Testing the Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet on Rügen

Last year during my time on Rügen I went in search of Chinese “all-you-can-eat” type buffets and found that although there were a number of Chinese restaurants on the island, the only one that I could find offering a buffet was the “China Garten” in the Dammstraße in Bergen auf Rügen.

China Garten in Bergen auf Ruegen

But due to lack of time I did not actually go in and try it. So this year, I decided it was time to go and found out just how good the buffet and the restaurant are.

I commented last year on the problem of parking. As it turned out there were plenty of spaces just down the road available, even with a festival going on in the centre of the town, so that was not a problem.

The restaurant is not particularly big, but at 6pm there were still plenty of tables available. The interior was decorated in a typical Chinese restaurant style.

I took a look at the menu, even though I was intending to eat from the buffet, and was struck by the reasonable prices with a 0.5 litre cola costing only €2.50. With the buffet still costing €7.50 this year you can effectively eat a 4 course meal (soup, salad, main and dessert) with a drink for €10.

The buffet itself was not particularly large, which is maybe reasonable for the price, but had some interesting items on it. I was pleased to find the Peking Soup but was surprised to find one of the dishes contained liver. It certainly made me hope that they had got the signs next to the right items! Still, I guess there is a market for it just as there must be for the croquette potatoes that were on offer alongside the rice and Chinese noodles.

If I had an reason to criticise the buffet at all, it would be that the salad bar contained pre-mixed salads, rather than allowing you to mix it and add dressings yourself.

I’m also not quite sure what I make of the fact, that the plates were not cleared from the table. It’s not that I don’t re-use my plate when I return to the buffet, but by the time I had reached dessert my soup dish and salad bowl still had not been cleared. Other Chinese restaurants I know of clear the plates quicker than I can re-use them.

But since I was on my own that was not really a problem. However I wonder how the group of 12 on the next table managed.

All-in-all I can say that the buffet was OK, but nothing too spectacular. If you want a reasonably priced evening out in Bergen and don’t fancy the usual fish-type restaurants then it is certainly a good alternative.