This is a buffett but the food absolutely hit the spot. I didnt have one thing that was disappointing. Our server was attentive and helpful. I'm on crutches and the buffett made it easy to get my food with minimal help. I filled myself up before i even got to the second station! Music was light 80s pop. It was a little chilly and the lights are low. Very pleased! read more

Lai Lai Chinese - Buffett plate with cashews - Chinese Near Me - Monett, Missouri

See all

First time here. General chicken taste like very salty soy sauce. Didn't taste anything like it is supposed to. Pork fried rice was mushy and tasteless. Totally waste of $24 Would give it 0 starts, but that's not an option. read more

My go-to when I am in Monett for cashew chicken. Great buffet, yummy selection of options, very nice staff and they have an ice cream machine! Always clean and don't forget your fortune cookie on the way out! read more

They had a spicy beef & vegetable soup at Lai Lai's totally awesome. of course, I had some of my favorite appetizers to go with it, crab Rangoon, eggroll, dumpling. Soooo good, great plentiful Chinese buffet with saladbar with fruit and even a ice cream machine. The restrooms are clean and stylin' too! They kept the Chinese buffet fresh and clean. The staff was attentive, hard working and helpful! The price reasonable and the chairs are comfy. A winner winner Chinese dinner. read more

Good service good food all you need to know. But yelp wants 85 characters. Rambling ramblings

Me and my friend got food to go from there and it did not look appealing then that night and morning we were puking everywhere from it and felt like crap. read more

I have been eating at Lai Lai since I started dating my husband,20 years now and it's still wonderful,best Chinese buffet around,from egg drop soup to general chicken. You can't forget ice cream,pudding,bananas and strawberry! read more

Great food. Friendly staff. Clean. Go here. Avoid the yellow place across the highway!

Great buffet! They also have a great menu for to go and drive thru. I recommend the Lo Mein and General chicken.

It was my first time there, all the employees were very polite and the food was (a word I can't say on here lol) AMAZING!!! I will be going back there again and again and again lol read more

It's ok food food is a tad bland and the service takes a lil while and some of the tables weren't clean

I got a to go order off the buffet and was very happy with the price for the amount of food I got. The staff are always kind and courteous.

This place is delish if you love typical Chinese buffets. Their food is always hot and kept fresh, and their servers are always so nice and helpful! Consistently good each time I've been there. One of my favorite places to eat in missouri. Very nice servers. Actually, It was so good! I usually do not like Chinese buffets because they are all so gross but this one is actually so good! I got two full plates and ate all of it. read more

This place is the best place for Chinese in all of America. I have had Chinese in LA and NY and everywhere in between. Nothing is as good as this place. It's buffet style and the selection is great. There version of Springfield cashew chicken is way better than any where else, and there spring rolls are just the right amount of crispness. There servers are friendly and the owners work on site at the front so it's nice to know that it's a family owed operation. We live about 12 hours away from this restaurant and I've done the drive just to eat dinner here and then drive home. read more

Could have been a lot better in certain areas. The quality of the food left me disappointed the two times I've tried them. Hot and Sour soup ... well, I've never seen it that dark and it didn't have the flavor one would expect if they've eaten in the better restaurants. To me it wasn't worth the price they are charging, I would expect this level of food from a "CHEAP" Chinese buffet. read more

Love this place! The food is always great! Staff is always so friendly and courteous! I've never had an issue with this place at all and the owners are super friendly as well!! read more

It is so yummy! Me loveeeeeeee good food go there and all your wildest dreams will come true

Every last thing I tried from the buffet was over cooked to the point of being hard and inedible. Won't be back.

The best Chinese Buffet in the area. They also offer a sushi menu which we ordered from this last visit. BEAUTIFUL presentation! We had the Cherry Blossom roll and salmon roll (name?) Fresh and attractive - the high point of our meal. Buffet is above average - my favorite is the creamy shrimp. Not usually any changes to the offerings but there's plenty to pick from. The dumplings weren't as good as usual - somewhat dried out and the hoisin was extremely vinegary. The spring rolls are good. The salad and dessert portion has a nice selection. If you're a hot tea drinker, order the oolong - very nice. Our waitress this time left a little wanting in the service department. Not horrible but not extremely friendly or attentive, and hard to catch her eye. I asked for "not sweet" tea and my husband asked for half-half tea. They both tasted the same to me - sweet. I thought she was having a little trouble understanding what we wanted (no she wasn't Chinese). read more

I love this place. I drive from Aurora for lunch at least once a week. I do buffet to go. I love that buffet to go is an option! Good variety. Prices are decent. read more

Um...YUM!!!! I love this place. Great selection on the buffet, carry out and drive thru available. My current favorite is their general chicken. I am particular about general chicken but theirs is full of flavor and so wonderful!! read more

Lai Lai's is a pretty good place to get some Chinese in Monett. It is buffet style and they also do take out by weight. I have eaten here a couple times and the new location seems to have better food then when it was at the storefront location. Decor is nice and promotes a good atmosphere. read more

We don't do buffet, and the server seemed a little miffed at first when we asked for the menu. She actually gave us a stained, creased printed-on-copy-paper menu out of her pocket (one to share), along with a more presentable-looking sushi menu...but the restaurant looked so nice inside and out, and there was nice music playing and good smells coming from the buffet. Even our server was great by the end. More importantly, the food was great. My fiance and I shared an order of veggie fried rice which was fantastic (and a plentiful portion). We also had a great salmon roll and a bowl of hot, delicious miso soup. It was an inexpensive meal and the perfect summer lunch with great ambiance. Obviously they're more of a buffet place...but we were very impressed overall! read more

Lai Lai has just moved to their new location (behind Wal*mart) This is one of my favorite places to eat. Their new location has a warm and friendly feel and the food is excellent- great price and value too! read more

Awesome place! The buffet is extremely good, and the rolls on the menu are so fresh and delicious. One of my favorite places in monett

Of the two Chinese restaurant's in town this is the best. Food is hot server's kept my glass full and food was priced just right. Definitely going back for more read more

staff is rude doesn't smile. And who the heck closes a Chinese restaurant at 230 in the afternoon? Seriously? DO NOT GO HERE. plus food isn't that good. read more

This is great takeout and buffet style cuisine! A local favorite is cashew chicken, I personally love their version of sesame chicken!

They have decent decor and a good selection but everything is way too salty. I feel dehydrated when i eat there, so if you dont like salty food dont eathere. read more

We were happy with our experience. We were just in monett for the night, for the size town I would say we picked a good spot. Good atmosphere and friendly wait staff. Buffett was fresh and food was good. We got there late evening as the sun was going down and it was very warm inside (I assume it was due to sun coming straight in Window even though shades were down) but after about 10 min of being there the air came on and the temp was nice the rest of the meal. Dining area a little cramped, but we were there on a Saturday night so the tables were full making it more crowded than usual probably. Buffett wasn't huge, but the food tasted good and was hot. Even our very pickey eater loved the meatballs and ate some chicken nuggets (cashew chicken without sauce) My husband was disappointed sushi was only available through ordering from the menu. We would eat here again! read more

The food is good solid basic Chinese buffet. You can also order some sushi off the menu. I like the decor, even though it can get kind of loud in there at peak dining hours. I would recommend it. read more

Ok.... first off, there are 3 Chinese resturants in town.... This one,, Happy House, & Peking. So I went with someone and we both had the buffet. I have no issues with the food... it was good. However the hispanic guy at the register obviously didn't know what he was doing as he first gave a $12 amount and then corrected it with a $22 amount. We were there for about 45 minutes and each had 2 plates of various items from the buffet. The waitress was nice and did just the basics. Several times throughout the meal we observed 4 other employees all just standing around together behind the register doing nothing other than talking about tv shows. Several times we noticed a young man dressed as what I would call a hipster (grey skinny jeans, black plastic framed glasses, grey hoodie, and a grey sock hat slanted back on his head). Apparently this is the cook as he would come from the kitchen and stock the various items on the buffet then disappear back into the kitchen area. While eating I was casually glancing around and noticed some disturbing things.... A noticable layer of dust buildup on the back crospieces of the chairs Either grease or mold on the sun shades on the windows Torn and stained areas on most of the vinyl booth seats Dirty dishes which were restocked while we ate (my companion turned one supposedly clean plate over to find brown chunks caked to it & I observed rice stuck to the bottom of another plate). I will not return to this resturant. read more

Got takeout and they forgot to make part of our order. Took them 15-20 min to finish that while our other food sat in takeout containers getting cold. I've been here before and enjoyed their food but the customer service was extremely lacking tonight. Didn't even get offered anything in compensation. Not impressed today. read more

For the immediate area, Lai Lais is a 5. For years, Lai Lais has kept consistent pricing and food quality when others have raised prices lowered standards. One of the owners is usually on site, and it is apparent they take pride in their restaurant. The service staff is usually younger, with some still learning, but over all very good service for a buffet atmosphere. If you don't like LaiLais, there is Burger King, Taco Bell and McDonald's tight down the road. My point is, considering the area, Lai Lais is a jewel. I would eat there more often if I could afford the calories : ) read more

I don't know why the negative reviews. The food here is first class, service is great by friendly employees. Went twice in the last two weeks and it's a 24 mile drive for me. My wife is Chinese and raves about this place. Give it a try, you will not be disappointed. read more

This place is the bomb. If you want great Chinese food this is the place. This is as far as you can go with Chinese food without expecting PF Chang's. That being said, they just started serving Sushi! Not buffet Sushi, I mean made to order Sushi. Like most every Sushi restaurant their Sushi is pricey but definitely cheaper than driving all the way to Springfield to get some. I sampled about 6 different Sushi rolls and they were all good except for the California roll which was obviously frozen and had just been thawed. Their buffet is amazing and because they are so busy is constantly being changed out. I've never had to worry about food that had been left on the buffet for a long time. About 1 year ago they moved to a new building next to Wal-Mart and I'll have to say it was a MARKED improvement. The building is new and the inside is just gorgeous. The inside will remind you of a brighter PF Chang's actually. The staff is friendly and the food is good! What else do you want? read more

We eat here a couple of times a month.Great food and atmosphere. The General Chicken is best I have ever had. Buffet has a great seection of food and is just the right temperature. Katelyn, our server was very nice and friendly and professional. 5 stars from us!!! read more

I would give this place 0 stars if they didn't at least have regular chix fingers, so I could actually eat something. The rice was over soy sauce. The hot and sour soup was a glorified beef and onion and not very good either in that department. The lo mein was moosh. The crab rangoon had no filling. The garlic chix was way to spicy, and yet the general's chix had no spice and taste like burnt teriyaki. The egg rolls were terrible. The first spring roll was good, but I must've gotten lucky, cuz the next 2 I tasted had a rotten taste to them. The dumplings were good until I used their over soyed dipping sauce. Then I was told that "it's the best Chinese in town, and then the best restaurant and that it was historical. I went to Happy House a week ago, and wasn't all that impressed, hence why I tried this place. I'd take Happy House, any day, at least they have more than 1 item I can stomach. read more