New Ichiban Buffet — Restaurant in Nicholasville

The Positive: The trays of food were replaced promptly from the kitchen, and the servers, besides our own, seemed friendly and attentive to guests. Most employees seemed to be trying to do the best they could with the tools they had and I commend them for their honest efforts.

The selection was just about what you expect from buffets of this type, including a sushi bar, though it was not being utilized when we dined there.

The Negative: Our hostess/server(possibly owner?) seemed annoyed at our presence from the very start and even sighed heavily when we asked for a table for 3. She spoke quickly and in very short sentences, making it difficult to understand her, at first. Even though we came at a time where things looked relatively slow, I could feel a sense of impatience from her during our few, brief interactions.

We were seated at a table that had clearly just been wiped down with a damp cloth and was still visibly wet.

Conclusion: Against our better judgement and despite the reviews, we decided to give New Ichiban Buffet a chance as there aren't many similar options as close to where we live. Unfortunately, we were met with unenthusiastic, lackluster service and disappointing standards of quality and cleanliness.

In it's current state, I don't plan on coming back or recommending this place to friends. If I saw a real effort from management to address complaints/criticisms from guests and actually improve the dining experience, I might give it another shot, though I'm not...

If you don't care about getting exceptional service, this place is just alright most of the time.

Let me lay it out for you:

You'll walk in and be completely baffled that it costs 13 bucks per person to get a seat.

If you don't care about the booth cushions being mostly destroyed after years of dissatisfied customers and probably little excess income, you'll walk up to the buffet to see an average but (assuming you came for a Chinese buffet) more than acceptable looking array of americanized Chinese cuisine.

You'll sift through the buffet and likely find some things that look very promising, you'll also see some things that look... scary.

If you're lucky, you'll walk out having enjoyed a decent meal with a much thinner wallet and an uncomfortably heavy stomach.

If you are not careful, you'll pick the wrong thing.

Over the many years of this establishment's service to the community, an inordinately large number of people have reported the worst food poisoning they have ever experienced.

My girlfriend has been hunched over the toilet throwing up for the past 4 hours and is currently throwing up bile because there is nothing left in her body.

Seriously people, stop taking the risk. You've all said you wouldn't go back. So stop going back.

There are plenty of restaurants in Lexington that cost the same and will seat you at a nice table with good service and great food. Boycott this joke of a restaurant that is genuinely hurting the people in the...

There is only one way to describe this place and it’s awful service. I previously have never eaten at a Asian Buffett before and thought I’d give it a try. Terrible first experience. I tried asking the staff where their drink machine was at or where drinks were because they had cups sitting right by the to go boxes so I just assumed there was a machine to get drinks. Turns out I grabbed a soup cup and the lady at the counter just started LOSING it and got mad when she went to go get me a cup of Pepsi. The foods alright but the service here seriously needs to learn decent manners and etiquette towards customers. I’ve also been reading about tips on here and stuff too about how they demand tips which is completely awful. Makes me feel better that I didn’t tip a penny. If these servers provide service like they did to me and others don’t tip them and don’t give into their demands. It’s just gonna make them do it more. To sum it up, don’t eat here unless you wanna be treated like complete garbage and then get bashed for not knowing what to do. I will probably not be coming back after this experience and all I got was takeout. Edit: for anyone wondering as well this wasn’t around closing or opening time either this was just around 12 in...