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Friday, January 12, 2001
By Woodene Merriman, Post-Gazette Dining Critic
Walk in the front door of the Oriental Super Buffet, and surprise! The place is huge. Straight ahead are the rows and rows of buffet tables. "More than 150 items daily," the restaurant claims.
To the far left is a nonsmoking dining room, and to the right a similar dining room for smokers. Everything is bright, light, clean and spacious.
On your left is a pond with stone walls, foliage and fish (just for looking, not for eating). Across the room, beyond the steam tables, are two or three chefs grilling vegetables for special orders, cutting up the Peking ducks, and shuffling baked goods in and out of the ovens.
This kitchen area is my favorite stop in the Oriental Super Buffet. From the bowls of cleaned, cut-up veggies you can choose those you want, decide whether you also want beef, chicken or pork, and the chef will stir-fry everything on the grill for you, along with a sauce of your choice.
Employees at the restaurant seem to keep close tabs on the steam tables; they're constantly bringing out refills. Still, to my mind a freshly made dish is always better than one that came off a steam table.
Labels over most of the steam tables are in both English and Chinese. You'll find all the Chinese dishes popular in America; General Tso's chicken, crispy prawns with walnuts, shrimp with snow peas, barbecue spareribs, egg rolls and yes, crab legs -- if you're lucky.
We spotted the empty crab leg table quickly the first night we went to the Oriental Super Buffet. His Honor circled the steam table three times, ready to pounce on the crab legs when they arrived. But he was always too late. If you frequent Chinese buffets, you know crab legs are probably the most popular item; customers quickly load their plates with them. Some buffets even have an extra charge for crab legs.
Another night he was lucky, and found two small pieces of crab legs in the bottom of the pan. They were a disappointment; the shells were rubbery and just bent when we tried to break them.
I've never figured out what's Chinese about crab legs anyway. I guess they are as Oriental as the spaghetti, roast beef and chicken noodle soup on the menu.
On a first visit, the choices are so overwhelming it's natural to spend a lot of time wandering around, trying to decide what to eat. It's impossible to try it all. But you can spot the regular customers, they head straight to the steam tables with their favorite dishes.
I recommend the grilled vegetables and meat first, then the dim sum, the Peking duck in steamed buns and the salmon.
You don't find dim sum, those little steamed or fried dumplings popular in Chinese tea rooms, at all Chinese buffets. I particularly liked the steamed beef dim sum. Good, too, are the puffy steamed buns folded over pieces of Peking duck, and, in a nearby vat, small squares of cooked, but not overcooked, salmon.
The buffet has sushi, too, a nice way to start a meal. There's enough variety, though, that you could make your entire dinner of sushi. Some desserts are American (sheet cakes, canned pineapple and ice cream), but others are more exotic -- mango pudding, cantaloupe and honeydew in cream, almond cookies and other Chinese baked goods.
Most of the dishes are about what you expect -- neither better or worse than similar dishes at other Chinese buffets. They are Americanized versions of Oriental dishes, or not Oriental at all.
If you want chopsticks, you'll have to ask for them. If you want tea, ask for that, too.
One of the advantages of a buffet is that you can try a little, decide if you like it, and return for more if you want to. It's also an all-you-can-eat deal, and watching the people go back again and again, I wonder how the restaurant can make money.
I carried a take-out menu home with me after our first dinner, and was excited to see lobster on the menu, "just $4.95 with the dine-in buffet." On our next visit, a young man seated us, brought water and opened H.H.'s bottle of Riesling (he's on a new kick, a spicy, fruity Riesling with Chinese). I told the server we wanted to order the lobster.
No, he said, they don't have lobster. I showed him the colorful take-out menu, which has a picture of a lobster and printing saying it's $4.95 with the dine-in buffet. He went to check. When he came back he said, "That's a mistake." Too bad.
Oriental Super Buffet
Oriental Super Buffet employees prepare the dishes like Peking duck and General Tso's chicken for the lunch crowd. (John Beale, Post-Gazette) 
North Hills Village Mall
4801 McKnight Road, Ross
412-366-4288
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday-Thursday; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Lunch served each day until 3:30 p.m., dinner after 4 p.m.The basics: 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday-Thursday; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Lunch served each day until 3:30 p.m., dinner after 4 p.m. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday-Thursday; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Lunch served each day until 3:30 p.m., dinner after 4 p.m. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday-Thursday; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Lunch served each day until 3:30 p.m., dinner after 4 p.m.The last word: 