October 12, 2007
by Karen Persson of The Columbian

BEN CAMPBELL/The Columbian

Why: Buffet City, the restaurant with the largest buffet in Clark County, has reopened under new ownership, new management and new lights. If the square footage doesn't amaze you, the choices at the buffet bars will. The selections include Chinese, American and Japanese fare.

Atmosphere: The nondescript strip-mall exterior opens up to a newly remodeled, cavernous dining room with abundant seating at tables and booths. Three giant chandeliers with hundreds of prisms adorn the ceiling and back-lit Asian cityscapes dress up the walls. There are 10 large buffet bars in all.

Buffet food: Instead of sizzling and hot out of the oven or off-the-grill browned, the food is warm (at best) and mostly pale. Fortunately, the flavor was brighter. I tried the traditional teriyaki chicken skewers and the boneless pork ribs covered with a neon-pink sweet glaze. Neither was too dry, and the flavor matched that of similar dishes at Asian restaurants.

I also sampled a seafood casserole consisting of squid, pollock and shrimp mixed with a lot of mayonnaise. Cheddar cheese tops the casserole and drowns out the seafood flavor, except for the squid.

Fruit flies were feasting on the cantaloupe so I tried the fruit salad, which was a whipped cream concoction of various fruits including raisins. The flavor reminded me of a holiday spice cake.

Cakes at the dessert bar were bland and dry. Raw, sugared peanuts took the tooth-cracking stress out of a peanut brittle experience and turned out to be my favorite of the dessert offerings.

Quick take: Clean, uncluttered and spacious. Wait staff quickly removes plates. Wide variety of dishes.

Cost: Mondays through Fridays before 4 p.m., $7.59, and after 4 p.m., $10.99. Saturdays and Sundasy the buffet is $10.99 all day. Drinks are included in the cost of the buffet.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Sundays.

Where: 4816 N.E. Thurston Way, Vancouver.

Contact: 360-260-8888.