Ichiban Buffet — Restaurant in Hiram

This was my first time eating here. When I walked in the first thing I noticed is how dirty and uninviting the place is. The windows, fixtures , walls, floors, are pure filth. The seats look as though they have been there since the 70s. They are ripped to pieces, dirty they just lack the presence of an inviting restaurant. The buffet area and where the food is looks like a hoarders nightmare, the food had sauces that we would think would taste great on it, but it was watered down and tasteless. I saw fried chicken on the buffet that looked like it was so hard that you could kill someone with it. The plates are on the lower portion of the buffet, collecting dust and dirt. The guy inside of the buffet who is the cook, was more focused on watching anime on his phone while preparing food. A man came out with a pan of Lo mein noodles to replenish the pan on the buffet. I stood there and watched him throw the noodles into the pan of old noodles. He did not remove the pan of old noodles and put the new noodles in the buffet. Instead, he put the new ones on top of the old ones. The area all around the buffet seems hoarded, and it doesn’t look like it was cleaned this entire year.

The lady behind the register seemed unbothered by the fact that guests were there. When it came time for me to pay for my bill, I stood at the register, waiting for her to come and assist. A lady who worked there came after me with food that she got from the buffet. Finally, the lady with glasses who works behind the register area comes out and immediately says to the lady who works there that will be $4.25 for some soup that she got from the buffer. This was quite the cherry on top of the cake because she saw me standing there before the worker even approached the area. She did not acknowledge the fact that I had been standing there waiting for her to come back. Nonetheless, not only does this restaurant need to be gutted and remodeled, their staff needs to be trained on guest etiquette and cleanliness during...

So so. 2 and a half stars, which rounds up to three.

Short version: not really recommended, though you could do worse.

Definitely a "quantity-not-quality" kind of place.

When you walk in, you pass a bunch of gumball-style dispensers and a not-so-clean, overcrowded fish tank. The windows aren't very clean, but neither is most anything inside. It's one of those places where about every third light bulb is out, there are boxes stacked up against the walls, the hostess has her own meal she's eating while she does other things, etc.

The food is okay. Not terrible, but not great. Very standard Chinese buffet items: General Tso's chicken, egg drop soup, black pepper chicken (the black pepper chicken was actually quite good), lo me in, etc. Some of it may have been out for quite some time, depending on the time of day you arrive.

The service was adequate. Not friendly at all, but not terribly cold. The hostess/server stopped offering refills on my drinks at a certain, indicating she was ready for me to leave. But she did a pretty good up to that point, but then I guess she reached her "limit," if you will. The guy making the sushi behind the bar was friendly, though he didn't address me in English; just smiled broadly when I thank him for making the food.

Dessert is standard cookies-and-cake-out-of-a-box, but they also have a cooler of self-serve items like those crunchy Hershey's ice creams on a stick and small cups of ice cream.

This is the only Chinese buffet in the area, so if you've got a hollow leg and a hankering for a buffet, this is your only option. All that said, for the amount you'll spend ($12 during the week, $15 during the weekend, and then add on $3 for a drink and the tax), you're looking at $20 a head, and you could get better quality food at Panda Express, if not the same volume of it.

I won't be back, but it was...

The food was OK. And I would’ve actually been willing to go back again. This was my very first visit and more than likely my last. I went in to order takeout not everyone likes the buffet not everyone wants to dine in. The first thing I noticed was the dirty fish tank with fish swimming in it when I walked in. The water was green. And cloudy. But I didn’t walk away, I walked in and the young man at the counter greeted me. I explained that I want to take out And he gave me a tray and told me everything was weighed. I explained again I wanted a takeout order as in cooked takeout then he gave me a menu. The menu was dirty and it was stained. It wasn’t laminated it was just on a dirty stained piece of paper. I ask for another menu, a clean one and a older gentleman overheard me apologize and said most people come to dine in so they didn’t have a lot of takeout, but he was willing Get a clean menu. Which was not available at the front desk. He had to get one. I ordered and as I’m sitting there on the bench I’m looking at the tank but I try not to judge. When my food was ready, the same young man came to give it to me and I asked how often do they clean their tank thinking that it was up for cleaning soon he shrugged his shoulders and said I don’t know. Perhaps he really didn’t know perhaps not for him to know it was clearly a concern for me. And he seemed to not care about the fish swimming in their own crud. So the food itself was just OK, but it was overshadowed by the experience which means dine in or buffet I will more than likely...