Golden Chopsticks — Restaurant in Palm Coast

(Copied & pasted from my boyfriends YELP review. Posting on here so it reaches more audience.)

Awful, just awful. Went yesterday evening with my girlfriend at around 8pm as they are open until 10 everyday. Tried to go earlier at lunch, but with a line wrapped around the building, that wait wasn't going to happen for a basic Chinese food buffet. NO ONE there speaks English well at all. It took me nearly 45 seconds to explain to the hostess who showed us to our table that I wanted a Coke (they only have Pepsi). None of the food is labeled whatsoever, so unless it is blatantly obvious like white rice, you have no idea what you're eating. It is a giant line of unlabeled food trays that people were attacking like they never had food before. For a place that serves sushi and countless other offerings, I cannot comprehend how food labels aren't in use. The food itself looks hot in the serving trays, but once you take the food back to your table, it is ice cold. My girlfriend also had to switch out the silverware as the original ones were caked in food stains. The food offered is far from anything special or different, typical Chinese American food with mostly seafood, but I am not sure you should trust it so consume that at your own risk. Everything lacked taste, just bland no matter what you had. I had chicken two different ways, steak, pork, amongst other things and they were all tasteless, the white rice was the "best" part. My girlfriend had to spit out what we believe was a sweet potato bao bun because it was so cold and awful tasting. I wouldn't dare trust the sushi at a place like this, so I didn't even bother with it. They have raw steak, fish, and chicken next to cooked rice and noodles that you need to pick up and take to the absurdly long hibachi line to have cooked for you. Cross- contamination food poisoning and possibly death just waiting to happen, especially with the abundance of little kids running wild on their own getting food and making a mess. Two buffets and drinks came to nearly $50 after tax where a Lurch looking guy who stared us down all meal walked over and said "check", to which I replied yes. He brings the check over and just hovers over the table without leaving. I hand him my card and he comes back with the bill for me to sign. This is a buffet, I did all the work besides bringing over a cup of Pepsi, sorry, you're not getting a tip, especially after the crappy and cold food that neither of us enjoyed. Again, he stood there watching from about five feet away and when I signed my name he took the bill and immediately started staring at the receipt as if to wonder, "where is my tip?!" Neither my girlfriend nor I will ever be back and I would advise you to not even bother if you haven't been already. Do not let the abundance of cars in the parking lot fool you into thinking this place is good. It's just a new food offering which people in Palm Coast always eat up (no...

(Update; We went again. Honestly, want to drop my 4 stars down to 3 but the buffet food is fine and that 4 is really for that only. And Palm Coast doesn't have much. As for the update, we had a different waiter, but still had to ask for drink refills. We were sat at the weird 2 person table that was mentioned in another review that's against the wall, by itself, next to the bussing station. It is a very terrible table, and is honestly unnecessary, uncomfortable, and annoying. And I will not do the hibachi again if it is busy. I had no rice on my plate when I gave it to him and ended up with the lady before me's rice when I got it back. But again, the food in the buffet itself is fine. Though, I didn't try the sushi this time around, so no update there. It is the wait staff and the hibachi cook that were the real issues. Dropped another star from service because of them. As well as the weird table that they need to do away with. I dropped 1 star from atmosphere because of that table.) Original review; The food was fine except the sushi. I don't think it was being kept cool enough. It had an extra fishy taste to me. But really, the food was fine. Chinese buffet through and through. The reason I'm leaving this review was our waiter. He gave us our check before we had even gotten our dessert plates. And then walked by and asked if we were ready to pay, again before we even got dessert. I also had to ask for our drinks to be refilled and he pretty much rolled his eyes each time I asked but he did at least fill them. And when I did finally leave cash to pay. He informed me that tip wasn't included in the price and was upset that I had given him exact change. I wasn't done eating, so I wasn't giving him his tip yet. Needless to say his tip went from 20%, which would have been $8, down to $5. And he's lucky he...

This was our first time to this restaurant and immediately we noticed how great the staff was. They were very nice, attentive, and helpful. The hibachi food was great! It was fresh, offered a good variety, and was made perfectly to order. The sushi was good - some were very good and some were not quite as good, but only one was really bad and that was the tuna - the quality wasn’t there at all. The rest of the buffet was really good with a lot of options to suit any taste. And to top it off, the price is extremely reasonable for the amount of options available. My only complaint is that the restaurant is supposed to be open until 9:30, but by 9pm most of the staff was cleaning while people were still eating. The floors were being washed, the buffet was being cleaned, and the smell of bleach was enough to make you lose your appetite. And the floors were all wet and slippery which is a dangerous situation for people walking around with plates of food or just trying to walk to the counter to pay and leave. The restrooms also had a very strong bleach smell and the floors were wet, which again presents a very dangerous situation as people are finishing their meals and heading to the restrooms, not paying attention to how slippery the floors were. If the staff wants to make sure they’re out of there by 9:30, then they should close at 9, but to start cleaning all around people who are still eating looks (and smells) really bad. I wanted to give this place 5* because I think it’s a really good spot for the money and the food was quite good, but I can’t get over the fact that they were cleaning with bleach all around people who were...