Variety lurks at new Great Wall Chinese buffet

Variety is what will set the Great Wall Super Chinese Buffet apart from all the other Chinese restaurants in town, said owner Casey Lou.

The restaurant is located at 3130 S. Glenstone Ave., the former location of the Black Eyed Pea. The restaurant's grand opening was May 9.

There will be three steam tables offering diners Chinese, Japanese, Italian and American foods as well as Mongolian barbecue. A cold table will have desserts, salad, fruit and ice cream.

"I will have a lot of items on the hot and cold tables, so customers can choose what they want to eat," Lou said.

Lou is owner of the restaurant along with four other partners who are from out of the area. The name of their corporation is the Great Wall Super Chinese Buffet.

Lou said she's always known she wanted to call a restaurant the Great Wall Super Chinese Buffet.

"Everybody knows about the Great Wall of China," she said. "I said that if I ever have a restaurant, I'll name it after the Great Wall."

Lou said she's wanted to open a restaurant in Springfield for about two years. Barbara Sapp, a Realtor with CJR Commercial Group, in Branson, helped find the location.

The group opened its first restaurant in July 1996. They currently have restaurants in Branson, Cape Girardeau, Co-lumbia, Anderson, Ind., and Carbondale, Ill. The Branson location opened in May 2001. A restaurant in Joplin is scheduled to open later this year.

Remodeling began several months ago. The only thing Lou kept from the former restaurant was the tiling.

Great Wall Super Chinese Buffet

Location: 3130 S. Glenstone Ave.

Hours: 11 a.m.9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m.10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m.9 p.m. Sunday and holidays.