Panda All-you-can-eat Asian Buffet opens Summit Square

Panda Buffet – unrelated to the Panda Express chain – opened at 333 Summit Square Court, near the Hampton Inn and Suites. The location formerly housed an events center.

Panda Buffet is owned by Fei Lin, who also owns Stir Fry 88 in the Hanes Mall food court.

Panda Buffet is a much larger operation. The main dining room can accommodate approximately 200 people. There are also two private dining rooms that can be reserved for groups of up to 40 people each, said Kevin Dong, manager of Panda Buffet.

Dong said the buffet is a mix of Asian and American dishes.

It includes a sushi station with popular sushi rolls. There is also a hibachi station where customers can choose from shrimp, chicken, steak, rice, noodles and a variety of vegetables and have their meal cooked to order with a choice of hibachi or teriyaki sauce.

The restaurant will also make noodle soup to order, choosing from noodles such as udon. “We have tonkotsu and seafood broth,” Dong said. “We make everything in house. The tonkotsu (pork broth) cooks for six hours.”

Starters include spring rolls, spring rolls and grilled chicken skewers.

Soups include egg, sweet and sour and spicy shrimp.

There are traditional Asian dishes like Sesame Chicken and General Tso’s Chicken. Other dishes include ribs, baked salmon and chicken with broccoli and mushrooms.

American dishes include pizza, Buffalo wings, fries and mashed potatoes.

A cold bar offers lettuce salad, octopus and kimchi. For dessert, two kinds of Jell-O as well as a chocolate and banana pudding. Other desserts include a mint mousse-style confection, ice cream, orange cake, and marshmallow-nut brownies.

The price of all-you-can-eat catering varies depending on the time. Dong explained that this was because they prepared different dishes, such as salt and pepper shrimp and shrimp cocktail, for dinner.

From 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, the cost is $5.99 for children ages three to six, $8.99 for children ages seven to 10, and $12.99 for everyone else. After 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, these prices rise to $6.99, $9.99, and $15.99.

On Saturday and Sunday, Panda Buffet offers “all day dining” priced at $6.99, $9.99 and $16.99.