Venerable Chinese buffet still offers surprises

December 22, 2011 12:00 AM

PEKING GARDEN BUFFET

CASUAL DINING

Address: 33 Faunce Corner Road, North Dartmouth

Hours: Mon-Thu, Sun 11 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.; Fri-Sat 11 a.m. - 10:30 p.m.

Handicapped Access: Accessible entrance and bathroom

Credit Cards: All major

Reservations: Recommended for large parties

Phone: (508) 990-1128

Food: 4 stars

Service: 4 stars

Atmosphere: 4 stars

Cleanliness: 4 stars

Price/Value: 5 stars

I've been to a lot of Chinese buffets over the years ? perhaps I shouldn't admit that ? but each one always seems to have its pluses and minuses. The only one that is a consistent satisfier is Peking Garden in Dartmouth, located in the same plaza as Best Buy and Stop and Shop. It's no surprise that it's one of the longest-standing of the genre.

Of all the Chinese buffets in the area, Peking Garden is the best overall experience. The food is always very good, the ambiance is better than most buffets and the place is always clean. From the decorations adorning the wall to the Chinese music piped in through the speakers, it feels more like the Chinese restaurants I grew up going to rather than just some carved-out corner of a shopping plaza.

I recently took my wife Jennifer and son Adam on a Wednesday evening while out doing some pre-holiday errands, and it was just as enjoyable as always.

When we arrived, there were about 20 parties scattered throughout the spacious dining area, and we were seated relatively close the buffet. Our server took our drink order and brought them back before we were even ready to make our first trip.

The dinner buffet price is $11.60 Mondays through Thursdays, and then Friday through Sunday it is $12.60. Lunch is also available until 3 p.m., for the price of $7.95 Monday through Friday and $8.95 on Saturday and Sunday. Just a bit of advice to those who try to go in early and pay the lunch price while dining on the dinner foods, such as the crab legs: the staff keeps an eye on that. I've heard of more than one occasion where they will charge you the dinner price if you take what they consider to be "dinner foods," and they're often noted on the buffet with a sign that says "dinner only."

From our bill, it appears as though my Coke and Jennifer's Diet Coke were included with the price of the meal, and we just had to pay $1.50 for Adam's milk. The placards on the tables also state that juice and bottles of soda are available for $1.50, and cans for $1. If you wish to partake in an alcoholic beverage, the domestic bottled beers are $3, while Heineken, Corona and Tsing Tao are $3.50. There is also wine available both by the glass and by the bottle.

I always make a recon mission around the buffets before I begin, to see what types of offerings are made that night. The first trip up, I immediately hit all my favorites, such as the black pepper chicken, General Tso's chicken, pepper steak and hot and sour soup. The best thing about Peking Garden is that the food always tastes fresh and has plenty of flavor; too many other Chinese buffets just let the food sit around, and the heat lamps zap out any hint of uniqueness until every piece of beef or chicken, no matter how it is prepared, all tends to taste the same.

On subsequent trips, I also had some octopus salad, steamed mussels, sushi with a tiny bit of wasabi, sweet and sour chicken fingers and the little fried dough bits dipped in sugar that are cleverly called "Chinese malasadas" to play up on the local cuisine. I tend to avoid things like roast beef, meatballs and mashed potatoes at a Chinese buffet. They're not really Chinese specialties, and as a result they're usually not very good.

While I generally enjoy almost all of the food at Peking Garden, on this particular night I had something that blew me away. It was so simple, yet so devine ? steamed shrimp wrapped in bacon. I can't believe it took me almost 34 years of life to have shrimp wrapped in bacon. In fact, I may have wrapped everything else on Earth in bacon at least once, except for shrimp. It was like the Coke can falling from the sky in "The Gods Must Be Crazy." Fear not, though, as I probably ate enough to more than make up for lost time.

By the time I remembered that I wanted to make a trip to the Mongolian Grill ? where you select from a wide variety of raw vegetables, meats, noodles and seasonings before a chef cooks it all for you on a round grill ? I was too full to make another trip.

Jennifer was a little disappointed that her favorite dish, the peanut butter chicken, was not on the buffet on that particular night. She still had plenty of her other favorites to choose from, including crab rangoons, Peking ravioli and beef teriyaki.

Adam, being a typical seven-year-old, is sometimes averse to trying new foods. I was able to talk him into giving a few things the old college try, including the steamed crab legs, an egg roll and the General Tso's chicken. His favorite, though, was the honey chicken, of which I am also a fan. Considering the chicken nuggets, pizza and French fries he also had, I'd say he definitely got a good value for the $7 we were charged for his meal.

Our bill came to $33.10 before tip, a bargain for the meals we enjoyed and for the new foods we got Adam to sample. As I was wrapping up my experience with a chocolate-vanilla twist ice cream cone (I avoid the slightly stale cakes and cream puffs on the buffet and go right for the ice cream machine) and Adam and Jennifer enjoyed some fortune cookies, our server came by and handed us a box containing a Chinese-style 2012 calendar as a gift. Each table got one, and I thought it was a nice touch.

So if you're looking for close-to-authentic Chinese food, and plenty of it, Peking Garden is the place to go. There's a reason why it's been around so long, and doesn't appear to be going anywhere.

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