The old Aloha Garden restaurant in Walnut Creek shopping center is no more. In its place is "Las Delicias de Chelinos Super Buffet." The restaurant has Mexican, American, and Chinese food on their buffet. We went yesterday. Have to say it was "okay," but not anything that was a "wow." Hubby liked it, but I wasn't impressed. Price for lunch buffet is $7.99, unless you're a senior citizen, then it's $6.99, which is competitive for most lunches in places like that. Honestly, I found it strange that Chelino would offer Chinese food on his buffet. Interesting and unusual.

Anyone else been there? Did not ask how long they'd been open, but suspect not long, as we drive by there often and just noticed the new signage on Monday.

Location? Not all of us know where Walnut Creek Shopping Center is....

i-240 & penn. -M

It's been open a couple of months.

It's been open a couple of months.

Yikes! Looks like I need to pay closer attention to what is going on to the 'sides' of the road instead of trying to be the 'passenger-side driver' for hubby and keeping my eyes on the road! :D

So this is actually part of the Chelino's group? Why in the WORLD did they throw Chinese food into the mix? Fingers crossed for yumminess but I find that really odd.

Just curious ... does anyone happen to know the total number of all you can eat places that exist today on or just off I-240 frontage roads between I-35 and I-44?

does anyone happen to know the total number of all you can eat places that exist today on or just off I-240 frontage roads between I-35 and I-44?

let's see...

starting from the east, we've got:

· house of szechuan and taste of china at i-240 & western.

· hibachi and house of hunan on the south side of i-240 between western & penn.

· golden corral on the north side of i-240 between western & penn.

· a1 and western sizzlin' at i-240 and penn.

· pancho's on the south side of i-240 between penn and may. in that same shopping center, august moon closed and was replaced by a place called "omg", which may or may not be a buffet.

· las delicias on the north side of i-240 between penn and may.

that's either 9 or 10 ayce establishments on that corridor... did i miss any? -M

Stopped by Las Delicias yesterday for lunch and I was impressed. I went there for Mexican food and was suprised to see Chinese & American dishes as well.

Their guacamole, salsa & shrimp cocktail were good. The Mexican rice was excellent and the two authentic Mexican dishes I saw were excellent! Those two dishes alone were enough for me to return. One was sort of like a pork verde and the other was a mole dish, I believe. The girl at the cash register said they have been open for three months.

Their logo is a Panda Bear wearing a Sombrero...can't recall how they incorporated the American into it (if they did)...mom & I have been there twice, they had a buy-1-get-1 coupon 1 week in the Gazette is how we heard of them. All of the items I have tried (the American and Mexican) have been very decent to excellent. The place is busy and with the temps/their AC being spotty/high customer count it can get a bit warm in the place. We may wait until mid-Septemeber before going back only because of the heat factor.

For those asking, it is in the strip mall down at the end where Outback Steakhouse and Olive Garden are located.

It is odd to think chinese and mexican food but I tried this place and I really like it, they dont have the typical tex mex. People will not like this place if they think taco bell or enchiladas is mexican food. This place has menudo, sieta mares, mole etc. It was a good mix for families who dont just like one type of food. When we went it was crowded so I guess word has gotten out about this place

But they have the more common tex-mex stuff too...tacos, enchiladas, fajita, tamales etc

I am probably going to dream about a panda in a sombrero tonight.

I am probably going to dream about a panda in a sombrero tonight.

Could be worse. Yer panda could be wearing leather chaps and following you down the buffet line with a crop and chopsticks.

Yer panda could be wearing leather chaps and following you down the buffet line with a crop and chopsticks.

i'll take 'words to never use on a google image search at work' for $200, alex. -M

Sad to hear Aloha Garden is gone. I loved that buffet back in the day.

After driving by the place over the Christmas holiday, looks like this bizarre buffet concept has been discarded and the site is being converted to a "regular" Chelino's. Don't really know any more than what's on the sign outside, which is just a regular "Chelino's Restuarant" sign, at least at a glance...

Sad to hear Aloha Garden is gone. I loved that buffet back in the day.

So did we. I've never been a huge oriental food fan, but this was in its heyday a reliably good place, seemed clean and well managed, very popular, and then I recall going a couple of times in a row, and it had just kinda gone south all of a sudden. Then it was closed, and that was pretty much all she wrote.

We've lost some good local places in the last couple of years - Aloha Garden (at least from its heyday), and August Moon on the other side of I-240 in that strip shopping center west of Penn. The latter had been around for decades, and the last couple of times we visited was still good, and for my $ had some of the best eggrolls around. I think the owners just got tired of running the place. It never *looked* like much on the outside, always just a slot in an otherwise rather ugly stripmall, but it sure outlasted a lot of "fancier" places for a long, long time. Alas.

August Moon was our family favorite. The owners decided it was time to retire and their daughters were not interested in keeping it open. I have not had an eggroll that even compared since then...

August Moon was the first place I ever had Chinese food over 30 years ago. Sad to hear that it is gone.

After driving by the place over the Christmas holiday, looks like this bizarre buffet concept has been discarded and the site is being converted to a "regular" Chelino's. Don't really know any more than what's on the sign outside, which is just a regular "Chelino's Restuarant" sign, at least at a glance...

I went there to eat a couple of weeks ago and was disappointed to find that they no longer have a buffet and are now just a regular Chelino's restaurant.

The buffet was hemmoraghing cash.