China Coast at Richland Mall (Waco, Texas)

1995 ad as seen in the Waco Tribune Herald. Despite being a menu-based restaurant, China Coast did have buffets.
Another import from the the existing "Other Waco Roads" page at Carbon-izer comes China Coast (the original post featured Olive Garden, built around the same time). China Coast opened in December 1994 at 5925 West Waco Drive and closed in August 1995 shortly after General Mills spun off their restaurant division as Darden Restaurants.. A few years later it was reopened as another concept of theirs, Red Lobster, which moved from 4900 Bosque Boulevard as that place was to be redeveloped for a new H-E-B.

Despite Darden divesting Red Lobster in 2014 and its eventual bankruptcy filing, both restaurants still occupy pad spaces in front of Richland Mall.

You can see both restaurants here in Street View. I'll leave you with an article about the groundbreaking of both.

UPDATE 07-11-2026: Revived post, but focuses exclusively on China Coast.