China Star Superbuffet — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

My family and I have been coming here for many many years, since I was a little kid. We came tonight with the same expectations as always: good food, decent prices, and full stomachs. This time was not the case, in fact we’ve decided we won’t come back. The food wasn’t anything to write home about, it was bland, greasy, and over cooked. Service was bad as well. And on top of that we have always loved their pineapple shrimp and is one of the reasons we go there. They refilled every item on the buffet line EXCEPT that one. Then the kitchen started closing down and cleaning almost an hour and a half before their closing time of 9:30. And when we asked about it we were told we could order it to go. We didn’t want to do that to pay for it on top of our bill, which was a shock when we saw it was almost $80 for four people. As a business owner myself, I understand supply prices have gone up, but $80, before tip, is a little ludicrous. Then the kicker was, my mother who has had a bariatric surgery, and can’t drink with her meals, asked for a to-go cup for her full glass of tea, was told “$1 for to-go cup”…..we already paid $1.99 for the drink and had already paid our bill. So they double charge for a drink that MAY NOT get refilled in the first place. In short, in the 20+ years we’ve been going there this was the worst experience we’ve ever had and we won’t...

If I could give this place a 0 I would. They most have get buy out. We stopped in there on the way home. I do not want to eat so when ask what to drink I said water am not eaten. Different lady come with the drinks. Come back one other time to give my husband more tea. Clear seen me with no food. The next time she come back I ask for the bill she looked at me like she do not understand what I said. I said we are done I need to pay. Getting the bill my husband looks at it and says how can one meal and drink me $27.?? I said what I looked at it then try to get the lady to come back to ask. She walked to the back we do not have time to wait so I want to the front saying my husband is the only one that had eaten she walked over to the one that had get the drinks and said something in Chinese. Then walked to the front and started looking at the video to make sure I do not eat. Then she said will take this off but I need your name and number if I see you have eaten. I give her a fake name and number bc at this point I just wanted to go. As we are walking out she is yelling at us then saying she will call the cops on us. I said we will never go back to this place when we are in town. We will not go back here when we are in athens again. Cant believe it's this bad in this place use to be a great place to eat. Happy we had cash...

Update July 2019: The food here is still excellent, the table service is impeccable and the staff is wonderful, but this restaurant needs a serious cleaning. I don't tend to eat at places where I feel like they don't take cleanliness seriously, because I believe the kitchen probably looks the same as everywhere else. This has become one of those spots for me. I tried not to touch much in the women's bathroom, the walls of the stalls are filthy. The carpet throughout the restaurant looks like it hasn't been cleaned in a very long time. There were multiple seats in the area we sat that are going to need to be reupholstered soon. I ate with the fear that I might get sick, but the tables looked clean and we all enjoyed our meal and no one got sick. I'm knocking my rating down for the level of discomfort the gross atmosphere has caused. If you found this review helpful, please give it a thumbs up! Thanks!

Original from 2018, 5 stars: The food is mostly great with only a few items we don't like. Sushi, hot Chinese buffet with several seafood items, American options, salad, fruit, and dessert. We love it here, have been a few times and it is always clean with plenty of food on the buffet. They are well-organized and keep...