Feast Buffet & Banquet — Restaurant in Woodbury

To start off good, the flavors were actually pretty good and slightly better than your typical chinese buffet. All of their seafood tasted fresh and not like fishy water. Could be only because it's a new place. We'll find out down the future. Going down from there, honestly, I expected a fairly good size medium amount of selection. What there was? A small selection. And, a lot of tables. The amount of specialty options cannot compete with the amount of people, that's why they only serve dinner time now. Also, that is why there is a wait to be seated (How will Winter season work out? Maybe the traffic will be slower). There were tables very near the food options that just don't need to be there. Aside from possibly bumping into people, the space it created was small. Speaking about space, the amount of spacing was bad. It was crowed because of lack of options, those unescessary center area tables, and the bad layout design with a huge center dessert area. I would not call it a new seafood buffet. It's pretty normal as any other, but smaller. Just more dessert and sushi option, combined with a few additionals like dimsum and slightly more options at their grill/hibachi/noodle station. Being more specific on the seafood aspect... ... there's only one lobster option and it was disappointingly coated in sauce (not garlic butter). ... like 3 oyster options. The 'grilled' option was boiled in with garlic water. Black bean oyster was a no either. Just the fresh cold one tasted better. ... typical chinese buffet crawfish dish. ... the, what seems to be a dungeness crab, was a tasteless empty shell ... fried and grilled shrimp, but no salt pepper or walnut sauce versions ... there was octopus, squid, snail, whelk, tuna, salmon, yellowtail, mackerel, ... few more small made dishes like a mini poke bowl. Next, the dessert options, there was a lot of cakes and all I can say was that there were all great tasting. Nothing cheaply simple tasting like those typical chinese buffet sponge cake squares. As well, there are slighty better and more ice cream selection than those cheap fast melting flavor milk cups. Additionally, there was crepe sation and shaved ice station. Both additions were disappointing. Shaved ice was better because there was toppings. Crepe was just whipped cream inside and it was basically just a flat thin pancake. Not even powdered sugar or chocolate/strawberry syrups at least. In the desert center the fruit options was typical, but good tasting. Aside from typical sodas, there's tea, coffee, and milk (soy milk option available). The included 'bubble tea' and other bottled/canned drinks were nice, but they honestly sucked. As included in dine-in, I would try them all for your own personal preference. No comment on noodle station - saving for next time Lastly, I feel bad for the salad bar.

Overall, I was very disappointed. Although it is supposed to be on the "fancy", "high-end", and modern look side, it had typical chinese buffet options, aside from slightly more sushi and desserts options. Not worth it's current $35.99 charge. (Tenppayaki-Fridley offers far more selections, pretty much almost the same amount of sushi choices for $20.99/person).

= My Personal Recommendations = Grilled meats (beef/pork) Grilled dumpling Grilled octopus Squid salad Mackerel sashimi Strawberry or mango bubble tea Every cake

= For Business Recommendations = Get rid of those tables near the food area. ~ To add more food. Shrink the dessert area. ~ To add more food. Crab legs??? Mussels??? Clams??? Soft or blue shelled crab? Scallops? Improve or get rid of the crepe station. Change the shaved ice to frozen condense milk, not just plain ice. Add very subtle translucent covers to those glass walls seperating the down sitting sections for better privacy. Maybe large dispenser of the bubble tea. So much not needed plastic.

=Cost (for 2)= $35.99/person + tax = ~ $79 👎

=Extra notes= GO EARLY Tiny 8 machines arcade corner. Parking: Free Lot (Plentiful) Bathrooms: Simple, not fancy. Should work out for their size. Hopefully...

Curiosity brought me to Feast for lunch on the second soft opening day. Arrived at 12:30 pm. There was a little line (2 parties ahead of me) but it moved relatively fast.

This place is above average for an AYCE place and at $22 out the door (meal, dessert & drinks), it’s really a good option ( value, selection, ambience). dinner is +$10 and offers more selection (including lobster and crab).

Would definitely return. After going to my share of AYCE restaurants, I don’t try it eat everything or a lot of one thing. Instead, I try a couple or even one bite of something I like. Plenty full for both lunch and dinner.

Ambience: It has a very modern vibe. I appreciate the spaciousness around the entrance - it’s good for wheel chairs, strollers, when there’s a large crowd that needs to wait inside (like winter). There’s also a spacious seating area and an arcade while you wait.

room for improvement: because all the surfaces are smooth and hard, there’s not much in terms of sound dampening. So, the noise level can be quite loud. I happen to sit near where the dishes are bussed and the clattering of the dishes was distracting enough for me to point it out.

Service: This is an AYCE so I expect to serve myself. After you pay at the counter, a hostess takes you to your seat and explains how to indicate when you’ll be back and when you’re done by flipping the disk they give you. After that, you can go and explore on your own. Everything is self serve except the made to order items - noodles, teppanyaki, carving station, shaved ice station. Even though there are no servers who come by, all the folks working behind the counters and the bussing the tables are super nice and helpful. You just need to ask them and they’re more than happy to help you where they can. For example, I asked the lady at the dessert station to make me some shaved ice, no problem. I also asked her for a mochi donut w/o the drizzle - no problem. The folks behind the sushi station were working their butt off to keep up with replenishing the sushi and sashimi. I can tell everyone was trying hard and it make take some adjustments for them to work out the supply/demand.

Selection: I’d say this is where they really shine. The selection exceeds your typical Chinese buffet. I wouldn’t call this a Chinese buffet either because they have different cuisines.

Noodle made to order station: Pho soup , Udon soup, Ramen w/curry, stir fried noddles.

I tried the udon. Texture of the noodle was good. Broth was not quite like the Japanese broth but more of a blander pho broth. Next time, I would ask for no broth and add the Pork and radish broth at the soup station.

fruit station: fresh strawberries, watermelon, canned lychees and canned longan in addition to the jello. I appreciate the fruit I added the lychee to my shaved ice. It was very refreshing.

salad station Standard salad ingredients. In addition, there were also pickled cucumbers, shredded chicken, cold braised sliced beef shank.

sushi station Better than your average Chinese buffet.t hicker slices of fish and some interesting rolls. I tried one with Asian pear and some sashimi with mangoes and a citrus sauce. Tasty.

dim sum station I didn’t get around to trying it but they had some nice small bits - custard tarts, sesame balls, har gow (shrimp dumpling), steamed dumpling, sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf, white fungus and date soup, and more.

dessert station Much more than your typical place. baked desserts, ice cream novelties, shaved ice station, mochi donuts.

-Cooked items Cooked items you expect like - stir Fried bok choy, crayfish, mussels, clams, steamed fish, etc. but it also has grilled vegetables, seafood, and ham carving station, mash potatoes… i didn’t eat too of it because I was focused on other foods.

drinks This place has LOTS of drinks included with your meal beyond your fountain drink station. Variety of cold teas, none teas, a hot coffee machine. They also have alcohol for purchase.

tried the Thai tea - more milk tasting than tea. Will try...

This place is a solid 3 stars for the money. Let me start with the positives and then go on to "areas for improvement". Positive - the atmosphere is cool and decorative. It's bright, modern, and Ikea chic. The beverage selection is much more interesting than at a regular buffet. Besides fountain soda they also have pre-prepared bubble tea beverages and imported Asian bottled drinks. They also have a coffee machine that you can get espresso drinks like they do at car dealerships. The bubble tea is just ok - the Taro was my favorite but the pearls at the bottom were "meh". The dessert station, while large, was mostly factory-made desserts. I will say the mochi donuts were my favorite - just stick to those. Also saw a crepe station but forgot to try it!

Areas for improvement - the hot foods at the buffet were for the most part, pretty good. However, like many have mentioned, the lobster is bad. Like 2 out of 10 pieces actually contained any traces of lobster meat. My first batch the lobster was entirely cold. It doesn't take a genius to figure out these are tiny, frozen lobsters, because let's be real, you shouldn't expect fresh UNLIMITED lobster for under $40. The oyster is a similar story - more rubbery than fresh. The piece of tuna sashimi I tried was also rubbery more than melt-in-your-mouth. I also tried a bowl of ramen - it tastes on par with a pack of instant ramen, but hey at least you get all of the fixings. Onto some positives - the seafood boil actually tastes like it was made with butter and fresh garlic, versus the "water mixed with Zatarain's" you get at most buffets. The Kalbi short ribs were also quite tasty. Sushi selection was a step above other buffets, too. But no chicken wings, seriously? If they added KFC that would be a complete game changer!

My last gripe - ownership raised prices for dinner from $32 to $36 and dropped lunch service that was priced at $20. The old prices were much more appropriate for the quality in my opinion and had they kept it would easily be a 4 star rating. Here's a suggestion: replace lobster with chicken wings and lower the prices?!?

In sum, this is a solid buffet spot and definitely worthwhile to check out at least once. But I wouldn't go out of my way to come here. If you do plan to come, wait another couple of weeks for the hype to die down to avoid the...