I’ve been in middle Tennessee for almost a month now so it must be time to talk about the local Oriental buffets. The nearest town with a buffet is Lewisburg TN and they actually have 2 Chinese buffets.

I did not, and will not, visit the China Wok buffet because they use disposable plates and plasticware. Shame on them. I don’t know how the economics work out for actual plates/silverware/dishwasher vs plastic and Styrofoam but I believe their practice is killing the planet. I will not contribute to that destruction.

The second Chinese buffet in Lewisburg is Fusion Cuisine. It’s located right next to the WalMart in a small strip mall. Despite the fancy name, this buffet should be included in the ‘economy’ category. Lunch was under $7 (without drink or tip) and the selections reflected that price. I did not make a return visit.

I mentioned my disappointing experience to some of my coworkers and they highly recommended the Golden Buffet in Pulaski. That was about a 25 minute drive to find out that it was only marginally better than the Fusion Cuisine. If it was a little closer I might have gone back. Unfortunately, it also suffered from the small town buffet syndrome of just not much of a selection.

Continuing the search, I tried the Lucky Bamboo buffet in Columbia TN on a Sunday afternoon. Jackpot!!!! I was initially mildly disappointed that they didn’t have rice noodles when my attention was captured by a suspiciously familiar tray at the corner of the steam table. Hallelujah, they had frog legs. I quickly filled half a plate, and also loaded up on garlic shrimp. They had all the other standard dishes, sushi and a hibachi grill. Plus they had an excellent dessert selection that included one of my all time favorites – Napoleons. After a few more visits, I discovered that they also serve frog legs for dinner during the week and rice noodles are available during lunch. It’s not as big as some buffets that I’ve visited but it had enough of my favorites to keep me coming back.