Jumbo Chinese buffet — Restaurant in LaGrange

I used to eat here a lot, but haven't been in over a year. Last night I went back. I was shocked at how horrible it was. First the sign out front says the buffet is $7.50, but when you get inside it's actually $10. Then, there's no service & the place has a lot of flies. No drink refills (though they are supposed to be free), I had to find the soy sauce & the dirty dish cart myself. The waitress was there & not busy, she was flirting with boys. Everything is threadbare & falling apart. But the real problem is the food. It was absolutely disgusting. Here is what we tried:

Fried Shrimp: Lots of batter. Where's the shrimp? Add to that it isn't fully cooked & it's cold. Inedible. Chicken on a stick: That was chicken? Are you sure? I thought maybe it was road kill. It was so dry and so tough I would have needed a hacksaw to get through it. Fried Crab Claws?: Not sure what this was supposed to be, but it appeared to be fried fake crab. It wasn't good. Egg Rolls: I usually despise egg rolls at buffets and these were not bad. I wouldn't go back to have them again, but they were crispy and not so thick that they broke my teeth. Fried Oysters: Fried Bullets is more like it. These were so overdone they had no taste left except the oil. Crab Rangoon: Ok, but there was no crab. Just oily cream cheese. Sweet & Sour Sauce. Ugh, no sour, just ungodly, nasty sweet. Mongolian Beef Stir Fry: My husband had this and he said it was ok, so I tried it. I must have had a different batch because he tried mine as well and the beef in mine was all fat and could not be chewed. Beef & Pepper Stir Fry: As above, the beef is inedible. Triple Buttery Delight: This is supposed to have three kinds of seafood, crab, shrimp and I think squid but as much as I looked I only found the first two and the crab was fake. It was very bland and tasted boiled. Rice with shrimp: I m not sure if this was supposed to be shrimp fried rice or buttered rice with shrimp or what, but it was just oily and disgusting. Saffron fried rice with vegetables: This had never been anywhere near saffron. It was also burned. So what it tasted like was scorched rice with vegetables mixed in. Chicken & Broccoli: Like the beef, it is so nasty you just can t chew it. Yet, it is overcooked and the broccoli is raw. Sesame Chicken: Though they left out the traditionally served broccoli this was good and I ate more of it than anything else. It was too sweet, but I was hungry. Baked Salmon: I mourn for this salmon. It was baked until there was no flavor left at all and it was swimming in a sea of fat. Ugh. Pan Fried Steak: This was sliced and served with rather raw onion, but the steak looked and tasted like an old shoe. Crab-Cheese Casserole: This was ok. Stuffed Crab: The shell of a little crab stuff with some crab goop and baked. It was like biting into someone else s crab vomit. Stuffed Mushrooms: These were actually really good. They were stuffed with a white cheese and I m not sure what else. Unfortunately there were only three of them and we each got one. They did not refill them the entire time we were there. sigh Sushi: I am really using this term loosely, because I don t think there was any fish or seafood involved. It was served with wasabe paste that was so dry it was almost still a powder and pickled ginger. My husband ate it and he said he ate it mostly for the pickled ginger, which came out of a jar. he added ginger juice to the wasabe to make it edible. Boiled shrimp: These were overcooked and not deveined. Cocktail sauce: OMG... Water please. It was overpowering with lime and worcestershire sauce. How in the hell to you F up cocktail sauce?

I did not get a check or fortune cookies. The hostess when told, laughed at us. I left hungry. I will not ever go back. I give it a big fat zero and I'd like...

If you had've asked me 10 years ago how I would rate Jumbo Buffet, I would have enthusiastically given them a 5+ score. The food was delicious and the resturant was clean. I honestly don't know what happened. New ownership? A different chef? (obviously). Change of grocery supplier? I couldn't tell you. But I can say this...the food is terrible now and the resturant isn't as clean as it could be. If they clean at all, it must be before opening and after closing because I have never seen anyone that works there doing anything but standing at the register, rolling silverware or eating. Oh, I have seen employees from back of the house refilling food on the buffet. It leads me to wonder how clean the kitchen is if the area seen by the guests isn't well maintained. But even with that being said, through the years I still chose to eat there because they scored passing on health inspections and because the food was so good and the price was fair. Not anymore. The food is terrible. Usually over or undercooked, over or underseasoned, low quality ingredients at a higher price. I don't say this after just one bad experience. I have been back many times in the hopes that the problems have been corrected. I even tried ordering off of the menu instead of eating food that had been sitting under lights on the buffet. In fact I did this just last night. I placed a to go order of Orange Chicken, Steamed Dumplings and Eggdrop Soup. I can honestly say it was the worst it has ever been. The dunplings were raw with a little piece of cold meat in the center, the egg drop soup was so slimy that I was afraid it might be spoiled, the chicken was grissley and tough and the orange sauce tasted like they had added a few orange peels to whatever sauce they had sitting around and called it orange sauce. Well, I was starving so I tried to eat it anyway but after a few bites I threw it in the trash. I ate Doritos for dinner and called it a night. I will never, ever go back and this makes me kinda sad. Bye Jumbo. It was good while...

I've been to this place several times, and always liked the food. The last time I went I fixed my plate, only had a few bites and I wasn't feeling too good so didn't finish. When about to leave I asked for a box, they have always let me take what I didn't eat with me. The waitress then tells me I needed to pay for 2 meals. I explained to her this was the 1 buffet plate that I am paying for, and she insists I need to pay for that plus a to go plate. She was very condescending and rude. I never complain about anything, but I went to speak with the manager to explain. The manager was equally just as rude, thinking they didn't understand I explained again I made a plate of food that I am paying for and just wanted to take that with me. I could understand if I made a plate ate it, then wanted to take a box full of more food with me. I just wanted to take the food that I am paying for that I barely touched. She told me she didn't care if I ate 10 plates inside, but I have to pay for another plate to take any food with me. She said they are losing money letting people take food. So the one plate I paid for and ate almost nothing, is going to the trash now because I refused to pay twice for the 1 plate I got. I told her that they can keep the food, and I would not be coming back. She said that's too bad in an ignorant careless manner. I felt like not paying for it all to be honest, but I paid for the one plate and left the full box of food on the table, I am the only who lost money and was treated in a very ignorant manner. Would definitely never go back again. That's certainly no way to get business. Good...