Buffet City – St. Cloud

FOOD

Buffet City’s food has a Chinese-American backbone and room for a more ambitious buffet meal. Hibachi and shellfish deserve particular attention, with sushi supplying another substantial part of the spread. Selections change; the appeal is having these alongside the takeout favorites, American sides and generous dessert range.

The hibachi deserves a place near the top of the plan. Chicken, beef and shrimp can be combined with vegetables for the cook to sauté to order; shrimp is an especially useful choice here. This is also the place for anyone who has strong feelings about which vegetables belong with dinner. Some of us are very clear about onions.

The shellfish selection is worth a proper look. Half-shell mussels are dressed with sauce and chopped garnishes, and the spread can also include clams, peel-and-eat shrimp and fried blue crabs. Those crabs are a particularly interesting addition to a Chinese-American buffet, especially for anyone whose usual seafood order begins and ends with shrimp. Coconut shrimp brings a sauced shrimp preparation into the mix. Here is a good reason to leave room beyond the chicken favorites.

Sushi has an American-sushi streak: California-style rolls filled with imitation crab, avocado and cucumber, alongside cream-cheese combinations. Nigiri provides another part of the display. The seaweed-topped tofu pockets deserve a second look, too: neatly presented little parcels that give this sushi bar something beyond the familiar roll assortment. A devoted California-roll eater has a reason to broaden her horizons.

Honey chicken inhabits the sweeter, sauced side of the spread, while sweet-and-sour chicken brings another familiar takeout favorite. General Tso’s is part of that Chinese-American repertoire, too. Chicken with broccoli gives the section a more vegetable-forward combination. It’s a useful distinction when planning a mixed plate: the broccoli dish can sit beside the sweeter preparations without making the whole meal about glazed chicken.

Pepper steak with onion gives the beef contingent something familiar to claim, with peppers and onions sharing the dish. Barbecue spare ribs add a glazed Chinese-American barbecue favorite to the lineup. Both make sense beside rice, and together they keep a meat-focused meal from becoming entirely about chicken. Apparently, loyalty to one’s usual takeout order is negotiable.

Lo mein and fried rice are part of that takeout-comfort appeal, along with white rice for the sauced entrées. Crab Rangoon and egg rolls give the smaller bites a familiar Chinese-American pairing. French fries widen the invitation to anyone who would happily build dinner around the American end of the buffet.

Dessert has a bakery-style assortment of cakes, cream puffs and cookies, with watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew alongside the sweets. The full-size ice cream bars supply a delightfully unpretentious finale. Among the little pastries and cut fruit, they have a certain childlike appeal. Small enough to sample quite a few. Very thoughtful.