The Unlucky Buddha

Wandering by Shockoe Slip, we chanced upon the Lucky Buddha and a pan-Asian menu seemingly worthy of a visit beckoned. The place was rather empty during our Saturday visit at 7:30 pm for dinner. Apparently, its patrons favor the lounge to the restaurant. Perhaps they knew something we didn’t.
A sea of red welcomed with walls draped in scarlet. Bamboo wall fixtures and and large eponymous statues tried hard to scream Asia. Mood lighting lent the place a pleasing hue and after being led to our rather wide table, we were quite excited about the menu ahead.
The beverage menu had a long list of (delectable looking) cocktails that we eschewed in favor of a mojito and a glass of tropical sake-inspired sangria to complement our meal. Served in pint sized glasses, our drinks were pleasant if somewhat diluted. Be prepared for weak drinks !!
The appetizer had the list of usual suspects – edamame, rolls, dumplings etc. A tuna tartare with scallions, avocado and carrots etc. caught our eye (Yes, I know we picked it, but do all restaurants have to have a tuna tartare?). It was good except that the dish had rather huge chunks of each ingredient. This kind of precluded the optimal melding of the ingredients and detracted somewhat from the taste.
For the main course, we had the rainbow trout and the stir fried chicken. The trout arrived topped with almonds atop a bed of the optional sides (wasabi mashed potatoes, shiitake mushroom risotto). Not only was the fish rather dull (overwhelmed by a ton of almonds) but the sides were nothing to write home about either.
The wasabi mashed potatoes, which have turned out to be somewhat of a staple announcing “pan-Asian”-ness were quite possibly the most insipid smashing together of the spicy condiment with cold potatoes we ever tasted. The risotto was rather tasteless as well. The net effect was one of extreme blandness.
The mango chicken stir fry with onions, peppers, lotus root, sugar snap peas and peanuts was moderately better (it really is hard to screw up a stir fry !!). But the brown rice was dry and was only rescued by the sauces from the stir fry.
Portion sizes were large and we plodded along rather disappointed.

Service was good. Our waiter hit the basics - was friendly and helpful with the menu, food was brought out promptly and in sequence and our water glasses never went empty.
At the end of the meal, we were quite stuffed and didn’t opt for dessert, which ran all of 3 options long – all with some form of chocolate in them. None of them looked particularly inviting especially if one looks to a dessert to lend the finishing coda of the meal. We were informed that this changes every now and then.

The check came to around $60 including a drink for each of us, the aforementioned appetizer and an entrée each.

PS: We later found out that the LB validates parking in the deck across the street.

Bottom Line: The obvious lounge decor lends itself to a pleasant ambience and while the menu looks enticing, we found the food was rather uninspired and lacking in the taste department. The tuna tartare rescued the Lucky Buddha to a grade of C (quite possibly a C-). Weak drinks aside, the lounge might be worthy of a visit but the dinner can definitely be skipped here.

Lucky Buddha - 1421 E Cary Street, Richmond VA 23219 Google Maps