My family used to eat here fairly regularly. It got to the point where my siblings and I decided to boycott this place indefinitely because we were eating here way too much. I was also concerned that as "regulars", it was kind of disturbing to actually recognize that obese woman who had her husband inject her full of insulin right there in the dining room. And it's just sad when the only time our family gathers together for a sit-down meal is at an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. But apparently, plenty of families do this every week. City Lite is really popular among Asian folks, which is always a good sign if you're looking for "authentic" Chinese food. In the past, Bamboo Buffet used rein as the supreme buffet in my parents' eyes, but no longer.
City Lite has your regular Chinese-American dishes, and they also have seafood, sushi, pho, and noodle soups. There is also a salad and dessert bar, along with soft-serve ice cream. And there's also dim sum, which I suspect is just frozen dumplings and har gow they just reheat. One day my mom said to us that we were going to eat dim sum for brunch. We got all excited until we realized that we were going to eat dim sum at City Lite Buffet. Now that's one of the main reasons why we've boycotted the place. You don't say "dim sum" to us and then take us to a buffet where they serve frozen dim sum. And now if my mom offers to take us to dim sum we warily ask, "Dim sum dim sum or dim sum buffet?" We aren't going to make the same mistake twice.
Anyway, to take advantage of the price you pay, my uncle advised us to always fill up on seafood: "They take a look at you and know they will profit from you kids, but they look at Uncle and hate me because they know I'll eat three plates of crab legs." My first taste of sushi came from City Lite, and blech, what a nasty experience. It is made with warm/hot long-grain rice, which is not the way sushi should be made. And yet for some reason every time we've gone here, we would always grab a few sushi rolls every time we go up for seconds and thirds.
The staff here are pretty friendly and do refill drinks and take away plates in a timely manner.
If for some reason you wind up here and you don't want to feel like you've eaten the dingo and the baby by the time you leave, I would advise eating non-greasy dishes, such as the cooked seafood or maybe just the dumpling noodle soup or pho. Also, avoid the sweet fountain drinks and try water or iced tea (unsweetened). Otherwise, you are going to feel ridiculously sleepy and lazy when you get out.
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