Newark Buffet — Restaurant in Newark

Commemorating the one year passing of my father-in-law, my wife and her sisters chose this restaurant to gather our family for dinner. Our group consisted of 21 people for which we made reservations in advance and the restaurant was able to accommodate, however, we were not all able to be at the same table but we did have a section in a corner of the restaurant for our group. It ended up being three small tables of four and then one bigger table accommodating the rest.

This restaurant has been around in the town for a while now and it has become a Newark staple. It is a Chinese buffet that has an eclectic set of dishes in their selection and a fair amount of seafood options. These include various kinds of shellfish made in different ways, including mixed with mayonnaise, baked broiled, boiled fried, etc. These range from muscles to clams to crab, no lobster to be seen, at least not on this day. They even have a sushi bar section. It's probably relevant to point out that the sushi bar is relatively minimal. Their sushi rolls are mostly imitation crab and very few of them are actually made of raw fish and raw meat rolls. They do have raw fish options, but it is mostly cubed fish and focuses mainly on cubed tuna and cubed salmon which you could grab like sashimi. The quality of the fish in this state is not the highest but it is edible. If you are a connoisseur of sushi, this will not satisfy you in the least. If you're not picky, this will be absolutely fine.

The restaurant selection of other buffet items is relatively eclectic and although it is primarily a Chinese restaurant, the options are quite all over the map. They will have items such as french fries and fried chicken, barbecue, chicken skewers and then other classics such as chow, mein, broccoli, beef, white rice mixture, fried vegetables, etc. In general i think there will be something for everyone and the opinion of how good or not good a particular dish item may be will be completely up to the taster. In general the place does satisfy, but for my taste it is a mid tier buffet.

Something to note about the experience here. It is a very popular place for folks to go to to celebrate a birthday. For as many uses. I have been going here. They play the same birthday track for all birthday celebrants. You'll know when you hear it, because the main line of the song will be happy birthday my dear friend. Friend. And it will be sung by children. At least they don't have the service come around and sink to every table which would be more distracting. And at this point the recorded birthday song is almost nostalgic, but I imagine it has been recycled for so long that even the track itself sounds like it's degrading.

If you are looking for an Asian buffet and aren't hung up on all the items and selection being holy, Asian or even of a particular Asian region, this is a good option within eclectic selection to choose from. It is in no way a bad experience but it is nowhere near a mid tier to high-end experience as well. Have at it!

12/23 update crackle Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday my DEAR FRIEND... crackle Happy birthday to you! (if you've been here you know what I'm...

I hesitantly give 4 stars overall, 4 stars for food and atmosphere. Let me explain.

Know what you like

The main attraction of this place is all-you-can-eat at nearly unheard of price. (At least for lunch.) They have a dazzling array of food choices, many of them require ingredients in higher price range. Additionally, most all food items look appetizing - I cannot say the same for many other buffets in the area, most charge a lot more.

We did try a large number of different foods at Newark Buffet. (Hereafter Newark.) But we really focused on foods that we consume less frequently due to home economy or due to lack of time for preparation. Such as salmon, salmon sushi, cod, clam, mussel. Ok. You get the idea.

Food tends to be bland

Buffet foods tend to be overcooked. Combined with less than ideal, or even regular flavoring, many items can become unappetizing. Not at Newark. They seem to take an extreme approach to flavoring and heating. Their food tends to be on the undersalt side. But I have not found an item that has the all-too-typical overcooked taste.

As any good cook will tell you, undersalting is much easier to handle than oversalting. You do have soy sauce and salt if you want to add salt. However, you don't really go to a restaurant to cook for the chef. And salt and soy sauce doesn't completely compensate for blandness.

There are two items that I hope they will never change. One is salmon fillet. I remember that's steamed, although my memory could be tricking me. Anyway, it is just the taste I liked. The other is cheese mussel (or some name to that effect). It tasted really good.

Vegetables are good

Not necessarily in flavor. But the green beans are some of the best colors I have seen in restaurants. Yes, not just buffet places. Some full service restaurants cannot do such a good job.

Another veggie that I want to give special credit is bean sprouts.

Don't care for the dumplings

I observed the station for dough-based foods and just walked away. Nothing particularly unappetizing but I have plenty of better ones.

The same station also serves soups. I tried the sour and hot. It looked OK, but was a surprising disappointment. I cannot say that you cannot get mediocre sour and hot in a Chinese restaurant. But even the bad ones I had in the past were not as bad as here. They also have clam chowder - my actual favorite, and quite uncommon in Chinese buffet. I regret not having the opportunity to try that out because I was too full.

Good dessert

Unlike some buffet places that puts on a large variety of mediocre desserts, Newark uses its surface for food variety. Dessert choices are small, but there is no mediocre one. Their fruits are also very good.

A word on atmosphere: This is not a grand hall. But the interior is spacious, with just the right arrangement and lighting. (The ceiling lights are very decorative and tasteful.) Even though the price is low, the place doesn't have any cheap feeling.

So, the four star ratings. You pay a low price for a large selection of reasonably good food in a comfortable space. I...

This is the best buffet I’ve ever gone to in the last 10 years. No, this is not an exaggeration. The reason I give this place such high praise is because of the staff: never have I seen staff at a buffet be as attentive and proactive as the ones here at Newark Buffet. Whether it is serving drinks, clearing plates, refilling buffet dishes, or refilling the plates, there was staff everywhere attending to every table and station. Rather than having empty dishes piling up, I had to tell my waitress not to take a plate yet because there was a small piece of food still on it - that’s how frequently she came by. When I got up to go get ice cream, I came back to the check waiting on the table. The service here are ON IT, even on a busy night (which is pretty much every night).

In terms of food, most items are fresh due to the quick turnover and active refills. There were only a few things I found to be lackluster, but they were switched out before I finished eating. There’s a bit of everything - dim sum, classic Chinese-American fare, seafood, sushi AND sashimi, cold bar, salad bar, made-to-order hibachi, desserts including egg tarts, and of course the ubiquitous ice cream machine.

Oysters are definitely the most popular thing here. They get refilled less often, and when they do a huge line forms immediately with every person grabbing at least 3. If you really want to try them, I suggest waiting by the tray or sitting somewhere where you can see it.

Overall I spent $30, including tip on a busy Tuesday night. Given the selection and service, I would say...