Bayou Express

The best buffet place in the Illinois valley! One of my favorite go to spots with my friends…read more Excellent service from the team and a wonderful selection of food. The music played in the restaurant is very soft and calming and I feel very relaxed when I dine in there.

Hidden gem located in Peru on Route 6. Locally owned offering many options including egg drop soup…read more They have many entrees and deserts. My tip is try try a little of everything and go back for more. My favorite Chinese Buffet!

Buffet, they have pizza.

Soup and sushi.

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Welcome

Oriental Garden Restaurant

4.2(43 reviews)

17.5 mi

The OG is a weekly go to for us. We enjoy dinner and lunch. The owners are always in house and…read morecooking. Thanks John & Lark

Had some better than expected Chinese food. It certainly is among the best options in Princeton…read more Oriental Garden is pretty basic and typical. Looks about similar to many of these such restaurants and the food does too to be honest. The prices are pretty good for the big quantity. Coming in here the first time we were surprised it wasn't one of those Chinese restaurants with the big pictures of the food over the counter. It's actually a little nicer. The food still is pretty similar to many others. About what to expect on the menu. The typical Americanized type of stuff. It's about $11 for an entree. We got some of the tofu ones including the Bean Curd With Garlic Sauce. It had not much of a variety of vegetables but it had a spicy flavor. There's also plenty of options if wanting meaty things like beef, chicken, or seafood. Great thing is there's not much competition. It's closed Mondays. There's a few tofu options for vegetarians.

Delicious soup

Really good house fried rice. Probably some of the best I've had . And I've had a lot

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Coconut shrimp

Chan's Garden Restaurant

3.5(21 reviews)

2.5 mi

I placed an order for pickup, only to arrive half an hour later and be told that they didn't have…read morethe ingredients for almost half of my order. I spent another 40 minutes waiting for the rest of my order, only to find dead flies in my soup when I got home.

My family and I have been coming here for several years and it's one of our favorite places. The…read moreservice is always very friendly and they have a lot of choices on the hot buffet. Some of my favorite items are , sesame chicken, general tso, pepper chicken, beef and broccoli. I absolutely LOVE the crab rangoons. I could eat like 5 of those. Best crab rangoons in the area for sure. We also enjoy the flat top stirfry section. Basically you choose your own raw meats, vegetables, noodles or rice and they cook it for you on the flat top grill and it's not an extra price. They have probably 25 seasonings and about 20 different sauces you can use. It's so good!! I highly recommend trying it. The restaurant is always clean every time we come.

Chefs fried rice with beef , pork, and chicken

Kung pao beef , we asked for extra spicy

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Master Buffet

2.5(69 reviews)

0.3 mi

First time here, and I was pleasantly surprised. The food was very good and fresh. So many options…read moreavailable it was hard to decide. Our server was very attentive and polite. We'll return.

Food was greasy. Did not taste good. Today was my 4th time going there and it keeps getting worse…read more My belly has been hurting all evening. Not giving them no more chances

Entrance of Master Buffet. I love the cats waving at you when you enter.

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This place is called Master Buffet now!!!

Genghis Khan Mongolian Grill

4.1(47 reviews)

2.5 mi

Mongolian Grill in downtown Lasalle is an excellant establishment. Customer service was a…read morerefreshing experience. The lady at the front desk is very kind and patient when dinning here; an ignorant customer ordering takeout was unreasonably demeaning towards her for a slight language barrier, yet she kept composed. The menu has surplus options with massive portions, especially for the price. The chef clearly takes care with their cooking and plating. The apetizers could alone be a meal! Overall a lovely quaint restaurant.

This place... oh my goodness, this place. The GEM of the Illinois Valley. I could sing praises to…read moreMongolian Grill from the rooftops, and I would if I had access to a roof. Let me state that I have been eating here since they opened, around 2013-2014 perhaps. Everything has stayed consistent, including the pricing, and that's been impressive. When you walk in, you have the option of ordering from the menu or doing the buffet and let me tell you- get the buffet. If you can cook at all, you will enjoy yourself here. You'll get your soft drink, then it's off you go to build your masterpiece. Five separate buffets with two side stations, there's a lot to process. There's two small stations, one for fried rice and one for ice cream. There's a cold bar in the back which features some salad items and desserts, and one buffet table full of ready to eat apps and foods with some soups offered. I did giggle that the one says "eggg dorp soup". It's what you'd expect at any Chinese buffet. Then we get to the good stuff- the hibachi stuff. You have three bars for hibachi: your noodles and veggies, your meats, and your sauce ingredients. You get a bowl and load it up with your choice of noodles and veggies, there are so many options. Tofu, egg, zucchini, baby corns, broccoli, water chestnuts, sprouts... I can't get enough color! Then you move over to the meat buffet, where you select your raw cuts and place the pieces in your bowl. I typically do the beef and shrimp, always good quality. You'll bring your bowl to the hibachi grill and set it on the counter so they can start cooking it. You'll go make your sauce at this point, which is where it could get overwhelming if you don't know flavors well. There are probably 20 sauces to mix and about 25 seasonings and the likes to add flavor, so there's a lot of room for creation with your sauce! You'll bring it up to the hibachi again when you're done, and they'll plate your order and bring it to you if needed. For $10.99 a person, what a stellar deal. So much fresh produce and variety from a family owned business, it's a staple in the Illinois Valley. Although I've moved to another state at this point, this is the one restaurant I haven't seen done this well and one I miss whole heartedly. I visited the IV from Florida recently and ensured I ate there several times because I just can't get enough of the great service and incredible food. If you haven't eaten here yet, you're missing out. Stop by today and build yourself the meal you deserve.

Veggie selections (for the chef to cook up on the flat top)

Grilling area

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Decent dish but beef was too dry :(

Koi Sushi and Hibachi

4.7(35 reviews)

2.2 mi

Lovely hole in the wall place!! Food was fantastic!! Everything we got was just spot on!! Waitress…read morewas very nice as well

Went here for Valentine's Day dinner and it had its hit and misses…read more We just got appetizers and sake. The sake was good. However there was no prices listed on the menu. My plum sake reserved was 30.0 for a small bottle. (Whoops). But it was Valentine's Day so honestly it wasn't a biggie. Onto the food. For starters we got the spring rolls and soup dumplings. The spring rolls were made fresh and very good. Only thing that would have been nice is if they were wrapped with the ends closed up as when you tried to dip them in the delicious sauce that came with the insides fell out a bit. They had a good mix of lettuce, noodles, shrimp and a little shredded crab I believe. (It was dark in there so was hard to tell). The soup dumplings were to die for !! Nothing more to say but small bites of heaven. And they didn't come out so hot that you popped on into your mouth and were hit with boiling insides. Will definitely go back for these again. Now to the meh ones. The crab Rangoon needed more filling and more crab. Kinda bland. And the jalapeño stuffed wontons also needed more peppers and bacon. Just not a ton of flavor other than fried. We did not have room for any of the rolls but they looked interesting. Not a lot of "raw" ones so if that's your think your choices are limited. It's a cute little space the staff was super nice and it was a last minute dinner reservation so that was a plus. They were really hopping to bring out all the food stuffs and we left with the intention of coming back on a less busy day to try more items.

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China Inn

3.4(43 reviews)

15.1 mi

Nice service. That's about it. Food for the price is garbage. For a buffet I think it's absolute…read moretrash. The neighboring town of Peru having master buffet is a lot better and well worth the drive for your money.

The food was cold and I feel sick. my stomach hurts. I threw up. I can't feel my leg. i'm in a…read morewheelchair and I can stand up now the food was so nasty

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This container isn't from here, only the food. :-)

China House

3.8(23 reviews)

13.3 mi

For many it may be hard to believe there's any good restaurants in Mendota. It's a rinky dink town…read morewith not much going on. China House is among the okay places to eat. Has a buffet, but that food is most crappy compare to the menu items. There's some pretty okay choices, if you look for these. At lunch the restaurant had a light crowd. It's hard imagining there would be too many people in here. The town is pretty small, meaning there's not a whole lot of people to come show up. Even so, there were quite a few in here. The menu has pretty much Chinese American basic stuff. It's about $8 for an entree. We got the Ma Po Tofu. We got them to make it vegetarian. Seriously there's a lack of these choices. The tofu was the soft kind, but there were peppers and tons of spice. Good place for its location. It may not look like much, and it sure isn't much. The food has pretty good prices and the portions are pretty big, so this is a pretty good value.

Sooo.... It's pretty much average Chinese fare. It's small with just 3 rows of food one of them…read morebeing sub-par deserts. That being said the peanut chicken was good, crab Rangoons were good and so were the egg rolls. There just wasn't a lot of choice. I can't really say that's unusual since it's a small place in a small town. The price was decent however drink refills are NOT free. I found that kind of unusual and disconcerting at the same time. I'd probably go there again, but once again: not a lot of choices here in the land of corn.

The open box!

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Dragon City

3.3(25 reviews)

15.2 mi

Very strange food , no pork in the pork fried rice along with no pea's or carrots just orange…read morecolor. Egg roles have just cabbage in them . Very expensive to add to that !

Dragon City is my go to Chinese restaurant here in Ottawa! Quality and quantity is always great!read more

Small Beef Fried Rice

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New China

4.0(6 reviews)

21.1 mi

One of the best restaurants in Streator. I have to go there at least once a month to satisfy my…read morecraving for Chinese.

Better than expected. It really is a surprise to find any decent food around here. New China is one…read moreof the few Chinese options in Streator. Has a lot of basic items. They also have a few vegetarian ones such as tofu. After heading north along the main road, we stopped in. It wasn't busy even at lunch. That could have been a bad sign. Has most of the typical Chinese American items. We got the Mongolian Tofu. It's about $8 for a lot. This came with not quite crispy tofu. It still had good flavor. The vegetables were mostly onions and peppers. Good amount for the price because you get a lot. It used to have a buffet, but it doesn't seem to anymore so it's just the regular menu. The food may be pretty average, but there's a few good things for vegans and vegetarians.

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Orlando C.

208

3

0

6 years ago

Garlic chicken and black pepper chicken was extremely bland. Chicken roll was pretty good though.

Bayou Express - japanese - Updated September 2026

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Bayou Express

4.2

(5 reviews)

We hadn't ordered from Bayou in awhile. Everything was as amazing as we remembered. Fresh flavorful…read morerolls and Chinese. Perfect amount of spice with crisp vegetables! It's a MUST!!

Food is great every order is freshly made. Love the orange chicken and noodles. Is the best,…read moredefinitely would recommend this place.

Genghis Khan Mongolian Grill

4.1

(47 reviews)

Mongolian Grill in downtown Lasalle is an excellant establishment. Customer service was a…read morerefreshing experience. The lady at the front desk is very kind and patient when dinning here; an ignorant customer ordering takeout was unreasonably demeaning towards her for a slight language barrier, yet she kept composed. The menu has surplus options with massive portions, especially for the price. The chef clearly takes care with their cooking and plating. The apetizers could alone be a meal! Overall a lovely quaint restaurant.

This place... oh my goodness, this place. The GEM of the Illinois Valley. I could sing praises to…read moreMongolian Grill from the rooftops, and I would if I had access to a roof. Let me state that I have been eating here since they opened, around 2013-2014 perhaps. Everything has stayed consistent, including the pricing, and that's been impressive. When you walk in, you have the option of ordering from the menu or doing the buffet and let me tell you- get the buffet. If you can cook at all, you will enjoy yourself here. You'll get your soft drink, then it's off you go to build your masterpiece. Five separate buffets with two side stations, there's a lot to process. There's two small stations, one for fried rice and one for ice cream. There's a cold bar in the back which features some salad items and desserts, and one buffet table full of ready to eat apps and foods with some soups offered. I did giggle that the one says "eggg dorp soup". It's what you'd expect at any Chinese buffet. Then we get to the good stuff- the hibachi stuff. You have three bars for hibachi: your noodles and veggies, your meats, and your sauce ingredients. You get a bowl and load it up with your choice of noodles and veggies, there are so many options. Tofu, egg, zucchini, baby corns, broccoli, water chestnuts, sprouts... I can't get enough color! Then you move over to the meat buffet, where you select your raw cuts and place the pieces in your bowl. I typically do the beef and shrimp, always good quality. You'll bring your bowl to the hibachi grill and set it on the counter so they can start cooking it. You'll go make your sauce at this point, which is where it could get overwhelming if you don't know flavors well. There are probably 20 sauces to mix and about 25 seasonings and the likes to add flavor, so there's a lot of room for creation with your sauce! You'll bring it up to the hibachi again when you're done, and they'll plate your order and bring it to you if needed. For $10.99 a person, what a stellar deal. So much fresh produce and variety from a family owned business, it's a staple in the Illinois Valley. Although I've moved to another state at this point, this is the one restaurant I haven't seen done this well and one I miss whole heartedly. I visited the IV from Florida recently and ensured I ate there several times because I just can't get enough of the great service and incredible food. If you haven't eaten here yet, you're missing out. Stop by today and build yourself the meal you deserve.

Namina Sushi & Hibachi Express

4.5

(4 reviews)

We have a sushi truck in Ottawa! This is more of an Asian fusion food. It looks like all the fish…read morein the sushi is cooked. The workers seemed nice, and our order took 10-15 min. We'd recommend to call ahead of time, so they can have your order ready when you get there. Many rolls have fried shrimp or salmon (tempura) and some crunch, and some are spicy with jalapeño. My husband and I enjoyed the Alcatraz roll which had some flavor but was not very spicy. They provided wasabi & ginger, but we did not receive soy sauce, so if you like that in your sushi, be prepared to use your own. My husband liked the hibachi fried rice and meats as well, though it had too much salt in it for me. We'll be back to try more of their fun sounding sushi rolls!

My daughter and I were looking for some place different for a meal. We both like Sushi, wasn't…read moresatisfied with BASH last two times we went, thought we would try here, was not disappointed!! The foods was fresh, sushi roll was excellent and huge, wontons very good. The help very friendly and helpful!! Brought our food home, was not a problem stayed hot. Will definitely return!

Burger and Sushi House-Ottawa

4.0

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BASH (Burger And SusHi) in Ottawa IL: Why you should go there instead of fast food chains. If you…read moreget a $16 roll and a $10 roll and really take the time to enjoy each mouth full of those true works of art (tip of the hat to Hadi).. eyes closed ..face skyward.. all attention on your tastebuds to give the experience the attention it deserves.. you'll take half of each home and get two meals. Technically that $30+ tab is more than you'd spend for a burger and fries and a shake someplace.. but thats one meal..and its fast and its done and did you really need or want that calorie count? that fat and sugar? starch and salt? It tastes good you say? ok.. try this instead.. take half home. two meals at about the same price per meal.. much better for you and when I say ART.. I mean ART. Like taking your tastebuds to a live concert with Bach and Mozart playing and the opener is OG Queen. As to the economics.. If you buy at a chain..thats an organization designed to funnel money up and OUT of your community as much as possible.. if you eat at say Cinco in Streator or any locally owned and operated and incorporated restaurant more of the money stays local to swish around in the local economy. OH and of course, healthier eating in both cases. real food. A solid platter at Cinco usually gets me at least two meals and thats if i dont mix in the leftovers to punch up my own tacos or soup or whatever I'm cooking

It's a very upscale and modern cute and large establishment. The vibes are there and the space but…read moreit will never not be packed and loud. Rightfully so. Service has always been good when I went. I've probably gone under 10x and given enough tries at the new and old locations. Every time there's always something that goes wrong but I continue to come back because family and friends love it and I always try something else when I come in. Food is always edible most of the time but not great. I've had hair in my burger before. Other Burgers were overcooked and flavorless. Mac and cheese is disgusting. Sushi menu is kinda repeat and all fried / tempora. Pretty basic and boring and if you're gluten free you're kinda SOL. Crab Rangoon is imitation crab. Gross. This last time I went for a goodbye dinner to a coworker moving: Drinks- Table got a pitcher of white sangria- it was ok but way overpriced. I got the strawberry basil lemonade drink and it sucked. It lacked taste. I'n convinced it was water and not lemonade, nothing puree about it, & there was no basil in it besides used as a piece of decor. Sushi- I showed the waitress a picture of the roll I saw on someone review and that it claimed it was a Ottawa roll but it was not and 10/10 a different role that was given to me. Luckily I will eat anything and it actually wasn't bad but what the hell. Truffle fries- beer battered. Yuck. Mac & Cheese- I thought it used to be not bad but I got it this last time as a side and it was different noodles, thick, no creamy cheese sauce, & no seasoning. Dessert- 10/10 made the trip worth it. I hate fried ice cream and not a huge brownie person but that dessert was amazing. The beignet with caramel- yessss. I never get the hype of the food but think it's because there's not much around like this for locals. If someone wanted to go back I wouldn't not go but I am not a fan.

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