At the relatively new Happy Star Chinese Buffet -- located in the old Taco Via space at 6743 W. 75th St. -- I couldn't find a hell of a lot that I wanted to pile on my plastic plate. Although the place claims to serve "authentic Chinese food," the steam tables are filled with the greatest hits of the Chun King repertoire: low mein noodles, fried rice, chewy crab rangoon, egg rolls, and tempura-battered fried chicken puffs accompanied by a sticky red sauce that was neither sweet nor sour nor anything else. It could have been red cooking oil or melted lip gloss, for as bland as it was.
The fat customers in the place didn't care. They happily loaded up their plates with candied "butter shrimp" and fried pork dumplings and some weird concoction with fake crab or, my favorite (in a tub labeled "fried pineapple"), a whole mess of garlic toast. Other "authentic" Chinese dishes were fried chicken drumettes, fried potato slices, chocolate pudding and Jell-O squares. There was something called "roast chicken" that looked more like embalmed bird and the house special pork didn't look all that special.
Still, the place is neat and clean and the staff is very nice. The owner watches customers like a hawk. When I paid my bill (the lunch buffet and a plastic tumbler of iced tea set me back about 8 bucks), he looked at me and said: "You didn't eat very much. People who come here eat much more than you did."
I wanted to say, "Take off the garlic toast and put some better stuff out on the buffet," but then I realized, the garlic toast was one of the few things I tasted that I liked!
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Oops: In case I didn't include my email and name the first time, I'm submitting this again.
My wife and I regularly eat at Chinese buffets, and we both consider this our favorite in KC, Kansas. We've eaten at Happy Star 6 times, and the food has always been fresh (even late at night when we're the only people in the place, the chef will cook something new for us). Overall, we agree that the food tastes better and is fresher than 5 of the 6 other KC Chinese buffets we've tried (the 6th one is in Independence and charges twice as much). Also, Happy Star is definitely the least expensive and provides the best service of them all.
I know it's easy to assume "you get what you pay for". But, that's simply not always true. Happy Star must be operating on zero margin. An established Chinese Buffet would charge significantly more for poorer service and older food.
And, remember that when you're paying $5.50, there's no need to stuff yourself. A bowl of soup, some fresh pineapples, and a fresh moon pie (their unique item) is well worth $5.50. Perhaps Happy Star is dangerous to those whose tendency to over-eat is only curbed by an empty wallet. For the rest of us, it is wonderful. They don't boast a huge selection, but what they do have is generally fresh and extremely well priced.
My wife and I regularly eat at Chinese buffets, and we both consider this our favorite in KC, Kansas. We've eaten at Happy Star 6 times, and the food has always been fresh (even late at night when we're the only people in the place, the chef will cook something new for us). Overall, we agree that the food tastes better and is fresher than 5 of the 6 other KC Chinese buffets we've tried (the 6th one is in Independence and charges twice as much). Also, Happy Star is definitely the least expensive and provides the best service of them all.
I know it's easy to assume "you get what you pay for". But, that's simply not always true. Happy Star must be operating on zero margin. An established Chinese Buffet would charge significantly more for poorer service and older food.
And, remember that when you're paying $5.50, there's no need to stuff yourself. A bowl of soup, some fresh pineapples, and a fresh moon pie (their unique item) is well worth $5.50. Perhaps Happy Star is dangerous to those whose tendency to over-eat is only curbed by an empty wallet. For the rest of us, it is wonderful. They don't boast a huge selection, but what they do have is generally fresh and extremely well priced. If it's not, then simply ask them to cook a new batch of your favorite item, and they will start on it immediately!
I was going to write up the place but since I didn't do the buffet I didn't think it fair to judge based on one dish.
Thanks Meesha. It was nervy of un-svelte me to say that, but compared to some of the puffier patrons in the joint, I looked positively waif-like.
In my youth, I watched Look Who's Talking in the back room there. My brothers were cogs in the Big Cheese/Godfather's Pizza establishment.
I refuse to eat at any site of a fallen Taco Via.
I got takeout from there last week and found it to be nearly inedible. I thought I'd give it a shot because they deliver and are close to my house. I don't think I'll ever take them up on delivery.
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