If there is a Chinese restaurant in West Virginia, there's a good chance that I will travel to find it eventually. I love all the Asian food, but I have a soft spot for a Chinese comfort food. And I will often travel great lengths to find it, and I justify it because it's a new restaurant that I can feature on my blog.
When I found myself in Ripley recently, around lunchtime, I put in an order at the China Buffet to go. It doesn't appear as though they are doing the buffet or dine in anymore since Covid, but you can still get takeout.
I went with my usual order of crab rangoons. I also went for the General Tso's chicken, but I asked if it could be made with white meat chicken as opposed to the dark meat that's often found in this dish. They could not do the all-white breaded chicken, but they could do the grilled chicken that is often seen in dishes like chicken and broccoli. So it was not as chewy and definitely a more tender cut of chicken. I always enjoy the sauce that comes with this dish because it is sweet and a little sour and just thick and delicious. It would have been even better with a higher quality protein. The crab rangoons were decent. They were a little over-fried, but with enough cheese filling, anything can be good.
The eggroll was very average, as tends to be the case with many of these local restaurants. I had a good eggroll not too long ago and I have been chasing the high ever since. But most of the ones in our area tend to just have a ton of cabbage and not a whole lot of flavor. Aside from the oil. That tracks here. Not bad.
Grade: B
I think ribs are one of those things that when they're bad, they're just not a pleasant experience. For that reason, I shied away from ribs for many years. You know the kind - tough, not super flavorful, fatty. But, then I had good ribs and discovered sometimes it is just worth the risk. Hog Wild Bar-B-Que in Fairlea falls on the better end.
The fully on-theme restaurant features a wooden, country-esque exterior, plus a drive-thru! I ordered a 1/4 rack of ribs with green beans and coleslaw. The ribs were not super fall-off-the-bone, but they weren't tough or fatty. Just gotta use your chompers a bit. The flavor was good - slightly sweet, nice smoke. I wouldn't be mad at some extra sauce to dredge it through, though. Green beans were decent, and I liked the chopped slaw - surprised to see no carrots!
Grade: B
Caribou Coffee has a bunch of locations, but most are more to the West. So while I was traveling and spotted a Caribou in the wild (ha), I had to try it.
I went with the "TURTLE MOCHA" - Real chocolate melted into steamed milk, combined with espresso & caramel. Topped with whipped cream, caramel, and turtle pieces.
I really enjoyed it! It wasn't as sweet as it could have been, considering all the toppings. But I actually found it pretty well balanced. It was a good middle-ground between bitter and sweet and something I could enjoy more than one of.
Let's stop at another Gino's location because we have almost hit 'em all at this point.
The Chapmanville location had a few different options than the other locations. Most notably, they had chicken strips.
Usually, you are just finding pizza, calzones, pasta, and subs. So, the new menu item here intrigued me.
I will say, there was another location that had fresh fried chicken, and it was pretty good. So, my expectations were pretty high here.
But, the chicken strips were just OK. They weren't hand-breaded and fried. I imagine they were more frozen and fried, but without that super crunchy coating. You know the one I'm talking about: the greasy, super crunchy, golden brown, coating.
these were more like home style. I could see these coming from my kitchen on any given weekday. They were satisfactory for a lunch. But some extra crunch on both the chicken and the fries would take it to the next level.
Grade: B
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