Hug Grill Buffet — Restaurant in Hillsboro

I came here last night 08/26/2023 at 7:29pm, my wife and I were greeted by Coco, and for first impressions, not friendly and kind of abrasive, we explained that we have never been here before. Thinking this would maybe lighten the interaction and maybe change the tone, but it didn't seem to matter. My wife and I brushed it off as it was a Saturday evening, and it was a hot day, and it's nothing personal, they're busy. People have bad days. Totally understand.

We find a table. Get situated, we get our beverages and napkins and our straws, from an employee. Again not very friendly. My wife and I noticed there was a big celebration for what appeared to be a birthday party.

Again we brushed it off and located the bathrooms, to wash our hands and then go grab food.

My wife and I both noticed that there was a off putting odor coming from the back. From my experience in the food industry, it was a similar odor to an unmanaged grease trap. My wife mentioned that the sink was clogged and not working.

It's now 7:45pm. It doesn't take long for us to complete our first round and head back. I grabbed some sushi and 3 crawfish to try. My wife heads over and grabs crab for the both of us to have. We both begin to start in on our second round. Again. Our portions are fairly small as this is a new place and we've never been here before; so we're trying to be careful with what we get and not take too much. I was raised to start with a little and you can always go back for more, but don't go getting a bunch of food and not eat it. It's disrespectful to the establishment and it's wasteful.

My wife and I are, settling back down and getting ready to begin the second round of what we hopped was going to be some good crab. 7:50-7:55pm. My wife and I both comment on the wabbling table.

I'm a sucker for seafood. I love it! It's something that I grew up on and I've enjoyed all my life. So when I proceed to dig into this crab. Took my first bite and it gets down. I don't think it hit my taste buds and it's immediately followed with the second bite. Which did hit my taste buds and I proceeded to instantly throw up in my mouth and had to swallow it. I'm trying not to project my stomach fluids onto the table and on my wife. We immediately inform staff that the crab is spoiled, rotten and rancid. The staff/ employee wasn't clear as to what we were talking about or maybe didn't understand due to language barrier. They grabbed another employee to help out. My wife reiterated as I'm sitting there trying not to throw up again and trying to gather my composure.

She stated that she let the front know and excited the conversation. We proceed to the front desk. I went to the car to get fresh air and I couldn't remain in the restaurant due to nausea and the smell. My wife talks with the host/greeter Coco. Who tells my wife that because it's been 40 minutes and we should have left if we didn't like it. My wife was nice, and direct. We came in, got situated got our first plate went back for our second plate at 7:45. It didn't take long for us to realize that the shellfish was spoiled and we immediately informed staff. It took about 10 minutes for that to happen and now we're here. Coco then tells my wife that there's really not much that they can do and she'll refund one meal and have a good night. We have informed the local health officials as I had to go to the ER last night due to food poisoning. We'll never be coming back...

TL;DR: There is a massive selection, but it comes at a cost.

As a Hillsboro native, I was tickled to see the Marshall’s was replaced by a massive Chinese buffet. Not knowing what to expect, the boy and I went here for lunch on a Sunday. The weekend prices are more expensive - $20/ person. Coming here for lunch on a weekday I think is $15/person.

We were met by a woman at the front desk who was very abrupt. We had to pick our drink seconds after answering how many were in our party. Looking around confused for drink choices, she sharply pointed to the drink menu on the counter. Once we both answered, she stated the price for our meal and looked at us. Still confused, we figured out we were supposed to pay.

We got past the first step and walked into the actual restaurant. It’s a pretty spacious establishment with plenty of seating. It’s perfect for large parties and families. We found a table and put our stuff down. I wish they had a way to mark that the table was taken and we were away to grab food – maybe like a small card or placard for the table? We were only given napkin and a straw to walk in with, so we put those on the table and hoped it would be enough to “mark” it as taken.

On top of the buffet counters are incredibly cheap Styrofoam plates and flimsy plastic cutlery. But under the counter on shelves were actual plates. We searched a bit and found some metal cutlery as well.

The buffet selection is huge. There’s everything from sushi to hibachi noodles and ramen to cold fruits and salads to classic Chinese buffet items to seafood to some oddities such as Texas toast and pizza, as well as a large dessert selection. (Random but one of the “dessert” selections was just a pan of pretzel thins?? Very funny to see.)

I will say, to their credit, everything they actually made themselves was good. The hibachi grill, some of the chicken noodle dishes, the pot roast, and some of the sushi was very good. But everything that could be bulk made was very obviously purchased and heated. (Potstickers, spring rolls, dumplings, Texas toast, ALL the dessert items, orange chicken, and more). These items were just not good. They tasted microwaved and bland.

I wish there had been signage or something to help control the chaos as well. This is a massive space and therefore there are a TON of people. There was no real direction for where to start the buffet or which direction to go, so you’d be going down a line and all of a sudden be met with a large group of people going the opposite direction, forcing you to get out of line and start over.

We grabbed our first round of food and sat down, then realized we never got our drinks. We looked around confused as there were no drink stations either. Then we saw one of three servers rushing around with platters of cups (imagine 1 sever, 10+ cups on a tray) trying to deliver the drinks people ordered at the front counter. It was chaos and it took a long time to get our water, which was not the servers fault. There is well over 50 tables within the restaurant and there were DOZENS of large groups as well. Just 3 servers trying to figure out who ordered what at the front was a horrible way to go about delivering drinks.

The food wasn’t very good, the service was nonexistent, the cleanliness is lackluster, and price only matches quantity....

I'd say this place is somewhere between Hot Mess and Risky Adventure. The price for lunch for 2 seems quite reasonable, but right off I noticed that the lady checking guests in and taking drink orders is kinda abrasive. You have to make your drink selections at the front where you pay, and then you have to flag down someone bussing tables to actually bring them to you from the back. Drinks that you get yourself are usually included at most buffets, but ok. I don't know if that's some kind of covid policy or what, but it's dumb considering you have to touch all the utensils in order to get your food anyway, not to mention I didn't see anyone cleaning any of these areas while we were there. There were people bussing tables that also get your drinks, so who knows what the sanitizing protocols are here. I didn't try any of the customizable dishes, there is stir fry and sushi options available. My first run through the salad bar was decent, mostly fresh ingredients (excluding the pickle, but i could have picked a better one) and they have the good ranch. The main buffet bar had some good stuff, the hot and sour soup was was my favorite thing i tried, all of the soups were kept at damn near inferno temps. Two of the three chicken dishes and the fried rice were good, further down the line you'll find things with eyes (shrimp?) and more things with eyes (crawfish?) and some fish nuggets and crab bites which I actually liked. I wish I had tried more of the bao balls but the one I did try couldn't be cut with just a fork. The cocktail shrimp I tried was by far the sketchiest thing I ate, it was warm even though it was on ice, and had a funky taste to it. I'm not a dessert person so I didn't even go that direction so I couldn't tell you how those were. The ladies bathroom was not smelly but the soap provided is not antibacterial, and they should have a garbage can next to the door for people who want to use a paper towel to open it. I had to use my sleeve to avoid throwing paper towels on the floor. I did my best not use my fingers while eating, cutlery and napkins are scattered throughout but not the easiest to find. All in all I had a good lunch with my dear friend and 24hrs later I am not sick with food poisoning, but I don't think this place will become a regular thing for my family. It's ok, but it could be so...