By Assistant Editor Lindsay Sauvageau

This week I took my grandparents to a delightful little lunch buffet at Tang Dynasty at 638 North Main St. in Leominster. My grandfather and I are big fans of the buffet as an all-you-can-eat, why-choose-when-you-can-have-a-little-bit-of-everything concept and my grandmother, well she’s just a big fan of Asian cuisine.

    We all went home satisfied.

    Tang Dynasty is a great Asian restaurant with a bit of everything, not just on their buffet tables. The Dynasty features a large menu of Chinese and Japanese dishes including extensive sushi and specialty dish selections. My grandparents and I had never tried the Dynasty before and were pleased to see they had a lunch buffet that included standard Chinese dishes like General Gau’s Chicken as well as Maki and other Japanese choices.

    As a person who has enjoyed many a buffet, I have a list of criteria that a buffet must meet if it ever wants to be visited by me and my dinner plate twice.  A majority of these focus on quantity and quality. I would rather hot selections than a buffet table overwhelmed with food. Even if a buffet is bustling, chafing dishes should not be overfilled. That is the way of cold, soggy and stale and no one likes that. I don’t mind visiting the buffet bar repeatedly especially if it’s because the dishes are being restocked.  At     I also prefer buffets to feature a fair amount of choice but not so much that you get overwhelmed and have no idea what to try, I mean a person can only eat so much and even if it’s an all-you-can-eat affair, I’m not a cow and have no intention of grazing all day.

    The lunch buffet at the Dynasty was nice because it included a sushi and salad bar and a main buffet table with enough satisfying dishes that all three of us were able to try some of everything without feeling like beached whales when we were through. Some of the highlights were the sweet and sour meatballs with bell peppers and pineapples, the crab rangoons, green beans sautéed in garlic, a crispy shrimp dish with a sweet and spicy sauce, the chicken and broccoli and the spring rolls. My grandfather and I ate a few spring rolls apiece while my grandmother had a few helpings of the shrimp. I rounded off my meal with a few sugared donuts and some hot tea.

    The lunch buffet also comes with your choice of soup. I enjoy Wonton myself.

    Tang Dynasty has a lunch buffet Monday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and a special dinner buffet on Sundays from 5 to 8 p.m.

    If you’re not in the mood for the buffet, don’t worry. As I said, the Dynasty has a full menu with combo and appetizer specials and they do take-out.

    Tang Dynasty is open Sunday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. For more information call (978) 728-4279 or (978) 728-4280.