Sapphire Asian Cuisine

Sapphire Asian Cuisine is one of two Burmese restaurants in FiDi with the other being Paparikas. I had tried Paparikas some time back and had found it to be average at best. I was hoping that Sapphire would turn out to be the gem that it has been named after. It seems that for lunch, Sapphire's is a buffet style steam table operation. The items in the buffet seemed to be your standard Kung Pao Chicken and Beef with Broccoli type of dishes that you would find in any Chinese restaurant. I thought maybe this place had been incorrectly categorized as Burmese. I was about to cut my losses, when I spotted Burmese garlic chicken and Burmese chicken curry among the list of items so I decided to try those out. I got myself a 2-Item-combo ($8.59) with half noodles and half rice, Burmese garlic chicken and Burmese chicken curry, paid and was on my way. The first thing I observed was that they really give you a ton of food. I mean this had to be at-least 2.5-3 lbs. My immediate thought was this will be carp. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. The food was pretty good. Both the Burmese dishes had unique flavors and distinct tastes. It was so much food that even I could not finish it in one sitting. I thought maybe this time was an aberration, but each time that I returned I found that they really heap the food on. During subsequent visits I tried the Chinese dishes and surprisingly even those turned out to be pretty good. The only thing that I'm not sure about is if they use MSG as their food makes me very thirsty. For the lunch service I approach Sapphire as a glorified Chinese steam table operation instead of a Burmese restaurant. I did observe that they do have a made to order menu, but I'm not sure how to order off that as there seems to be only one line which is for the buffet items. Anyway their buffet is pretty good so I'm fine with getting stuff from it. Price wise it is really cheap. I mean at even the cheapest pay-per-pound Chinese food place this would be easily close to $20 with tax with the food not being as good. My current rating is considering Sapphire Asian Cuisine to be a Chinese buffet restaurant. I'll come back and try some Burmese items (e.g. Mohingar, chicken noodle soup, coconut noodle soup, tea leaf salad etc.) off the made-to-order menu at which time I'll update my review.

Great place for a weekday lunch in the financial district with lots of variety from which to choose in a buffet-style setting. The three item combo is the best deal although I found the two item combo was a ton of food as they give generous portions. I ordered the ginger chicken and eggplant  (two separate items) with vegetables and rice (comes with the combo) and it was all very enjoyable. What was really memorable was how upbeat and friendly the staff was, it really added to the pleasurable experience. Also, the decor is quite beautiful with lots of blue and they even have a pretty nice (full) bar and happy hour specials. As with many places in the financial district, try and get there before noon as that's when the line gets long and more so, all the good seating gets taken up.

Excellent place to try Burmese food! I tried some salads, which were delicious - very light and flavorful with a good balance of sweetness, spiciness and textures. The wings, curry dishes, and fried rice were all very enjoyable likewise. The service was top notch, as Robert took care of our group, ensuring that we were happy with our dining experience from start to finish.