Entertainment and selection are the two primary characteristics that separate Panda Buffet from other Chinese restaurants in Utah.
'We are the only Chinese restaurant in town with food and entertainment,' said Manager Rachel Chang.
Beginning in December, the five rotating television programs shown daily at Panda Buffet will be replaced by high tech DVD programming which will show one program per month.
Upcoming programs include 'Christmas in China' and 'Chinese New Year.' As the holidays vary per month, Panda Buffet will show different movies every month. This is the first Chinese restaurant in Utah to attempt to please all of the customers' senses.
Five programs that will run daily during lunch and dinner through December include the 'Video Menu,' 'The World of Tea,' 'Three Gorges,' 'Hang Zhou and Tsing Tao Bore' and 'The Presentation.'
The movies last 45 minutes each and Panda Buffet has the only patent in the Utah Valley to offer this same type of dining experience.
Panda Buffet also offers a selection of over 200 Chinese and American items. Chang said the multicultural experience allows Panda Buffet to please everyone.
Panda Buffet's specialties are sweet and sour chicken, General Tso's chicken and Chinese sesame ball. Although entrees and appetizers are available on the menu, Panda Buffet's emphasis is the buffets, including an American buffet with onion rings and pizza, a Mongolian barbecue buffet, traditional Chinese buffet with Orange Chicken and fried rice and a salad bar with fruit and Jell-O.
The spacious restaurant is decorated with a mixture of Western and Eastern culture. Just as the various buffets aim to please the customer, so do the surroundings.
The high ceilings with wooden beams compliment the scattered buffets and the giant tropical fish tank that greets customers when they walk in the door.
It is family friendly and more than capable of handling large parties such as birthdays, after-sport activities and meetings.
Overall, the variety of food, the price, the capacity to hold large groups and the entertainment all aim to please the customers who frequent Panda Buffet.
Chang said the all-you-can-eat buffet is popular even though most people's eyes are bigger than their stomachs. Panda Buffet has restaurants in New York City and Philadelphia.
Their Orem store was built in effort to expand to the company to the West Coast.
The buffet costs $5.25 for lunch and $8.55 for dinner.
The difference between lunch and dinner is that dinner includes Mongolian barbecue, fried shrimp, peeled shrimp, steamed salmon, barbecue spare ribs, seafood combination and saut?ed mussels.
Panda Buffet is located at 1428 N. State Street in Orem directly next to the Blockbuster Videos. Their phone number is 221-9988.
They are open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday they are open from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and on Sundays from noon to 9 p.m.