Joy Luck Chinese Buffet — Restaurant in Brentwood

So today my boyfriend and I attempted to visit "Joy luck buffet" today we went around 2:30pm. While walking though the door, we were greeted by a young lady who look to be about 19-23yrs of age. She sat us to the left, Behind another Asian couple who were already enjoying their meals. As we sat at the table waiting for our drinks to come, --My boyfriend left for the bathroom-- Our "new waiter" who brought us our drinks (a young guy who look about 19yrs old) walked up to the table slamming the drinks down...He soon withdrew two straws from his apron and proceeded to throw them down onto the table as in a "boom there it is" fashion he then quickly turned on his heel for napkins and walked back to forcefully thrust the napkins onto the table as in " he's got somewhere more important to be" fashion as he swiftly turns "I say excuse me sir" he promptly ignores me and speed walks away... (So in the midst of that small interaction I'm having with my "current new waiter" another woman and her family who were African american were requesting to talk to a manager about whoever their waiter was and an issue of some Sort) I'm over hearing the woman express her complaint in a respectful and productive manner, I then hear the manger she was talking to tell her: "I understand you have a problem but We DONT know what to believe regarding your issue with our waiter" I was simply blown away to hear such dirty undermining and disrespect not only towards a paying customer but someone who simply didn't deserve to be disrespected in the first place!!! seriously this woman was a Lady with her daughter (who look about 16) and 3 kids!!! So with all that going on... Once my guy came from the bathroom I told him and we left... But not before I told our waiter in front of the manager how they need to treat their customers better. p.s... My boyfriend only went in the bathroom to was his...

Short version: Food all looked good on the buffet but we couldn't stomach it and went elsewhere. I would suggest trying during busier times of day to maybe ensure fresher food. But I don't know how you make bad egg rolls regardless of volume. I'd like to give them another shot, but I don't know if I'll return again for the foreseeable future.

Long version: We came her early afternoon for a late lunch. We just had the buffet. We tried multiple items (Honey Chicken, General Tso, Sweet and Sour, Garlic pork, egg rolls, Lo Mein, Szechuan Chicken). None of it was good. Only the Sweet and Sour chicken bites were what I'd consider edible.

Overall service was fine I guess. Seated quickly. Drinks brought quickly. We were only there for about ten minutes before going elsewhere for lunch so I can't judge them fairly either way. The manager was uninterested in our feedback. He just repeated the total we owed them. So that's not great.

We used to go here many times years ago and felt this was absolutely one of the best chinese buffets in the area. I don't what changed, but with as bad as everything tasted (how do you mess up Lo Mein and Egg Rolls?) I can't see us going back again anytime soon. Fundamental food issues. I could forgive one or two items as maybe just being out a little too long after the lunch rush. But we gave as good of a chance with as many items as possible and all suffered from lack of quality.

I used to love this place and hope my experience was an outlier...

I've never had a bad experience at Joy Luck buffet. Well, not one that was due to anything at the restaurant, but that's another story. For review purposes my experiences at Joy Luck have been unmarred. I love a good buffet, and this restaurant has a good selection of food. In addition to the buffet that includes typical, but deliciously prepared staples such as lo mein noodles, crab rangoon, peel and eat shrimp, Kung Pao chicken, there is also a station where you pick your own ingredients and sauces and someone cooks it on a grill top for you. This station, along with their serve your ice cream station are the two weakest elements in the restaurant because sometimes you have to hunt down an employee to prepare your food and the water that the ice cream scoop rests in is a little murky looking and probably should be changed more frequently. As with most buffets, Joy Luck has two different price points. It is cheaper to eat before 4 p.m. after that the price increases significantly without very much change in the buffet. If my memory serves me correctly they sometimes have crab legs after 4 p.m., but possibly only on certain days. I recommend going in earlier you're not missing much dining after 4 p.m., besides an increase in your bill. The staff is pretty friendly and they come by often to refill your drinks, but they don't do too much because it's a...