Wood Grill Buffet

I would like to see a menu before I drive from Long Beach to Norwalk. All the other restaurants are proud show their menus on line. I don’t know what you have to offer, or maybe you don’t have very many choices.

If you are ever hungry while driving up or down the I-5 near the LA-OC border, then exit at Imperial Highway – Wood Grill Buffet will fill up your belly and then some.

My brother recently moved to this area and discovered Wood Grill Buffet. So for his BDay celebration, we had lunch there today. The place feels like an upscale Sizzlers. Even the surrounding area had an almost upscale suburban feel to it because Norwalk has taken the pains to invest in its city center. The restaurant is new and very clean, and filled with rows of food. When I arrived a little past noon, the place was busy not packed.

The cost for one person for all you can eat is around $12, and all you can drink is another $2. So plan on spending around $16 per person if you include tip. Its not the best buffet I have been to, but there were a couple of noteworthy items.

I had already eaten breakfast at Tropical cafe in Silver Lake earlier that morning, so I was not that hungry and didn’t sample everything they had to offer. When I eat at all you can eat buffets, I will usually focus on the meats and seafood and avoid most of the starchy and carb laden food items.

To start things off, I headed to the meats section. I thought the pork ribs were okay. They were nothing like the extraordinary Bludso’s which is just a few miles away, but hey this is an all you can eat buffet, not a BBQ joint. Most of the seafood is served with a crunchy batter coating. They do not serve crab legs – I overheard a woman asking for it and looking at her disappointed face when they told her the closest they had was crab salad which used artificial crab.

The softest and most tender meat they serve is the pot roast which is served over veggies. I just took the meat. My portion was tender, but I found it to be dry. My sister and brother were a little surprised when I told them it was dry because they were raving about it. We figured out that they chose meats with more marbling in it (i.e. fat), while I chose a leaner cut. So best advice is to cut open the meat before getting it. if it has fat, then put it in your plate. if it doesn’t, leave it at the buffet counter for someone else to get.

After satiating my inner carnivore, I decided to sample their sweet stuff. The pineapple was fresh, ripe and sweet. They had this bread called yeast roll. It was like a dinner roll but light and fluffy and was just plain delicious. Dangerous if you are trying to limit your carb intake. It reminded me of the Filipino pan de sal.

The desserts I tried were the lemon meringue and some baked brownie concoction. Neither of them were overly sweet. I liked the lemon meringue the best.

The rest of my family were on a mission to try out everything this place had to offer and get their money’s worth. We were there for about 2 hours and overall, my brother and sister agreed this place was superior to Hometown Buffet. My nephews loved the build your own sundaes. I didn’t necessarily agree with my nephew when he proclaimed that, “that everything he ate was good.” However, given the price of the buffet and the quality of the food, I was close to agreeing with him. I even got a good chuckle over hearing a father at a table near to us gently chide his kid for filling up on the soda, rather than the food. I guess they were on a mission to fill up their bellies as well.

The service is very prompt and attentive. The waiters checked up on us at least every 10 minutes or less. I’m not sure if they wanted us to leave after the 1st hour, but they really seemed genuine in their approach to service our needs. They only made one mistake and accidentally gave me a diet Coke instead of regular, and they gave us a service card to fill out. I thought that was overkill because I wasn’t even close to being upset. But I think they send you coupons if you fill out the card, so my sister did.

The parking is ample and plenty that it shares with other businesses in a well manicured strip mall. Its right across the street from AMC theaters and Norwalk’s civic center.