Cuisine: Chinese,
Restaurant Features: Lunch Buffet, Dinner Buffet, On-Site Parking
Location: White Bear Lake, MN
Address: 3959 Linden Street White Bear lake, MN 55110 (651) 426-4565
Hours: M-F 11am-8pm Lunch Buffet 11am-2pm Dinner Buffet 4-8pm
Links: Google Map
Atmosphere: King's City is located on a frontage road that runs along Hwy 61 and has been open since 1982. The restaurant itself is in a stand-alone building, with one big open space for the dining room. There isn't anything fancy about the decor, just several square wooden tables arranged throughout the dining room, making it easy to pull them together for larger parties.
The buffet is one of the more popular features of King's City for the dine-in crowd (available 11am-2pm and 4-8pm)
Menu: Appetizers at King's City include Egg Rolls, Fried Wontons, Chicken Wings, Paper-Wrapped Chicken, Barbeque Pork, Fried Shrimp, and Cream Cheese Wontons.
Soups include Wonton, Egg Drop, Chicken Rice and Chicken with Chinese Greens.
Egg Foo Young options are the Vegetable, Pork, Chicken or Shrimp.
Chow Mein options include Regular, Meatless, Subgum, Mushroom, Chicken, Chicken Subgum, Chicken Mushroom, and King's City Special Chow Mein. Lomein, Chop Suey and Fried Rice options include Vegetable, Pork, Chicken, Shrimp, Beef and Special.
Beef Entrees include Beef with Snow Peapods, Beef Tomato and Green Pepper, Beef and Green Pepper, Beef with Broccoli, Curried Beef, Kung Pao Beef, Mongolian Beef, Beef with Red Sauce and Beef with Cashew.
Chicken Entrees include Sweet and Sour, Chicken with Snow Peapods, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Pineapple Chicken, Chicken Almond Ding, Curried Chicken, Chicken with Broccoli, Twice Cooked Chicken, Chicken with Red Sauce, Kung Pao Chicken, Mongolian Chicken and Chicken with Cashew.
Pork Entrees include Sweet and Sour, Pork with Snow Peapods, Pork with Broccoli, Curried Pork, Twice Cooked Pork, Mongolian Pork, and Pork with Red Sauce.
Shrimp Entrees include Sweet and Sour, Almond Ding, Shrimp with Snow Peapods, Shrimp with Lobster Sauce, Shrimp with Broccoli, Curried Shrimp, Kung Pao Shrimp, Twice Cooked, Mongolian, Shrimp with Cashew, and Shrimp with Red Sauce.
There are also a number of Combination Dinners for either one or two people.
Buffet Includes Regular Chow Mein, Fried Wontons, Egg Rolls, Chicken Wings, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Chicken Lomein, and two Entrees (Changes Daily). *An order of 10 Cream Cheese Wontons can be purchased with Buffet for an additional $2.95*
Price guide: 'Lunch Buffet $6.95 Kids Under 12 $5.25 Dinner Buffet $9.75 ($1 off for Seniors 55+)
Appetizers $4-7 Soups $3-4 Egg Foo Young $5-6 Chow Mein $4-18 Lomein/Chop Suey $7-9 Beef Entrees $8 Chicken/Pork Entrees $7-8 Shrimp Entrees $9
What I ordered: I had the dinner buffet, as I always do when I eat-in at King's City. I had Chow Mein, Twice Cooked Pork, Chicken Lomein, Sweet and Sour Chicken, an Eggroll and Fried Wontons. The chow mein is very basic, celery with a small amount of ground pork (the best chow mein at King's City is the Chicken Subgum which is not offered on the buffet). The Chicken Lomein was very good, tons of vegetables mixed in with tender pieces of white-meat chicken, and thin. The Twice Cooked Pork has a nice zing to it, and also has a nice mix of Asian veggies. The Sweet and Sour Chicken was also good, with bite-sized pieces of chicken breaded and deep fried to a crispy golden brown. The batter is slightly thick on the chicken, and sweet and sour sauce is served on the side to maintain crispiness of chicken. The Fried Wontons are very crispy, filled with a mixture of ground pork and spices (green onion?).
Service: King's City prides itself on excellent service. The servers are all very attentive so used plates are taken away immediately and drinks refilled with a quickness. The owner, Sam, is a very friendly guy and is very personable with his customers (many of whom are long-term).
Overall Impression: Fast and friendly; very good Chinese food. The buffet is somewhat limited, but the quality of food is above average and reasonably priced. Can't go wrong to order off menu. Awesome customer service.
Owner Sam Ma is the nicest guy ever! I love King's City.
Posted by: Deidre | March 06, 2009 at 06:19 PM
Sounds like a great place to dine. I don't mind that the "buffet is somewhat limited." If the quality of the Chinese food is above average then it is well worth it. I've been to a number of restaurants where the buffet is huge! But the food, "blah".
Posted by: Hal | March 06, 2009 at 06:38 PM
I just got back from the lunch buffet and let me say this place is fantastic! I had the same two entrees as you, and they were great (the twice cooked pork was great). The wontons were some of the best I've eaten, the sweet and sour sauce was lovingly homemade, and as you mentioned, the service was top notch.
This was my first visit, and I'll surely be back. Thanks for the review!
Posted by: John | March 11, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Glad you enjoyed King's City, John!
I haven't had their lunch buffet in a long time, but I eat the dinner buffet
at least once a month :)
Posted by: Twin Cities Restaurant Blog | March 11, 2009 at 02:14 PM