Tampa Buffet

When we eat out, I tend to choose the restaurant about 90% of the time since I’m pretty particular about where I eat.  But last night I gave Lance the choice of any restaurant he’d like, and he picked the Tampa Buffet. 

Maybe I’m a food snob, but a Chinese buffet wouldn’t normally be my top pick of restaurant if I was given free rein to choose.  But Lance was pretty excited to try it out. 

It’s located in Britton Plaza next to a Dollar Tree and Cici’s Pizza – not the most romantic of date spots.  The exterior is lit with eerie green fluorescent lighting, so I didn’t really have high expectations.  We walked in, and it actually had a nicer entrance than I was expecting with a waterfall and large fish tank.  But walking past that, it just looked like a standard cafeteria. 

I will say that it’s the widest selection I’ve ever seen at a buffet before – they had row after row of nearly every Asian dish you could imagine.  My plate ended up being filled with a half dozen types of chicken – including teriyaki, bourbon, sweet and sour & General Tso’s.  The chicken dishes were all pretty good – but I guess you can’t mess that up too much.  We also enjoyed the crab rangoons. 

However, I wasn’t impressed at all by the seafood selection.  The mussels looked amazing (some of the largest I’ve seen) but didn’t taste quite right.  And the sushi was bland and disappointing.  I guess I can’t expect gourmet sushi at an all-you-can-eat buffet though…

The other issue I had was the loud dance music coming from a private party in an adjoining room.  I don’t normally want to hear the Cha-Cha Slide while eating dinner.  

In general, it was a decent meal, but nothing memorable.  I think the problem I have with most buffets is they focus more on quantity than quality.  Of course, if you talk to Lance, his review would be a complete 180 from mine.  He loved his meal and would go back there again in a heartbeat. 

Tampa Buffet is located at 3904 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33611 and is open from 11am – 10pm Monday through Sunday (dinner buffet from 4 – 10pm).