Sakura Buffet — Restaurant in City of Auburn

June 2025 - I've actually had to lower this down to one star. They somehow have gotten worse over time. For a while, you could say that an online order of the food resulted in fresh food, compared to the food in store. However after today's purchase even that quality has dropped. The food is frequently dried out and overcooked. The prices of continued to go up, and the main manager there seems to be very hyper focused on the sale rather than the quality. Fill up two to-go containers and with the price per pound, you'll probably hit $40+ before you leave. Even the chicken wings they show on their website are regular chicken wings, but what they sell is actually breaded fried chicken wings, and they're so dried out and overcooked it's almost inedible and the flavor is off. I went in to pick it up at their scheduled to pick up time and had to wait an additional 15 minutes because they weren't done overcooking it. They use stock images on the website that don't even match the food they're actually selling. I already stopped going in person but I was willing to order from time to time online and have it delivered but at this point even that quality has dropped to the point I'm not going to bother with them anymore. Save your time and money and go to a better quality Chinese food restaurant. They're a dime a dozen in Auburn.

Apr 2023 - I'm updating my rating now to two stars. Well the food quality hasn't really changed good or bad, The price is continued to skyrocket. As of this update it's up to $7.99 per pound when taking out food, And they continue to mix old, burned food with new food. This will likely be my last time eating here for a while.

Oct 2022 - Six years ago, my original rating was four stars, because the food was great and they had a good value on their buffet. I've dropped it to a three stars because in that time their food quality has dropped while the price has skyrocketed. The owner there is very cold almost rude. They also tend to mix new batches of food with the old batches even when the old batch is burned. With Google's rating system two stars means you dislike it, and this almost became two stars for me. Time will tell if they improve. The track record so...

My husband, myself our 4 children and a friend of ours with her 3 children, one being an infant, decided to eat here tonight for dinner, we arrived around 530 and it was pretty empty. We were seated by our server. The server brought over a wooden highchair and flipped it over for us to place the infant carrier in, we decided that didn't seem like a safe idea so we placed the carrier on the end of the long table as there was enough room. The server only refilled 1 of the drinks during the time that we were there, which was my 4 year Olds apple juice. She only picked up plates when they were stacked on top of each other. When we were done eating, she brought over 2 trays of fortune cookies, and said have a good day, so I responded back you too. And thought that was the end of that. My husband noticed that she kept looking over at our table, and when we started packing up to leave she came over and waited towards to opposite end of the table, where my husband was seated, we put 2 children in between us so I was at one end and he was at another. He left his customer copy of his receipt on the table as we all got up and headed out the door, which if you're a big group, 6 children 3 adults, its sometimes chaotic. The server came running over to us point at the receipt where it said tip and asking for her tip. I always thought that at a buffet where you serve yourself that tips were optional, I mean I feel like it's optional at pretty much any restaurant. Tips are a privilege. And she kept asking about a tip, as we were trying to leave. Not only is that embarrassing its also upsetting. You should never be asked to leave a tip the way she did. She was very rude and very pushy about it. We spent almost 70 dollars on us 6 plus my friend spent 40 dollars on her family. Needless to say we left without leaving a tip because I won't be asked to leave a tip unless it's my choice. And I will not be returning...

On our new journey to find and try every Chinese buffet in and around Ithaca, we joined to Sakura Buffet in Auburn. The unassuming parking lot was devoid of cars -except- around the entrance to the buffet, kind of a good sign. Walking in, the entrance is different than any buffet I've been to. It's a narrow hallway where you place your drink order and pay up front, then are taken to a table. Obviously the main point of being here is the food, and typical Buffet staples are dotted through the six hot bar islands. Sesame chicken, pepper steak and onions, all the good stuff. But, I'll highlight two as things to try, definitely. One- The hibachi chicken. Growing up in Buffalo, I'd go to the Galleria and get Bourbon chicken from a noodle place in the food court that, to this day, has never stood up to any sweet Chinese fried chicken dish. Absolutely delicious. Sweet sauce, slightly charred crispy bits, 10/10. The other was a tray just labeled "Steak." Note: Not the big hunk of steak you cut yourself, but a tray of thick cut beef cubes with the same char the chicken had in a tray with peppers and onions. It had the texture of a cube steak or a top round, typically a tough cut of beef, but the way it was prepared, you can still chew it, it was still very flavorful, and not as tough as I'd thought. Not tenderloin or sirloin for sure, but still a good eat. Overall, Sakura holds it's 4/5 star rating on Google for a good reason. It was about an hour drive out, but it was definitely...