BUFFET 100's claim to fame is its 100-item Chinese buffet. Wish I could count the ways I loved this restaurant ... but I can't. They could cut out 90 items and be better off. But that's not the point of a buffet, is it? Cafe offers quantity,
not qualityNo, a buffet's got to have a lot of food, and judging from the gleam in customers' eyes and the abundance of laughter at the restaurant, people were plenty happy about the spread.
The restaurant occupies the Ward Warehouse site formerly occupied by Dynasty II. The room seems a lot smaller with steam tables installed. Navigating around those tables is tricky because people tend to congregate near the roast duck and roast pork. It's like watching front row fans at a rock concert -- not exactly an urbane experience.
Stay calm. Use strategy. You can get a decent meal here if you can avoid the land mines and fill up on the good things.
If you're lucky, you'll have a friend of the "eat first, ask questions later" type doing reconnaissance work for you. While you slowly sip at your mostly sour hot-sour soup, you can gauge from his or her seconds which dishes are worth a try. The best items I sampled were the roast duck, cold ginger chicken, salt-pepper shrimp and fried chicken tinged with five-spice.
Not as exciting, but palatable, were the beef broccoli, ma-po tofu, jai and a dish of zucchini and mushrooms. If you like your sauces sugary, the Szechuan eggplant with shredded pork is OK.
The restaurant makes a show of the roast pork, featuring a whole pig, but people had to pick their way through the fat to get to any meat, and the skin was not as crispy as it should have been. Char siu was as dry as jerky, and fried black bean fish, though tasty, had the texture of chicken.
Dessert staples such as almond tofu, tapioca in coconut milk, fruit, and beans in gelatin, were fine. There was also soft-serve ice cream popular with the kids thanks to toppings such as Cap'n Crunch cereal, pretzel mixes, nuts and gummy bears.
Buffet 100 ain't the place for the best Chinese food you'll ever have, but it does have its niche. Reservations are a must.
Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 10 p.m. daily
Prices: Per adult, $7.95 for lunch, $10.95 Saturday and Sunday brunch, $12.95 dinner, $14.95 for Saturday seafood dinner; per child ages 4-12, $5.95, $6.95, $8.95 and $9.95 respectively.
Call: 591-8199 or 591-9345
See a listing of past restaurants reviewed in the
section online. Click the logo to go!
Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews run on Thursdays. Reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:
-- excellent;
To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to features@starbulletin.com
