Christmas dinner options: Chinese, sushi, hotels or Waffle House?

Don’t want to cook on Christmas Day? Besides fast food, your options for eating out might be limited to hotels. But as any fan of “A Christmas Story” can tell you, the one thing you can find is Chinese food. Your best bet might be to eat out on Christmas Eve and order a catered meal in advance for Christmas Day. Here are some options:

▪  Asian Wind, 3735 Palomar Centre Drive, open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Call 859-223-0060 to make a reservation.

▪  Cheng’s Chinese Restaurant, 3101 Clays Mill Road, is closed on Christmas Eve but open on Christmas Day from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Call 859-223-9212.

▪  Golden Wok, 3101 Richmond Road, is open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, noon 9 p.m. for eat-in, take-out or delivery. Call 859-266-0538.

▪  Panda Cuisine, 2358 Nicholasville Road, is open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. for eat-in, take-out or delivery. Call 859-299-9798.

▪  Pete’s Wok, 537 Waller Avenue, is open Christmas Eve from noon to 10 p.m. and closed Christmas Day. Call 859-255-7383.

▪  Red Bang Bang, 103 West Maxwell, is open Christmas Eve from 11 a.m. 10 p.m. Closed Christmas Day. Call 859-225-2264.

▪  Mandarin, 2220 Nicholasville Road, is open Christmas Eve from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Christmas Day 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Call 859-275-4300.

▪  Shanghai Bistro, 4101 Tates Creek Centre, will be open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day from 11 a.m. to 9:30. Call 859-543-0888.

▪  Panda Express, 2399 Richmond Road, will be open Christmas Eve until 5 p.m. and closed Christmas Day. Call 859-268-0009.

▪  China Star, 196 North Martin Luther King Boulevard, will be open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Call 859-258-9040.

▪  Wong Wong Chinese Restaurant, 458 Southland Drive, 10:30 a.m. to 10: p.m. both days. Call 859-276-0077.

▪  Supreme Hibachi & Sushi Buffet, 180 East New Circle Road, open11 a.m. to 9 p.m. both days. Call 859-254-8888.

▪  China Hut, 850 Lane Allen Road, open both days 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Call 859-275-5888.

▪  Happy Panda, 117 Towne Center Drive, open Christmas Eve noon to 9 p.m. and Christmas Day 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Call 859-388-9999.

▪  Number One China Buffet, 125 East Reynolds Road, open both days 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Call 859-271-5769.

▪  Golden Buffet, 2907 Richmond Road, open both days 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Call 859-268-1588.

▪  China King, 1650 Bryan Station Road, open Christmas Eve 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Christmas Day 10:30 to 10:30 p.m. Call 859-294-7707.

▪  Peking Bistro Chinese, 3181 Beaumont Centre Circle, open noon to 9:30 p.m. Christmas Day, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Call 859-223-8688.

▪  Jin Jin Chinese, 1060 Chinoe Road, open Christmas Eve 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Christmas Day 11 to 10 p.m. Call 859-269-3382.

▪  Happy Dragon, 1510 Newtown Pike, open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. both days. Call 859-388-9988.

▪  Iron Chef, 3090 Todds Road, open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. both days. Call 859-264-0155.

▪  Happy China, 1301 Winchester Road, open both days 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Call 859-388-9088.

▪  China Kitchen, 3094 Richmond Road, open both days 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Call 859-269-8888.

▪  Sakura, 1015 Winchester Road, open both days regular hours, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Call 859-252-0004.

▪  Zen Sushi & Sake, 3070 Lakecrest Circle, open both days 5 to 9:30 p.m. Call 859-219-2166.

▪  Tekka Japanese Grill & Sushi, 2300 Sir Barton Way, open both days from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m. Call 859-543-0010.

▪  Osaka Japanese Restaurant, 3805 Dylan Place, open both days, 11 a.m. to 10 or 11 p.m. Call 859-296-2625.

▪  Happy Sushi Japanese Restaurant, 130 W. Tiverton Way, open both days, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 4:30 to 10 p.m. Call 859-231-7788.

▪  Denny’s, 1949 Nicholasville Road and 1880 Newtown Pike, open 24 hours both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. That’s a good excuse to get its raspberry white chocolate holiday pancake, if you needed one.

▪  Waffle House, all locations, open 24 hours both days.

▪  IHOP, 2306 Palumbo Drive and Regency Center, open 24 hours both days.

▪  JW’s Steakhouse at Marriott Griffin Gate is open Christmas Eve with the regular menu and breakfast buffet; and Christmas Day it will have the regular breakfast buffet until 10 a.m. and a special brunch buffet 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. that is $30 for adults; $18.95 for children 5 to 12, and free for children 4 and younger. Regular dinner service in the evening. Reservations are recommended, 859-288-6155.

▪  Hyatt Regency’s Blue Fire Bar and Grill is open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. serving the regular menu. Reservations no required.

▪  The Hilton Downtown’s Triangle Grille will be open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. On Christmas Day, it will offer a special dinner from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. for $30, including carved turkey or ham and sides, with the sweets station for an extra $7. A regular menu is available. Call 859-281-3773 for reservations.

For Christmas Eve or catering, try:

▪  CRÚ Food and Wine Bar, 107 Summit at Fritz Farm, is open noon to 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve by reservation only. They will be serving a three-course meal for $40, with choice of appetizer, entree and dessert, including filet mignon, braised short ribs, seared sea scallops, pan-roasted chicken piccata or herb-crusted branzino. Menu also available a la carte. Call 859-971-9463 for reservations.

▪  Dudley’s on Short, 259 West Short Street, is open for lunch on Christmas Eve until 2:30 p.m. Call 859-252-1010 for reservations.

▪  Good Foods Co-op, 455 Southland Drive, will be open Christmas Eve 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with brunch all day. Closed Christmas Day. The co-op often has grab-and-go items for holiday dinners, too.

▪  The 21c Museum Hotel’s Lockbox is open until 8 p.m. Christmas Eve. Reservations recommended; call 859-899-6860.

▪  On Christmas Eve, Palmers Fresh Grill, 161 Lexington Green Circle, will serve Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and dinner from 4 to 8 p.m.

▪  Also on Christmas Eve, Smithtown Seafood, 501 West Sixth Street, will wrap up 12 days of seafood specials ($12 each day, beginning Dec. 13) with Smithtown’s famous poached eggs and Hollandaise on sautéed lump crab cake.

▪  Alfalfa, 141 East Main Street, is giving back to the community with special charity brunches. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 23, 15 percent of all proceeds will benefit God’s Pantry Food Bank. On Christmas Eve, brunch will benefit Ronald McDonald House. AlfalfaRestaurant.com.

▪  Brasabana, 841 Lane Allen Road, is available for family-size catering orders for a non-traditional Latin Christmas meal. Call 859-303 5573.

▪  J. Render’s BBQ, 3191 Beaumont Centre Circle, will be open until 5 p.m. Christmas Eve and is taking orders for catering, including a complete holiday dinner smoked whole turkey, smoked carving ham, yellow squash casserole, sweet potato casserole, corn pudding, broccoli casserole, dressing and more. Email Gwyn at info@jrendersbbq.com for information. Call 859-533-9777.

▪  Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, 2220 Elkhorn Road, will be open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Christmas Eve but is closed on Christmas Day. The Winchester Road store is taking “heat-and-serve orders” for catering for pickup Friday or Saturday. The menu is available online, and it feeds up to 10. Call 859-293-2555. The Cracker Barrel on 1927 Stanton Way off Newtown Pike also is open Christmas Eve but closed on Christmas Day.

▪  Daughters’ Southern catering is taking orders for holiday delivery. Call 859-576-2804 for details.

▪  Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, 110 Marion at the Summit at Fritz Farm, is open Christmas Eve from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Call 859-523-7503 for reservations. You can also order online at grimaldispizzeria.com

▪  Shake Shack, 115 Summit at Fritz Farm, is open Christmas Eve 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and for a limited time only you can get three special holiday shakes: chocolate peppermint, Christmas cookie and frozen hot cocoa.

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Christmas dinner options: Chinese, sushi, hotels or Waffle House?."