China Rainbow restaurant enjoyed near and far

Fried shrimp and blue crab are a few of the seafood items on the buffet. Photo by Shelley Smith, Salisbury Post.

Michael Blackwelder of Salisbury enjoys China Rainbow's all you can eat crab legs. Photo by Shelley Smith, Salisbury Post.

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China Rainbow's staff includes three chefs. Pictured left to right, Jessica Chico, Dao Bi, Jenny Li, Annie Lin, Longhai Lin, Michael Wang (second chef), Tom Lin (sushi chef), and Fang Lin (captain chef). Photo by Shelley Smith, Salisbury Post.

Fresh boiled shrimp and raw oysters are all you can eat. Photo by Shelley Smith, Salisbury Post.

Fried shrimp seasoned with jalepenos, salt and pepper are a favorite on the buffet. Photo by Shelley Smith, Salisbury Post.

By Shelley Smithssmith@salisburypost.com

With more than 80 items on six different buffets, there is truly something for everyone at China Rainbow.

China Rainbow has been at its Stokes Ferry Road location since 1997. However, new owners Longhai and Annie Lin have made massive renovations.

The Lins bought the business from Annie's family last August and have been renovating the inside and out for the past several weeks.

"The restaurant had an old feeling," said Annie Lin. "We wanted to do the renovations for our customers."

"The restaurant has been here a long time, and we wanted to do something different and give it a fresh look," said Longhai Lin.

From the kitchen to the restrooms, the entire restaurant has been completely renovated.

That includes the parking lot. There is also an Asian inspired fountain as you enter the restaurant with goldfish, and flat screen televisions in the dining areas.

"Our customers gave us ideas on the renovations, too," said Annie Lin. "We are happy with the turnout, and we want to thank them for their ideas."

A sushi bar with sushi chef was one of the additions, with China Rainbow offering multiple types of sushi, such as nigiri (rice with a slice of fish on top), and maki (rolled) sushi, including eel, salmon, and crab — to name a few.

Loyal China Rainbow customer Robert Troutman drives from Gold Hill every day at 3 p.m. to dine, and although he's a little unsure of the newly added sushi, he loves everything else.

"I like the place and love the food," said Troutman. "They've really fixed it up and it looks a lot better.

"I think a lot of Longhai and Annie. They're good friends."

The buffet items change from lunch to dinner, and from weekdays to weekends.

During the day, China Rainbow offers (to name a few items) string beans, chicken and shrimp with vegetables, mixed vegetables, pineapple chicken, honey chicken, chicken and mushrooms, General Tso's chicken, and Mai Fun noodles, which are rice noodles.

During the dinner buffet, China Rainbow goes all out, offering crab legs, blue crab, spare ribs, oysters, shrimp cocktail, fried shrimp, 12 inch salmon filets, buttered shrimp, mussels, crab and cheese dip, large whole fried shrimp, crawfish, and much more.

There are fried wontons, wonton soup, egg drop soup, hot and sour soup, fried bananas, fried potatoes, Chinese doughnuts, egg rolls, spring rolls, and pizza.

China Rainbow also offers a salad bar with different salads such as cucumber and tomato, crab and celery, apple, banana and cole slaw, as well as fresh fruits.

For dessert, they offer cakes, cookies and soft serve ice cream.

Cody Skinner of Salisbury eats at China Rainbow three times a week.

"The food is amazing," said Skinner. "My favorites are sesame chicken and teriyaki chicken.

"Longhai and Annie are always very helpful and generous."

China Rainbow offers Senior Citizen nights every Wednesday, offering an all you can eat price of $5.99 per person.

Children under the age of three always eat free, and other children eat for $3.25 during lunch and $4.25 during dinner.

Adult prices are $5.99 for lunch and $7.99 for dinner. For all you can eat crab legs, add $5 to your meal.

If you want to get the buffet to-go, it costs $3.25 per pound during lunch, and $3.99 per pound for dinner.

China Rainbow can seat up to 150 people, and also has two private party rooms.

The restaurant will be open Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, they plan to serve the traditional turkey and ham.

If you don't want to eat from the buffet, their regular menu offers more than 100 items for dine in or take out.

China Rainbow is located at 1510 Stokes Ferry Road, and can be reached at 704-639-0088. It is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and from 11 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays.