GOLDEN WOK CHINESE BUFFET
Located on Missouri Av, Largo Florida in an older strip Mall
HISTORY:
Staff is nice, and friendly. I have eaten here on three occasions. Twice with other folks whose opinions I value. I generally take a second person along if I suspect something. They generally agreed with what I had to say. The liked the Sushi, the food did nothing for them. Places like this fool me because these are manageable problems. How can you have good Sushi and bad food. Simple explanation forthcoming.
Staff is nice, and friendly. I have eaten here on three occasions. Twice with other folks whose opinions I value. I generally take a second person along if I suspect something. They generally agreed with what I had to say. The liked the Sushi, the food did nothing for them. Places like this fool me because these are manageable problems. How can you have good Sushi and bad food. Simple explanation forthcoming.
SUSHI OK:
The good thing here is the SUSHI selection is made in front of your eyes on a separate table. The Sushi chef here is very good for the local area. I enjoy watching them do their artistry in food.
The good thing here is the SUSHI selection is made in front of your eyes on a separate table. The Sushi chef here is very good for the local area. I enjoy watching them do their artistry in food.
I am an amateur in this area. Just learning. Sushi is like painting a house. Just stand back and either see it done right or you spot the bad work. You build on it like painting a house, the plaster, sanding, primer, first coat, finish. On the other hand the secret to Sushi is proper preparation of the sticky rice, freshness, technique and attention to detail. You can see what's coming off the Bamboo mat.
I just got a new right handed Sashimi knife for my collection of Houchou's, Santoku's, Nakiri's, and Deba's, and am dabbling in Sushi preparation. I also dabble in Thai, and Philippine cooking. Some of the chefs I met in California are world class. Sushi Ran Mitsunori Kusakabe who is the 2008 World's champion out of California is one of the Four Master Sushi Chefs who reside there.
So watching a pro locally is educational for me even if his work is commercial, not the artistic showman variety in a high end eatery or in competition like at Bloomsbury's London House where Kusakabe's win took place in 2008.
So watching a pro locally is educational for me even if his work is commercial, not the artistic showman variety in a high end eatery or in competition like at Bloomsbury's London House where Kusakabe's win took place in 2008.
In this category, the Golden Wok Sushi was good and nicely presented. I like fresh. otherwise I pass. Like I said, in this they do OK. It does however fall down badly, very badly in other areas. Like the rest of the food. The Golden Wok was tarnished
FOOD NOT FRESH - FRONT END DAMAGE
I had several problems with the food: No punches pulled, it was not fresh looking, some of it severely, dried with almost a solid skim coat, probably from cornstarch or flour used for the gravies and sauces as a thickener, on the stainless hot tables. More than one or two had this yesterday's dinner look. Three times I saw this.
I had several problems with the food: No punches pulled, it was not fresh looking, some of it severely, dried with almost a solid skim coat, probably from cornstarch or flour used for the gravies and sauces as a thickener, on the stainless hot tables. More than one or two had this yesterday's dinner look. Three times I saw this.
Second: How long are they holding food and I wonder how much gets carried over. Some foods are OK, till tomorrow if immediately put in the chillers and sealed with Saran wrap. Some can be really bad to the lower tract if not. Some of the food had congealed, some had hardened with age. Some I had no words for.
This is "front end damage", thats what I call it. Because on all buffets, the front end person should be adding minor amounts of hot water, sauce or wine due to natural evaporation. Stirring and freshing the steamer trays looking for dead selection and removing it.
From a safety standpoint the food is safest on the bottom, where the heat is than on the top where it is cooled by the AC in the place, so you keep stirring. Food on two occasions was either very hot which is OK, or looking like yesterdays leftovers, again dried out, cold, slimmed over and not updated or rotated for even temp control and food safety. Three for three times, same problem evident. is a killer for me. I don't care if the front ender is your wife. You got the knife.
UNDER DESTRUCTION
Once again our friends at ABC actionnews.com are on the ball with their easy to read and use Food and health Guide. Based on a complaint, the "Poultry Police" of Florida found the following based on a full complaint from a customer. They investigated just about hit it on the head we findings we found.
Based on a complaint 7/9/2010 2026395 Complaint 2 nominal/13 critical Violations Total 15. The violations from a complaint circled around food possible contamination and temperature etc.