1861 Joe Battle
El Paso, TX
Hours: Open Daily
MSG: No
Smoking: No Smoking
Szechuan sauce
Hot and Sour Soup:
I did not try the buffet because it was comprised almost exclusively of meat items, and I wanted a vegetable dish. A salmon dish did look good, but I ordered from the menu.
Family Style Tofu is available from the menu at dinner prices, and turned out to be fairly good (and was MSG-free as China Bay had advertised). The tofu was prepared with a sweet garlic sauce that tasted like Szechuan sauce, and although it would not make the list of "Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in the U.S." (if I thought such a list were legitimate, that is), it was pretty good for El Paso.
The jasmine tea served is one of the better brands.
The Hot and Sour Soup was really nothing special. On my return visit I tried the Wonton Soup, and liked this even less.
I think the chefs here know how to make fairly good Chinese food if you can look past the buffet. My main issue with ordering from the menu is that no lunch portions are available. It seems that you can only go to China Bay if you are extremely hungry!