Asian Pearl Buffet - Druid Hills - Emory - Atlanta Georgia

You can find Asian Pearl Buffet Hibachi Grill at 4166 Buford Hwy NE, Atlanta, GA 30345 in the Plaza Fiesta shopping center - I believe it's the same space that used to be occupied by a popular dim sum restaurant with a similar name. I'm not quite sure when things changed but it's been Asian Pearl for a few years. Parking is out front and there's typically plenty of open spaces, unless there's a carnival in town (which for some reason carnivals seem to setup here a lot).

I attended a short evening meal with John F from my BufHy Crawler group - on this night it was just he and I - I guess the others didn't find the place too appetizing. The most remarkable thing about this place is the buffet itself - it's modeled from a fairly large fishing boat. If nothing else stick your head in this place and checkout the boat - it's quite impressive. The food, not so much.

I hesitate to not recommend a restaurant and unfortunately this is one of those rare occasions. The food was tepid and dry when it should have been hot and juicy. The hot and sour soup had plenty going on but wasn't much in flavor, authentic or otherwise. The sushi I tried was really marginal and I watched the "chef" make the rolls so it wasn't like the stuff had been sitting around.  John settled on a grilled fish and a few crawdads which I think he said were okay other than being a bit cold (but surprisingly not stale) - he did like the raw oysters but they were slow to refill. I tired an assortment of items and for once left still hungry - hard to do at a buffet. 

The people here were rather indifferent (which is typical at buffets is this part of Buford Highway) - this seems to be another buffet that caters to local Latinos - not much communication going on. It was fairly busy so someone likes it. 

(also posted to Yelp)

Naan N Curry - Duluth Georgia Near

You can find Naan 'N Curry at 3083 Breckinridge Blvd, Duluth, GA 30096 near (behind?) Gwinnett Place Mall at the corner of Breckinridge Blvd and Old Norcross Rd. There are several restaurants in this small strip mall - Naan 'N Curry occupies one end. Parking is int he lot out front and there appears to be a lot of activity so you may have to walk a bit.

I finally had a chance to try Naan 'N Curry for a late lunch one Saturday afternoon - this was upon recommendation of one of my Indian friends - I was in the area and decided to try the buffet. Naan 'N Curry is a Pakistani-style restaurant and as such the flavors  are much more in the style of west India - spicy but also a bit more "soupy" in consistency. There were two tables occupied and a couple of more visitors came in while I was seated - also a few take-out orders were either made-up by people at the buffet or picked up, presumably from a call.

When you walk in you'll see a plain and clean dining room with a counter that extends from the back wall - above are some menu options and a guy manning the register. If you order food from the menu I believe it's delivered through a small window behind the counter - at least that's where much of the take-out was being passed to the guy in front. The buffet is to the left with a couple of hot-line tables and a cold-line table for pickles, sauces and the like. One pan had a few naan wedges with the others mostly containing soupy meat dishes. The smell of curry was quite pleasant. Piles of styrofoam plates, bowls and cups were nearby as well as plastic utensils. This latter reminded me quite a bit of eating in the mall food courts in India - actually the inside of the place also felt similar to those experiences to me.

I gathered up a few items for a plate and asked for some fresh bread, as the few wedges in the hotel pan were fairly hammered. After a few minutes someone dumped a pan back into the pan so I left my table to get some and was surprised as it didn't seem to be fresh bread - more like they had extra made up for the lunch rush and decided to use it up. First time I've seen that. While scooping up a few items it was apparent that quite a bit of ghee or some other oil was very prevalent in the food - lots of fat floating on top of all the pans.

Now to digress a bit, I've tried about a dozen Pakistani style restaurants and there seems to be a common theme - perhaps it's just something inherent in this style of cooking but the extra oiliness is definitely a turn-off for me. Maybe I'm a bit too American? It just turns into grease in my mouth and belly and gives me a stomach ache. I was careful to get the "cleanest" portions as possible but by doing so I ended up missing out on much of the gravy which is where much of the flavor is contained. The only Pakastani restaurant where I've eaten that I really enjoyed was Kabab Hut in Lilburn (probably due to the all-BBQ plate I ordered) and Zyka in Decatur (but this latter was much closer to what you would find in an Indian restaurant to me). I hate to generalize like this but there it is.

So the plate of food I built - I ate it but did not go for seconds. The meats, as I said were a bit under-spiced since I passed on the oily gravy and the one mixed veggie dish was a bit marginal to me in flavor - even the korma seemed light on the spice and the daal a bit light on cumin. OK so maybe I'm a bit picky - I'm sure others will find the food just fine. On this day, with what was offered on the buffet I started getting a stomach ache when I left the restaurant. To me it makes it below average but I'll round up to 3/5 stars.

The service here is pretty much non-existent since you tell the guy at the counter and with the buffet it's self-serve, so I can't comment too much on this. I did feel like the guy didn't like me taking photos (I've experienced this before and had someone tell me photos weren't allowed - this was at Ashiana in Global Mall) so I tried not to be too obvious or obnoxious about it.

-- John

(also posted to Yelp) 
 

Hibachi Buffet - Norcross Georgia

You can fine Hibachi Buffet at 7045 Jimmy Carter Blvd, Norcross, GA 30092 across from the Peachtree Corners shopping center (one of the LA Fitness locations I like to visit is there) and in a building in front of a Holiday Inn Express. I believe that this business used to be across the street and down a bit - same owners.

First let me tell provide my opinion on buffets - I think they're a mixed bag. The nice thing about them is that you can pretty much fill-up on a fixed price AND get in-and-out super quickly - I find them very convenient when time is short as I can usually cut my time in the restaurant to as little as 20 minutes - if you're on a fixed timeline for lunch there's much to be said for being able to get so much variety for the price and quickness of fast food. The flip-side is that the quality of the food may be more cafeteria-like than you prefer, catering to generic tastes.

Ethnic buffets extend on the above by providing stronger flavors that cater to an Americanized perspective on Chinese, Indian, etc foods. In general I've found Indian buffets to have flavors the closest to the ethnicity represented while Chinese buffets are just the opposite - very much the schwag, Americanized version of Chinese food. American buffets in a way are the worst, providing some of the blandest Southern or other mishmash of cuisines that imply Italian, or other cuisines from some belated Betty Crocker cookbook written in the 50's (and I may be disparaging BC in this case as most buffets don't even get that right). 

Taking in the above, please take my opinions with a grain of salt. As Asian buffets go, you could do much worse than Hibachi Buffet. This rather expansive location has plenty of seating and better, lots of selection, from Chinese, Korean and Japanese to passable buffet sushi and a fair selection of American desserts. This isn't 5-star cuisine but quite filling and I think most Americans would do fine eating here. The best deal is the $9.99 all-you-can-eat Mon-Thurs and really, you should be saving your weekends for your significant other at something fancier. For me, this is a great deal for those weekday nights after the gym when I want to pack on some proteins that taste better than a burger or fried chicken finger.

For the food, everything had that typical blandness you get with food averaged for the masses - nothing truly distinctive here. Even the kimchi was a bit weak, more like salted cabbage soaked in that fake kimchi sauce (it needed much more fermentation). But as I've already stated, if you're looking for something quick this can be the perfect place.

-- John

(also posted to Yelp)
 

Madras Chettinaad - Alpharetta

You can find Madras Chettinaad at 4305 State Bridge Rd #108, Alpharetta, GA 30022 in the Alpharetta Common Shopping Center anchored by Publix. Traveling East from 400 on Old Milton Pkwy, you'll find this shopping center right at the State Bridge split, where Kimble Bridge, State Bridge and Old Milton come together. This is an expansive space with tons of seating and a very large buffet - perhaps the largest Indian buffet in Atlanta.

I've eaten at Madras for many years - this is a favorite among the Indian staffers I've worked with and a worthy replacement of my previous favorite for this area, Minerva (which was nearby and now closed). Chettinaad has two very long tables of food and features a spice-level you'll more commonly find near the Patel Brothers in Decatur. I've had many good meals here and there's so much variety that you can certainly mix things up so you get a different combination of foods each time.

Most recently I met a group for a weekend lunch - the place was hopping with all tables filled - fortunately we called ahead and only waited a few minutes. The buffet was packed with many items to try. Some a bit more unusual than others - make sure you get a Dosa!

I focused on the Masala Dosa (curried potato stuffed crepe) with Sambar and chutneys, plus a few fried items which are very popular. I particularly like the coconut chutney here.

I next hit the hot items and chickens in various curries. Typically I'd go for the veggies dishes then transition to the meats - Chettinaad separates the veg from non-veg which seems to be common practice and really makes sense if you think about who is eating. I went a bit lighter on this day as I'm trying to cut down a bit on the calorie count (difficult to do at a buffet!) The biriyani was particularly delicious on this visit.

Service can be a bit spotty but in general the staff kept our water glasses full. There's plentiful parking in the lot with overflow towards the Publix side.

-- John

(also posted to Yelp)