A passable buffet, not exceptional, but acceptable. I waffled between giving it 2 or 3 stars, ultimately I gave it 3 because I do keep coming back here as the only Chinese buffet in Lexington I'll eat at even semi-regularly. It's got a wide variety of food, and I'll give them bonus points for having an actual salad bar there too. It's got everything you'd expect on a Chinese buffet, and basically fills in the blocks. The food is basically what you'd expect from a Chinese buffet: filling and ample but of mediocre quality. Sadly, the service is pretty weak. I was there today and they were out of bowls for the soups. When I tried to ask one of the employees, they apparently didn't speak English because they just started shouting for another employee in some Asian language. I never got an answer, and was never able to get some soup because of that. As a bit of trivia, 20 years or so ago, it used to be a Cajun & seafood buffet called the New Orleans House, and they blatantly have never renovated or remodeled the place since then. The decor is still more oriented towards the Gulf Coast region than the Far East, such as the big brass plaque that says "Sandpiper Room" by the main dining room.
(3)
Gordon F.
I went here for lunch because some co-workers wanted to go. It was just as expected-- a substandard chinese buffet. Everything was lukewarm and had been sitting under the hot lamps for a while. Pretty much every dish tasted the same, and what little meat there was in the dishes was either tough or way overseasoned. I don't remember it being a particularly good deal, either. Oh yeah, I also got the runs.... :-/
(2)
Amber I.
Been craving Chinese for two days now and so we decided to check out Happy Dragon as we had never been there. The food was lukewarm and what meat dishes there were were very fatty. We arrived around 720 and the place wasn't empty but wast full and a lot of the dishes were just about done. I decided to check out the desserts bc you can't screw up ice cream or banana pudding and somehow they managed to do both. The pudding was actually blackish looking- as if the banana were ripe inside the pudding. The ice cream was actually frozen yogurt and it was this really weird gritty consistency. Point I'm trying to make: don't go here. Our waitress said hello and brought our waters and then never said another word to us- not even when she picked up my full plate. Summary: Food: disgusting. Service: horrible. And now i have a tummy ache. Worst Chinese experience of my life!
(1)
Liz T.
Came into town late for an art opening and looked for something near our hotel. The place is kind of hard to find, it appears that you are driving into a gated community but there is a little turnoff before the guard house. We got there a little under 2 hours before they were scheduled to close but a lot of things appeared to be gone or almost gone and they weren't refilling things. The food that was there was mostly decent. Their saving grace was their amazing fried rice, tastes just like a sit down place, not the rice you usually find at buffets. Also they did have good inari and a lot of seafood offerings. Not bad but not sure I'd go back.
(3)
Brian G.
I ate here a few times several years ago and quit coming after the food was not that great. I went back a few months ago and Happy Dragon has become my favorite Chinese Buffet in Lexington! The food is awesome and the staff is very friendly and courteous. Your drink (speaking of soda, tea, or water) will hardly ever get below half a glass before you are offered a refill. A wide selection of "Americanized" Chinese food on the buffet.
(4)
Harold C.
Mediocre--loads of bad food, pricey. Yes, it's all-you-can-eat. Yes, they have variety. No, the food's not that good. If you must have Chinese buffet on the Northside, head to Panda Garden instead.
(3)
Heather P.
Keep in mind that it's $6.99 for the M-F lunch buffet. For that price, I think it's pretty darn good. I started with salad. Two options of greens, cubed and shredded cheese, broccoli, fresh mushrooms and ranch... all of that in its self was worth $6.99 in my book. But then, they have all of the usual Asian buffet options too. The stuffed mushrooms and banana pudding were my favs. It had been years since it given this place a try. Several of my girlfriends wanted a hog troth experience and they picked this spot. I'm glad they picked it, because I'd probably never had given them another shot. The decor could use some attention and the fact that they were selling art, vases and home decor near the entrance... It was odd and out of place. It is close to the interstate, so if you're riding along, looking for a place, I'd suggest it, especially for the price.
(4)
Wes C.
The Good: large restaurant, nice decor, some decent options food wise. The Bad: poor selection of sushi, slow service, dip (tobacco) in employee's mouth, dated and rough looking carpet. The Rundown: in terms of buffets around town this one doesn't rank high with me. While the restaurant itself looks decent and different from many others in terms of decor the place it falls flat is the food. They have a small selection of sushi that from the look of it alone is off putting. I found myself not wanting much more than a first round before heading to the ice cream machine because that is something they can't mess up. If the food weren't bad enough, having to wait 15 min before I get my water is disappointing, and you can forget about refills. The Impression: no thank you, I will go to pretty much any other buffet over this one.
(2)
Kirby W.
Ok. The "Happy Dragon" isn't so happy. My wife and I have been trying to find a good Chinese restaurant in Lexington. Needless to say we are still looking ......... The Happy Dragon is a buffet style dining experience. We had a coupon for $2 off on buffet for two - it was clearly their coupon (we got it from their add and wasn't expired but they wouldn't honor it. ). The egg drop and Hot and Sour soups were pretty good - but that's where the pretty good ended and the pretty bad started. The rest of the food I tried was of very poor quality. The chicken dishes were rubbery and had quit a bit of gristle to deal with. The egg rolls and spring rolls were fairly tasteless. Being a buffet the pans of dishes were sitter my in a stem table to keep them hot, but to be honest, half the dishes I had were only luke warm. Which concerned us from a sickness stand point. ( I will point out that my wife and I were fine the next day - we didn't get sick) the dishes that were suppose to be spicy weren't - the dishes that were suppose to be sweet / sour weren't. It all kind of tasted the same to us. Then there was the help / service. This was very sub-par as well. We could barely hear / understand the waitress for our table. The thing that struck us as odd for a place called the "Happy Dragon" NO ONE seemed happy. None of the help was smiling; they all seemed miserable. Additionally, NO ONE said thank you for your business - the Manager that rang up our bill didn't say thank you or "please come again" or anything like that..... I'm usually a little tougher to get a 20% tip out of but my wife is a push over. This is the very first time my wife Said she was fine with NOT leaving a tip. We didn't. We will not be going back. I will be shocked if this place lasts another year.
(1)
Pepper T.
Against the prior reviews and my better judgement my family decided to eat here because it was close to our home and we were limited on time. Let me start out by saying, I have two teenage sons that can wreck a buffet. They had two plates a piece. No one touched the sushi rolls. They looked (I am thinking and trying to find a better word for nasty) gross. Yes, gross works. I ordered a hot tea. The tea was so hot I could not hold the cup. I had to sit and wait. If I had spilled it or tried to sip it, it would have scaled me. Very small portions of old food remaining on the buffet. They did bring fresh salted shrimp out, which did taste good, but that was the only fresh item we saw them bring out in the 30 mins we dined. We will not be back.
(1)
Lauren B.
HORRIFIC. Absolutely disgusting. The food was so greasy I mean over the top, abnormally so even for Chinese food. And definitely had MSG in it (could have kept eating even thought I had more than enough). Will never come here again when I'm in the area! Yuck. Save yourself
(1)
Johnny B.
I was hoping this wasn't the case but I couldn't even take a few bites of my first plate before literally walking out. But not before paying for my stale Coke. SPEECHLESS!!!What a shame!
(1)
Chad C.
"Same taste with different shapes." is the best description I can give for this place. It just seems so sad. They have a big buffet and not too over priced, but everything tastes the same and is luke warm. On a positive note, if you want just a salad their salad bar is always fresh and good. Thank goodness for raw cut veggies served cold. It use to be a really good place (long ago), but something is slacking in these asians. They are very much BLAH! I feel bad for having to write this, but it must be said. Folks need to know
(1)
Ron J.
Its your typical Chinese buffet and an american salad bar with desserts and ice cream. You pay extra for crab legs. Reasonable prices for lunch and dinner. Go when you are very hungry. Look for coupons to save a buck.
(4)
Elvin H.
Very average food. Sweet and sour chicken not very good, but beef & veggies very good. Everything could use some more spices. Fried rice good. Instant mashed potatoes horrible. Price is very reasonabe, and service was good. Very sad to see former New Orleans House in such disrepair.
(3)
Arvin B.
All right so here it goes. I went there today, on Chinese New Year mind you; raving about how I would say "Happy Chinese New Year" and all that; but I whimped out. Anyway, you do not want to see that story. You want see how the food tasted. All right then. Let's get started. I got in there and it was a very spacious restaurant. You wait to be seated, I think it was the manager who sat me, and immediately he will ask you what you want to drink. I think this was the only time I may have not really understood what he said. I said I wanted Sprite and I think he said "Is 7 Up okay?", but then I was like "What?" and he was like "It is Pepsi product. Is it okay.." and then I said "Yes" before he completed the sentence. Then I got my food. So the play by play is this.... You will see three different bars: one for all the meats, noodles, and egg rolls. The other is with the salads, toppings, and dressings along with potato salad and a fruit salad towards the end. If you keep going on the salad side, there is the desert bar with rice pudding and Chinese cakes and pastries. I had pretty much every thing in the meat bar with exception to normal American or people call it that, stuff. You know...the rolls, and bread and what not. I skipped that. For me, I had to eat everything not typically American. Well, really, let's be real, everything is Americanized to some extent. Everything, I felt, was good. Not too spicy and heated well. Salad bar was great, but I approached this with having eaten all the meat stuffs and drinking half a cup of sprite, so I was pretty full. Then I ate at the desert bar. I skipped everything deep fried like Eclairs and some other Chinese deep fried and went for the brown sugar rolls, and swirly rolls, and anything not American, or at least you would not find them in American stores. The waitress was great; but to that other guy who hated that she only said "hello". I mean come on dude. She does not have to say much more. She was busy today. Was very busy after I got in. Thank god I was able to plate up before the crowd came. Four plates from the meat bar, one plate of the salad bar, one plate of the deserts, and one bowl of rice pudding. All good. Think I ate it under 45 minutes. Went to check out and I tried to see if I could negotiate a coupon that said $2 off buffet for 2 to see if I could get $1 off for a buffet for 1. Did not happen. :/ Guess you cannot negotiate, Indian ethnic dude loses the negotiating to a Chinese dude. Anywho, $10, including tip, was not a bad deal after all. I bet I would have gotten something if I said " HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!" -_-
(4)
Andrew T.
Typical Chinese buffet. Not bad, not great. Everybody ate and no one really complained about the food. Owners were nice, but the waitress didn't really pay attention. We were in town with kids and had a lack of places to eat with kids, so decided to try it.
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Specialities
Takes Reservations : No Delivery : No Take-out : Yes Accepts Credit Cards : Yes Good For : Lunch Wheelchair Accessible : Yes Good for Kids : Yes Good for Groups : Yes Attire : Casual Noise Level : Quiet Alcohol : Beer & Wine Only Outdoor Seating : No Wi-Fi : No Has TV : No Waiter Service : Yes Caters : No
The popularity of Chinese food in America can be adjudicated by the appearance of China Town in many major cities in the United State of America. The popular trend of ordering or opting for Chinese take away food isn't unknown in America. Chinese take away food comes to rescue when you're too tired from work or too exhausted to cook. No one can resist the temptation of eating spicy noodles, shrimp, chicken, beef or pork cooked in the sweet and spicy sauce. The cooking method of authentic Chinese food is a lot different compared to what is served in America.
Generally, Chinese use dark meat small bones and organs to cook dishes but this changes when you are eating American-Chinese fusion food prepared using white boneless meat cooked with broccoli, carrots and onions. Back in China, the food is less spicy and oily as they favor steaming and braising method for cooking the most popular dishes. So, if you have a taste for authentic Chinese food, then try finding a real Chinese restaurant in the city. You can also try the most popular fusion Chinese food like Pecking Duck, Chicken Feet, Hot Pot, Shrimp Dumpling Soup, Mapo Tofu, Wontons, Chop Suey, Egg Rolls and not to forget Fortune Cookies.
There are not many restaurants in America serving authentic Chinese food. A little research on Restaurant Listings directory can help you locate the best Chinese restaurants in the city. Chinese cuisine is continuously evolving, and you can find a variety of dishes categorized as the food for lactose intolerant, gluten intolerant, vegan, vegetarian, and diabetic friendly. So, if you have a group of friends with different taste patterns, save the hassle and visit the nearest Chinese restaurant in your city.
Joseph O.
A passable buffet, not exceptional, but acceptable. I waffled between giving it 2 or 3 stars, ultimately I gave it 3 because I do keep coming back here as the only Chinese buffet in Lexington I'll eat at even semi-regularly. It's got a wide variety of food, and I'll give them bonus points for having an actual salad bar there too. It's got everything you'd expect on a Chinese buffet, and basically fills in the blocks. The food is basically what you'd expect from a Chinese buffet: filling and ample but of mediocre quality. Sadly, the service is pretty weak. I was there today and they were out of bowls for the soups. When I tried to ask one of the employees, they apparently didn't speak English because they just started shouting for another employee in some Asian language. I never got an answer, and was never able to get some soup because of that. As a bit of trivia, 20 years or so ago, it used to be a Cajun & seafood buffet called the New Orleans House, and they blatantly have never renovated or remodeled the place since then. The decor is still more oriented towards the Gulf Coast region than the Far East, such as the big brass plaque that says "Sandpiper Room" by the main dining room.
(3)Gordon F.
I went here for lunch because some co-workers wanted to go. It was just as expected-- a substandard chinese buffet. Everything was lukewarm and had been sitting under the hot lamps for a while. Pretty much every dish tasted the same, and what little meat there was in the dishes was either tough or way overseasoned. I don't remember it being a particularly good deal, either. Oh yeah, I also got the runs.... :-/
(2)Amber I.
Been craving Chinese for two days now and so we decided to check out Happy Dragon as we had never been there. The food was lukewarm and what meat dishes there were were very fatty. We arrived around 720 and the place wasn't empty but wast full and a lot of the dishes were just about done. I decided to check out the desserts bc you can't screw up ice cream or banana pudding and somehow they managed to do both. The pudding was actually blackish looking- as if the banana were ripe inside the pudding. The ice cream was actually frozen yogurt and it was this really weird gritty consistency. Point I'm trying to make: don't go here. Our waitress said hello and brought our waters and then never said another word to us- not even when she picked up my full plate. Summary: Food: disgusting. Service: horrible. And now i have a tummy ache. Worst Chinese experience of my life!
(1)Liz T.
Came into town late for an art opening and looked for something near our hotel. The place is kind of hard to find, it appears that you are driving into a gated community but there is a little turnoff before the guard house. We got there a little under 2 hours before they were scheduled to close but a lot of things appeared to be gone or almost gone and they weren't refilling things. The food that was there was mostly decent. Their saving grace was their amazing fried rice, tastes just like a sit down place, not the rice you usually find at buffets. Also they did have good inari and a lot of seafood offerings. Not bad but not sure I'd go back.
(3)Brian G.
I ate here a few times several years ago and quit coming after the food was not that great. I went back a few months ago and Happy Dragon has become my favorite Chinese Buffet in Lexington! The food is awesome and the staff is very friendly and courteous. Your drink (speaking of soda, tea, or water) will hardly ever get below half a glass before you are offered a refill. A wide selection of "Americanized" Chinese food on the buffet.
(4)Harold C.
Mediocre--loads of bad food, pricey. Yes, it's all-you-can-eat. Yes, they have variety. No, the food's not that good. If you must have Chinese buffet on the Northside, head to Panda Garden instead.
(3)Heather P.
Keep in mind that it's $6.99 for the M-F lunch buffet. For that price, I think it's pretty darn good. I started with salad. Two options of greens, cubed and shredded cheese, broccoli, fresh mushrooms and ranch... all of that in its self was worth $6.99 in my book. But then, they have all of the usual Asian buffet options too. The stuffed mushrooms and banana pudding were my favs. It had been years since it given this place a try. Several of my girlfriends wanted a hog troth experience and they picked this spot. I'm glad they picked it, because I'd probably never had given them another shot. The decor could use some attention and the fact that they were selling art, vases and home decor near the entrance... It was odd and out of place. It is close to the interstate, so if you're riding along, looking for a place, I'd suggest it, especially for the price.
(4)Wes C.
The Good: large restaurant, nice decor, some decent options food wise. The Bad: poor selection of sushi, slow service, dip (tobacco) in employee's mouth, dated and rough looking carpet. The Rundown: in terms of buffets around town this one doesn't rank high with me. While the restaurant itself looks decent and different from many others in terms of decor the place it falls flat is the food. They have a small selection of sushi that from the look of it alone is off putting. I found myself not wanting much more than a first round before heading to the ice cream machine because that is something they can't mess up. If the food weren't bad enough, having to wait 15 min before I get my water is disappointing, and you can forget about refills. The Impression: no thank you, I will go to pretty much any other buffet over this one.
(2)Kirby W.
Ok. The "Happy Dragon" isn't so happy. My wife and I have been trying to find a good Chinese restaurant in Lexington. Needless to say we are still looking ......... The Happy Dragon is a buffet style dining experience. We had a coupon for $2 off on buffet for two - it was clearly their coupon (we got it from their add and wasn't expired but they wouldn't honor it. ). The egg drop and Hot and Sour soups were pretty good - but that's where the pretty good ended and the pretty bad started. The rest of the food I tried was of very poor quality. The chicken dishes were rubbery and had quit a bit of gristle to deal with. The egg rolls and spring rolls were fairly tasteless. Being a buffet the pans of dishes were sitter my in a stem table to keep them hot, but to be honest, half the dishes I had were only luke warm. Which concerned us from a sickness stand point. ( I will point out that my wife and I were fine the next day - we didn't get sick) the dishes that were suppose to be spicy weren't - the dishes that were suppose to be sweet / sour weren't. It all kind of tasted the same to us. Then there was the help / service. This was very sub-par as well. We could barely hear / understand the waitress for our table. The thing that struck us as odd for a place called the "Happy Dragon" NO ONE seemed happy. None of the help was smiling; they all seemed miserable. Additionally, NO ONE said thank you for your business - the Manager that rang up our bill didn't say thank you or "please come again" or anything like that..... I'm usually a little tougher to get a 20% tip out of but my wife is a push over. This is the very first time my wife Said she was fine with NOT leaving a tip. We didn't. We will not be going back. I will be shocked if this place lasts another year.
(1)Pepper T.
Against the prior reviews and my better judgement my family decided to eat here because it was close to our home and we were limited on time. Let me start out by saying, I have two teenage sons that can wreck a buffet. They had two plates a piece. No one touched the sushi rolls. They looked (I am thinking and trying to find a better word for nasty) gross. Yes, gross works. I ordered a hot tea. The tea was so hot I could not hold the cup. I had to sit and wait. If I had spilled it or tried to sip it, it would have scaled me. Very small portions of old food remaining on the buffet. They did bring fresh salted shrimp out, which did taste good, but that was the only fresh item we saw them bring out in the 30 mins we dined. We will not be back.
(1)Lauren B.
HORRIFIC. Absolutely disgusting. The food was so greasy I mean over the top, abnormally so even for Chinese food. And definitely had MSG in it (could have kept eating even thought I had more than enough). Will never come here again when I'm in the area! Yuck. Save yourself
(1)Johnny B.
I was hoping this wasn't the case but I couldn't even take a few bites of my first plate before literally walking out. But not before paying for my stale Coke. SPEECHLESS!!!What a shame!
(1)Chad C.
"Same taste with different shapes." is the best description I can give for this place. It just seems so sad. They have a big buffet and not too over priced, but everything tastes the same and is luke warm. On a positive note, if you want just a salad their salad bar is always fresh and good. Thank goodness for raw cut veggies served cold. It use to be a really good place (long ago), but something is slacking in these asians. They are very much BLAH! I feel bad for having to write this, but it must be said. Folks need to know
(1)Ron J.
Its your typical Chinese buffet and an american salad bar with desserts and ice cream. You pay extra for crab legs. Reasonable prices for lunch and dinner. Go when you are very hungry. Look for coupons to save a buck.
(4)Elvin H.
Very average food. Sweet and sour chicken not very good, but beef & veggies very good. Everything could use some more spices. Fried rice good. Instant mashed potatoes horrible. Price is very reasonabe, and service was good. Very sad to see former New Orleans House in such disrepair.
(3)Arvin B.
All right so here it goes. I went there today, on Chinese New Year mind you; raving about how I would say "Happy Chinese New Year" and all that; but I whimped out. Anyway, you do not want to see that story. You want see how the food tasted. All right then. Let's get started. I got in there and it was a very spacious restaurant. You wait to be seated, I think it was the manager who sat me, and immediately he will ask you what you want to drink. I think this was the only time I may have not really understood what he said. I said I wanted Sprite and I think he said "Is 7 Up okay?", but then I was like "What?" and he was like "It is Pepsi product. Is it okay.." and then I said "Yes" before he completed the sentence. Then I got my food. So the play by play is this.... You will see three different bars: one for all the meats, noodles, and egg rolls. The other is with the salads, toppings, and dressings along with potato salad and a fruit salad towards the end. If you keep going on the salad side, there is the desert bar with rice pudding and Chinese cakes and pastries. I had pretty much every thing in the meat bar with exception to normal American or people call it that, stuff. You know...the rolls, and bread and what not. I skipped that. For me, I had to eat everything not typically American. Well, really, let's be real, everything is Americanized to some extent. Everything, I felt, was good. Not too spicy and heated well. Salad bar was great, but I approached this with having eaten all the meat stuffs and drinking half a cup of sprite, so I was pretty full. Then I ate at the desert bar. I skipped everything deep fried like Eclairs and some other Chinese deep fried and went for the brown sugar rolls, and swirly rolls, and anything not American, or at least you would not find them in American stores. The waitress was great; but to that other guy who hated that she only said "hello". I mean come on dude. She does not have to say much more. She was busy today. Was very busy after I got in. Thank god I was able to plate up before the crowd came. Four plates from the meat bar, one plate of the salad bar, one plate of the deserts, and one bowl of rice pudding. All good. Think I ate it under 45 minutes. Went to check out and I tried to see if I could negotiate a coupon that said $2 off buffet for 2 to see if I could get $1 off for a buffet for 1. Did not happen. :/ Guess you cannot negotiate, Indian ethnic dude loses the negotiating to a Chinese dude. Anywho, $10, including tip, was not a bad deal after all. I bet I would have gotten something if I said " HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!" -_-
(4)Andrew T.
Typical Chinese buffet. Not bad, not great. Everybody ate and no one really complained about the food. Owners were nice, but the waitress didn't really pay attention. We were in town with kids and had a lack of places to eat with kids, so decided to try it.
(3)