Check it Out: City Buffet

It is a common mistake to assume that Chinese food is Chinese food is Chinese food. Sure, the flavors are always roughly the same, and the dishes offered from menu to menu differ about as much as the seasons in Cali, but when it comes to quality, that is where you see some separation. We've all had bad chinese food. The kind of shopping mall food court abomination that always smells like a great idea, but leaves you feeling bloated and foolish by the time you're half finished. Yes, it does serve its purpose from time to time, but not in a million years would you refer to it as a quality meal. On the other end of the spectrum, there are the great chinese restaurants, ones that use top quality ingredients to great effect, and might actually serve you the kind of (real) Chinese food food one would find were they sitting down for a meal half a world away. City Buffet is by no means the latter of those two, but its closer to that end than the other, and featuring an all you can eat buffet for just under $10 thats all right by me.


Located on 14th Street between L and M, I stumbled across City Buffet a week or two ago on my lunch hour while looking for an Au Bon Pain I had passed a few days earlier. Amused by the incredibly non-descriptive name, I was compelled to take a closer look. The place was packed, and I was hungry enough, so I stepped inside, payed my eight bucks, and set off directly for the buffet. The food looked good, but admittedly, at the time, the prospect of all-you-can-eat anything seemed appealing. In the end it was the selection that ended up being the real deal breaker. I piled my plate high with just about every spring roll, dumpling, chicken dish, and soup that I could have dreamed of, and then set to work.

Having never even heard of the place before, and going in expecting nothing, the food was actually pretty good. Not amazing. But with the only limit being my own appetite, doubtlessly something that I would pay $10 for. Especially when you consider that had I made it to Au Bon Pain that day the same $10 would have gotten me naught but a sandwich.

If you work in the area, and your stomach is growling for a real meal, than check out City Buffet. Rarely in DC does ten dollars go so far.