We’d long heard legends about the Red Apple Buffet – you can get seafood and pastries, salads and eggs, shepherd’s pie and sushi – but had never been to see for ourselves.
All that changed last week.
Driving around unable to make up our minds about what we wanted to try for this Food Snob, a sign with a big, red apple caught our eyes and beckoned us to come in.
Inside, the first thing of note was a big, exotic fish tank lit with a blue light, making all the jumbo tropical fish glow in the dark – pretty fancy atmosphere, not what we were expecting.
Once seated, it was into the gigantic buffet room full of dozens of trays of all kinds of food.
The plates were right near the Chinese food, so we started with some General Tso’s chicken that had just been brought out. We grabbed a couple of chicken fingers while we were there.
At a different station, some stuffed mushrooms looked really good – we helped ourselves to two.
Then, at yet another Chinese food display, we took two fried dumplings and one crab rangoon to fill out the plate.
We started with the General Tso’s chicken. It was very hot since it just came out, and the sauce was sweet and savory with just a little bit of heat that came on late. The chicken itself was tender and juicy, and it was an all-around pleasure to eat.
Next up was the stuffed mushrooms – it didn’t say what they were stuffed with, so this would be a fun experiment. They were savory and succulent, and apparently filled with some sort of seafood stuffing. They were good, though they could have been hotter.
After the mushrooms it was on to the fried dumplings. These were the coldest of the things we tried – they must have been out there for some amount of time before we showed up. Likely because of this, the filling was a little soggy and chewy – the flavor was there, these were just slightly too cold for us.
Then it was time for the chicken fingers. These were crispy and pretty lightweight for fried chicken fingers. They weren’t too greasy, either, though the chicken was a little on the dry side – nothing some sauce can’t fix.
The last stop was the crab rangoon. As you know, these can vary greatly depending on where you go, from their shape to their texture to what’s inside. The ones at the Red Apple are sort of the flat variety – think of a square piece of dough filled with cream cheese and crab then folded in half into a triangle. The cream cheese was very rich and the crab flavor was subtle, not overpowering. They weren’t super crispy, but the texture was fine – not soggy or flimsy.
It was an overall good eating experience, and one we’re definitely glad we finally had. The only thing not great about it was the underlying feeling of missing out on something.
With so many options to choose from, no matter what you get – or how much of it – it’s hard not to look at everything you didn’t get and wish you’d tried it. (Why didn’t we save room for some of the delicious-looking dessert options?)
If you’re looking to get a really good idea of the Red Apple Buffet, make sure you go on an empty stomach.
