China Lights Oriental Cuisine - Eagle River

Not sure why the reviews here aren't great.
Let's be clear - China Lights Eagle River business model is completely different than Anchorage, so don't go expecting the same menu or buffet. Just don't. Its TOTALLY DIFFERENT. And the buffet is ONLY at lunch time.

We went for dinner. Which means we ordered from the ala carte dinner menu which is significantly more expensive than eating there for lunch. But, the portions are enormous and the food was excellent. The inside of the restaurant was beautiful... there aren't very many Chinese restaurants like this in Alaska. Our hostess was lovely (the lady from the commercials). The fish tank is damn impressive. Everything was great. I look forward to our next visit.

Came in yesterday with my son for Mother's Day. I still try some restaurants even though the reviews might be a bit sketchy, like this place. He was super excited to take me here and wanted me to have my best day and luncheon here.

We were aware it would be busy as it was a holiday and there's not a lot of sit down places to eat out here. We come in and my son really liked the decor. There was a line for the buffet close to the door. We stood for 5 minutes before we were acknowledged and sat down.

No more than 3 minutes after sitting down we were immediately told that we couldn't sit there as it was someone else's table and we'd have to get up and wait until there was one available. I was mortified and my son was disappointed. People were dressed up and acting snooty like it was Spago or something.

Too bad we won't be back to give it a try, it was so rude to treat a customer in such a manner that I will never come back to try the food now. I'm thinking had we not have been treated so poorly, I probably would have given a good review as the food did seem fresh. Instead we hopped in his car and drove to Anchorage to eat.

Great lunch buffet or order from the menu. Most people do the buffet from 11:30 to 2:30 daily on week days. Buffet food is hot and well prepared. Salad bar items are fresh and crisp. Excellent value for your money.

I wanted to try something else besides Panda Express around here in Anchorage/eagle river area but there is nothing special about this Chinese place at all!!! Food tasted like any other fast food Chinese joint but the price is ridiculous. I ordered a take out for some egg drop soup, general tso chicken with fried rice for 30 bucks. Are they serious?!?!?!? I asked how it came to that much and they said because fried rice is an entree. They don't substitute the fried price for the white rice that normally comes with the meal. I've never been to a Chinese place where they can't do that. The egg drop soup was extremely bland. The general Tso and fried rice was sub par compare to other Chinese place I've tried. With that being said, this is my first and last time coming to this place. Do yourselves a favor and stick with Panda Express. The service, food and price is better with panda

Great buffet. Love their Thai tea.
I've been here close to 10 times and the staff is always welcoming and polite. We've done a couple large group eats with present exchanges at my work and CL-ER has always been very helpful with table accommodations. Sometimes my group even forget to call ahead and they always courteous. Great food after Eagle River Bowl too. Reasonably priced goodness. Easy to see from the road/street and has good parking options. There isn't a long wait on food and we've always had freshly cooked food. Different experience than Anchorage CL, but I like ER's better.

This place is alright. We ordered orange chicken ( it came with white rice) , we also ordered vegetable fried rice and the appetizer sampler. The food was more than enough for two. I wasn't a big fan of the taste of the orange chicken it tasted like a very artificial orange taste. The fried rice however looked very fresh. There were barely any people here today and yet the service was slow. The quality of service definitely needs some improvement. I am not sure that I'll be returning.

This is my favorite Chinese place! The food is the closest to the stuff I grew up with on the East coast. I've been in Alaska for 5 years now and thought I had to give up eating yummy Chinese food. I am so happy to have accidentally found them. Even though it's an hour drive for me.. totally worth it. I recommend the Buffett which serves a great variety of food.

My husband and I have been eating at China lights in Eagle River since the 80s. The food has been OK most of the time, you just have to know what to order. We recently ordered food delivered and I have to agree with the last person; the food is now awesome. I don't know what they're doing but I hope they keep it up

Not worth $20/ person. Will not order from here again.

The chicken breading wss poor quality and all the same. Ordered sweet and sour, sezwan and Orange. None of them were good. Noodles were soggy. Rice was hard

My husband was very excited to try this place, and he's always easily pleased. But today it was different , he didn't eat like usual. I thought it was weird but didn't give it much importance. The food is not worth what you pay for! It looks alright but taste was weird. Consistency was nasty. And the shrimp was old. Although we didn't eat much, I'm right here with my babies, it's 3am and we are suffering from what seems to be food poisoning. It sucks especially for my smaller kids. We spent 55 dls and it sucked!!!!! Seriously don't eat here . Especially if u have little ones. I give it one star because the younger waitress was very nice.