Cafe Sierra | Seafood Buffet — Restaurant in Los Angeles

We came to Cafe Sierra at Hilton Hotel in Universal Studio to celebrate our high school reunion. The restaurant was not packed (50% capacity) at 6:16 pm on a Saturday. Not a promising sign but we walked in and expected a nice dining experience. The restaurant has now increased the AYCE seafood buffet to $139 per person (before taxes and gratuity), significantly higher than before. We were okay with the double price increase as long as tasty and quality food was served.

It appeared that the restaurant made seafood as the main attraction to draw in the crowd and that was the reason why we came. Everything else was just filler. However, most of the seafood was subpar and salty. The meat of the crab leg was mushy and fell apart, not fresh at all. We didn’t eat that to avoid possible food poisoning. The chilled shrimps were fresh and big.

The salad and dessert items were mediocre. Clam chowder soup was served lukewarm, starchy and thick. We had to add water to thin it out but this brought the soup temperature down and we couldn’t finish the soup. The fried food was all one flavor by using the same batter on them.

Desserts: creme brûlée had weird and grainy texture, probably was sat out too long and there was no satisfying crunch, crack at the top. It didn’t taste anything like the usual creme brûlée. Can’t believe how the chef/staff messed up this simple dessert! Most of the dessert were plain and not exciting and missed the mark. Not worth the calories. The only good dessert items were the bread pudding which was served warm, moist and with the right balance of sweetness and texture and the churros were wonderfully prepared, definitely it was our group favorite dessert for sure. Service was decent but slow. Some of the table mates were not provided with the cloth napkins but were given just the paper napkins and that made us felt like we were eating at a casual restaurant like Denny’s.

In summary, our visit to Cafe Sierra for dinner was a hugh disappointment for our group of 12 people. We didn’t get the quality gourmet dining experience that we used to enjoy and loved before the pandemic. Food quality has been getting lower and lower while prices kept going higher and higher. Food choices were less than they used to be, down by half but the price has doubled.

We do not recommend this AYCE seafood buffet and will not be back. There are other restaurants where we can have more choices of food, better quality at a more reasonable price point. Some of our group left the restaurant feeling half hungry after paying $162 per person (taxes and 15% mandatory gratuity) because we just couldn’t stomach another plate of tasteless and salty seafood. Simply put, the quality of food did not match the costs. The chefs/kitchen staff and management team should taste the food they serve to their customers on a regular basis to control quality. Based on other online reviews, it appears that the management team keeps paying the public lip service and not focusing to address the low food quality, limited food choices and the high pricing issues. We agree with the online reviews! The management of the restaurant should value customers feedback and make necessary and sometimes painful changes to justify the skyrocketing $139 per person price point. The director of culinary must make changes to improve the overall customers dining experience . We would like to see competent and knowledgeable chefs be hired to make delicious food and execute better food delivery, improve on the menu to offer more food options with fresh and high quality ingredients to justify the $139 price point and the mandatory...

PRICE-FAIL FOOD-FAIL SERVICE-FAIL As a world travelr, foodie, student chef I can say Dont believe influencers on Youtube! You would expect A better atmosphere service and food quality, but the restaurant left a lot to be desired first of all for $159 a person (Plus tip, parking, etc) I brought two friends and it was my birthday understandably they limit the lobster to one and the snow crab legs to two but if they like you they give you more but don’t ask for more because if you do, they are rude to you and they accuse you And say things like what are you doing? What are you trying to do? Why are you harassing us?(Pavel is name (Said his name is Nabil!?) And Povlo (real name) Will lie about names. Will lie and tell you, they ran out of LOBSTER!?? Wth!?? The oysters taste gross, and funky almost expired yeah atmosphere has a guitar player, which is annoying at times and I play guitar The desserts are on par with Golden CORRAL. They had a Frito Misto fish was gross! The crème brûlée was OK The poor girl, serving cold, stone, concoctions and bad tasting Boba juice drinks took a long time to get it scoop of ice cream. The only good thing was our server, Amy, which who did a excellent job, but had to sing the birthday cake song by yourself while five other waiters stood around. After asking her what the rule was on the crab legs and lobster she said you can have as many as you want!?? Think so for 159 a person I can go to any casino and get the lobster buffet for $55-$75! And you dont have to put up with rude abrasive servers! So in a nutshell being close to Universal CityWalk, you can get a much better deal and feed three people for the price of one person at Café Sierra $159usd if you go to Bubba Gump, restaurant, and voodoo donuts!! I did get a chance to speak to management and hopefully they correct the issue with their server (Pavel) who from the reviews does this all the time? In my honest opinion, that is not how to run a business specially one that charges such a premium price when I can go to SOLAIRE CASINO in Manila Philippines and pay $100 and get 10 times better food quality!! Thanks for reading my review save your time and money and aggravation. Avoid café Sierra at Hilton. God bless.!! If you ever buy fine Art and are invited to the Art Auction at the Hilton then by all means ATTEND (But be Ready, To, Drop $15k, Starting on...

The quality was amazing, our waiter Michael was attentive, informative, engaging and friendly, when I first walked in I was greeted by Miriam asking her about my daughter’s baby and the stroller,she was so accommodating and gave me options of where to sit, she was friendly and I appreciated that, Anytime I had a question I asked Ann she was right on it , she was friendly , and made me feel welcomed, there was a older bald man as our bus person I think his name was earnest I didn’t have my glasses on my table was constantly clean and wt seafood a table can be messy, the restaurant was clean the singer was great the chefs were accommodating and friendly. The salmon was top quality so buttery , the lobster claws were in a sauce was out of this world just enough spicy . The adobo chicken was delicious . The snow was one of the best I ever had!! The prime rib was a little rare for me but it was delicious, the duck was awful , it was dry hard and no flavor , very disappointing, I was looking forward to eating the soft shell crab didn’t have any and the bone marrow none so I was disappointed, I save for 6 months to bring my family and watched all the video on menu , so I was looking forward to crab and marrow . I have been in the restaurant business for 35 years so I watched everyone and think the Hilton is lucky to have such amazing staff, everyone was great the food!! I will definitely like to come again, back to saving lol. Thank you for a delightful evening.

I have worked in restaurants off and on for 30 years but always in customer service so I feel I can give a good opinion. When approaching the hostesses stand Miriam greeted me wt a smile I asked her about my concern about the baby’s stroller , she was kind and gave me options that was great! Michael was our server he was very professional, informative, engaging everything u want in a server , his bus person never let our table get dirty he was on top of it , any time I asked Ann assuming she was the professional and accommodating and very sweet, All the chefs behind the food were great!! Friendly , kind , helpful, the food was top quality the salmon was amazing! The salmon that was cooked med was delicious!! The crepes were wonderful the staff was outstanding I...