Madam Lu Chinese

This place really is pretty good, especially the entres, but the buffet is so-so. The owners are very nice, and the restaurant spacious. If you're looking for more authentic Chinese cuisine not listed on their menu, they do have a special menu that does have certain items like chow-fun!

Pros: Good food, nice people

Cons: buffet could improve

Randomly went here for a Sunday brunch because I was craving dim sum and wasn't fired up enough to make the haul to LA for proper food on wheels -- was delighted by the cheap (8$ ) buffet. The sauces were nicely balanced, not too dependent on soy sauce, but had made good use of ginger, garlic, etc. Even the cheap mall chinese food dishes (orange chicken) were solid - the fried dishes were light and crispy - the salt and pepper shrimp was especially good. The chow mein noodles were not greasy at all. Of the dim sum dishes, the dumplings were the best - chewy dumpling outside, savory meat inside. Ambience is what you'd expect for 8 dollar chinese food buffet.

Pros: good bag for your buck, solid cheap chinese food several steps above the mall stuff

Cons: decor is less than romantic

We recently moved to Santa Barbara from the Bay Area. We've eaten a lot of good Chinese food in the Bay and Madam Lu's was just as wonderful. I highly recommend Madam Lu's as a great place for delicious Chinese food.

Pros: good parking, great menu, delicious