Remember the Rose

Seth Goldstein’s queasy report on Chinese buffets [“From Super Great to Super Soggy,” March 2011] took me back to every one I’d ever been to. When I lived in Biddeford the Tin Tin Buffet wasn’t there, so we had to make do with, I believe it was Hong Kong Island, on the Saco River between Saco and Biddeford, with its very limited buffet.

In recent years, living here in Yarmouth, I traveled to Brunswick.  China Rose started off with a rather great buffet, one which I still think beats any other, but is starting to sag in the detail. And Seth’s comment on the bathroom at Lang’s Express is interesting, as I almost think Chinese restaurants are required to have atrocious bathrooms.

China Rose has three steam tables, plus a carving station and a dessert bar with soft-serve ice cream as well as hard ice cream; fried wonton strips, with diced pork and diced scallions next to the soups; basic sushi and a range of some American foods, depending upon the day.

It’s pricey at $14 for the dinner buffet (can’t remember the lunch price), but if Seth is willing to travel to Biddeford, then he should at least point the car northward once and try China Rose.

— Kyle Baker, Yarmouth