Restaurant: China Jade Mongolian Buffet
Location: Herndon Avenue, Orlando
Movie: "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" (in Disney Digital 3-D)
Location: Premier 14 Cinema, Fashion Square Mall, Orlando
Location: Herndon Avenue, Orlando
Location: Premier 14 Cinema, Fashion Square Mall, Orlando
My original plan was to check out a restaurant on Colonial Drive (also close to the theater) called Chan's. My secret hope was that it'd be like the Chan's back in Woonsocket but I didn't set my hopes up. From the pictures I found of the exterior of it, I would be happy if the food were edible.
When I got there though, I found only a husk of a building. It looks like it had been closed for years. Thanks review sites...someone coulda updated one of them, eh?
I passed a place on Colonial a few minutes prior to arriving at this vacant building that I last went to many years ago, back in the bus riding days. It was an old skool Chinese restaurant that was decorated in deep, dark real-looking lacquer, vinyl-covered booths you can get lost in and still served stuff in those metal serving dishes. No "new fangled" cattle call buffet here. You ordered from a big. vinyl-bound menu, son!
I attempted to head back that way but I stupidly made the decision to take a short cut to avoid noon-time traffic in one of the most congested traffic areas of the city. Bad idea, of course. I ended up in Winter Park and found myself somewhat lost. I made my way back south but suddenly I was in Baldwin Park and the Stepford Wives were coming to take me away, ahhh! By the time I got back on Colonial, it was getting awfully close to just a half hour before showtime and I hate to rush. I knew my old skool place took an eon to bring out your food so when I saw I was at China Jade and it was practically across the street from the theater, I said 'fuck it' and drove in.
China Jade Mongolian Buffets are somewhat of a chain in Central Florida (if not elsewhere as well) and the few I'd been to were not usually good experiences. There was one in Clermont that Ric, Gary and I went to and it sucked. And one on OBT I went to when I first moved to Orlando in the late '90s. It was really bad. This one near the Fashion Square Mall was okay, from what I remember, the last time I was here. It was many years ago as well, though.
This time round it was pretty good and the price was great!
The Lunch:
The selection was very diverse, usually a sign the tab will be over the $10 mark, even for lunch, but with hot tea it was only $7 and change.
Pros: Selections were plentiful, fresh and actually hot (rare for steam table buffets). Mongolian BBQ available (where they prepare your personally chosen morsels on a big griddle). Nice dark and flavorful genuine Chinese tea. Cheap!
Cons: Tacky and old furnishings. Carpeting and air-conditioning vents looks like they hadn't been cleaned in years. Lo Mein was just okay. No General Tso's. No potstickers. Ancient old man waiter slow with the check. C'mon, I got a movie to catch. Chop, chop!
Overall, I'd come back, but then again, maybe not. You see, there are so many buffet places that unless I get my socks knocked off, I have plenty more to go and explore.
The Movie:
Last time I was in Fashion Square Mall, the decor was decidedly dated, all mauve and turquoise fake-Calder mobiles. Very '90s. Well, it may have been the '90s when I was last here... Now it's very Bombay Company-ish, all mahogany wood accents, off-white columns and lots of sunlight! Oh the sunlight...(hisssssss).
I don't remember these theaters at all, but I must have been to them before, why else would I be at a mall. They aren't the usual Regal or AMC so they have a somewhat more mom-and-pop feel, but you can tell they try to be like the big guys.
No collector cups. Bummer. I'm getting bored of my TRON Legacy one.
The Film Itself:
Pros: It was better than "The King's Speech". I stayed awake.
Cons: Actors phoning it in. Every scene on a sound stage (cutting corners, Disney?). Why bother having "3-D", could hardly tell at all. No Orlando Bloom. Penelope Cruz. Did a 10-year-old write this script? I mean the plot was totally cliche and boring. 1. Good guys and bad guys race to get to treasure (in this case the fuckin' way overused Fountain of Youth) 2. They fight with cutlasses and muskets. 3. Good guys prevail in the end. Ho fuckin' hum.