Aw, the GP next to the DT in the WD is no more.  Hopefully the new place fixes the soft serve ice cream machine that has been broken for like four years.

I hope they fix their sanitary practices which have been broken for more then 4 years along with the soft serve ice cream machine.

I just hope they label their buffet. It was always a guessing game at the Panda.

I'm always suspicious of people who complain about sanitary practices in Asian restaurants.  So I checked the DNT.  

Restaurant Inspections 2008

Giant Panda compared positively, in terms of number and type of violations, with Kitchee Gammee (as an example).  

Few restaurants had no violations, and one of the few that had no violations nonetheless went out of business over a year ago.

Wow, no more Panda. 

I did like a dish they had with Chicken(or?) and Jalapenos, but haven't been in for 3-4 years.

They were hands-down much better than the buffet that used to be in Kenwood Shopping Center, where the food was always cold, veggies mushy, and tasted like they used the same sauce for each dish. I remember the employees being really sloppy and constantly getting yelled at, or yelling to each other from out of the kitchen door, or across the restaurant. Also, it was as if it was the family/employee daycare there too the few times we visited.

I wonder where they come up with the names for these places.

No!!! Their coconut shrimp and pork and mushrooms were amazing! I hope the new place still has those items ... and that they keep it a buffet. It was the only good Chinese buffet I found in the Twin Ports. :(

I really enjoy China Star. That's a quality restaurant. Buffets, I'm pretty wary of in general. You have no idea how long that food has been around or what stupid kids (customers) have been sticking their hands into it.

In case ya missed it on CBS Sunday Morning this morning - here's the Chinese  Restaurant Awards.

Oi, and pay careful attention to the scroll with all the restaurant names ... hahahaaaa.

"Remember when you could only get Chop Suey?"

Absolutely. I've been there several times since it became China King, and it's miles ahead of Giant Panda.  Fresh, and they use all their warming trays, so a lot better selection.

In defense of the small business owner:

1.  There's probably a frying pan in the kitchen that hasn't been used in a while, too, and maybe a wooden spoon or two that only get used when it's super busy.  Whether or not their soft-serve machine is in use, or whether or not they serve soft-serve as part of the all-you-can-eat experience is kind of irrelevant, no, unless it is advertised as part of the meal.  It's not, though the dessert options are plentiful (including, if I recall correctly, scoop "hard" ice cream at some meals).  

Perhaps you weren't complaining about the soft serve, but merely observing?  

2.  I'm puzzled by the expectation that a one-year-old should eat "free."  If a restaurant decides that they want to give you that perk, that's their call, I guess.  But if I walked into a McDonald's and said "I'd like a Big Mac Meal, and I have a one-year old here, would you throw some extra apple dippers on the side for her," they would not, unless you paid for them.

I don't understand the claim that "A one year old child isn't going to eat everything on his plate."  A one-year-old at a buffet, it seems  to me, might graze lightly from mommy or daddy's plate, I guess, though I would expect them to only be given the nibbles they could eat. I don't see a reason to put more on their plate than they can eat.  (That's Catholic guilt about how people in other countries would certainly cry over the food I wasted as a child).  

Even if their food consumption is 100% of the light grazing, a one-year-old still create dishes to wash, silver to clean, milk or soda glasses to fill, occasionally booths to wash after you leave.  The business accepts that loss to earn your business.

It seems to me that a small business that lets one year olds eat for free is a small business that is doing you a favor and giving you a gift in hopes of winning your business.  It was wrong of them to retract that gift mid-meal, I agree.  But I would also ask that we recognize the rights and obligations of reciprocal gift-giving.  When someone gives you a gift, you need to treat it respectfully, including minimizing waste.