Location: 2641 Maple Point Dr, Lafayette (map it)
Phone: (765) 446-0888
Cuisine: Chinese, Japanese, American

Today I drove over by the mall to try out the newest buffet in town. It’s located past the mall, on Maple Point Drive, close to the Kittles Furniture store. I really have no idea what was in that location before Teppanyaki. I’d be interested to know, because I don’t remember a restaurant being in that area.

We got there at 11:30, and it was really busy. And it only got busier as we dined. The word on Teppanyaki must have already gotten out, because it was packed by the time we left. The place is huge inside, with plentiful seating areas and many, many buffet tables. I was really surprised with how expansive it was.

We were greeted immediately by who I would guess to be the owner, but I don’t know for sure. He was really nice and really funny, as he seated us. The restaurant itself was, to my eye, very clean. Sometimes with buffets you get that not-so-fresh feeling, but this was very nicely done and very clean. Even when I glanced back into the kitchen area it seemed very clean.

The buffets were unreal. There’s a bit of an identity crisis here, because they had nearly everything. There was your standard Chinese fare: beef with broccoli, chicken with broccoli, fried rice, general Tsao’s chicken, lo mein, fried rice, egg rolls…. I could go on, but then you’d get bored. There was a lot of Chinese food. Then there were buffets of American food. Mac and cheese, pizza, pasta, and something called a beef pie that was really intriguing but I didn’t have the opportunity to try, mashed potatoes, french fries, even a few Mexican items. Then another area had seafood items like stuffed shrimp, peel and eat shrimp, tilapia.

Add in another buffet for salad bar, one for fruit, and another for desserts, and you have a pretty extensive menu. But wait, there’s more! In the back there was a sushi buffet and a Hibachi buffet.

It was slightly overwhelming with so many options, so I grabbed a plate and loaded it with as many items as I could get. I started with Chinese and tried a variety of the food on the buffet. It was all pretty good. Definitely better than Fortune House, in my opinion.

After I finished the first plate, I decided to try the hibachi buffet. This is where you pile your plate with frozen meats, fresh veggies, and noodles or rice and hand it over and they cook it for you. This is generally hit or miss for me. The thing is that while I’m a decent cook, I have never been able to make up my own recipes. So when it’s time for a hibachi buffet, I throw in stuff I like, but it doesn’t always come out that great. I don’t blame the cook, he’s just grilling the food I handed him. But it was okay, no complaints.

Next I went to the sushi buffet. I’ve said on here before I’m not an experience connoisseur of sushi. I like it okay, I’ll eat it if I’m out, but I really just prefer my meals to be hot. So I ‘m no expert. None of the sushi items had labels, so I also had no idea what I was picking. There were several plates of sushi, but only two tongs so you had to wait in line to have access to any of the sushi. (Not to mention the guy that was piling his plate three levels high with sushi and not giving anyone a chance to get anything.) I finally got some sushi and headed back to my table. And the best I can say is “meh.” I’ve had better sushi. Maybe if I knew what it was I could tell you more, but again, it wasn’t labeled.

Finally, we headed over to the dessert buffets. One thing I really liked was that their ice cream bins, instead of having the large tubs of ice cream and bowls, had individual servings of ice cream in little containers. I like that for a number of reasons, but mostly because it’s really hard for me to get ice cream out of those big tubs because I’m not very tall. The desserts were unlabeled like the sushi, although most of the other items on the buffets were labeled. I grabbed a few things and went back to my table. Overall, I was unimpressed with the desserts. Of the ones I tried, none were really that good.

I should state that I’m just not the kind of person who is going to get the most bang for my buck out of a buffet. I can’t eat 17 plates of food, and I was really struggling to try as much as I did. One plate of food is generally plenty for me. I ate more for you, my dear readers.

Overall, my experience was pretty good. The food was pretty good buffet food, the place was clean, the price was right. Aside from the sushi and dessert, the rest was fine. I’d go again.

Kid Friendly: Yes.

Price: Very reasonable – lunch buffet was just over $7.

Location: 220 Columbia St, Lafayette (map it)
Phone: (765) 420-0283
Cuisine: Mexican

I had a chance to try out Tomates Mexican Grill yesterday. They have taken up residence in Bea One’s old location. I had read about it in the Journal and Courier, but didn’t have any information on if it was open or when it would be open, but then I drove by and saw the “NOW OPEN” sign. I figured that was a good indication. There’s not a lot of parking in that area, so prepare to walk if you go.

The walls were brightly colored but aside from that, there wasn’t much in the way of decor. I hope that changes, because there are really no windows in this place, and it can be kind of dreary. That was one of the things I disliked about Bea One when it was there – no natural light.

We were greeted warmly and given seats and immediately had our drink orders taken. Sadly, we learned at this time that they do not yet have a liquor license, therefore we could not enjoy a margarita with our lunch. (They are trying to get one, they assured us.)

The chips and salsa arrived at the table and they were pretty good. Not the best in town, but good.The menu was large with everything you can expect on the menu of a Mexican restaurant. Because I’m a nice reviewer, I even have a poorly scanned menu here for you to review. Although the menu has beer and margaritas, and they as of yet don’t have those things.

I ordered burrito verde off the lunch special menu. It was described as “A big burrito filled with beef chunks, onions, green peppers & beans. Then smothered with cheese & our special green tomatillos sauce.” And so it was. It was really big and it was really quite good. I could only mange to finish half of it because it was so big, but I saved the other half for dinner. It came with rice.

My friend ordered the Tomates Quesadilla, which is labeled as a specialty. Flour tortilla filled with steak, pico de gallo, and cheese served with guacamole, sour cream, and tomatoes. She reports that it was very good.

We also ordered some guacamole, which was okay. Not exceptional, but okay.

The service was very good. The servers were all friendly, our water glasses never went empty, and overall we had a great time. If I was downtown and in the mood for Mexican, I’d definitely go again.

Kid Friendly: Yes.

Price: Very reasonable

Location: 2601 Teal Rd Lafayette (map it)
Phone: (765) 477-7924
Cuisine: Mexican

I love it when people send me names of restaurants I need to try. Recently someone on Twitter told me I needed to go try Mi Cabanita. So as I needed to do something near the mall today, I decided I’d go ahead and give it a try. First thing I had to do was find it. Located on Teal, there are a lot of places it could be. Turns out that this place is on the southeast corner of 26th and Teal, in a building that also houses an auto repair shop. Don’t let that scare you though!

We arrived and parked and went inside. It was a tiny little place inside, with maybe half a dozen tables. However, it was very clean, the furniture was all in good shape, and the hostess/server was really friendly. We were told to sit where we wanted and given menus.

The menu was not huge, but did contain most things you see on a Mexican restaurant menu – tacos, quesadillas, burritos, etc. There was a sign that chips and salsa were extra unless you ordered at least $10 in food. I knew we’d eat $10 worth of food, and I used to be very judgmental about places that charge you for chips and salsa. However, here’s what I learned. Places that charge for chips and salsa are more than likely making those chips and that salsa from scratch, rather than dumping out a big bag of Tostidos and a can of salsa. So if I have to pay extra to get really good chips and really good salsa, then I am okay with that. The chips were fresh, warm, and delicious. The salsa was good, but what I liked was that it was topped with a helping of cilantro and onion. I really liked that.

We worked on the chips and salsa and before we knew it, well before we’d finished the chips, our meals came. I ordered the tacos de carne asada with a side of beans, and my friend ordered pork quesadillas. The carne asada was good, and the beans were really excellent. My friend was nice enough to let me try her pork quesadilla and I have to say, it was my favorite of the meal.

The hostess/server was extremely friendly. I got the impression that this is a nice family business, and they take a lot of pride in their work. I think they do a lot of carry out business as well, so if you are in the area and looking to take home some tacos, skip Taco Bell and head over to Mi Cabanita.

Kid Friendly: Yes.

Price: Very reasonable. My friend and I ate for less than $15 for two of us.

Location: 705 Sagamore Pkwy W West Lafayette, IN (map it)
Phone: (765) 838-3000
Cuisine: Mediterranean, Italian

Recently while driving around I noticed that the empty Pizza King/Sorrentos spot on Sagamore Parkway had a new sign. Turns out that it is now Maza Mediterranean Italian Restaurant. I remember when Maza was over in Chauncey Mall. I tried to go once, and was turned away. Apparently it was only available by reservation. So I never bothered to go back. But since it was so conveniently located in what I assume to be a larger location, I decided today would be a good time to try it.

The inside was really nice. It was really clean and nicely appointed with cloth napkins and cloth tablecloths. You don’t see cloth tablecloths in restaurants much these days. Now I know why. While it looked really nice, it kept moving around and getting caught on things. Not entirely practical, but it looked nice. Each table had a real rose in a vase in the center too.

The lunch menu wasn’t huge, but had a variety of options including pastas, salads, panini, and desserts. Not a large selection of any of those things, just a handful for each category. The pastas included a basic fettuccine alfredo, but also a Lebanese spaghetti, which is described as meat sauce with pine nuts. That was really intriguing, as were a few of the items (here, I took a picture of my menu for you) but I chose to go with the combination platter.

The combination platter allows you to pick a soup, a salad, a tapas, and a kebob. There were two choices for each one. I went with the Lentil soup, which was tasty, but not extraordinary. (The other option was chicken noodle, which I’m not sure is either Mediterranean or Italian, but I digress.) I was assuming that the rest of the meal would come out in courses, but everything else came out on one plate. The salad choices were Jerusalem or Hummus. I don’t consider hummus a salad, but I do like hummus so I didn’t complain. The Jerusalem salad was a cucumber, tomato, onion mix with a yogurt sauce. I went with the Jerusalem salad. It was good. My friend had the hummus and allowed me to try it, and I wasn’t really impressed. I’ve had better hummus elsewhere in town.

The tapas choices were spinach pies or Sambousek. I didn’t know what Sambousek was, but the waitress explained that it’s a fried stuffed pastry. My friend and I split the difference so I got to try both items. I think the spinach pie was better than the Sambousek, but neither were fantastic. Finally, we had the choice of chicken or beef kebobs. I chose chicken. It was one skewer of chicken with onions and peppers, on a bed of rice. Again, it was just okay. Definitely not bad, but nothing to write home about.

Because I was with my very bad influence friends, we all ended up having dessert. I had the creme brulee which was very good. My friend reported her chocolate mousse was also really good.

The service was really good. Our server was eager to answer our questions, check that we were okay, and clear plates. The restaurant was clean and inviting. The food was just okay, but nothing spectacular. I’d be interested to go back and try some of the other items on the menu.

Kid Friendly: Not kid unfriendly, but it’s not the type of place I’d take my kids.

Price: All lunch platter was $10. Prices on individual items ranged from $8-$10. The coffee was a hefty $2.50.

Location: 945 Sagamore Pkwy W, West Lafayette, IN (map it)
Phone: (765) 463-2364
Cuisine: Chinese

Considering that I live very close to Szechuan Garden, and that it was selected as the Journal and Courier’s Reader’s Choice favorite Chinese restaurant, I find it very surprising that I’ve never actually been to this place. I recently got an email suggesting that I rectify that, and today I am glad to say I did.

If you aren’t familiar, Szechuan Garden is located in West Lafayette on Sagamore Parkway, right next to the Miracles Fitness, Goodwill, and Sigma. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this is no Chinese buffet. It is a sit down, get served restaurant, which is a nice change of pace when eating Chinese food. It’s really quite nice inside, very clean with plenty of tables.

We were seated quickly and given water and hot tea. The tea was excellent! The lunch menu has combinations that include soup, spring roll, main dish, and fried rice. The lunch menu was not expansive (although the to go menu was pretty standard) and had things such as chicken and beef with broccoli, etc. I ordered the beef with hot garlic sauce. The entrees come with fried rice, which I generally love, but I did ask for steamed rice with this.

First came the egg drop soup which was great. It was served very hot and was really tasty. Next came the main dish. I really enjoyed the beef with hot garlic sauce. It was really good, especially served with the steamed rice. The spring roll was fairly bland. My friend had spicy shrimp with peanuts and reported hers was really good as well. She did order it with the fried rice and let me taste and I have to unfortunately have to say it was pretty mediocre. It made me glad I got steamed rice, and I am a big fan of fried rice.

The service was really good, always had plates removed right away, glasses were always refilled, and we were frequently asked if everything was okay. In fact, it was almost a little overboard with the service.

Overall, it was a really good experience and I would definitely go back.

Kid Friendly: Yes.

Price: All lunch combos were either $5.65 or $5.85.