Lings Buffet in Lakeland, Florida

If you're tired of spending an hour picking out a restaurant everyone in your family will like, Lings Buffet may be for you. While much of the food is only good to average, Lings Buffet Lakeland is a great place to take a group for its wide variety of foods. Lings has separate bars for salad, sushi, and seafood, and a mixture of Chinese and American foods with a few international touches on the hot bars.

Lings sushi bar caters to the sushi newbie. The rolls are small and unadventurous, but a good starting point for newcomers to sushi. Raw items are usually limited to tuna, salmon, roe, and vegetables, mostly rolled and reversed rolled, though I have seen tuna nigiri on occasion. Dishes for soy sauce and condiments are available at the sushi bar as well as low sodium soy sauce. Sushi is rolled in front of buffet goers at workstations behind the bar. Tipping is optional, but there is a tip jar at the bar if you feel inclined to do so. The only item I caution against here is any sushi with egg in it as they tend to overcook it.

Lings Chinese food does not disappoint. While very few items standout here, you won't find any odd surprises or poorly prepared offerings either. The indecisive fan of American style Chinese food will be pleased that nearly everything on a typical Chinese take-out menu is here. It may not be a traditional dim sum restaurant, but with shao mai, potstickers, filled wontons, egg rolls, and steamed buns on the menu, you could put together a respectable plate of dumplings.

In addition to sushi and Chinese food, Ling's Buffet offers a range of foods including roast meats, sweet fried plantains, french fries, cobbler, and pizza. If you're looking for a rare buffet find, try a fried mochi. These balls of rice dough are filled with sweet bean paste, rolled in sesame seeds, fried, and not to be missed.

The dessert bar is Lings Buffet's weak point. The cakes, profiteroles, and cookies have a dry packaged food quality. Skip it and step over to the soft-serve machine and toppings mini-bar or look for cobbler, mochi, and sugared donuts on the hot bar.

Lings Buffet serves coke products, sweet and unsweet teas, coffee, and a selection of cheap beers and wines for a separate charge.

Prices range from $7.45 for an adult weekday lunch to $13.95 for a Friday or Saturday dinner. A take-out menu and by the pound option are also available. Lings Buffet is located at 4320 South Florida Avenue Lakeland, Florida, beside the Walgreens.