Chicken swimming in a pool of sauce

Located in the Bellis Fair Mall, this Panda Express location is quite convenient. It was dinner time and my family and I have been travelling for the whole day and we were starving. Looking at other options in this food court, we couldn't see anything that was appealing to our pallets at the time, so we settled for Panda Express.
They have quite a few options when it comes to ordering. You can either order a single entree or double entree combo. However, because there were the four of us, we thought it might be more economical to get the family pack. A double entree was about $7 while for the family pack it includes 3 full size entrees, and two rice or noodle sides for about $30.
 Looking at the choices of entrees, what I noticed is that there aren't many options when it comes to vegetables. Almost everything here has meat in it. Also, another interesting observation was that there weren't a big amount of food at the front. Compared to other Chinese fast food joints where they have a pile of food at the front, Panda Express has relatively less quantity of food at the front.
The downside about the lower quantity of food at the front is that if a large order was made, such as an order for a family pack, the front runs out of food really fast. On a not so busy day, the quantity is good, but when you have a busy day like a Saturday night, the amount at the front is barely enough to keep up with the amount of customers ordering.
I ordered a Kung Pao Chicken, String Bean Chicken and Pepper Chicken. I know, it's alot of chicken, but there doesn't seem to be anything here that is just stand alone vegetables. All of these dishes had some sort of vegetables with them, so that's why we got them. Because the quantity at the front was limited, we had to wait for about 15 minutes for them to make more.
The chicken entrees that we got were pretty good, with the exception that some of the items have too much sauce. Personally, I don't really like to eat things with too much sauce, however there are people I know that would love to eat with a lot sauce.
  Out of all the dishes, I would say the quality is fair, the fried rice was just right. It was not too greasy like many of the Chinese fast food places that are around. The price was pretty average too, so there is really nothing much to complain about besides the amount of sauce. 

Rice stuck to banana leaves and smaller than average sushi rolls! (Wonderful Buffet Review)

To many Vancouverites and Canadians, besides getting cheaper gas and groceries from Bellingham, another thing Bellingham is notorious for is their buffets. Among the Asians (well, from my grandma's social circles), I heard that there are two popular buffets in Bellingham. One is the Super Buffet (please read my review here:) and the other is Wonderful Buffet.
 Driving into the parking lot, you can see that Wonderful Buffet is located just across the parking lot from Costco. Before walking in I noticed something interesting, the blinds at Wonderful Buffet is on the outside rather than the inside. I am not sure why they do this, I'd imagine it would be a hassle to close the blinds if you are inside let alone if you wanted some privacy inside the restaurant (let's say at night), you wouldn't be able to get any because people can just easily lift the blinds up.

Very interesting choice of ceiling decor

That said, after glaring at the interesting setup of blinds, my friend and I decided to walk in. Immediately, at the door, you will see the prices for Lunch, Dinner, Take out. It was about 6 at night, so we were just in time for the dinner. Walking in on a Wednesday Evening, the place was not too busy. We were greeted by the host lady. I wouldn't say that she is rude, but she wasn't the most polite either.
  The interior decor is rather interesting. The lighting was abit on the dim side and the ceiling tiles were very interesting. I think the "Chinese Buffet" theme was the thing that the restaurant was trying to emphasize.
  After, we were seated, I noticed that there were six counters of food. Each one had their own features. There was one counter for sushi, one counter for seafood/meat (like two dishes, such as trout and mussels when we were there), one counter for western salads, two counters for Chinese dishes and one counter for desserts/ fruits.
   I didn't want to get too much food, so I had bits and pieces of everything to try things out. I started out with going to the sushi bar. I must say the sushi here are smaller in portion compared to many other sushi I've had. The selections weren't special though, they only have a few varieties and all of which are classic kinds like California Roll, Alaska roll, tamago roll to name a few. The taste of these are pretty regular, nothing bad to write home about.
   The next category I went to was the two Chinese counters. They had alot of the traditional Chinese dishes you would get at restaurants such as fried beans, chow mein, fried rice, lemon chicken. I got a bit of everything and tried them all out. Besides being abit on the greasy side, it was not too bad. The Chicken teriyaki on skewers were pretty good too. The only thing that I didn't like from here was the sticky rice. It tastes as if the sticky rice has been in the cooker for a really long time and the rice and the banana leaf that it's wrapped in is literally STUCK together.
  They also have a dish of lobster legs too, but I didn't try any. WAfter trying out a few more dishes, everything tasted regular, like it wasn't anything that was out of the ordinary that you can get at the Food Court. That said, I really liked the chick peas cold dish they had. The chick peas were cooked to the point where the flavour were brought out just right. Besides that, everything else was nothing much to write about.
  Finally, I decided to get some fruits. My friend decided to get desserts (even though my marathon is finished, I am going after maintenance and speed for the next marathon). The fruits tasted as if it's been out for a really long time. Especially the oranges, they were abit dry and kind of crispy. The creme puffs, according to my friend, was abit sour tasting too. Other than that, there is really nothing to complain about.
  Overall, the food here is pretty average, however, the price is pretty good. At about $13 for dinner, I would say that the value you get is pretty good for the amount of food and choices that you have. The quality isn't the best, but hey, you get what you pay for right?

Not so fast, fast-food restuarant (Wendy's Bellingham Review)/ (Texas Trip Part 1)

Our airplane was due to leave Seatac airport at 4PM for Dallas/Fort Worth. By the time we crossed the border it was around noon and we were starving. We wanted something quick to fill our stomach (something like a drive-thru), when someone recommended Wendy's.

   Pulling up at Wendy's, we figured that it would be faster for us to go in individually and order because there was a long line up at the drive-thru window. Once we parked, we entered. There were about 5 people in front of our group, and we thought because it was fast food, it would be really fast.

   While we waited, I immediately noticed the difference in price (vs Canadian prices). On average the Wendy's in Bellingham offered almost the same menu as the Wendy's you would find in Canada, but the prices were lower by around 20%. I really like their value menu. Although compared to McDonald's the prices seem to be higher (like who can beat McDonald's dollar menu?!, you can buy a McChicken for $1!), but the prices at Wendy's was decent.

   That said, what I found set Wendy's apart from McDonald's is that I think they have more options when it came to healthy choices. They have the baked potato, which is very healthy if you do not add any of the condiments to it. The potato itself is rich in natural nutrients. I got two baked potato and also two grilled chicken wraps when I was at Wendy's. The taste was not super special but it wasn't too bad either.

   What was very different about this Wendy's location was that it was pretty slow in getting orders done. We waited for about a good 10 minutes before it was our turn to order. The cashiers were really nice, however they were abit ineffective. There was an open till and a few staff members floating around that could have attended the till to make the speed of the orders faster. Also, besides the slow orders, among the 6 of us in our group, 2 of us had our orders mixed up. In the end, we figured we spent longer at this place than if we ate in at the Taco Bell across the street. When we were finished with our orders and we all got our food, we quickly rushed our way down south towards SeaTac.

Super Buffet Bellingham

It was the end of a long day, and back in Vancouver we saw the advertisements for Super Buffet so we decided to give them a try. Their location is pretty convenient, as it is just across the street from the Bellis Fair Mall (in Bellingham).

In addition to the location, they have a huge balloon on their roof that has "Hokkaido'' written on it in Chinese characters (Kanji). When you enter the buffet, it is like every Asian style buffet you go in to.  Very minimal furnishing (tables and chairs), not much emphasis on decor but they have the necessities , like basic tables and chairs. The environment is very family I find, but of you are thinking about bringing your date here, I would recommend something different (unless your date likes this setting).
   We were just in time for dinner. When it comes to food, Super Buffet has a pretty good selection of food. There is a wide range of sushi, Chinese dim sum and salads. Besides that, Super Buffet advertises that they have a wide selection of seafood, it wasn't as much as we expected but there were still quite a bit of selection. It could be that the day we went, there was not much selection. There is also a teppanyaki bar where you can get all of the raw foods on a plate and have the chef there cook it for you. There is the option of choosing what kind of sauce you would like (such as teriyaki sauce). To add the cherry on top of the ice cream, Super Buffet has a good selection of deserts from cake to ice cream.

    With regards to food quality though, the name "Hokkaido" is used very loosely because there aren't many items (if any at all) at Super Buffet that is from Hokkaido. If you are expecting to have a huge meal from Hokkaido, you might be disappointed if you go to Super Buffet. Not to mention, I find that the food is slightly on the salty side. Besides that, the quality of the food is pretty fair.
   In summary, Super Buffet is an average restaurant to go to for food. They aren't disgusting or anything, but at the same time it doesn't stand out. Similar to many Asian buffets, you are paying for value rather than quality. If you are planning to visit Super Buffet, there is a 10% off coupon (http://gosuperbuffet.com/coupons) you can print off from their site. In addition to staying for all you can eat, you can also buy food by the pound (4.99 for lunch, 5.99 for dinner or 6.99 for seafood). For those who don't eat alot, perhaps buying food by weight is more economical than sitting there for an all you can eat.