Tin Tin Buffet
445 Lancaster Dr NE
Salem OR 97301
503-363-3688

Disclaimer: All reviews and original content Copyright © Mike Blackwell [remove "nospam." or it won't work] of Oregon Sushi -- All Rights Reserved.

My first clue should have been the dirty dishes, but I'll get to that in a minute.

I learned of this place from a co-worker and decided to try it for dinner. Tin Tin Buffet is a large all-you-can-eat restaurant serving predominantly Chinese food. A small selection of pre-prepared maki (rolls) is available from one of the many food islands, and several kinds of nigirizushi can be ordered from a bar at the back. I was impressed by the size of the place; it's located between Video Only and a fitness center, south of Lancaster Mall. They also have a secluded room in the back for more private dining.

Their selection of rolls is pretty basic: just the standards. The spicy tuna roll was good (actually spicy), but the other maki zushi were unremarkable and rather heavy on the rice, which is to be expected at a buffet, where profit margins are the issue. They were also a little too cold for my tastes, although the rice seemed well-prepared and held together very well under the chopsticks. They even had salmon hand rolls (temaki), which was a surprise.

On this particular night, there were eight different kinds of nigirizushi available, including sake (salmon), ebi, tobiko, crab, tako, unagi, and even Atlantic surf clam, which is pretty esoteric for a sushi buffet. I didn't see any maguro, so maybe they were out. The tobiko was served gunkan style, but was spooned into the roll sideways, like a cannoli. The unagi was only passable, nothing like the flavor and buttery texture I'm used to. The individual portions of nigiri zushi were rather small, but since it's a buffet, that's not really an issue.

As for the Chinese food, which I also sampled, I have several comments. I liked the butter shrimp, tasting much like heavily buttered popcorn. I wasn't impressed with the General Tso's Chicken, which had the same mushy texture I've found at many Chinese buffets and wasn't spicy enough. I was also confused by the Lemon Chicken: I'm not an expert on Chinese food, so I'm not sure what lemon chicken is supposed to taste like, but I hope it's not supposed to taste like that. And I was not fond of the grade of meat they chose for their various beef dishes; of the several kinds I tried, most were stringy and/or gristly.

Oh, yes, I almost forgot. At the beginning of this review I mentioned the dirty dishes. Let me tell you about that. At the cold sushi roll bar, the first plate I picked up from one of the stacks at the end had something stuck to the bottom of it. I set the plate aside and chose the next one down. There was a piece of rice stuck to the top of it. I set it aside and chose the next one down, which was stained. So I switched to the other stack of plates, and found the top one also was not completely clean. By coincidence, an employee was coming by with a cart of clean plates, and he apparently saw me struggling to find a clean one, so he gave me one from the tray and took the dirty ones I'd set aside. Later, at a different island, I found yet another dirty plate and once again had to go hunting for a clean one.

Now, I've found dirty plates at buffets before, but never have I run into more than one at a single restaurant, and certainly not three in a row from the same stack. Perhaps the dishwashers were having an off day. Or it could be due to the fact that Tin Tin allows children under two to eat free, so young children might be responsible for mis-handling and replacing dirty plates. (At a pizza place one time, I saw an unsupervised child taste a salad dressing ladle and put it right back in the dressing, so I know what kids can do to a buffet.)

Either way, greater attention should be paid to cleanliness, and I would certainly advise checking those plates before you eat here.

FINAL GRADE:
Service: A for waitstaff (they were very good at removing MY dirty plates between courses), D for dishwasher staff (assuming it wasn't the kids who were responsible)
Atmosphere: B (who needs atmosphere at a buffet?)
Food quality: C
Portion sizes (sushi only): small, but it's a buffet, so it doesn't matter.
Overall rating, based on one visit: C

P.S. Determined to give the place a second chance, I visited again in January 2003. Same pedestrian sushi, same pedestrian Chinese food, and I finally came up with an analogy. Remember that Classic Star Trek episode "The Squire of Gothos," in which the fire had no heat and the food had no flavor? Tin Tin Buffet reminds me of a restaurant run by extraterrestrials who've been given detailed photographs of the foods they are trying to replicate, along with a list of ingredients and a rough idea of proportions. However, for flavor, they have only verbal descriptions to go by, and you know how difficult it can be to describe flavors. That's why almost everything on the menu looks like what it's supposed to be, but doesn't really taste like it.

In order to get a better sense of the cuisine, in addition to the Chinese and sushi, I tried several items from the American menu (battered fish, pizza, tater tots, french fries, etc.), and from the dessert bar. I can honestly say that the only things I tried that tasted the way I expected them to were the fruits, like watermelon and canteloupe. Even the french fries tasted...odd. Forgive my French, but how the hell do you f*** up french fries? Even I can make better-tasting french fries than this.

I gave them a second chance, and they won't get a third from me. If I'm going to spend $10 on all you can eat, I'll go to the casino at Spirit Mountain: now *they* serve a good buffet.