Last week, I was driving to the bank to make a deposit for work. It was around lunchtime and I happen to be near Manchester and Hanley. It had been years since I visited my favorite Chinese buffet, Joy Luck Buffet. Back when I worked in Clayton in the late 90s / early 00s, it was extremely delicious. The potato chicken was ‘to die for’ and they offered multiple spicy chicken-type dishes at any given time.
So I stopped in.
I could tell things had gone downhill from the outside. The awning was torn up badly and in desperate need of replacement. The grounds weren’t very well kept up. But I’ve also eaten at some places that were holes in the wall and still had great food, so I kept my hopes up.
You didn’t need a finger pulse oximeter to tell the place was active inside. They were fairly busy, with at least twenty people or more, which I considered a good sign.
I was seated and went to get my first place. Now, for the record, I’m not a buffet fan. My experience is that they are generally quantity over quality and I’d rather have one good plate of food than four crappy plates. But this buffet had always been good to me in the past.
Sometimes, the past is the past.
The potato chicken was a little cold. The General’s chicken had three tiny pieces in it and had clearly not been refilled lately. I could find no brown rice as the bottom layer of my plate. (I tend to favor brown rice now that I’ve discovered its goodness.) I picked some stuff and ate it. I went back probably a solid twenty minutes later and still no General’s chicken. I ate a few more small things and gave up. I paid my check and left.
It’s a shame when something you loved so much has gone to junk.
