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 15% gratuity.