Combining the variety of a southern buffet with the heightened and unique flavors of the Far East, Chinese buffets can be a special treat for the whole family.

Even though the décor is predominately Chinese with a red color scheme, gold embossed ceiling and wall hangings and sculptures honoring the Asian culture, the cuisine at Beijing Restaurant isn’t just Chinese, but an abundant mix of Japanese and American food as well.

In addition to three kinds of soups and more than a dozen vegetable and chicken entrees – all Chinese – there’s a salad bar; American appetizers like chicken wings, potato wedges and deep fried mushrooms; Japanese sushi and a dessert bar with soft-serve ice cream.

Reviewing a buffet can be tricky, because buffets shouldn’t be compared with made-to-order food (although there is a made-to-order menu if you’re so inclined). Not every dish on the buffet is fresh and may be a little worse for wear; that’s just the nature of the genre. I decided to focus on the variety and the condition of several different kinds of dishes. In other words, even if some of the food had been on the buffet for a while, could you find a good mix of fresh food in which to make an beneficial meal.

Since I’ve had a slight cold over the last week, I started with some hot and sour soup. This soup is medicinal in the Asian culture, helping to clear the sinuses and boost immunity with the seaweed, bamboo shoots, ginger and tofu. The soup was hot in temperature and was just spicy enough to clear my breathing passages without scorching my palate. It was an effective mix of ingredients and made me feel better.

Next, I opted for a plate of my favorites. A trip to the sushi station left me disappointed because even though it was prime dinner hour, there was less than half a plate of sushi rolls that were beginning to dry out. I usually choose a variety of salmon and shrimp over sticky rice, as well as California rolls with vegetables inside rice wrapped in seaweed, but the rolls available weren’t any I recognized. I decided to cover them in soy sauce and wasabi and hope for the best.

I spooned onto my plate small portions of fried rice and lo mein along with sesame chicken, bourbon chicken, pineapple chicken and, something I hadn’t seen before – cho cho chicken. The cho cho chicken was an appetizer on a stick and perhaps has replaced the beef on a stick I usually like to get, but didn’t see. In fact, I didn’t see any beef at all on the buffet that night, because I looked for it specifically when I went back for a second plate.

I found it interesting that even though I chose three different chicken dishes in sauce, the chicken pieces were all different in size and tenderness. The pineapple chicken had large pieces of cubed chicken in a lightly flavored sauce. The chicken was moist and tender. Even the cho cho chicken, which consisted of thin, grilled and seasoned chicken on a stick, wasn’t tough, but flavorful and easy to chew. The other two chicken dishes, however, were dry and tough and needed the sauce that accompanied them, especially the bourbon chicken.

I went back for a second plate and focused on dishes I don’t normally choose, including the salmon, mussels on the half shell, an egg roll, sweet Rangoon and a crab head stuffed with something I assumed was seafood-based. The egg roll was typical, enjoyable and fresh. Rangoon is a Chinese appetizer of stuffed and fried won ton skins. The sweet Rangoon was stuffed with cream cheese, was tasty and only slightly tough. The mussel was cooked well and enjoyable if you like seafood on the half shell, but the stuffed crab head tasted like seasoned breadcrumbs and I did not recognize any other taste or seafood added.

The quality and temperature of the food on the buffet varied, just as I thought it would. The wait staff was personable and our glasses and tea pot were kept full. There was one woman whose job it was to literally yell for more food into the kitchen, but food was only replaced if it ran out, not because it had became too dry or even almost inedible. Consequently, the popular dishes were fresh, moist and tasty, while others were not.

As far as presentation goes, Beijing does a good job of categorizing each food type. I did see two types of fruit desserts next to a tray of salmon, which seemed odd.

What I like about the Beijing Restaurant is that you can choose and mix a flavorful combination of vegetables, sauces and meats made to order. Choosing from several trays of raw food, you can put your own plate together, hit a gong with a mallet, and a cook emerges from the kitchen to stir fry your dinner on a large flat, round heated cooking surface. I choose broccoli, bamboo shoots, mini corn, snow peas and onions in a light lemon sauce. The vegetables were cooked as I watched and cooked with just a slight crispness to them. I ate them with chopsticks, gleefully sharing them with my dining companions as we enjoyed the abundance of the Chinese buffet.