You are given a review about a place. You need to provide a rating from "1 star" to "5 stars" for this place.

[EX Q]: Dined here twice during my debaucherous stay at the Cosmopolitan since it was easily accessible and it didn't require having to step outside the grounds.

On my first visit, I had the French Onion soup and beef dip with truffle tator tots. The French Onion soup wasn't the best I ever had, but it was decent enough to make any fan of the soup happy. The beef dip was nothing to write home about either, but it was passable. The truffle tator tots on the other hand... now THOSE were the cat's meow!! May be too salty for some, but I love anything with truffle salt.

During my second visit, I was a little more bright eyed and devoured a plate of the wedge salad, an order of their buffalo wings and a bloody Mary to wash it all down with.

The Henry doesn't offer mind-blowing food, but just a few basic comfort foods to ail one's hangover and for that, it does the job just right. Just be sure not to come here broke cuz the food ain't cheap!
[EX A]: 4 stars

[EX Q]: = = = = = DAILY LUNCH BUFFET = = = = =

There's an old Chinese proverb: "Once bitten, twice shy." This place was so awful when I was here in January '09 that it took me over 4 1/2 years to get up the nerve to try it again! I'm happy to report that things were better here this time:

SOME POSITIVES:

* Both the dining room and the men's restroom looked very clean!

* The ambiance (lighting, sound (soft Chinese music playing), room temperature and booth comfort were all good. The dining room furnishings are arranged more attractively now than they were in '09, & it was a peaceful atmosphere overall. (There were 5 other customers dining.)

* My "hot tea" was hot this time, & it's free with the Buffet!

* The Egg Flower Soup was ok & much better than last time!

* All the food temperatures were right & I liked the taste of most of it.

OK, A FEW CAVILS:

* The sign outside says $5.99 but I was charged $6.55 total. It should have been $6.49 at the current tax rate of 8.3%, so right now she's charging $6.05 plus tax.

* One of the main things I always go for at an Oriental Buffet is the fried chicken. The big legs cooked up here looked great in the tray but mine seemed oily and only marginally cooked enough on the inside.

* Limited selection of 21 items including the tea.

ALL IN ALL?

Hong Kong here holds it own now against Mike Kwan's ("infamous") Golden Coin just 2 miles away. That's another place that was 1-Star & improved. The food is good there now but they have a microscopic selection of only 8 items & the bathroom is ucky.

It IS a pleasure to see a formerly disaster case Buffet like this get BETTER rather than finally closing such as East Buffet downtown, for example. Did you ever eat there? OMG! The last time I was there I was fighting over my food with this big spider. It was like a horror movie! The whole scene there was so awful (& I ate there 2 or 3 times!). Just running back across my Reviews of the place was upsetting enough that I finally deleted them completely. (Still get goosebumps when I drive by the derelict building!) :-O

Ok, so the daily Lunch Buffet here at Hong Kong Restaurant is $6.05 :-|
[EX A]: 2 stars

[EX Q]: The 5 stars are for visiting the Cathedral as a tourist. I've brought two friends from Memphis to visit Pittsburgh on separate occasions. Each time, I thought I'd just point out the Cathedral since I'm a Pitt alumna and it's pretty and I had classes in there blah blah. Each time, the friend wanted to look inside...And suddenly we're paying the $3 to take the tour of the Nationality Rooms. And they LOVED it. I was a little shocked by how much out-of-towners loved this building and the audio tour, but they did. Even my parents and grandma--all locals--insisted upon a mini-tour when I graduated. The first thing all tourists say upon entering is "it looks like Hogwarts!" The Gothic architecture is gorgeous, and details put into the rooms are stunning. If you can, take a guided tour to see the Early American Room, which has a secret staircase leading to a secret room and supposedly is haunted.

Tourtists: Go up to the Honors College on the 35/36 floors for panoramic views of the city. These are the highest floors common folk are allowed to go to, though there are 42 floors total.

As a note to be totally fair: As a student, I'd give the building 3-stars. The elevators are pretty fast--if you can get one. Because most people are unwilling to walk up a few flights, I regularly waited 10-15 minutes to catch a car to the 30th floor and above. The Nationality Rooms are incredibly beautiful; however, many of these rooms have seats, but no desktops. Or the seats are benches. Not practical for holding a class. There is an absolutely no food or drink policy, and a 3-hour class without water can be as painful as sitting in a backless chair for that long. I only had one professor who loved being in the Hungarian Room so much that he incorporated nonsensical Hungarian themes into his lectures. Every other time, the professor put in a room change request and we moved a regular room.
[EX A]:
5 stars