New Century Buffet — Restaurant in El Cajon

This is a difficult review to write, as I generally prefer to focus on positive dining experiences. However, in the spirit of constructive feedback, I feel it's important to share my recent visit to Century Buffet, hoping it will be taken as an opportunity for improvement by the owners.

Upon entering, the need for renovation is immediately apparent. The restaurant unfortunately carries a pervasive smell, reminiscent of a dirty, wet mop, which significantly detracts from the dining atmosphere. The general cleanliness of the dining area also left much to be desired; both the tables and chairs felt sticky, indicating a need for a thorough deep clean and potentially updated furnishings.

My concerns extended to the food preparation and handling. Much of the food on the buffet was cold, and I observed flies actively flying around, particularly in the dessert section. While I appreciate that a staff member promptly removed a biscuit where a fly had landed after I brought it to their attention, I was quite shocked that the surrounding food and pantry items were not also removed or covered, as the fly continued to buzz around the area. This raised significant questions about food safety and hygiene.

Furthermore, I was disappointed by the "fake salmon" being presented as real. Labeling a fish product as salmon when it is clearly not, and appears to be colored to mimic the real thing, is misleading to customers. Transparency about ingredients is crucial.

On a positive note, the staff members I interacted with were genuinely nice and courteous. However, even their pleasant demeanor couldn't entirely offset the other issues. Additionally, the drinks served were noticeably watered down, which felt like an unnecessary cost-cutting measure given the overall experience.

Given these concerns, particularly regarding sanitation and food handling, I would strongly advise against risking a visit to Century Buffet in its current state. I am truly glad I did not bring my visiting family here. I sincerely hope that the management takes these observations to heart and implements significant changes to improve cleanliness, food quality, and overall customer experience. A thorough check of sanitary and food safety practices is...

Ew ew ew AWFUL GROSS I regret going to this place. I came in at 10:55 to eat (I literally just left & in the parking lot) & the food was awful the only thing that was good was the teriyaki chicken. Food that I typically eat at other Chinese buffets tasted spoiled & old. When I told the lady about my experience & the food quality she just told me to look at all the other customers eating & they are not complaining, to which I said I'm not saying I'm not going to pay but I'm letting you know the quality of the food is really bad & maybe other customers stomaches can handle the food but I said I feel sick after eating some of the food I ate in the beginning & I didn't even eat any of the food on my first plate except for the teriyaki chicken. I said don't you think if I enjoyed the food I would've eaten it? I"m pregnant & right now don't look like someone who is gonna skip a meal. I was hungry when I came in but quickly lost my apatite & am now nauseous. The smell of the noodles made me gag when I put them up to my face. The place isn't that clean there are a lot of flies on the fruits & some of the salad bar mainly. The lady when I was telling her about my experience just kept giving me a condecending smile & kept pointing to the other customers eating saying they are not complaining. I'm told her I'm not trying to get anything out of this I'm just letting you know the quality of the food. She didn't apologise or anything. Which I know Chinese buffet food is typically low quality but this place is the slums of Chinese cuisine. The lady also claimed the food was fresh & I was aware food sitting out for 12 hours was fresh (it literally tasted like food if you had left it out over night).

I wish I could give them negative stars. So bad food, so bad people, so horrible customer service....

We always go to this place because we like the food but after our last experience we’re never going back. After sitting down and telling the guy my kids ages 2 other ladies came to our table when we were already eating and very very rudely said they had to charge for my kids who are not even 3 yet. They said only 1 free kid per table which is fine but her attitude was unbelievable. The lady wouldn’t let us talk and explained to her that my children don’t eat and they didn’t eat anything, she kept on putting her hand in front of us shutting us up and told us that if we didn’t like it we could call the manager the next day, also yelled at my baby to not touch her when she was right next to him. When we were ready to pay we saw they added a service charge which is tip, normally we don’t mind leaving tip but because of her attitude and rudeness we told her to take it off because we weren’t gonna pay for that. Very mad and after arguing for a while she took it off and told us next time she wasn’t gonna do it, I apologized to the first guy for not leaving him tip because he was very nice and he apologized for his coworker’s attitude, she also told me that my kids were running and destroying and I needed to control them, my kids were strapped in in their high chairs the whole time. She also told us that supposedly she was the boss and they didn’t care about their customers they only cared about making money and they didn’t care about treating their customers right because they weren’t important to them, because they still make money. Worst experience ever. That place was our go to for family dinners but it’s not the same anymore. Do not recommend that place!! If you want a nice family experience that’s not the place. Go somewhere where it’s worth it. Never...