East Gourmet Buffet — Restaurant in Hamilton Township

NEVER GO BACK THEY ROBBED US!!!! It’s so sad to see such a busy place have horrible service. I came in with my boyfriend and our waiter started asking us for our drinks before we knew what our table was. I understood it was busy but I was carrying bags through a stuffy restaurant. It peeved me because I’ve never seen that kind of service from a waiter. They usually wait til you’ve seated, hand you a menu, introduce themselves and then proceed with drink orders. This woman followed me to my seat asking “To drink? To drink?” And reluctantly I did. Anyways, once we sat down, we were having a great time talking until she just showed up and started reaching over our table for dirty plates( just two empty plates stacked on top of each other), no asking, no warning, just reached. Then later on while we were still eating meals, not desserts, she had brought us out check in a rush with no comment. As my boyfriend and I started to get irritated with this behavior we were just about to continue with dessert when she came up and started asking if we were ready to pay “pay?” (we had one full plate and an ice cream fresh from the buffet. WE EVEN PASSED HER ON THE WAY). We said “No, thank you.” And continued. I’ve never felt so frustrated to have this kind of hospitality, I’ve worked in hospitality industry so I understand how it must felt to feel rushed but the more we looked at her in the restaurant, she would stand around and then pretend to be in a rush when handling other tables, I was speechless to say the least. When paid the bill and the got our card back we had seen the price we expected and paid. She proceeded to wait at our table, watching us sign our receipt. “Tip.” She didn’t ask like it was a question, she pointed at the receipt and waited around for 30 seconds watching my boyfriend and I move eye contact from her, each other, and the receipt. I ended up leaving a $5 tip to make her go away. The service was absolutely horrendous. And guess what? My boyfriend had looked at his account later and saw they charged a $20 tip. Ontop of the 5 I gave her. We never filled out the tip amount because I had reviewed the receipt beforehand, which labeled the gratuity amount on the bottom, none us carried ones so we left the 5. WE are supposed to write the tip amount. Never going back again unless they change servers, never have I seen a place rob a tip from us...

This restaurant has now completed my third time rule. I always try places 3 times, because I understand everyone has off nights, and that consistency is what makes a great restaurant or business. Tonight I had my third meal there. We come up on business to the area and this place is just down the street from the hotel we use in a developed area. The first time, the food was good, but I noticed trays of food were not being refilled once they ran out of whatever dish was in them. However, it was so busy, I thought they just couldn't keep up. The second time, the food was so-so, and again, many empty trays. They say they close at 10, but we arrived tonight a little before 8:30 and left at 9:10, and they were already closing down. For example, most of the fruit was gone, they had to be asked by people around us to add more of certain items to the buffet, and the whole sushi bar was packed up. One time when we came in there at 9, they rudely told us, well, we close at 10, and there will be no more trays put out now. We left and went to Red Lobster, who close at the same time, 10pm, but were more than happy to serve us at 9pm. An hour before you are supposed to close, you are going to stop serving, basically?? Imagine if Chili's or Red Lobster, which are all close by, said that same thing, and how long they would stay in business with that mentality. Also, I don't appreciate the signs all over the place reminding you to only take what you can eat. I think people get that, and I have been to many buffets where one sign was plenty. I feel like this place is doing things on the cheap, and not providing a service to their paying customers. Also, tonight the food was bordering on gross, with all meals including shrimp tasting like stale and mold. A lot of the food was mushy, as if it had been sitting around for awhile, as well. So, after 3 times at this place, I can say that we will not be...

We've been coming to this place for ages and have seen first hand how much the quality of the food AND service has changed. We had a party of 7 and were seated at table for 6 with extra chair on the side - which made it quite crowded. But we decided to manage. As we set down, we realized the table was sticky and dirty... we wiped it a bit ourselves. The waitress asked about drinks (standard) and we went to pick our meal... some of it was fine, some was not warm, the ice cream tasted weird... again, we managed. We did not have many plates as we were tired from a hike and realized that none of us had much appetite so the waitress really had to pick only few plates. Then the bill came. It showed price for 7 people + 4 drinks AND an automatic gratuity (which too is standard for bigger groups) BUT what is NOT standard is to INCLUDE THE GRATUITY/TIP INTO THE PRICE AND ONCE YOU GET THE CREDIT CARD, BRING ANOTHER RECEIPT WITH THE TOTAL PRICE ALREADY INCLUDING THE TIP WITH NEW LINES FOR 15, 20, 25 % TIPS ON TOP OF THAT!!! The original itemized bill was gone, only the new total bill is presented (for signature) AND for NEW tip to be listed. No 'heads up' - "Hey, your automatic tip is already included".. IF you don't pay attention AND if you generally do give a tip (like us), THEY WILL CHARGE YOU THE TIP TWICE!!! So here is our advice - bigger parties (6+ people) CHECK YOUR BILL CAREFULLY! Do not pay the tip twice! Not Cool....