I feel like a critic.

So this time I went out with Season for a dinner and a movie. No this wasn’t a date either. I had called Season as well as Sara. I was hoping to get a group going. No luck. Actually, it didn’t surprise me that I didn’t get a hold of Sara. She’s really beginning to irritate me. Season agreed to go so I went and picked her up at Rachel’s (Season lives with her). Guess who was also there? Sara. I hadn’t seen or talked to her since August. I went into the house and I just looked at her. Not a word from her. Barely an acknowledgement. Fine. Be that way. I left with Season completely vexed. What the hell? You don’t treat your friends like this. I tried to let go of my anger so that I could at least enjoy the rest of the night.

Now for the critic…

Originally, the plan had been to go to Wendy’s for some cheap food. But as we were driving down Business 31 (the main drag through Niles) we passed by the Peking something. Season said that she never had been there. The restaurant used to be the Golden Dragon, but it had been bought out by a new family that calls it the Peking [drawing a blank].

Some history….

Up until the early 90’s there were only two Chinese restaurants in the area. There was the Happy House which sits only a few feet from the border and the Golden Dragon which is near the old downtown Niles. The two did well. Of course, this was also the day before Chinese restaurants became buffets. These two were not buffets. These were authentic Chinese restaurants where you actually ordered food off a menu which you could barely understand.

Around 1992, the first Chinese buffet opened up in the Eastgate shopping plaza called the Peking Express. It was a small establishment, very spartan, and not at all appealing when it comes to aesthetics. However, it had really good food for a really good price. $3.99 lunch buffets. The place was busy all the time. On the weekdays, workers headed there for their lunch break. On Sundays, many people would pop in after services. You could tell that it sucked a lot of the business from the Golden Dragon. In response, the Golden Dragon put up a lunch buffet as well except they charged $6.00 for theirs. They were unable to attract back the business that they lost to Peking Express. They closed a little while ago and a crappier joint was put in its place. We tried it last night.

The price wasn’t all that bad. It was still $6.00 but I had anticipated that they would have had the crab legs and potstickers like the old Golden Dragon did. But when we got in, there was only one other couple there. The food on the line looked old and there wasn’t much left. This was horrible since it was only a little after 6pm when we got there.

The variety was pretty standard. Two or three groups of each meat, some vegetarian. Nothing was really unique. The choices were tried and true—popular dishes with the general public. General Tso’s, Beef ‘n Broccoli, Peppered Chicken, things like that. The problem was that there were maybe two or three servings of each left. Not once while we were there did we observe any of the foods being refilled or replaced.

As far as tastes, the chef(s) leaves things pretty bland. This was probably most noticeable in the peppered chicken which distinctly lacked pepper. Also, the fried rice was a greasy, yellow heap that lacked any amount of significant ingredients. The eggroll filling seemed to be more of a paste which is quite unusual. I haven’t seen something like that since my time in the Philippines where Chow King makes something similar.

As for the restaurant itself, it seems to have fallen into disrepair. In fact, the roof was leaking in the dining area. Two large buckets were in the dining area collecting the rain water that was leaking through. Season called it their, “water feature.” The tables were largely dirty as well. Plates left from previous eaters were left on the tables.

Season and I recommend that you do not eat at this place…. You know… if you are ever in the Niles, MI area.

That was way longer than I intended but I will be coming back soon to write about the movie, “Just Friends.” I’d do it now, but I’ve got to write up my two weeks notice and hand it to my manager. I’m going to be unemployed again! Argh!