Avoid if you can - nonexistent service
First off, this story is a bit long but if you're planning a visit to Campbell River and hope to find a good Chinese buffet lunch or dinner, PLEASE read this first before going to Chan's.

After having eaten at buffets that offer more than 100 items, I didn't expect much from this restaurant with its somewhat meager selection of 17-20 items. That being said, I believe I have found an all-time low for a buffet-style restaurant. My party arrived at noon (when restaurants should be running full-swing for lunch) however we were greeted by a surly Chinese man who turned out to be the manager, waiter, dishwasher, and chef. There were about 4 other small parties besides us already in the restaurant.

The food: The selection, granted that this restaurant is located in the relatively small town of Campbell River, was full of somewhat standard dishes (fried rice, chow mein, ginger beef, teriyaki chicken, some mixed vegetables, and egg rolls). Most of the food was either cold or just plain un-chewable due to being left out too long.

A bunch of us asked the manager for some more chow mein since there wasn't any left. He mentioned that he was out of chow mein. So...we asked him to make some more potstickers, to which he replied that we would have to wait a long time. We said fine and proceeded to wait about 15 minutes for the potstickers to arrive. When he finally did bring the potstickers out, he brought a total of 8 potstickers (gee, I guess everyone in the restaurant is supposed to share one-half of each potsticker?)

We had a good laugh but decided to forgo asking the manager again for more food to be brought out since it was clearly a sore point for the manager to have to cook up something and bring it out. We proceeded to pay the bill except the manager accidentally rung up one person as an adult rather than at the senior price. Instead of fixing it, he told us that since he had already rung up our bill, he couldn't go back and change it. So...I said fine, just charge the full amount and give us a cash refund of the difference. To this, he replied that he couldn't do that because he had rung up the full amount in his cash register. Well, at this point, I was thinking that this guy was full of BS so I told him, I'd only pay him the appropriate bill since he advertised a senior price at the front door and was making some nonsense excuse of not being able to void a transaction. Well, after about 5 minutes of back and forth useless arguing, he grudgingly took my cash payment (with the senior price accounted for).

Needless to say, we will never be going back to Chan's. Save your money and enjoy a nice lunch/dinner elsewhere.    [12 Sep 2007 04:32:51]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: The fruit selection was decent

     ­Buffet Reviewer