Lucky Chinese Buffet - Tillsonburg

Having visited and greatly enjoyed this restaurant on many past occasions, my last visit here was disappointing, to say the least. New ownership had taken over, and the difference in atmosphere was evident the moment we walked in the door. There was the usual Sunday client load coming in, but the two teenagers who were taking care of the dining room service were obviously way out of their depth, almost to the point of having no idea what they were doing. While they were pleasant and eager to accommodate when they got around to attending, the stress on them was very apparent. There were inordinately long waits for service. The second thing that we immediately noticed was that the food on the buffet tables was different. While there were mainly the same dishes as usual, the flavours were different in too many ways to describe. In addition, the quality of the food was lower. Many of the dishes contained components that had been drastically overcooked. Roasted potatoes that were hard as wood, chicken that was cooked to the point of being jerky rather than tender and juicy, batter coatings that were leathery. all mixed in with the properly cooked parts of the same dishes. To add insult to injury, the checkout was very different. The new cash register and payment system were a definite improvement over the previous system, but not having the bill and fortune cookies delivered to the table after the meal was finished is an unforgivable error in a Chinese restaurant. Instead, the bill is kept at the cash counter until you show up there to pay. When it was time to pay, however, there was no-one there as the two young servers were off somewhere in the dining area clearing tables instead of manning the cash counter. Three groups of patrons were left waiting for several minutes before the young man came to ring them through, and he seemed to have to take off to do something else in between each group. Terrible service! The final flaw was that the prices seem to have been adjusted as the total bill for two seniors and one adult was several dollars higher than it had been under the previous owners. All in all, I cannot recommend this restaurant as a good choice anymore. I give a new restaurant or new ownership three chances, because everyone can have an off day. Accordingly, two good days out of three rates an okay with me, but two bad days out of three and that restaurant or other service won't see me again. This was the first strike for the new owners of this restaurant. I don't know when I will give a second chance to prove its value, so for now the jury is still out on this one.

New owners have destroyed this place. We always ate here once every other week. New owners took over and it is horrible. Gave them 2 chances first experience they argued with a table about seniors discount. They were not going to honour it unless they paid cash only. Food the did in buffet table was left over from lunch. It was dried out and gross. Soup was not hot. Wontons in it were mushy. Second time there 1/2 the buffet was empty the food that was there was dried out and old. Guy waiting tables sat at front on a cell phone ignoring guests. I will not go back.

I used to order from this restaurant when I would visit my parents so am back in Tillsonburg for a bit and thought I would place an order. The food was absolutely terrible. I picked up my order When I got home they had put part of the order upside down so everything was soaked. The chicken was awful with bits of skin still on it. Still feel ill after having it a couple of hours ago. Now after reading the reviews I see that the owners have changed. Rest of food is in the garbage. Never again Lucky Chinese Buffet.

Food and variety were good. hopefully the new owners will keep up the standards...they are opening a new Restaurant in Woodstock, ON, called "The New Bamboo." we'll have to check it out!

I'm not sure why we tried it again. They really need a new menu or better cook. At lease update and improve would be great. I love lemon chicken but when you take a scoop of lemon chicken and it's mostly bread crumbs with lemon sauce. Not so good. The fried rice tasted burned. I could go on but it just was not a nice experience. The staff was nice but that is about it.