Panda Gardens

I'm a pretty big advocate of defending Sarnia. When some Torontonian or Londoner moves here and begins griping about how there's nothing to do, I'm usually the one who'll claim we have everything. But I have to admit, when a new buffet opens and it's such a big deal, that I have to blog about it, it does sort of make me look like a small town yokel, but I digress...

For anyone who might be more of a yokel tham I am, Panda Gardens is a new Chinese, Japanese, and Canadian buffet that opened where The Wet Whistle used to be. If you missed The Wet Whistle's seemingly overnight life span and have no idea where I'm talking about, then think of where Casey's used to be. It's very plain on the inside... yellow painted walls, grey ceilings covered in vents, sprinkler systems, and other pipes, and they gutted the building of most of the stuff from the previous two resturants, namely the bar, carpets, and lighting arrangement. Perhaps they're going for a simplistic efficient Asian look, and not the gimmicky aesthetics that the other buffets rely on... or perhaps they soon reached their decorating budget after they gutted the place. I think I like it more than somewhere like Tangs, which is covered with cheap Chinese decorations and sculptures, which feels dated after the two decades they've been in business, and also has this creepy theme park vibe to it. But frankly, I can't honestly say I care a whole lot about the atmosphere, let's talk about the food!

Here's a quick low-down on the stuff I tried:

• Hotdogs wrapped in bacon, on a stick - Two of my favourite kinds of meat, and it's on a stick! Total win.
• Mashed potatoes and gravy - Both canned and flavorless, predictable buffet quality gruel.
• Roasted chicken... on a stick - Also mostly flavorless. You'll probably need to find or invent some kind of topping to harness its true power.
• Chicken wings - I only tried the saucy ones. I don't know what kind of sauce was on them, and I couldn't make out a comparable flavor either. They were sub-par, and did not compare to Canton's jar-doo wings.
• Honey garlic ribs - They come in really small portions, but at least most of the selection is of some decent quality, and not mostly evil, mutant chunks of fat and bone, like in other buffets. The taste stands up to all the best ribs at the other places.
• Chicken balls - The same as any other Chinese place.
• Sweet and sour pork - Slightly better than the kind at other places.
• Black pepper potatoe wedges - They're served in this dark sauce, which makes the potatoes soggy. I would prefer if they were crispy, but they taste alright. I'll probably get them every time I go.
• Sesame pork - About the same at their sweet and sour pork, just crunchier.
• French fries - Eh... not that good. They're thin and were cold by the time I got to them.
• Fried rice with peas - Not good, not bad. It's rice.

As for some desert items I had...

• Jell-O - It's well-made Jell-O, and it didn't have any hard bits in it. It's better served there, as it's cut up into large squares, unlike Canton where it's basically red and green mush in a bowl.
• Ice cream - They had a somewhat odd selection of ice cream. I only had the bubble gum flavor. It was good.
• Pastries - They have a few pastries available, some I tried. Typical store bought stuff, nothing special.

I was totally full after having all of that, and I wasn't able to explore other dishes beyond the basic meat and potatoes formula. I'm going to have to make a couple more visits to better evaluate their other stuff, and you're going to have to get someone else's word on their sushi and other seafood. Anyway, I forgot to mention that their selection is huge-- it takes up a whole portion of the resturant! If they have a separate menu for lunch, like the other buffets do, then the selection is epic, and I'm eager to go back again to see what else they have. Overall, I'd say most of the food is of average quality, but the selection is so large, it puts the place in its own league. The dinner bill is the same as Tang's, around $15.00 per person, and it is worth every penny by comparison. 'Definitely the best resturant opening in town since Boston Pizza.

Thank you again, Barb, for covering the bill.

RIP horrid China Buffet, and maybe even Dragon Palace.