The Great Wall Augusta, ME A Buffet Experience That Requires…read moreStretchy Pants and Emotional Preparedness If you're cruising down the highway in Augusta and suddenly feel the gravitational pull of fried rice, congratulations -- you're near The Great Wall. Conveniently located close to the highway and surrounded by shops (should you need to walk off 3-5 plates afterward), this buffet fortress boasts a well-maintained parking lot and handicap accessibility. In short: easy to get to, hard to leave. Atmosphere: The Buffet Cathedral Walking inside, you're greeted by a cavernous dining room with ample natural light -- the kind that lets you clearly see the five or six buffet stations daring you to test your willpower. There's plenty of seating, so whether you arrive solo, with family, or with your competitive-eating alter ego, you'll have room to expand emotionally and physically. Staff: Swift and Smiling The staff is friendly and efficient -- masters of the silent plate swap. You'll look down mid-bite and suddenly your finished plate has vanished like a magic trick, replaced with opportunity. It's the kind of service that says, "Yes, we see you going back for thirds. We support you." Food: A Journey in Three Acts The Highlights (Return-Trip Worthy) * Fried rice: The dependable hero. Fluffy, flavorful, and generously scooped on your plastic plate. * Chicken dishes of all varieties: If it clucks, they've sautéed it, fried it, glazed it, or lovingly bathed it in sauce. Also, Chicken on a stick. Yep, just like the name suggests, it's chicken on a stick. Simple, elegant, and on a stick! * Bok choy with oyster sauce: Fresh, vibrant, and a responsible choice you can point to when explaining your plate's overall nutritional value. This is served with the traditional oyster sauce, the flavor adds to your sodium delight. * Noodle dishes galore: Lo mein, mystery mein, probably-other-mein. Carb enthusiasts, rejoice. The Mid-Light (We're Thinking About It) * Tiny crab rangoons: More "suggestion of crab rangoon" than actual rangoon, but still a crispy little detour. * Vegetarian sushi: A pleasant palate cleanser between ambitious buffet laps. * Hot and sour soup: Mushroom lovers, this one's for you. Mushroom neutral? You've been warned. * Pudding: A delightful way to end the meal and initiate the sacred post-meal "pudding process." * Fortune cookies: Slightly stale, but let's be honest -- destiny waits for no one, and this is hardly The Great Wall's fault. The No-Light Zone * Jello: Possibly a flavor not yet recognized by science. It bore the ripples of its can-shaped origin story like a badge of honor. * Peanut Butter Chicken: Do you wish you had a PB and J, but without the bread, and you substituted it with protein-packed fried chicken? Well, Cinderella, here is your missing slipper. * BoBo shrimp: A philosophical experience. Was it shrimp? Was it chicken? Was it both in a culinary identity crisis? We may never know. * Muscles: Yeah, we're in Maine, but you are likely pushing your luck with these guys. Save room for a second BoBo shrimp instead. * Egg roll: Dough-forward. Think "pizza roll that studied abroad." * Pizza: Skip this! You are at The Great Wall, not the house of Pisa. Cleanliness Overall tidy and clean -- especially impressive considering the steady flow of buffet warriors rotating through. Pro Tip * Ask for chopsticks -- they're available but not automatically deployed. * Knives are not included in the standard fork-spoon-napkin starter pack. Plan accordingly. * Hydrate throughout the meal. Tsingtao is the obvious choice, but in order to keep your sodium levels at Atlantic Ocean, and not the Dead Sea, drink water throughout the meal. Schedule a hydration and digestion window afterward. This is not a "quick bite" establishment. This is an event. Final Verdict The Great Wall in Augusta delivers what a buffet should: variety, value, and the opportunity to make questionable but memorable food decisions. Come hungry. Leave proud (and slightly horizontal).

Big selection of fresh, hot food. Waitress who brought our drinks was fantastic…read more I'm not a fan of the desserts but everything else was very flavorful. We will stop by again.

I gave this place 2 stars simply because it reminds me of my childhood. The decor is authentic 1982…read moreand I fucking love it, but the good things stop there. The food sucks powdered eggs that are not mixed, fruit that's been in a can since the 80s. The sausage and bacon are ok but an idiot couldn't fuck that up. The restaurant opened at 715ish when the sign clearly says 7 and was drastically understaffed. The staff was very nice but 9 bucks for a buffet that is based around powdered eggs changes extra for the worlds smallest beverages. The bathrooms servicing the restaurant are disgusting and haven't been cleaned since we checked into the hotel yesterday. I wouldn't bother trying it take you money and go to a mom and pop restaurant in the area or a greasy spoon. Sad I came here

The good: Super service from our waitress, friendly,…read morepunctual and informative. Hostess was also very friendly and accommodating. Coffee was piping hot, and the carafe is left on your table. Potatoes were pretty good, and the cereal, but seriously, who goes to a breakfast buffet for cereal? Inexpensive, only $5 for seniors, which I was apparently tagged as without being asked. The bad: Everything else. This buffet was ridiculously bad. Like the stuff of a sit com bad. Fruit (apples and oranges), cereal, donuts, toast, instant oatmeal, scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, hash - so certainly a decent variety. But the eggs were obviously not real, and had lumps in them that I presume were unmixed in powder. [Gag] Bacon was a good opportunity to get some jaw exercising in, but I stopped eating it because I was worried about breaking a tooth. My husband got hash, said it was mealy, flavorless mush. In an effort to get at least something in my belly, I went back up for yogurt and instant oatmeal. The packets of plain oatmeal were easy to find, but no hot water, or microwave to cook it. After asking the waitress for hot water, I forced down some bizarre brand vanilla yogurt, despite it's warm, gelatinous consistency. When the hot water arrived, I poured it into the oatmeal, and waited. Waited. Stirred and waited. And although I was warned the hot water was very hot, it wasn't hot enough to cook the instant oatmeal. Our 3rd and last attempt at eating SOMETHING would be the toast. Uninspired wheat bread, probably some institution brand, toasted, and we grabbed two packets if jelly, which we absolutely needed in order to eat it. The ugly: I asked the waitress if there was someone cooking in the back, could I just get a couple fried eggs? She shrugged and apologized saying he wasn't allowed to cook anything directly for the guests. 'nuff said. Save your money, grab a free coffee in the lobby, but go (RUN) elsewhere for your breakfast.

The food is Soo good 10- 10 Best place in Scarborough…read more It's mine and co-worker go place when are craving Chinese food

I have eaten in and done take out. Great experience with both. Love how fresh and tasty their…read morefood is and without MSG. The staff was very friendly, place is always clean and the food won't let you down. Great little spot in Hallowell.

I have mixed feelings about the lotus. First of all, it's the owner that stares you down and it's…read morejust generally rude. However, the food is consistent and delicious. Bathrooms are always clean, but the place could use some new benches that don't drop you to the floor when you sit on them.

My Mom spoke highly of this restaurant before our day trip to ME but my Mom wasn't impressed this…read moreday. Buffet style of chinese & american foods. We arrived around 4pm so they must of switched over from lunch to dinner. There were a lot of trays that had very little food in them, empty or dried out. I did get creeped out when I saw behind the waitress stands where the soda machines are along with other junk stored back there, it just looked so dirty & gross. I was disgusted and soooooo afraid of eating the food there & drinking from the cups. I was praying that I wouldn't get sick. Its funny because I kept this thought to myself & my friend that was also with us happened to say something to me about how the restaurant was dirty & then I shared my thoughts with her and she was hoping not to get sick either..........Well we did get lucky & neither of us got sick but I definitely wouldn't come back to eat in here. A few of the bowls had water in them & some particles after being washed which was gross. We went to get some ice cream & the water bin that the ice cream scoop was in was sooo disgusting I was afraid to get ice cream. My guess is it's just from the different flavors of ice cream mixed in with the water that is used to rinse off the ice cream?? Staff needs to change the water more often. Their chicken tenders were terrible & dried out. The only thing that tasted fresh was their donuts but that was only because I caught a new batch that had been brought out. The ladies room was dirty even the light socket (see my photo) like do they even have a cleaning crew?? I'm curious what kind of rating that they have from the food inspector?? We never got an itemized reciept, just one that said how much we owe & this drives me crazy as if restuarants are trying to hide charges when they don't give you an itemized one, which we know that it can be done. We were curious how much the buffet was & how much the drinks were so I had asked on my way out. I couldn't believe that this place was a little busy as if the customers in here were repeat ones because I was just so creeped out with the dirtiness of this restaurant & the presentation of the food. The sushi looked fresh but didn't taste very good. A lot of staff was standing around the bar, to bad they weren't keeping themselves busy by cleaning up the place. There was also a family of a Mom & Dad with two young boys. The youngest boy was walking all over the booth seat with his shoes on & climbing all over the table. They even let the older boy (probably 8yrs old) head up to the buffet by himself. It's just surprising how families can't behave when out in public & forget that they're not at home. Sorry, but I can't recommend eating at this place. Save your money & health and stay away.

Excellent food, excellent service (ask for Adam M. He was fantastic. One of the best servers I have…read moreever encountered), excellent atmosphere. Try the chicken pesto sandwich. My all-time favorite sandwich for the last three years!

We have been having a bunch of stuff going on and our dear friends sent an email stating that they…read morewere picking us up and treating us to lunch at DaVinci's. It was a wonderful experience! We shared a delightful bottle of Chardonnay and wonderful flavorful spinach dip. There are lunch specials that offer smaller portions of popular dishes - complete with salad or soup. After binging on the most amazing bread I was glad I went for the house salad. Wayne had the minestrone soup. My entree was shrimp scampi with cherry tomatoes & mushrooms - and of course shrimp, garlic, and great pasta. Wayne had Chicken Amore which, after he found the sausage was very yummy! Also - the lunch portions are smaller and we still have leftovers. Although, we did save room to share a crème brûlée. Service was excellent, we will happily come back!

Food is delicious (only takeout offered when we went; the restaurant is lovely regardless) and…read morevariety is wide. Easy to order online. When our "big box" order got mixed up with another, the restaurant delivered our original order to our house (15 mins away) promptly and without extra cost. Love both the food and the service--will get takeout from there again!

This was my first visit to this only take out establishment in Lewiston Maine featuring northern…read moreIndian dishes. India is a huge country so there are many regional variations of dishes one may be accustomed to ordering in the US. My son is local and frequently orders from Mother India and raves about it. We called the restaurant to place our pick up order. We ordered Raita, samosas, lamb Keema Mutter, lamb curry, makhni chicken, garlic naan, and batura. The order was ready in 25 mins. Every dish was fantastic and flavorful and nothing was overly spicy. Wonderful melding of spices. All tasted fresh. The portions were generous and we had plenty for another meal. I have my own favorite Indian place where I live and Mother India was comporable in quality, taste, and value. I would not be hesitant to order from here again and recommend. Only on street parking.

The restaurant does not look like much on the outside, and the neighborhood isn't the greatest…read more But, the food is great and I loved the Plantains. Try this new restaurant on the Lewiston food scene.

OK. I found a place to eat and it was awesome. It was not…read moreyour dash-in-and-grab-a-bite place, and I am so glad I found it. It looks like nothing on the outside, but inside was the most amazing food served by the most beautiful and delightful staff. I was not anticipating a real Brazillian Steak House in Lewiston, Maine, but dear God, I found one. I had "lunch." It took almost 90 minutes of steady eating, with a guy who popped out of the kitchen every so often with a giant spear of some kind of meat which he portioned onto my plate until I told him to stop. There was beef and chicken and sausage and ribs and probably more, but I had to concede defeat and escape before I literally burst. It cost $30. And included a buffet line of rice, beans, chicken, and a bunch of other stuff I didn't recognize. Oh, and plantains cooked just right. And salad things. And some sort of decadent looking chocolate dessert. I can't even. I tipped big, and the hostess tried to argue with me that it was too much. No, I said. Everybody here is working hard. Today I have money, and will share. Tomorrow I may not. That's how life goes. I celebrate this place for it's abundance of good food and warm welcome. I anticipate a long nap this afternoon, and I may not need food again for days. Wow.

All the food was cooked perfectly. Ali did a great job five stars all around. I sat at the bar…read morewhere I'm quite comfortable.

Excellent service & view! Clam chowder and bacon wrapped scallops were awesome! Followed up with a…read morelobster roll with fries!! Ample, easy parking. Will definitely stop n again!

I was a bit apprehensive going in - not gonna lie. It's dark. I haven't a huge bruise in my shin…read morefrom a wooden box placed in a really bad spot, but... We were seated right away. Unlike other hibachi restaurants, we we were also able to order food and be served right away. We didn't have to wait for the table to fill up as is so often the case. The fillet melted in my mouth. The shrimp are perfectly seasoned and delicious. The fried rice, fantastic. The vegetables are one of my favorites. Our chef was attentive, professional, funny, and adept at doing everything that is hibachi. I love the fact that I have discovered this so close to home. No longer a reason to drive all the way to Thompson.

I've been out of the twin cities area for more than a decade, and made it back to Sea 40 after all…read morethat time. The Lewiston reputation holds strong as the mall is limping along and this facility is a corner stone of its remaining existence. Sea 40 ambience hasn't changed since the day they opened their doors. It's okay, just don't look for that swanky up and new appealing vibe. The waiter was frantic, slow, preoccupied, and all over the place. The food at Sea 40 was relatively fresh, flavorful, and presented just fine. I had started with steamed edamame with sea salt and Pot-Stickers/Gyoza. For my main course I had the hibachi salmon and filet mignon, salad with the ginger sauce, and broth soup.

Went to dinner here the other day and it was good. It was busy so we got the middle bar area. Lots…read moreof options for food and drinks. Large bar and lots of tables.

We went on a Wednesday evening. Service was a bit slow at the bar, but when it happened, it was…read morefriendly. The food was at most a 1.5. Our prime rib was flavorless, cool (not cold), and a bit chewy. It seems to be a locals' spot. Not being a local may have made us less important. IDK. We won't go back. We wanted to eat out, and this seemed a better option than Applebee's.