Berlin Asian Food Lunch Buffet for a Great price!

Restaurant Name:  Zhou’s Five GmbH
Address:  Marktstraße 6, 10317 Berlin  – Victoria Center

Note:  This is an independent restaurant review based on my experience.

Every once in a while I get a craving for the fake sweet sour taste of imposter Asian food.  Over indulging in a buffet of various tastes and textures is as good for the soul as eating a tasty home cooked meal with loved ones.  Thus, on this particular day, my husband and I made the trek to Zhou’s Five at the Victoria Center in Berlin to try out the self proclaimed “Largest Asian Buffet In Berlin” for lunch.

The Restaurant:  Located inside of the Victoria Center mall, the restaurant is tastefully decorated with an elegant, warm feeling.  Chandeliers sparkled light across the dark wood white clothed tables and leather seating. A single white rose on each and soft lamp accent lighting throughout the dining room added to the luxurious atmosphere.  The only faux pas was paper napkins instead of cloth, slightly destroying an otherwise opulent look.

Their lack of customer connection is decidedly disappointing, bordering on offensive.

I really appreciated the carefully thought out ambiance.  For a slightly more casual experience, Zhou’s Five also has an airy  “patio” set up outside of the entrance.

The concept is modern Asian cuisine buffet style, although food can also be ordered à la carte.  The five stands for the 5 countries culinarily represented: Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian, Thai and Vietnamese.

The Service:  Excellent.  Our server was very observant, fast and efficient.  He took our wine order immediately, presented and served it professionally and magically made plates disappear.

The Food:  Assumedly a significantly reduced version of the evening buffet.  The limited salad bar offered cold rolled chicken, shrimp salad, arugula, tomato mozzarella salad, and morchella mushrooms with peppers and onions.

I reached out several times to owner/management and received no reply

The True Morels were quite nice, a wonderful light taste.  The tomato mozzarella salad was low quality and should be left to the Italians.

A huge bowl of ginger and another of wasabi accompanied the Sushi display.  I tried a few of the colourful rolled delights and they all tasted delicious!

The hot food left me with mixed feelings. There was a good variety of dishes, I guess representing the 4 remaining countries, but unimaginative.  Battered fish, chicken prepared a few ways, rice, and vegetables cooked in a variety of ways were the dominant choices.  Some of the offerings had great flavour, other dishes were only average to less than average.  I don’t know about you, but I have certain expectations on this Western presentation of Asian food therefore expect fried chicken balls as part of a buffet, but they were conspicuously  missing.  Instead there were 3 types of battered fried fruit which looked like chicken balls, but the name was an immediate turn off.

The hot food temperature was questionable;  most, if not all of the heated food was only lukewarm.  We were there early, so if the dishes were fresh prepared, not as much of a worry, but if they are put away for reheating / serving, potentially dangerous.

The desserts on offer were a  bit of an embarrassment – probably better to offer nothing, but that is just my opinion.  Huge trays of supermarket style canned peaches, pears and mandarines along with jello dishes.

The Cost:  At time of publication, the all you can eat lunch buffet is only €9.90 per person.  The evening buffet is €17.90 per person.  Our bottle of Merlot was an affordable €16.90.  The prices are definitely fair for what you get, however, I discovered on their website a small print glitch which they do not tell you when you enter. The conditions state the following:
1. Participation in our buffet requires the order of at least one drink per person. Otherwise, we charge a supplement of 4 € per person.
2. Handle the food carefully! Take only as much as you can consume. With excessive waste, we charge 20 € per plate.

I would like to point out that during the process of writing the review, I reached out several times to owner/management and received no reply. Finally, after approaching them openly on Facebook, they did answer with a cocky reply.  Their lack of customer connection is decidedly disappointing, bordering on offensive.

Contact:
Tel: 030 – 679 521 00
Opening Hours:  12 noon to 11 PM, Daily

Get There:

Location: Europe > Western Europe > Germany > North Eastern Germany > Berlin > Lichtenberg > Marktstraße > Victoria Center > Zhou’s Five