Chinese Pavilion — Restaurant in Sherwood

I've worked basically just north of this place for almost 11.5 years now. Driven past it many times, always was tempted to eat there, but just never got around to it. 3.7 average reviews isn't precisely a glowing recommendation, so never really was excited about going there. Well, that rating is entirely unjustified. Absolute 5 star experience.

Went for Christmas dinner. Huge buffet, just overwhelming with tons of amazing food. Everything I tried was delicious except for some weird vegan patty thing. It was not to my taste. But everything else was fantastic. I normally avoid chinese buffets because I'm more about quality over quantity, and frankly, most chinese buffets are just an exercise in how cheaply food can be presented. But that was a very decent buffet! Absolutely loved the food. It was great.

The staff was very attentive and fast. They said Christmas is their biggest day of the year, and it showed. The place was PACKED. They got us seated relatively quickly considering the crowd, and we never wanted for service. Absolutely wonderful dining experience. I was imagining it would be like the Christmas Story movie where the family is in an otherwise empty Chinese restaurant. Nope. It was PACKED. Absolutely jammed with people, large numbers of them sitting outside waiting for a table. Parking lot was ridiculously full. And the staff handled the crowd with a precise professionalism, quickly ensuring to provide friendly prompt service, despite the massive crowd of customers. Very impressive.

I will certainly, gladly eat...

I haven’t been here for years until tonight. Back when I was a little kid, I remember eating at the old location in the house down the street when it was still owned by the original owners.

Anyway, when we walked in to eat today, I got a littler nervous because there was only one other group eating at the restaurant. But once the food started coming out, I was so impressed. The pan fried potstickers were so crispy and good. There were 4 of us, so we tried 4 different entrees and loved all of them. I love their take on teriyaki chicken. It’s dark meat chicken with a really liquidy sticky sweet sauce. The sesame chicken was so crispy and the sauce was sweet and tangy. Their eggrolls are more New York style, very crispy and stuffed with lots of cabbage. I absolutely loved them. The shrimp fried rice took me back to when I was a kid. It was so good.

I live in Los Angeles and have access to lots of great American Chinese food there. Chinese pavilion in sherwood could compete with the good places in LA.

There was no buffet when we ate tonight, but I would only order the fresh-cooked items off of the menu anyways, unless the restaurant was super crowded and the food was getting replenished on the buffet frequently.

Anyways, as with any Chinese food, you got to eat it in the restaurant to get the full quality. Anything crispy gets steamed and soggy riding home in to-go containers. It’s best right...

The history and kindness of this place saves it from a lower rating. We called in for takeout & didn't dine in which for any place that specializes in a buffet would typically guarantee freshness. Not the case here. We'll start with the bad: The egg drop soup smells and tastes like old dishwater. The hot & sour soup wasn't better. It smelled like wet dog and had a disgustingly congealed consistency. The fried rice was shockingly disappointing. Way too obvious it was a day or more old and had a crunch. Can't believe this used to be the best fried rice in town. The crab Rangoon included with the Happy Family Meal was just a large chip with a fried rock in the middle. We tried specialty dishes under the "new suggestions" section of their online menu. Had to eat over the trashcan because every dish was 70% bamboo shoots/water chestnuts/onions. So. Much. Filler.

The good is that their egg rolls tasted fresh and handmade. The brown-sauced parts of the Treasures of Hunan were ok. Even when grabbing our food to go we noticed the ambiance of the restaurant is absolutely fantastic. It's a real shame that the quality of the food doesn't match the time they put into their look.

Not submitting this to complain or hurt their business. This place was a staple of Sherwood for decades. I know they have it in them to improve. Here's hoping they'll focus on quality over quantity...