Chinese Seafood Buffet Opens in Bay View
Hong Kong Seafood Buffet offers crab legs, shrimp, crab rangoon and more inside former Applebee's.
Site of Hong Kong Seafood Buffet, 270 W. Holt Ave. Photo taken Jan. 11, 2024 by Sophie Bolich.
A Chinese buffet-style restaurant, with an emphasis on seafood, is now open on the southern edge of Bay View.
Hong Kong Seafood Buffet recently opened at 270 W. Holt Ave., the former site of an Applebee’s restaurant. It’s the first Milwaukee establishment for owner Ting Cai Zhou, an industry veteran who also operates a handful of restaurants in Madison.
The all-you-can-eat restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, offering both dine-in and carryout options. Guests pay a flat fee for unlimited access to the buffet, which features dozens of dishes including appetizers, entrees and desserts.
The offerings include familiar Chinese food favorites such as stir-fries, noodles, egg rolls, sweet and sour chicken and crab rangoon. On the seafood side, the buffet features a variety of shrimp dishes, crawfish, crab legs and more. Some dishes utilize imitation crab, which is made with surimi, a paste that typically includes white fish such as Alaskan pollock and binding agents.
Lunch is $15.99 per person and dinner is $23.99 per person. The restaurant has all-day dinner prices on weekends. Children’s meals are priced lower, at $8.99 for those aged 5 to 9 and $10.00 for ages 12 to 18. To-go meals are priced by the pound.
The building itself, though outfitted with new signage, is reminiscent of its previous occupant, Applebee’s. The American chain restaurant operated for 13 years until its closure in 2020 amid the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous restaurant’s booths, as well as some of its Milwaukee-themed wall art, remain. Zhou has redecorated the rest of the dining room, adding paper lanterns and vibrant images of China’s mountainscapes.
Hong Kong Seafood Buffet is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Friday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The restaurant has no social media presence, but can be reached by phone at (414) 312-8747.
The 5,616-square-foot building and surrounding 20-acre property is owned by MSSD, Inc. The 2006 building is situated at the edge of a parking lot, which it shares with Home Depot, Pick ‘n Save, Taco Bell and a handful of other businesses.
Update: Based on assessment records, the article previously referred to an Applebee’s-affiliated entity as the property owner. That organization only held a land lease. The proper owner is MSSD, Inc.
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