct steamed dumplings. I'll go from best to worst.

Firstly, the steamed dumplings are amazing especially at 4.99, I honestly could live off of these and will order them frequently. They were about 20% bigger than heb sushiya pork wontons, equally delicious and very filling. A little soy sauce and this other sauce that came with it which I do not know the name but was a very opaque orange with what appeared to be chili flakes in it, definitely wasn't sweet and sour sauce. I'd recommend them as a shared side item.

Secondly, the sesame chicken entree. The platter that it came in was warm to the touch and packed to the brim. The sauce was as sweet as expected but a slight chili type heat that wasn't advertised but fortunately I eat spicy sauces that have legitimate health warning labels i.e. Dave's gourmet insanity sauce so this heat was extremely mild even for someone who doesn't like heat. It was a tad bit bland outside of those two flavors and I have no idea or recommendations on how to improve it. The chicken was perfectly cooked and lightly breaded. At 8.95 it was a very reasonable price for the quantity and quality.

Thirdly, I must admit I was conflicted on which position to give the egg drop soup vs the crab rangoon. But I will say for price and quality as well as quantity I'll go with the egg drop soup. I ordered a small and based on what I received I either was accidentally given a large or ill never order a large because I'm certain I received a generous 16 oz of piping hot soup. Honestly the only flaws were; it seemed oh so slightly watered down but I may be wrong on that but assuredly it was more bland than I expected but not without an easy fix. A dash of salt and pepper and it was right on point. At 1.99, I'll order it frequently

Fourthly, the crab Rangoon 8 ct is hard to complain about. At 50 cents a piece (3.95) you're getting what you should expect. It was crunchy on the edges, chewy in the pocket holding the filling and the crab cream cheese mixture was absolutely creamy. My only complaint is how miniscule the quantity of crab meat is especially in proportion to the cream cheese. Crab is already a subtle flavor making this nearly indistinguishable from just regular cream cheese. I'd pay a dollar more if it had obviously more crab meat.

And finally, the steamed rice that came with the sesame chicken entree. This was truly the only disappointment I had from this order. The rice had become firm from age and wasn't very warm. It had obviously been cooked properly but probably 2 hours before I ordered it. On top of that the container it came in was certainly not full probably 70% of it was rice. Not as bad as a bag of lays but as one of the least expensive foods to sell they dropped the ball in my opinion. Where i worked all those years ago we would fill that foldable container above the rim and muscle it into the container and close it to keep it hot longer as well as satisfy the customer.

All in all I will definitely try them again my only suggestions are. Add more crab to the rangoons even if you have to charge more, do better with the rice if possible and most importantly, please update your website so that I know what ingredients are in your food. I have no clue what mystery meat is in the dumplings or what kind of sauce i was enjoying I just know...

I don't usually write reviews, but I thought I really needed to with this place. This is definitely the worst CHINESE restaurant I've been to... possibly the worse restaurant overall - and I am not that picky. I was visiting from out of town and wanted a buffet place that served sushi and was not too far from my hotel.

The man who greeted us at the door was sitting down at a table chatting to some people. He was wearing sneakers, a t-shirt, and track pants. Didn't look dressed for work. My wife and I came in around 8pm on a Monday night. The restaurant was pretty big inside, but there was hardly anyone there. The door-greeter returned to chat to his friends most of the night or was otherwise slouching over a partition.

The sushi looked pretty good, so I got a whole bunch. It was dry. The rice felt like it had been left there all day drying in the air-conditioning. Most dishes on the buffet were half empty, and some were mislabeled. The other items were OKish, but not memorable.

There were no cones beside the ice cream except for ONE broken one. Other deserts had a very "mass-produced" feel about them.

The ceiling was nice - great-looking chandelier. The decor was not too bad either - the decorative partitions and the chairs were appropriate. However the carpet was a disgrace. A DISGRACE!! I expect restaurant carpet to be a little dirty, but this carpet was black with grime, not to mention part of it, not far from my table had a large split in it as though a wall had been removed right there.

Each member of staff was wearing something different. There was one gentleman using a carpet sweeper, so at least SOME effort was made to tidy up. Also, my waiter was very polite and quick to take empty plates away. However, it was a buffet, so there wasn't much else for him to do.

Fortunately, it's been nearly 24 hours now, and no sign of food poisoning... so I guess that's good.

This place COULD be great, but it really needs new management. An Asian buffet in my home town is so good I always keep going back. THIS place needs people who care to run it.

I would not go back and I recommend that nobody goes to allow this restaurant to die the financial death...

Last time I went here was 5 years ago. I had to the restroom AFTER I had eaten. The restroom was absolutely disgusting. I used my mother's rule about restaurants. If the restrooms are dirty, imagine what the kitchen looks like. Imagine what the cook's hygiene are like. Well, tonight i really didn't feel like driving all the way to Austin & the other Chinese buffet here were just as bad. I decided to give this place another chance, hell it's been 5 years. Now they make you pay as soon as you get there. No hostess. Had to tell the drink order several times to our waiter. Which was put sweet tea cut in half with regular tea with no ice in a togo cup for our 3 yo. While he got the drinks I went to the restroom. It was clean this time. So they passed the test. I came out with an abomination drink order on our table 😅 the waiter came out with all our drinks with no ice in regular cups. Then my husband asked him for a Styrofoam cup so we can just put her tea in the cup. He came out with one with dr pepper no ice in it. My husband clearly annoyed I had to do some sign language for him to understand what we wanted. An empty Styrofoam cup. Okay. Food. It was okay. Definitely not a five star restaurant. I got full that's all that matters. Then once I was done eating my husband points out the wall next to our booth. It was absolutely filthy. He asked "Do they ever clean that?" You can clearly see old splattered crack & dried food. Then I look around. All the partisans around the whole place that have glass paneling looks like they haven't been cleaned in years. I clearly lost my appetite. Now I'm on my way to bed.... I started to get real queasy. Now let's see if I get sick. Will update if so. I will say I won't ever go...