Asian Pearl Buffet...

Being new to the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia everything seemed foreign to me from the food in the dining hall to the street lights. But I know that restaurants in any city or country would all give off the same aura, having their customers feel they just woke up from a fantasy when they leave the restaurant.

When I waltz in Asian Pearl Buffet at 8pm with my friends Al, Kathy and Nitid, we were absorbed by the dim lights and quiet atmosphere that the oozed out of the restaurant. The usual uproar and liveliness of a Buffet wasn't found in Asian Pearl Buffet. Numerous tables that adorned the restaurant were left empty. Unoccupied. Landscape paintings of black and white adorned the walls here and there while a red colored wall facing the cashier was decorated with a golden dragon and a golden phoenix like in many traditional Chinese restaurants. They had a huge sushi boat in the center of the restaurant but instead of serving sushi it served desserts and fruits. With the paintings, boat, and the traditional aesthetics of a Chinese restaurant it made Asian Pearl Buffet seem out of place like a badly organized essay would do.

When we were seated by the waitress the earlier liveliness of our group died down to a mull and we unintentionally blended in to the restaurant's mood, ate up and swallowed by it. Our conversations were mild to none at the table. Since this is a buffet we spent most of the time fetching food. It felt like we ate alone and not together.

I could normally clear 3 plates of food in a buffet. But this time I got as little food as possible only 2 plates of food because I wanted to get out of the restaurant. That was how unnerving the mood of the restaurant was even though I was accompanied by friends I still felt ill at ease.

The service wasn't bad. It's what you would expect from most restaurants but since this is a buffet there isn't much need for a waitress besides clearing a table of dishes and refilling your drinks. With so little people dining in the restaurant the waitress hovered around our table most of the time. Refilling our drinks when it was half full and clearing the table after we left to gather more food. The service was okay there wasn't anything exceptional or poor about it.

If you have been to a lot of buffets before you wouldn't expect much of a variety of food for small buffet restaurants like this so it's excusable for them to have 2 stalls of hot food and 1 stall of appetizers/dessert. However one would expect that the trays of food would be refilled after a tray is depleted. However by the time my friends and I went into the restaurant were a few empty trays. I expected that it would be refilled during the course of my visit at the restaurant but it was left empty even after we finished dining. That was another disappointing factor of the restaurant.

The food that they do have there I did try most of them. I wouldn't call myself a professional food critic but I do know the difference between good food and bad food. The plates of food I got there consisted of Sesame chicken, Triple Delight, the popular Chinese Lo Mien, Jalapeño Chicken, Scallion Shrimp, Mixed Vegetable Octopus, and Chicken Broccoli.

The plate of food was composed by myriad of colors there making the food a bit more appealing and accompanied with the faint aroma of the Lo Mien my salvia spew like a fountain. Hungry to start eating I spun my fork around the Lo Mien and brought up a bundle golden yellow thread to my watering mouth. When I munched down the previous illusion that the colors and smell gave me was shattered like glass. The Lo Mien was powdery and greasy from being left in the tray unattended for too long and grew like what most noodles would powdery and hard. It reminded me of the spaghetti at GT dining hall. Not wanting to take another bite I put the Lo Mien aside and went for the Sesame Chicken.

The Sesame Chicken did not disappoint me as much as the Lo Mien did. The Sesame Chicken had a refreshing taste to it unlike most deep fried food. In most deep fried food you would taste only taste the heavy crust and the oil that oozes out of them. The Sesame Chicken did have that oily taste but there was something more in it. Like during a hot summer day and you are suddenly blasted by a cold sea breeze, strong but last only a breath. So I took another piece to try and identify what mysterious flavor was attacking my taste buds. After several attempts I finally remembered something with a similar taste and it was pineapple, the sweet and sour taste of pineapple. It complemented the chicken well giving the heavy taste of chicken a refreshing tropical flavor.
The seafood like octopus, Triple delight which is composed of squid and shrimps tasted bland. It had no flavor in it especially the octopus. The octopus was huge if it was a steak I would applaud them for it but if anyone ate octopus before then they would know octopus should be served in tiny portions. Because octopus are hard and chewy if they are served in huge portions and not to mention it would be tasteless also. Since octopus doesn't absorb flavor as easily as meat or vegetables.

Unsatisfied with the main course they have I decided to see if they have anything better at the dessert's section. What I found are one of my all time favorite desserts and those are egg tarts. They look a bright shiny sun and golden in the in center surrounded by a wavy crust. Best of all they give off a strong smell of oven baked eggs and have a crispy crust that fills up your mouth when you bit into them. Seeing that there were only 5 left I hurriedly grabbed two. Sigh, once again I was to be disappointed. After the first bit I knew that the egg tarts were put out for too long like the Lo Mien because the smooth texture of the egg was gone replaced by a paper coarse texture. The crispy and flaky crust was also gone. An egg tart just isn't the same if it's not fresh. And my second egg tart was left untouched on the plate.

To sum it up the overall taste of the food in Asian Pearl Buffet weren't up to par with my expectation of what food is suppose to taste like in a restaurant. I would expect it if I were to dine in a facility dining hall that is provided to us for free by our company or school but for a paid restaurant I would have to say it's not worth it. Not all the food in Asian Pearl Buffet was horrible there were a few dishes that met my expectations, Sesame Chicken and of course there were those that did not like the dish of Lo Mien.

If you are to go to Asian Pearl Buffet the dishes to avoid would be noodles, seafood, and egg tarts. They just aren't worth your while because if noodles, seafood, and egg tarts aren't served fresh they would taste like old moldy cookies, horrible. You should only get food that would taste good even left in the tray for after a long period of time like chicken, beef, and broccoli.

Stars

★☆☆☆☆