Chinatown Buffet Dover Restaurant

Address
Chinatown Buffet
1071 North Dupont Highway
Dover, DE 19901

Other Delaware Asian & Indian Restaurants

Over 55 Items

Chinatown Buffet Dover: $6.50 Super Bargain Lunch Buffet

Just when we thought no one could beat Szechuan Restaurant Wilmington lunch buffet, lo we stumbled upon Chinatown Buffet in Dover Delaware.

Man, how do these Chinese offer these ridiculously low-priced buffets?.

We don't know how they do it.

But we do know now that Chinatown Buffet in Dover offers a super bargain over 55 items lunch buffet for $6.50.

Yes! it is $6.50 and 0.95 cents cheaper than the lunch buffet at Szechuan Restaurant in Wilmington.

Vegetarian Dilemma

When entered Chinatown Buffet around noon, the restaurant was buzzing with activity and there were over 20 diners relishing their soups, fried rice etc.

We were greeted by a young energetic Chinese staffer Mr. Winston manning the cash counter.

We hesitatingly asked Mr.Winston whether any 100% vegetarian items were available on the buffet.

The gentleman quickly went around the buffet station and came back with just one item (sauted beans) that has nothing walking, flying or crawling included (besides, of course, the pastries and fruits).

He quickly indicated we can order anything from the a la carte menu and they would make it pure vegetarian.

We settled down at a table and Mr.Winston came to our table with a menu card and helped us to place an a la carte order for the vegetarians in our group.

The meat-eating members in our group chose the $6.50 lunch buffet.

Large Buffet Spread

Appetizer and entree items were all neatly placed in two rows and desserts separately by the wall.

Lunch buffet spread at Chinatown Buffet is huge and we counted over 55 items ranging from appetizers, chicken, pork, seafood entrees, rice items and desserts.

Well, that was more than overwhelming even for somebody like us who love good food.

We made three trips to the main appetizer and entree buffet section and one trip to the desserts and sampled a few items.

Here is our take on Chinatown Buffet Lunch Buffet:

Hot and Sour Soup - Soup was sour and hot as it should be.
Egg Roll - Crisp, hot with cabbage and egg filling and oily.
Honey Chicken - Slightly sweetish and we dabbed some hot chilly sauce and finished the two small pieces we picked.

Hot and Sour Soup
Egg Roll (top left), Seafood Biscuit (middle left),
Honey Chicken (bottom), Roast Pork Fried Rice (center)
Seafood Biscuit - Hot temperature wise and no complaints folks.
Roast Pork Fried Rice - Once again to please our spice hardened Indian palates we used Red Chilly hot sauce as side while eating the Chinatown Buffet's Roast Pork Fried Rice
Dim Sum - Steamed dumplings were alright. Since dumpling sauce was not there (like at Szcheuan Restaurant), we dabbed some Red Chilly sauce and gobbled them up.

Maifun - Maifun Rice Noodles with grated Carrot and green onion was cooked to perfection neither dry nor pasty.

Maifun (top left), Dim Sum (bottom left),
Chilli Pepper Chicken (top right),
Sweet & Sour Chicken (bottom right)

Chinatown Buffet Egg Foo Young, Pizza, Teriyaki Chicken

Egg Foo Young Sauce (top left),
Egg Foo Young (middle left), Pizza (top right),
Teriyaki Chicken (bottom)

Chilli Pepper Chicken - Chilli Pepper Chicken was spicy though not Indian spicy.
Sweet and Sour Chicken - Sweet and Sour Chicken was alright.
Egg Foo Young - Egg Foo Young at Chinatown Buffet came with Egg Foo Young sauce and tasted like an omelet with vegetables and meat.
Pizza - With vegetable and meat stuffing, Chinatown Buffet Pizza was alright.
Teriyaki Chicken - With a slightly sweetish taste and mild ginger flavor Teriyaki Chicken was also alright. No Complaints folks.

Pastries, Fruits, Jelly

Desserts at Chinatown Buffet are a combination of pastries, cut fruits, Jelly, Cookies and Ice Cream.

Pineapple Pieces - Quite sweet.
Cut Orange Slices - Very fresh and sweetish.
Ditto with cut Melon and Papaya fruit pieces
Green and Red color Jelly was alright.

Pastries, Cookie

Cut Fruits & Jelly

No complaints even with Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Chocolate and Orange flavored Pastries were delicious
Chinatown Buffet also included Strawberry, Vanilla and Chocolate Ice creams. Though we have a weakness for ice creams, we let them pass as we were full.
Yellow Color Pudding - While we enjoyed the cut fruits and pastries, the yellow color pudding like dessert did not endear itself with our tastebuds. It tasted so weird that we could not push more than a spoon into our mouth.

Yellow Color Pudding

A La Carte Order

Since there was only one pure vegetarian item sauted beans, we placed an a la carte order for the vegetarians buffs in our group.

Our a la carte order included:

Soup ($1.50)
Vegetable Lo Mein ($3.50)
Special Garden Vegetable ($6.50)

Vegetable Lo Mein

Our Vegetable Lo Mein landed on our table within eight minutes of placing the order followed by the Vegetable Soup, Special Garden Vegetable and White Rice

Chinatown Buffet's Vegetable Lo Mein was good.

Vegetable Lo Mein Noodles

Noodles were cooked to perfection, moist and included Broccoli, grated Carrot and Scallion.

The serving size was sumptuous for the price we paid.

Hey, Chinatown Buffet's Vegetable Lo Mein Noodles are better than the one served by some of the other Chinese restaurants on Rt. 13.

Vegetable Soup

Vegetable Soup came piping hot in a plastic container.

It included plenty of vegetables - Broccoli, Carrot, and a dash of red chilly sauce.

While we enjoyed the Vegetable Soup we would prefer being served in a ceramic bowl rather than a plastic takeout container.

Vegetable Soup

You see some times hot soup in a plastic container emits a nauseating chemical odor and ruins the pleasure of enjoying the soup.

Also, the soup should have been served first before the Vegetable Lo Mein Noodles.

Special Garden Vegetable

Special Garden Vegetable included Broccoli, cut pieces of Corn, Mushrooms, Green Peppers and Scallion.

The serving size was sumptuous and came with a small bowl of White Rice.

Garden Vegetable

Chinatown Buffet's Special Garden Vegetable was yummy with a combination of Soy Sauce and Red Chilly Sauce and we enjoyed it with the White Rice.

Service - Mixed Bag

Besides the $6.50, 55-Item Super Bargain Lunch Buffet what we liked at Chinatown Buffet was the professional and friendly handling of the Vegetarian diner in our group.

The replacement/ filling in cash counter waiter Mr. Winston - a cheerful fella went out of his way in assisting us with our pure vegetarian only a la carte order. As promised our a la carte items were all reasonably spicy to suit our spice hardened Indian palates.

Mr. Winston even checked back with us before substituting Vegetable Soup with Hot and Sour Soup as the later includes some non-vegetarian sauces.

He also ensured that we got boxes to pack our left over food. Hey he even included a copy of our a la carte order bill, a take out menu with the boxes.

Our water glasses were refilled and used plates removed promptly.

But no restaurant is perfect and there is always a service snafu or two.

Service snafus at Chinatown Buffet in Dover came in the form of relentless staring by a middle aged Chinese Waitress standing next to the cash counter and clueless young dining room waitress who attended our table.

The clueless young waitress brought Vegetable Lo Mein Noodles first and got us the Soup only after we enquired about it.

Also, she did not bring the white rice with our Special Garden Vegetable as mentioned in the take out menu.

Instead, the waitress asked us indifferently "do you want white rice" with your Special Garden Vegetable.

Yes, of course we want White Rice with our Special Garden Vegetable. Otherwise, how can any one eat just the vegetable with hot sauces without White Rice?

Then there was this middle aged Chinese Waitress standing next to the Cash Counter and staring continuously at our table in the most irritating manner.

We wondered whether she had not seen human beings in her life before.

Chinatown Buffet Dover Rating

Price Range - $6.50 55-item super bargain weekday lunch buffet
Food Taste - Decent with plenty of fiber and Vegetables
Serving Size - All you can eat buffet
Service - Mixed Bag
Pure Vegetarians - Order a la carte. Avoid lunch buffet

Notwithstanding minor irritation over service issues, we recommend Chinatown Buffet on Rt 13 West in Dover DE for its $6.50, 55-item Super Bargain Lunch Buffet.

Sure, the number of items on the buffet may be overwhelming but you can pick and chose items from a wide spread of appetizers, entrees and desserts.

Our suggestion to Vegetarians is to avoid the lunch buffet and go for a la carte menu. - © DelawareIndia.com