Chinese Buffet Review: Grand Buffet (Does It Live Up to the Name?)

The journey to crown Knoxville's best Chinese buffet today takes us to the outskirts of Knoxville again, this time to Grand Buffet, located on Clinton Highway between an urgent care and a tire shop.

Multiple people recommended this buffet, and we came to see how grand it really is.

I'm joined once again by my friend Kelly Grzasko of Sunkissed Stained Glass (check out her stainied glass art: https://www.instagram.com/sunkissed_stained_glass/)

If first impressions are anything to go by, the clean exterior (a former Golden Corral?) is much more welcoming than the old bank building of our last review.

Inside was equally impressive, very clean and laid out with a wide variety of items to choose from, including a lot more seafood and sushi.

Pricing was expected for a buffet, $12.99 lunch, $16.99 dinner, and an array of discounts for kids. We came for the lunch and it was quite busy, especially for families.

So how did it taste?

Entrees

So, starting off, there were the usual soup staples - Hot & Sour, Egg Drop, Wonton - and the hot & sour I had was pretty good, I would recommend it. Kelly had the "beef soup" and was not impressed.

For other appetizers, the egg rolls and crab rangoons were also fresh, crispy, and delicious enough tasting.

As far as entree options go, let's get right into the good.

The staples of an American Chinese restaurant are all represented here (General Tso's, Sweet & Sour, Etc) and were all fresh and excellent.

The only disappointing was Chicken & Broccoli, but that always tastes soggy.

This corner, though, with the expected offerings, is the real winner.

Even the fried rice was pretty good for sitting on a buffet line.

The coconut shrimp is a real standup. It good.

Another standout in this section was a Chinese buffet classic, the chicken on a stick, which was actually delicious.

Most buffet chicken a stick has bad flavor and weird texture. Whatever alchemy here made it a winner.

The last of my favorites was their jalapeño chicken, and it was this perfect mix of spicy and sweet, and also fresh.

My advice is to stick in this section and get your money's worth here.

The final hot entree section was more traditional Golden Corral style buffet food, like pizza and mac & cheese and stuff. Nothing stood out here but it would probably be enough to satisfy a child.

Sushi & Seafood

Okay, we gotta talk about the sushi. There were a wide variety on display, more even than I pictured, and everything seemed alright.

The ingredients for a few were unique.. I think one had pork and another chicken? Nothing wrong with that, just unique.

I started with their deep fried option. It was... fine... but it both lacked flavor and yet had a weird taste.

Next I went for what I think was spicy tuna, and this was a mistake.

Expecting spicy tuna I was instead met with an intense bad fish flavor. I had to spit it out mid chew. Once I recovered myself, I decided I was done with the sushi and other seafood here.

Was I being a tad dramatic? Yes of course. I mean I'm sure the fresh seafood options, like those pictured above, were fine... I just couldn't stomach trying after that bad sushi.

If you've eaten here and had a better seafood experience, share it in the comments please.

Desserts

I cleansed my palate with a helping from their generous dessert selection.

Honestly, everything here was pretty solid. No real standouts, and some of the cakes were a little dry, but everything had good flavor. Except the ice cream. That was awful.

Conclusion

I mean, honestly, I wish I had more to say here.

If you stick to the hot Chinese food classics, you can fill up with your money's worth and be happy. Grab some desserts too.

Your mileage may vary, but I would skip that sushi section. Again, I might have just been unlucky.

The biggest thing me and Kelly both agreed on was everything was very clean and organized.

I mean this place is fine if you stick to the hits.

RANKING

2. Grand Buffet

9.  Tokyo & Mandarin