Thanks to South Park, I’m constantly mispronouncing the name of this place, so in effort to avoid insult, I’ll keep to calling it Dragon Stone from now on.
This is only a preliminary review, as my experience was based on the soft opening the day before the grand, the result of a personal invite. Given its obvious course edges, I was surprised to find no jagged ones, leaving promise for a restaurant format many people expect me to hate.
I don’t.
It’s considered common knowledge to friends, family members, and strangers passing me on the street, that I find most Chinese buffets unpleasant. I hear stories—like the legends of lake spirits throwing swords at would-be-kings—of good ones, but these often reside in larger cities. Locally, I’ve often been disappointed...often meaning all the time. Hobbling astride other zombies looking past the sneeze-guard at tepid offerings awash in monosodium glutamate and decomposing within waist-high troughs stretching into the vanishing point, how can one lose? So when I say I enjoyed Dragon Stone, you can make either two assumptions: it must be good, or someone slipped me rohypnol.
Before getting to the food, let’s address the look of the restaurant, which honestly resembles a level from Portal 2, with walls alternating between bright blue or orange. I kept thinking I could bounce off one wall and slide along the other. What it does not resemble is an Asian restaurant. I’m okay with that. Obviously, someone missed the memo. Where are the zodiacs placemats hiding under clear plastic tablecloths? Where are the grease-soaked paper lamps? This place is cavernous, with a ceiling fifteen feet over where the walls end, and with no dressings or hanging art to break up the decor, every little squeak reverberates. I know flare will eventually hang from the walls, but I hope they don’t overdo it. I like Portal.
Dragon Stone isn’t devoid of Asian highlights. The accents are there if you look, in the same way you can find them in Steven Seagal. They grace the tables, the chest-high dividing walls you’d expect to hide behind when playing as Marcus Fenix. But they don’t assault you, and given the rise of pitch-black restaurants layered in shades of brown, the optimism of Dragon Stone is oddly refreshing (even though the lights may need to come down a tad).
One misconception regarding Dragon Stone is that it’s a franchise. Admittedly, the format isn’t original. Many similar restaurants charge by weight. You grab a selection of ingredients, pay the cashier, bring them to the cook, and wait patiently for your plate. As my town caters to a…hmm, shall we say, mostly rotund clientele, Dragon Stone carries a fixed price, one for lunch and another for dinner (with lowered prices for takeout). This means you can return to the prep area repeatedly. And unlike other reviews I’ve written, I’m going to break from my usual verbosity and actually provide something useful.
One may be intimidated given the current lack of arrows, stanchions, and signs, but the staff are there to help. Here are the cliff notes: After finding your seat and receiving drinks, make your way to the buffet line, retrieving the first of many bowls. Fill said bowl with whatever interests you, leaving the proteins for last (as the top goes down first when the bowl is flipped on the grill. Detour to the condiments counter, layering the ingredients in various liquids, necessary given that part of the cooking involves steaming. Salted water is an obvious first squeeze, but the rest is up to your imagination. The chefs then accept your offering like Buddhist monks, and you await your plate (don’t return to your table…be patient). Resist your instincts in preparing a large bowl. Try something small, start with four or five ingredients, squirt on some garlic water (don’t press to hard, less you want people to think you made a bathroom mistake). After enjoying said plate, grab another bowl and repeat. Replace noodles with rice, chicken with beef. Add onions or carrots or chickpeas. Alternate garlic or ginger with oyster sauce, or hell, combine all of them. The point is a successful combination is entirely within your grasp. I tried three plates and didn’t screw up once.
I also recommend that you don’t confuse the chefs, as currently there is no way outside of their own memory to connect you to the bowl. The chefs, servers, and owners were all astounding friendly, but given this was a soft open, it wasn’t particularly busy. Stanchions may indeed be useful if Dragon Stone proves the success I predict it to be. That would be its ultimate test, why I plan on returning again in a few weeks for a second review, ensuring that when the pressure is on, Dragon Stone can still deliver. As long as their chefs keep committed in cooking the food properly, and as long as the buffet remains stocked with fresh vegetables and proteins, I can’t see Dragon Stone failing. And I don’t want it to. This could be it, the answer to the often asked query of which restaurant has the best Chinese buffet. I want this to be the answer.
Food: 4/5
Service: 5/5
Presentation: 3.5/5
Value: 4/5
Recommendation: 4/5
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