New Dragon Buffet — Restaurant in Dundee Township

I've been wanting to try this place for a bit now. It's a relocation from the mall, but I'd never been there either.

Setup/Decor: -Two long hot food sections -Half section for sushi -Salad bar with desserts -Small separate section with thin meats and veggies (which I think is for stir fry). -Decor and layout is super basic, but spacious for larger groups of people.

Offerings: -First buffet is mostly sauces up meats, rice, noodles and a few cooked veggie pans. Meats were a few glazed chickens, short ribs, and beef. They also had soup here. Not gonna lie, they looked nasty. I tried the egg drop soup and it was congealed. Next was seafood and American food. Seafood was some type of small crab, fried shrimp, white fish, salmon, and more. American food was some basic looking pizza, fries, nuggets, etc.

Things I enjoyed: -Sushi was really good -Salmon was cooked well -Fried rice and noodles 🔥 -Price overall is decent -Plantains and green beans were so good too

Suggestions: -Fried shrimp batter is kind of weird or plain? Shrimp itself was good though -More veggie options please! They could also offer a veggie egg roll or take whatever meat is in the jalapeno popper out? Miso soup would be great too. -Have staff specify drinks are not included and give a little instruction when...

From my son:

People need to be quiet about this buffet. They whine about how the sushi selection is weak, or how the staff is maybe sometimes rude, or the food. I got this to say and this only. This place has its fault yes. But you pay at most 16$ a head I know Damm well your McDonald's order is more than that, but you get 3x the amount of food you would. The food is good it's warm and it's clean. Bathrooms are too this one doesn't stink of old urine. Smells like they actually mop it which is a massive improvement over 60% of places. The staff is rude becaue some of them can barely speak comprehend English. You underestimate how hard it is to learn a language. They do their job well and fast, refills are quick and empty plates are quickly picked up. I'll be honest here and say this, I have gotten sick and or minor food poisoning from other buffets here and around the NW suburbs area. But here not even once. The time I have it's been my fault for downing 4 plates of food and throwing it all up from overeating when I got home. Food sanitation has always been held to a high standard even before covid from what I observed. My only "gripe" is that is that sometimes they seat you too close to other people. But they probably do that so the waiters job is...

The whole ambience of this restaurant is just...sad. I'm giving the food two stars because it's affordable but you can literally find this food elsewhere. I had not stepped into this location for years and wanted to see what had changed but after reading past reviews, I was hesitant to do so because one of them mentioned cockroaches? Curious, I entered and it's just gone downhill. Did the past owners leave? You would think being in business for 10+ years would bring slight changes. The pizza had the weirdest flavor (a simple cheese pizza) and the pineapple in the fruit salad had gone bitter. A relative of mine found a flake of food on the drinks we had just gotten. The kids upfront look miserable (don't blame them) and there's no adult in sight. No welcoming words or greetings when we arrived as well. We hadn't even sat down before one of the kids began asking what we wanted to drink. What's the rush? The place was not full. I'm giving two stars for the service as the waitress picking up our plate was very kind. Other than that, you can find better places. Cleaner ones too if you keep reading the reviews on this place. If you want to eat cheap, Brianna's Pancake House in East Dundee and Ray's Diner in Elgin exist. This is the last time...