China House Buffet — Restaurant in Shamokin Dam

Chinese buffets in the USA have become so much more than a place to get Chinese food. In fact, I imagine much of what they dish up into the steaming trays resembles nothing like much of the food you will get in any of China's provinces.

As you approach the various islands of food at China House Buffet, you will encounter table with what we think of here in the USA as Chinese food--fried rice, General Tso's Chicken, Sesame Chicken, Pork and Mushroom, Vegetable lo-mein noodles, and steamed dumplings.

The Salad buffet island includes sushi rolls, iceberg lettuce, coleslaw, potato salad, and cucumbers in a thick vinegary dressing. You will also find what I call the Chicken Fried Island. It is all brown and greasy--fried chicken, french fries, egg roles, and more. Finally there is the American buffet island--bright pink ham, mac and cheese, pizza, salmon, and pigs in the blanket.

Against the wall on one end of the buffet island area you will find a soup station with up to three different soups. In the evenings they also have shrimps and other seafood. On the other end is the dessert island with multiple colors of jello, sort-serve ice cream, and bite size brightly colored cake slices that always look better than they taste.

There is also a Mongolian BBQ grilling station where you can pile up a plate of raw ingredients and have the chef prepare it fresh for you. I have tried this two different times, but I have yet to figure out the right combination of seasonings to make it work for me.

China House Buffet is a guilty pleasure--the place my husband and I go after running around doing chores and too lazy to cook at home. It is never exceptional but always comforting. Think of it as "Make Your Own Adventure" dinner. And when you are particularly feeling needy, make a meal of just fried foods and adorable...

One of the better buffet restaurants in the immediate area. There is a fairly decent selection of typical Chinese favorites as well as comfort food like pizza slices, French fries, fried chicken, onion rings and others for those not well versed in Asian cuisine. The real star of the show is the hibachi grill. Select your raw ingredients, put them on a plate and have the chef prepare it to your liking. It's hot, delicious and uniquely yours. There are a number of sweets and dessert items to round out a meal. There are selections for every taste.

All isn't perfect, unfortunately. At times some of the less popular selections will stay on he steam table a bit too long and become dried out, but these eventually get replaced. The fare changes now and then, so you might not find a particular item or two that was available at your last visit. The staff seem to be attentive and can sometimes make a particular item if requested. Probably the most off-putting issue is not the fault of the restaurant, but the patrons. At time some greedy people will hoard ingredients at the hibachi station for themselves, putting over a pound of shrimp on their plate leaving little or nothing for other guests. The chef is aware of this, and will try to refill the items, but when it appears certain individuals keep grabbing the high value ingredients over and over, they are reluctant to refill. Patrons suffer from the impolite actions of a few people. I can't blame China House for this.

The restaurant is a great value, works well for singles, couples, families and groups of nearly any size, the food is hot and there is something...

ATTENTION PEOPLE! Turn around before you try! Especially if you are trying Chinese food for the first time!

Worst experience ever and completely disappointed! Went in and there was little to no food left. Online it says they close at 10:30 pm but no they stopped serving food long before we entered and started to clean the counters by 9 pm. They don’t have much options for food, and food that is available was so disgusting, cold and hard. Water too smelled bad. When I asked the staff to provide more food they said they will try but got mad at us instead. They then said to order from menu as we have dietary restrictions and we did, and that too tasted really bad, and sour, without any sauce or flavour.

Now let’s talk about the presentation of the food, that too was not properly set up. The food was overlapping each other and many people were touching the food by their hands rather than using the cutlery. The food was mashed by hands, moved around, etc. and none of the staff tried to stop or replace that food. No sanitization either, ignoring Covid protocols. The dishes too were not washed properly they had left overs on their dishes.

As mentioned we had dietary restrictions and I picked one food option considering the labels that it is vegetarian, but when I opened it at the table, it contained meat.

The store wasn’t clean either, it was all a mess.

Total money waste! Thank God this wasn’t my first time having Chinese food else I would have hated it.

Your choice to choose...