The Best Chinese Lunch Buffets in Pensacola

Finding a Chinese lunch buffet isn’t the hard part. Finding the one you want to stick with is the hard part. For a town that doesn’t have a tremendously huge Chinese population, Pensacola probably has more than its fair share of top notch Chinese restaurants that offer terrific lunch buffets.

Where to start? The oldest continuous Chinese restaurant in Pensacola is the House of Chong. Located at 3820 Navy Blvd., it features a traditional Chinese exterior so you can’t miss it. Once inside, the aroma of delicious Chinese cuisine knocks you over. The lunch buffet here is a very reasonable $5.15 and you will definitely want to start out with the specialty of the house, cashew chicken. Quite simply, the House of Chong’s cashew chicken is the best in town. But if that particular dish isn’t your cup of tea-get it, Chinese food, tea?-then there’s an enormous offering to choose from.

The buffet is typically stuffed with poultry, seafood, beef, pork, and veggie dishes. In addition to the cashew chicken, you definitely will want to partake of the sweet & sour pork, dripping in an orange-red sauce. For those who like their Chinese food with a little spicy kick be sure to try out the General Chicken. Although I personally am not a big fan of hot Chinese food-it tends to be more sweet than hot, in my opinion-I must say that the General Chicken is quite tangy. The eggs rolls at the House of Chong are not the fanciest in town, but they are the best, as are the fried won tons. Both are loaded with what can only be termed mystery meat and traditional Chinese veggies.

For those who enjoy to eat food from the sea, you have your choice of shrimp and scallops prepared in a variety of ways, from hot with garlic sauce to not so hot with lobster sauce.

The China Star, China Town and Ocean Star Chinese restaurants are all owned by the same people are generally are listed together as an umbrella operation. All three feature identical menus, spread out in a massive nine-bar system. You can find these restaurants all over town and the price here is a slightly steeper but still reasonable $6.45.

The atmosphere of these restaurants is a little less traditional than House of Chong, but the menu is basically the same. Along with several varieties of soup, and a massive collection of appetizers, you can pick from chicken dishes that cover the gamut from the good old spicy General himself to Lemon, Curry, Sweet & Sour and Walnut. But it’s the Kung Pao that really stands out here. Definitely do not pass this one by.

These three do offer more of a selection for the vegetarian, with several bean sprout and bean curd based offerings that you won’t find at the House of Chong. And while there, don’t be afraid to take a chance on what they call the Dragon & Phoenix. Although it may sound like something from a Harry Potter movie that you wouldn’t want to put in your mouth, it’s really nothing more than exotic than a chicken and shrimp combo. They also feature a specialty called Happy Family Basket which arrives in a homemade basket and contains chicken, shrimp, scallops, BBQ pork, beef, and vegetables. You can’t go wrong with any of these three.

Another combo restaurant deal features the sister buffets at the Hong Kong and Happy China. While both are located on the west side of town, they are less than fifteen minutes from any point in the city if the traffic situation is right. These two definitely feature the most heavily “Chinese” atmosphere of those restaurants in this review. And, fortunately, they also feature some truly delicious food.

The specialty here is the General’s Chicken. The difference here is that it’s not spicy, but topped with a delicious sesame sauce. Don’t miss it. Well, I say the specialty here is the chicken, but that’s because I don’t eat seafood. If, however, you are okay with eating food that swims around in its ownâÂ?¦well, you knowâÂ?¦this is the buffet for you. For this is the buffet that dares to reach out beyond the shrimp and the scallop and embrace the mussel and the squid.

You can also find uncooked seafood here, if sushi is your thing. I’m just never going to be able to reconcile putting something in my mouth raw that I don’t even want to eat when it’s cooked, but from what they tell me, the seafood at the Hong Kong and Happy China just cannot be beat.

I must also add, however, that in addition to the General’s Chicken, I can personally vouch for the Chicken Teriyaki and my wife says the Crab Ragoon is to die for. And she’s serious, too, man. I once saw her pull a knife on a big biker dude was about to snatch the last one out off the buffet line.