A friend recently reminded me that one of the things about choosing a place to eat is that the decision rarely aligns with a particular restaurant. Instead, people usually match a craving to a type of food. That is, we usually ask ourselves, “What do I feel like eating?” rather than “Where do I want to eat?” Do I want to go out for a steak? Should we go have burgers? Or will it be chicken tonight? Once we settle on “what,” then the discussion of “where” begins.

For many people, a standard outing for Chinese food starts and ends at the buffet, and just about every Chinese restaurant in town features one. Jumbo China Buffet trades its name on the concept, but also features a main menu full of standard Americanized Chinese food. My sense is that ordering buffet items can tempt the cook to simply scoop the dish from the outgoing buffet-bin and not start the dish from scratch. So I tried a range of dishes not found on the buffet.

I made an exception for the egg and spring rolls. Wheat flour usually forms the basis of egg roll wrappers, while spring roll wrappers are generally rice-based. This means that a spring roll should be light and crispy, while egg rolls have a thicker skin and are usually a bit larger. Spring rolls usually contain vegetables and perhaps some bean curd, while egg rolls are meat- and vegetable-based.

The different rolls at Jumbo China Buffet were good. The spring roll had a nice, crispy texture and was positively stuffed with vegetables. The flaky wrapper had a distinct crunch, was not too oily, and a little side of hot pepper dipping sauce really brought out the flavor. The egg roll was slightly overcooked, but still OK. It overflowed with meat and vegetables and the side of sweet and sour sauce helped it along nicely.

The steamed dumplings came in an overly large wrapper, but the pork filling was fine and had a nice, gingery snap to it. Chinese dumplings come with a sauce made of soy sauce, ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds, along with a bit of garlic. The prominent flavors are the ginger and sesame, which complement the ginger and sesame mixed into the meat of the dumpling. We agreed that Jumbo China Buffet’s sauce is about the best we’ve tasted in town. It helps overcome what are otherwise fairly standard dumplings, but it’s worth trying.

For main courses I sampled three dishes. The shrimp with garlic sauce was a large dish with bell peppers, onions and carrots. A good number of decent-sized shrimp poked out from behind the vegetables. The hot and spicy beef had the same vegetables as the shrimp dish. In both entrees, the meat was excellent – cooked through and tender, but not undercooked. The companion vegetables were just-cooked-crispy, which provided a perfect balance to the meat. Still, the flavor in both was somewhat muted. Taken together the dishes were good, but rather bland, and each of us remarked that the two seemed to be identical except for the meats. I wouldn’t order these again.

A plate of bamboo shoots, carrots, broccoli, water chestnuts and mushrooms surrounded the chicken with oyster sauce. The taste was fine, but not outstanding. The chicken was quite tender and, like the other meats, everyone at the table commented on the texture and flavor of the meat. But like the other dishes, nothing about the chicken with oyster sauce popped out.

Jumbo China Buffet also features a robust buffet, of which I did not take part. Several of my fellow diners, however, made a wreck of the crab legs and some kind of teriyaki chicken, pronouncing the other offerings “not bad at all.” Overall, the rating for Jumbo China Buffet among my diners was “better than the average Chinese buffet.”

It is important to remember Jumbo China Buffet is not haute Chinese cuisine. Diners are looking for quick food, and a lot of it. Most come for the buffet or for takeout. In fact, the dishes I had were nice, and I’d agree that it’s probably better than most of the buffet places in town.

Overall, if you’re craving is “who wants to head for some Chinese food,” Jumbo China Buffet isn’t bad at all, as long as you know what to expect.

— Our anonymous food reviewer gives new restaurants a six-week grace period before reviewing. To comment, contact Managing Editor Mike Alexieff at 783-3235 or via e-mail to malexieff@bgdailynews.com.

JUMBO CHINA BUFFET

1555 Campbell Lane

783-8480 and 783-8436

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Cuisine: Chinese

Price range: Entrees: $3.55 to $9.25; Buffet: $5.99 for lunch, $8.45 for dinner

Libation situation: Beer only

Smoking: Yes