Restaurant Review: Red City Buffet in Newport News, Virginia

I like buffets. I always have. However, I understand that some of them are very questionable. Such is the case with the "Red City Buffet" located at 12551 Jefferson Avenue in Newport News, Virginia.

The restaurant is located in one of Newport News's premiere shopping centers, just off I-64, along with several other restaurants and a handful of major department stores. Access to the eatery is easy with multiple ways into and out of the shopping center.

"Red City Buffet" advertises that it serves Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian BBQ, and American food in one of the Virginia Peninsula's largest buffets. While the variety is substantial, the quality of the food is less than acceptable and the service is practically non-existent. As for it being one of the Peninsula's largest buffets, I can easily point to many others that are both bigger and better.

The restaurant got off to a shaky start in the beginning by refusing to serve a vision-impaired customer who arrived with her much-needed service animal. The faux pas cost the eatery dearly, establishing the business as persona non grata for many Peninsula residents.

I chose to review the restaurant as honestly as I could but had already decided that no matter how good the food might be, I wouldn't darken its doorway again. Fortunately, that isn't a decision I ever have to question because the eatery isn't a place I would care to visit again anyway.

Other than General Tao chicken, chicken with broccoli, pepper chicken and roast beef, most everything else on the menu is seafood related. That's not necessarily a bad thing, per se, but it doesn't really go with the restaurant's advertising.

The Mongolian Grill is extremely limited as is the Chinese and Japanese menu. Even then, most of it is shrimp or crab related.

While the restaurant offers roast beef, it must be carved by patrons. In truth, it also holds little resemblance to actual roast beef; something one would have to view in order to understand.

While sushi is available, the selection is limited and quite often empty since the same chef also covers the supposed Mongolian Grill.