Summary: Not busy for Saturday night, friendly and attentive server, affordable place, cold food,…read moredip your own ice cream and slice your own meat stations, more desserts than main courses, abandoned stir fry station with raw chicken left out in open, hand dryers in bathrooms with no automated sink faucets.
TLDR version:
First impressions: I was nervous when we pulled up at 5:00 pm on a Saturday night and there were only four cars parked anywhere near this restaurant, which is located in a strip mall. A few other customers arrived after us, but it was not nearly as busy as I expected it to be. There was no wait, and we were seated immediately in a booth in their large dining room. I'm used to paying before eating at a buffet, but this place doesn't charge until you're ready to leave. Subtotal for 3 of us (two waters and one soda) was $49, so about $15/person.
First, the good: We had a very friendly server who was very attentive with refills and clearing plates. She asked multiple times if we were doing okay or if we needed anything. We tipped well because of the excellent service.
Now the bad:
I walked around the buffet tables before deciding what to try. The salad bar was disappointing because it only had iceberg lettuce, not even romaine, just a chopped up head of lettuce. There was an assortment of fried chicken: sesame, orange, sweet-n-sour, etc. There was a roast in a pan with a large knife laying next to it, which you were expected to slice yourself. There was a pan of fried rice, green beans, and crab rangoon. There was no steamed rice available.
A small selection of sushi was at a large station along the wall. The same station had what appeared to be ingredients for a fresh stir fry: raw chicken in a bowl, along with an assortment of raw vegetables, but the flattop grill next to it was off, and it didn't appear that anything was going to be cooked anytime soon. We were there an hour, and all of that food, including the raw chicken, just sat there.
There was an enormous selection of desserts. In fact, there were more desserts than anything else. A huge table was filled with an assortment of fruits, puddings, and gelatins. Another table was filled with an assortment of cookies and petite cakes. There was also a large assortment of ice cream in a deep freezer. You were expected to dip it yourself with provided scoops, which were sitting in a tiny sink well with a trickle of water running over them.
I tried some of the various chicken, most of which was cold. A couple of sweet-n-sour chicken pieces were warm, but a third piece was so fatty I could not finish eating it. I tried a couple pieces of sushi, which were just okay. I ended up eating mostly fruit: strawberry-glazed bananas, apricots, some peaches, and a few pieces of broccoli.
Restrooms: The women's restroom was clean; however, they have no paper towels. They have hand dryers, but the sinks are not automated, so most people are probably using their dirty hands to turn the knobs on the faucets and then touching them again to turn them off. (I used my elbow, and I used my shirt's hem to open the door.)
Overall, I would not want to go there again. I would suggest they make various improvements, and they could even raise their prices a little bit to compensate. This place has nice potential, and I feel it could do really well with some changes.
