Everyone has been talking about Mr. Stirfry. the huge 100-item fresh Chinese buffet, sushi and hibachi bar located east of the Pizza Hut at S.W. 17th and Wanamaker Rd.

I thought I would see what was the big deal, and “big” and “deal” are two words that could be used to describe it. The food was pretty tasty too.

Immediately after entering, payment is received and the smiling staff seats you in one of the many tables or booths. Some people don’t like paying first, but I do because when I am done, I can leave whenever I want to without waiting on the server to bring my check. Another advantage to this is for the business. Mr. Stirfry is huge and this helps reduce the number of “dine-and-dash” customers they would potentially attract.

The buffet is extremely extensive and offers something for every palate. Even if you don’t like Asian food, there are selections available. For example mac and cheese is a selection, as well as ribs, fried shrimp, tater tots and various cold salads. The salad bar is pretty basic but there are a variety of composed salads. The fruit selection is large as well and includes bananas with strawberry sauce, fresh pineapple, canned peaches, cantaloupe and oranges.

Mr. Stirfry also provides fresh sushi, which is made right in front of the customers by their sushi chefs. Their selection is standard, including California rolls, Kansas rolls, spicy tuna rolls, and rainbow rolls. The chefs keep up with the crowd too, constantly rolling and putting out a variety of rolls. They are a little smaller and have less meat than places where you buy by the roll, but it is a buffet and you get what you pay for. The nori wasn’t chewy like you find some places with buffet sushi, and the sticky rice was sticky but still tender and delicious.

The hot food buffet was what one might expect from a Chinese buffet, but included other interesting things to try. For example, peanut butter chicken, baked shrimp with some sort of pork mixture and fried dumplings with pork were available. The white rice, fried rice, lo mein, beef and broccoli and sesame chicken were all good, but nothing special. The egg rolls were good, and with the large amount of people there, they were always fresh and crispy. The crab Rangoon were good but might be better if they changed the wonton wrap.

In addition to the hot buffet of the norm in Asian restaurants, there is a hibachi grill. Don’t mistake it with HuHot. The selections are limited and the sauces are few, but if you do it just right, you can get a good dish. They offer one type of egg noodle, pork, chicken, beef and shrimp, various vegetables and raw eggs. There isn’t a wide variety of sauces, but I thought I would just use a little bit of everything and my dish came out quite delicious. The hibachi chef has one long grill where he cooks up to six dishes at once, and is constantly cooking. Half the fun is watching him work.

Of course there is an entire buffet bar for dessert, as well as an ice cream machine with vanilla, chocolate and swirled ice cream, with cones or bowls. There are cakes and candies, pudding and doughnuts, – as with everything else provided at Mr. Stirfry the selections are many.  The doughnuts were my personal favorite of all the desserts, because they were still warm and crispy on the outside with a light coating of granulated sugar and light, and fluffy on the inside.

I have already eaten here two times in less than one week, and I foresee myself returning again in the near future.