Lin's Grand Buffet — Restaurant in Phoenix

Lin's buffet used to be one of my favorite spots! If I wanted good food and a large variety for Chinese, this is the spot every time! I especially don't mind the price because it was worth it. However, this last visit will be my last. Am not ever one to complain but it's sad to lose another favorite restaurant with great food. I never write reviews ever but this time I had to because I was so disappointed. The food before was cooked just right (noodles, rice), food that was fried would be crispy and crunch just right, and full of flavor even in the simple dishes like the mushrooms or fried rice. This last visit the food was the complete opposite. I could tell right off the back by the color, flavor, size, and quality that it was not the same food. The fruit, which I do not usually eat but my daughter does, lacked color and taste. Even the strawberries were mushy and soft. I also noticed the plates where different giving me the impression maybe new management or cooks? The ice tea I usually have tasted more like watered down iced tea if there is even such a thing. The wings were the biggest disappointment! Wings are my all time favorite food and I love Lin' s because they are a good size, especially for a buffet, the spice is just the right amount of spicy and I would always tell people they have one of the best wings I had. This time they were the smallest wings I have had there period and alot had bone showing with a round piece of meat at the end. It was not spicy and the skin was not firm and crisp. Another favorite is the fried shrimp. It was mushy and didn't taste like shrimp at all. Not to mention that either the a.c. in the building was broken or not working properly. The whole place was hot and it was uncomfortable. I would think they offer the people a discount for the conditions with it being so hot and humid. When i walked around the buffet, I took note to all the other food how it was cut, the color, and even the names and some food changed. The food was great before, now it is not good at all. I am very sadden as this was the place to go but this time it was a waste of money and feel sick to my stomach. I even wanted my money back but now I know that I will not be going back again. I tried to look up an email address to make my complaint but could not find one. I hope the message finds management and the food goes back to the way it was.

I would always recommend this place always but...

Today my nightmares became reality as I found myself in the throes of fiery pain in the dark graffiti-filled bathroom of a Chinese buffet in South Phoenix. I’ll spare you the gruesome details, but I left that restroom a changed man, because the veil within my mind parted, and I was able to see things with unparalleled clarity.

As the oldest of 7 children, I’ve experienced my fair share of buffets. The appeal is obvious: for a relatively modest price, everyone can build the meal of their dreams from dozens of hot and ready choices. In less time than it takes to prepare a three course meal at home, you can feast your face on 50+ options, where everyone can get exactly what they want, as much as they want, and no one has to do dishes afterwards.

They say variety is the spice of life, and in a place like this, for one small moment, you are a King or a Queen, in charge of your own destiny, with no one to tell you no, no one to criticize what you’re eating or how much. This… is Freedom. This… is the American Dream served on a freshly sanitized and slightly warm plastic plate. This… is Lin’s “have your cake and eat it too” Grand Buffet -Baseline.

But if I’m being honest, it’s nigh time for the All American Chinese buffet to go extinct. As I watched the guy across from me go to town on an entire plate full of unseasoned boiled corn on the cob, I realized just how insane this whole thing really is. Let’s be real, nobody comes to a place like this for the quality of the food. We’re all very oddly trusting of the food prep process; I’ve seen a lot of restaurant and resort kitchens, and I have to say, it’s often not a pretty sight. And then we’re trusting the other eaters to not contaminate the food that’s been sitting on warmers for gods know how long. If you think a piece of glass serves as protection, you’re living in a fantasy world, and I’d love to know what that feels like. But for me, I can’t unsee what I’ve seen, and if I could take that blue pill and go back to the buffets of my childhood, I would, in an instant.

All I know is, I’ll never get that hour back that I spent dining alongside America’s finest consumers. What I witnessed today was akin to what you see on a Carnival Cruise, where everyone is stuffing themselves with sugar and deep fried this and that as if tonight were their last meal. Kings and Queens in their court...

It's a very beautiful establishment very Grand. The restrooms are clean. As for being accessible for the disabled the restaurant area is fine where there is plenty of room for wheelchairs and Walkers and such., however the bathroom doors are very heavy and I'm talking about the doors when you enter the restroom area there's two doors that you walk through to get into the ladies restroom area, they are extremely heavy and hard to push or pull open. I took my mom in there and my mom is disabled and she pushes a walker and every time she wanted to go to the restroom I had to escourt her because the bathroom doors are very tall and extremely heavy. So she really couldn't open the door by herself and every time she needed to use the restroom I'd have to go with her. Not that I mind. The food is slightly different whereas the flavor is not like most Chinese restaurants I have eaten at. The food seems to have a, well I would say under taste or flavor within the food and I'm talking about the salty food not the desserts. But it has a flavor as if everything fried has been fried all in the same oil or cooked all in the same pan without using a clean pan to prepare other various foods. So it all has a little Trace flavor of all the other food slightly mixed together. My husband ate enchiladas and he could still taste something different in the ingredients of the enchiladas. And so I took a sample of it and I know what he was talking about. Don't get me wrong it's a wonderful place to eat at. And the food is plentiful however, if you're really really hungry for Chinese it's a good place to go to if you're really really hungry. Ask for the deserts the peaches were not ripen so they were a little hard and this is the peaches it is in the sweetened syrup . The fruit salad was wonderful. They also have a soft serve ice cream machine there which is very nice . However they did keep on running out of the cones which is understandable considering how many people were there . They do offer a senior discount and the servers are very cordial and keep your drinks topped off. And pick up the dirty dishes as you finish finish. Plenty of disabled parking. All in all I gave it at 3 because of the bathroom doors and the under taste...