For nearly five years, Grand Buffet has served area residents with American-Chinese food options.
The name Grand Buffet is appropriate with sweet and sour chicken, lo mein, chow mein. General Tso's chicken, beef with broccoli, wonton soup, crab rangoons, egg rolls, hot and sour soup, sushi and many other selections on the large buffet.
Earlier this year, Grand Buffet was the recipient of two awards given by the Chinese Restaurant News, a monthly publication that services the North American Chinese restaurant industry.
Grand Buffet was ranked in the "Top 100 Buffets" award
out of more than 43,000 Chinese restaurants nationwide.
Area diners could vote online or fill out a form to promote Grand Buffet as a "Top 100 Buffet" winner.
A secret shopper. who ate there last July, scored the restaurant a 97.3 percent out of 100 that awarded them the "Top l00 Signature Dish".
Grand Buffet owner and man-ager Henry Lin said the dishes rated by the secret shopper were the coconut shrimp, battered crispy shrimp and Cajun chicken.
"We have a lot of loyal customers who have eaten here from the beginning," Lin said. "We're also seeing a lot of new faces too."
He said the Cajun chicken is one of the most popular buffet items.
"A lot of people say they can't find it at similar places," he explained.
Lin went to New York City to receive a trophy. a plaque, a poster and recognition for the Top Buffet awards.
He also met Martin Yan, a Food Network celebrity chef and author of 21 best
selling cookbooks including "Chinese Cooking for Dummies".
This was the fourth year of the award contest and the first year of Grand Buffet's participation.
Lin hopes to start a tradition and plans to enter the contest every year.
According to Lin, approximately 200 area residents eat at Grand Buffet every day.
Grand Buffet is located at 5228 Main St. in the the Mar¬ket Place Shopping Center. (931)486-3400.
Lunch hours are from 10:30a.m.-3:30p.m. everyday and costs $5.75 for adults. Dinner hours are 4p.m.-9:30p.m. and is $9.75 for adults. Crab legs are offered for dinner every night. Children eat for 50 percent off and seniors receive a 10 percent discount.