The Buffet — Restaurant in New York

If you're going to go to a buffet in Queens, this is probably your best bet. I'd give them four stars, but after going for so many years, I have to talk about their awful business practices.

The food is good for a buffet. I've never gotten sick from eating here, and that includes indulging at their raw bar. That's impressive at a buffet, especially with people's grubby hands grabbing shared tongs and whatnot. The buffets are refreshed and refilled during peak hours. The restrooms are generally clean, and they're kept that way.

The parking sucks. It's no longer free, only discounted, and the neighborhood isn't the best for street parking. I manage fine because I'm from the area, but for anyone who is visiting, I expect it to be very confusing.

My gripe is with the way they handle business. For example, not disclosing increased holiday prices on a weekday when you arrive and ask for a table. This is even more of an issue for regular customer - usually Asian, who don't observe American holidays (like my parents). The price difference between a normal weekday lunch and a holiday lunch, charged the same as holiday dinner, isn't nominal either. We expected less than $30 a person, but ended up with a bill of well over $50 per person.

Another issue I've had, which they no longer do, is that they used to add an undisclosed service charge to the check. I've complained about this before, and I know they haven't practiced this in years, but it just adds to the list of shady business conduct.

Most recently, an issue I had is that they advertise to close at 10:30 on Saturdays. I called in advance to make sure they still serve food up until 10:30. Their response is that they do, but last table seating is at 9:45 - I found this reasonable. I finally decided to go later on a Saturday with a party of 6 to avoid the ridiculous crowds. During our meal, I found out that they stop bringing out fresh food around 9:15. In fact, by 9:30 they start cleaning off the buffets and tables. They took away our tables' soy sauces by 9:40. We were charged the full Saturday dinner price, only to not have any fresh food for the last hour and fifteen minutes of the dinner service (keeping in mind their hour and a half seating limit). We were essentially just eating leftover food, with no fresh seafood or decent cuts of meat.

I've been here countless times over the years, and though their food is good (again, for a buffet), I'm starting to feel more and more irritated by their business practices, and my latest experience made me feel completely ripped off. It ruined our dinner, which was a celebration for someone...

DATE : THANKSGIVING DAY 2023 11/24/2023

Time : 6:00pm

3.899999999 stars….

It was busy on THANKSGIVING DAY SO I MUSY SAY I can it was extremely packed.

So I must say this is by far the best BUFFET ME AND MY sis visited in terms of ambiance and just the vibe of the place. This isn't your usual American Chinese buffet with the usual options of food (pizza and Mac and cheese ).

This establishment offer what I think the essence of what I would expect in someone's home. First off I found this place on INSTAGRAM. It was all over my news feed with their highlights. Focusing on the price of $50 for an all you can eat fantastic experience. Located in the crevices of College Point. This buffet honestly was just all right since it was all over social media when I had came across it, and then a family member had recommended a place to me. I did appreciate the variety of dishes that they had and the only option of rice was really really delicious. Well cooked in my opinion I only went around four maybe four plates but I carefully selected my options. Everyone and their employees was very friendly. We were greeted properly. Everything was perfect, except for the hibachi chef, who is very rude towards my sister . My sister had a question regarding the items that you select for the Hibachi and he enter very rudely, and after he completed the order, he literally just threw the plate in front of the wrong customer and that was it . He had a very rude facial expression with me and my sister . I really focus on the customer work ethic of a restaurant in any business a visit. The hibachi chef was absolutely horrible, which me the customer service experience, mediocre, . Everyone else was extremely friendly and professional. All the other customers that came after me and my sister were greeted very properly, friendly and happy by the hibachi chef but as soon as my sister was next and selected her items; the chef was very rude and completely did a 180. Overall the food and experience was alright. The bathroom is a bit messy.... (I understand. It was Thanksgiving day, but damn ) it was really messy. I do see myself visiting this restaurant again, but I would appreciate it if the management would handle and take care of the hibachi chef. This place is honestly still great though to visit for the experience. So…..

……please...

My husband’s family has been wanting to check out this buffet for a while, so we stopped in for lunch on a Tuesday at around 1. Surprisingly, the restaurant was pretty full at that time, which I was not expecting. Non-alcoholic drinks are included, even bubble tea! I did not have high expectations for this but it was surprisingly good. I might even say that it's better than some bubble teas I've bought at bubble tea shops. Just make sure you order this when you're ready for dessert because you don't want to fill up on the boba.

For the food, like the bubble tea, I also did not have high expectations. And I was right. The quality is comparable to mall food court food. The best thing I ate was the beef chow fun and the snails (which were always empty, so I only got to try a few). They have a good variety of seafood. For the raw bar, they have sushi, sashimi, oysters, clams, and conch. I did not partake in the raw bar because I was just getting over a stomach virus so I didn't want to take any chances. The cooked seafood was mediocre. The steamed turbot was mushy, crawfish wasn't great, and shrimp was okay. The ginger scallion stone crab was not bad but very messy and hard to eat. You need to request a crab cracker as these do not come standard. After we were done with the crab, we saw other tables with gloves so I’m guessing they were not first timers, and knew to ask for these.

Dessert was also okay. The crepes were not it - the batter was way too thick, which made it chewy. Best thing was the matcha soft serve machine, and the cotton candy machine.

The lunch price for an adult is $31.99, which isn't terrible because there is a good variety. It's just that the variety isn't very good. Dinner prices jump to $52.99 for weekdays. I'm sure there has to be a significant difference in the types of dishes being served at dinner because if it was $52 for the same dishes, I would be pissed if I had to pay that.

Definitely won't be back but I'm glad the fam got to try it because now we don't ever have...