Amber Buffet — Restaurant in Rock Hill

Went there on a Saturday with my kids home from college at 5:30pm so would consider this in range of core or active time (only reason I gave it 2 stars was waitress was very nice). Have been there several time pre-covid and it was SO much better. Knew we were a bit early as better with activity that generates food being turned over quickly however there were about 30 people there when we arrived and more started to come so no reason for the absence of fresh food during the time we ate our meal. Some of the general food was not bad like mushrooms, spiced shrimp etc but really did not find much I wanted seconds. Again disappointing many things were dry as they seemed to want to wait till someone took the dried out food before they would replace it so what could have been good I ended up passing on. The sushi bar was the most disappointing part of our experience (unfortunately read several reviews stating same) given it is the main reason we have returned several times. Interesting when you see pics it is always so well stocked however basically it was unfortunately a joke with 4 kinds of rolls that did not taste very fresh and a few salmon sushi. Figured as more people showed they would make some effort to stock sushi bar better but they did not. I always tip sushi chefs but not this time as it seemed that there was basically no effort but to keep the bare minimum in 5 trays. The pictures on web also show so much more like oysters, mussels etc which they did not have and when I asked they said they have not for a while offered these items. I will not be back until I see a major improvement in reviews (if I see that happen my try again). There are other Buffets that are ironically less expensive than Amber (but good last time I went) like Jasmine Buffet that traditionally, in the past MAY NOT? have offered the advertised variety overall that Amber advertises but they always seemed to keep things fresh and stocked. That said specifically after this visit to Amber I see that others like Jasmine Buffet now offer a much better sushi, seafood and general food option than what is being served at Amber for less. FYI. I very rarely review but we were truly disappointed with what I and my kids expected from Amber from past experiences and what they now seem to offer. Sorry - as it used to be a good consistent experience. Hopefully as things get better...

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY EATING HERE!! I will start off by saying this so-called restaurant doesn't even deserve a star. From the moment we walked in the door I knew we should have turned right back around and left. But - we decided to give it a chance as my son in law used to go a couple years ago when he lIved in the area and really liked it. First thing when we walked through the door there was a very strong, off-putting smell of FISH. Maybe all the koi (albeit pretty) in the indoor "pond" or what we also discovered as some of the worst seafood and sushi offerings ever. The "host" basically ran us to our table and rudely, hurriedly asked what drinks we would like. My daughter tried to ask what they offered, and he just said, "you want Coke like them?" The smells really turned me off so it was difficult to even try anything. Most things were stale and dry, the fried rice very salty and dry. The sweet and sour sauce was very watered down. My daughter and son in law love sushi and anything seafood and what they had was first of all warm and not good tasting at all. As mentioned in other comments the shrimp wasn't even deveined, looked dirty and not palatable at all. Our waitress acted like she didn't understand us at all and plain ignored our complaints. The owner told us that, "all high-end" Japanese sushi is served warm." That is NOT true, unsanitary and just plain gross! The table behind us did not like their food either. They offered us a 10% discount which was absolutely nothing when our bill for not eating their unsanitary, awful tasting so-called food still cost us $53! We are reporting them to the Health Dept. and warn anyone not to waste your money at such an awful restaurant that treats customers so rudely. *To the owner's response: I did not say that my son in law liked the food during this recent visit, I said he liked it 2 years ago when he lived in the area which is why we decided to give it a try. I also did not say we didn't like the shrimp cold; we didn't like that it wasn't deveined and looked dirty, not palatable at all. The sushi was "warm" and it was not tempura battered, cooked. Sushi is not served warm. The food we got from the buffet was NOT good and we ate barely anything. You gave us a 10% discount on food we did NOT eat because it was NOT good and terrible service also. We still paid you $50...

After googling a good Asian buffet to eat at in Rock Hill, I hit upon the website of Amber Asian Buffet. From the write-up, it appeared good and has all of the things we "require" in an Asian buffet including oysters on the half shell. We arrived around 4:30 pm on Sunday 9/ 5/ 21 and they were not busy but we wanted to wait until 5 pm to eat so went to the mall. Got the Amber at 5 pm. Went inside. Got seated. First place we head for is the sushi bar.. oh my gosh.. there were only 3 platters of sushi there and those choices were so very much the same. The sushi condiments were nearly empty; the pickled ginger was as well along with the peel and eat shrimp and the wasabi. No oysters on the half shell either. i do have to say the hibachi was full of food but we do not do hibachi. I asked the sushi chef why so little selection (and he understood very little English) and he said we only do 3-4 platters. then why have on the website you have a great selection AND you have about 10 platters there but most not filled? Ok. next thing were the hot foods. Nothing was HOT - no steam rising from the buffet at all. Plus, they have the oddest way of having the food on platters on the hot table instead of the usual aluminum steam pans. Nothing was hot, nothing was filled, NOTHING had any taste. They also do not offer the signs to tell you what the food is. . The salad bowl area had two pieces of lettuce in the bowl and other things were slack. I do not care if you have been busy..... there is no excuse for the food to be down that low. While we were there, they were not very busy but only saw one person in the center of the buffet filling anything . Everything should have been restocked while not busy. We frequent a place in Hickory that is VERY busy at Thanksgiving and Christmas and their buffet is ALWAYS full, hot and has many choices and the sushi bar is full all of time. So, we ate to the tune of $32.01 and I asked about a senior discount. Was told they do not offer due to the rising price of food. really??? I would not recommend this place to...