Dragon View Asian Cuisine I remember where I was and what I was doing the first time someone uttered these glorious words. “Yes, they put all the food out on a thing called a buffet under hot lights, and you can go back as many times as you want, all for one price.” I hurt myself that first time, and although I generally avoid buffets now, I still have a weak spot for the Chinese variety of this culinary behemoth. 1 out 5 stars. C-
Since Dragon View actually uses the word “cuisine” in the title of their restaurant I feel the need to comment on its use. In general the word cuisine, for me, elicits thoughts of the possibility of good food; however what we experienced was less cuisine and more grub, of the cold rubbery larva variety.
I admit we’ve been to Dragon View before, and when we first found the place for dinner (not buffet) about a year ago, it was pretty good. In fact it was good enough that I would grab an employee or two about once per week and go for the lunchtime buffet. I’ve had to learn to regulate myself and love the idea of having four soups to choose from. Add in a decent egg roll, some pot stickers, and one protein and I am a happy man. The selection at this place is pretty huge and it was busy enough so that the food got turned over. It was not so busy this last time. But in the past, I would have given it an overall rating of a B or higher on most days.
Then one day about six months ago, something happened. I noticed a distinct lack of quality and a change in the taste of the food. I thought to myself, hmm, the regular cook/chef is off today and some idiot is back there hacking away at the normal recipes. Hope the Chef comes back soon! As time passed the buffet went from okay, to not great, and then to utter yuck. Contributing to the “yuck” factor was a staff unable to figure out that tips, for staff working a buffet, come from volume of turnover and their own ability to simply fill up our drinks and get us our checks.
And then someone had the bright idea of turning off or down the warming tables. So the food went from bad to well, cold. This upped the yuck factor by a multiple of 10 (not good). I even told the guy that owns the place and runs the register his food was cold one day. I used the secret code known among restaurant owners. “Hey your food temps are off and some of that stuff is under acceptable temp. Ya might want to check the water or thermostats; your tables aren’t working.” He answered with a quick mumble and said he’d look into it.
Then there’s this: have you ever been in a place where you can tell they were just broken into? Like maybe only the night before, but they are open the next day as they clean up the mess. Well this place did get broken into some time ago. They sustained some pretty serious damage and lost a bunch of TV’s that these asshole thieves ripped off the walls and out of the ceiling. But that was many months ago, and the place still looks like it was broken into last night. Get this: they got new TV’s, but didn’t fix the holes! Listen, if you can’t be bothered to fix the gaping holes in the ceiling after several months, I shudder to think what is happening in that kitchen as the food comes out and lands on those cold holding containers on the buffet.
We tried Dragon’s View buffet again after giving them three months off. It still sucked. Cold food, bad food, sinewy chewy food, with gaping holes in the ceiling is not my idea of a smorgasbord. Rating c-
1 stars out of 5
D for Effort
D for Ambiance
B for Service
C for the food taste
C for the presentation
F for not somehow screwing it up (this is my own special rating category) I just can’t get past the cold holding tables and the ceilings.
Was once at the bottom end of OK but I would not, based on my experience, recommend you try it. At some point you cut corners until you cut off your nose. Was not able to find a website:Should you wish to try the chewy sinewy fat laden cold food we experienced, you can find them at 400 North Bonita Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85745
All Opinion, mostly mine, and credit goes to my Fiancée for editing and saving you from my first drafts.
Dragon View- Chinese Buffet
Tags: Chinese, Crappy, Price Medium
Dragon View Asian Cuisine
I remember where I was and what I was doing the first time someone uttered these glorious words. “Yes, they put all the food out on a thing called a buffet under hot lights, and you can go back as many times as you want, all for one price.” I hurt myself that first time, and although I generally avoid buffets now, I still have a weak spot for the Chinese variety of this culinary behemoth.
1 out 5 stars. C-
Since Dragon View actually uses the word “cuisine” in the title of their restaurant I feel the need to comment on its use. In general the word cuisine, for me, elicits thoughts of the possibility of good food; however what we experienced was less cuisine and more grub, of the cold rubbery larva variety.
I admit we’ve been to Dragon View before, and when we first found the place for dinner (not buffet) about a year ago, it was pretty good. In fact it was good enough that I would grab an employee or two about once per week and go for the lunchtime buffet. I’ve had to learn to regulate myself and love the idea of having four soups to choose from. Add in a decent egg roll, some pot stickers, and one protein and I am a happy man. The selection at this place is pretty huge and it was busy enough so that the food got turned over. It was not so busy this last time. But in the past, I would have given it an overall rating of a B or higher on most days.
Then one day about six months ago, something happened. I noticed a distinct lack of quality and a change in the taste of the food. I thought to myself, hmm, the regular cook/chef is off today and some idiot is back there hacking away at the normal recipes. Hope the Chef comes back soon! As time passed the buffet went from okay, to not great, and then to utter yuck. Contributing to the “yuck” factor was a staff unable to figure out that tips, for staff working a buffet, come from volume of turnover and their own ability to simply fill up our drinks and get us our checks.
And then someone had the bright idea of turning off or down the warming tables. So the food went from bad to well, cold. This upped the yuck factor by a multiple of 10 (not good). I even told the guy that owns the place and runs the register his food was cold one day. I used the secret code known among restaurant owners. “Hey your food temps are off and some of that stuff is under acceptable temp. Ya might want to check the water or thermostats; your tables aren’t working.” He answered with a quick mumble and said he’d look into it.
Then there’s this: have you ever been in a place where you can tell they were just broken into? Like maybe only the night before, but they are open the next day as they clean up the mess. Well this place did get broken into some time ago. They sustained some pretty serious damage and lost a bunch of TV’s that these asshole thieves ripped off the walls and out of the ceiling. But that was many months ago, and the place still looks like it was broken into last night. Get this: they got new TV’s, but didn’t fix the holes! Listen, if you can’t be bothered to fix the gaping holes in the ceiling after several months, I shudder to think what is happening in that kitchen as the food comes out and lands on those cold holding containers on the buffet.
We tried Dragon’s View buffet again after giving them three months off. It still sucked. Cold food, bad food, sinewy chewy food, with gaping holes in the ceiling is not my idea of a smorgasbord.
Rating c-
1 stars out of 5
D for Effort
D for Ambiance
B for Service
C for the food taste
C for the presentation
F for not somehow screwing it up (this is my own special rating category) I just can’t get past the cold holding tables and the ceilings.
Was once at the bottom end of OK but I would not, based on my experience, recommend you try it. At some point you cut corners until you cut off your nose.
Was not able to find a website:Should you wish to try the chewy sinewy fat laden cold food we experienced, you can find them at 400 North Bonita Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85745
All Opinion, mostly mine, and credit goes to my Fiancée for editing and saving you from my first drafts.
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