Negatives: worst seafood ever, they give that one thing you use to break crab shell ..one per table ...so umm are we suppose to look at each other face when the other person eats Food is not labelled..how am i suppose to know what is what. When asked whats this meat, the person gave me a look like...whar the hell is wrong with u. Atleast label your food man. Positives: noodles ...good, chicken wings...good, deserts and fruits... good. read more

Okay! this place as deteriorated over the years as it opened. I recently visited this place after their opening day. lets start with the service. We stood at the door for a good 15 to 20 mins early lunch hour so the buffet was empty... only a hand full of people was seated. We ended up taking a tour around the whole!!!! dining room trying to seat a group of 11 when clearly its easier to be placed in front near the windows instead of a dark corner of the restaurant when it wasn't full. The food... food is OK Just avoid the half cooked shell fish... which I didn't and I am paying for it now by running to the stool every hour or so.... the waiters seem to hover a lot and have the nerve to as my youngest cousin for his age. Clearly he's a small kid who is still in the 3rd grade. Also really annoying how they stand there with in 10 feet of your dining table. Over all experience was bad Food is good (at the time) Service was bad as well. Felt rushed when eating. I advised my family not to eat at this place again. read more

Ohhh, I wish I could rate this place a negative one star. If you're not the type to take a liquid laxative or diuretic pill, then come on down to Empire Buffet where you'll be able to clean out your insides after eating here just once. I left here feeling even more sick than what I felt going in and just looking around at the place. The place is not by any means the cleanliest nor do they care to keep it clean. The waiter wiped down a table my family and I were going to sit at but he wiped all the crap on the table onto the chairs?!?! Uhh, Nooo, I do not want to sit on the same crap that was on the table. Also, clean off the hot sauce bottles. There's dried up sauce all over the bottles which isn't pleasant to look at. Turn off #1. Turn off #2 is me thinking of how many unclean hands touch the same spoon which you just picked up to take out your food. I swear, I kept wanting to use hand sanitizer each time I picked up a spoon. Talk about spreading germs and influenza viruses. Turn off #3 is the price to eat at this icky buffet. Yeah, so what you got all the sea creatures in the ocean at your buffet to eat but $67 for four people seems like a rip off to me. This place also weighs the food you don't eat and adds it to your bill. I don't know if they expect you to eat the heads off the shrimp and the shells from the oysters but beware. Overall, this place is a NO-GO in my book. read more

If I could choose zero stars I would. My fiance's uncle wanted to come here for his birthday dinner...I just assumed he must have chose a buffet because it was either extremely good or he didn't know better. I found out it was truly the latter reason. I should have known that the throw up sitting right near the entrance of the buffet restaurant was a sign this wasn't the place we should be eating. The food was horrible...the selection was limited and when we arrived around 7:30 pm the food didn't look fresh. I stayed away from the sushi because not only did I not feel comfortable eating sushi that has been sitting out at a buffet for who knows how long...it just didn't look fresh just like the rest of the seafood uncovered sitting out---that can't be healthy. Maybe from knowing true Chinese cuisine is why this didn't fit the bill or this was just plain revolting. I am accustomed to eating good food...this wasn't it. French fries, dry plastic cheese pizza, cheese crab casserole (although somewhat tasty initially but felt sick afterwards) wasn't my idea of a good buffet...let alone good food. The beef and broccoli a meal so simple and yet so horrible. The beef was hard and the broccoli tasted like rubber (if I ever tasted rubber I would imagine it would be just like that)...the steamed rice was steamed hard...they must have steamed the life out of it. The chow mein was OKAY and that's a big okay...did I mention I had a stomachache afterwards? I also tried the salt and pepper chicken and I tasted no seasoning at all which didn't help the fact that the chicken tasted like it was something that should have been thrown in the Jetsons instant microwave but never cooked...if I was an astronaut in space my chicken may have tasted like that...what is that called when they freeze dry fruits and foods??? Yea I don't think anyone should do that to chicken and in this case horrible to me...anyway that's all to say if you see the sign or the restaurant driving by on the road or freeway just keep going. You're not missing anything...at all....especially for $15 a plate. They should have paid us to sample it. Side note--I needed to use the restroom and as I was walking back I saw a mouse...maybe a rat scurry past (twilight zone) - oh gosh and not to mention the restrooms were horrible...ugh...super unsanitary. Feces and/or urine in every toilet with tissue on the floors surrounding the toilet. Something about dirty restrooms makes me think about how restaurants handle their food. I cannot believe I even tried this food. If I worked for the FDA I may want to shut this place down. I am still feeling sick and it has been a few hours. Empire Buffet should be embarrassed...I'm embarrassed for them and for eating here! read more

This place is disgusting. Food sitting for hours just looking either soggy or dry. The egg rolls were so hard that if you were to throw it at someones face it might hurt someone! The "BBQ Grill and Sushi" had no BBQ meats out and 3 types of Sushi. ARE YA KIDDING ME??!! The only thing good was the Sprite that I ordered so I can wash the slop that I ate there. Never again will I go there and I don't recommend anyone wasting time going here either. It's $14 a plate so it's totally NOT worth it. Oh and their fortune cookies they give you with your check are stale. Really? Like Really? -__- read more

Pretty gross buffet if you ask me. Hella flies and stale food. I'm usually not too picky, I don't expect too much when it comes to buffets, but this one especially bad. Way too greasy, the food doesn't even pass as a guilty pleasure because it tastes gross too. There's much better buffets and restaurants in the area at better prices. Pass on this one... read more

I would say it's so-so ... and over priced!!! First place we've ever seen that serves the crab legs cold, no butter to dip them in, fried shrimp (hard and dry) and no cocktail sauce for the shrimp, the waiters were okay but they barely speak english...the young girl at the counter seemed to think the customers were a bother, she was very rude and disrespectful... As well, it's kind of a dive and you can bet we're not going to be making a visit there again, we can spend 30% less and get much, much better Chinese buffet... Sounds like the 'other' Empire Buffet is much, much better!!! read more

Terrible food. I should have listened to the warnings. But, the one thing one can usually count on from an Asian buffet is good peel and eat boiled shrimp. (It is generally my favorite part of a mediocre Asian buffet.) Even the now closed Lee's Garden Buffet and its predecessor had good peel and eat shrimp. But, the ones here were mealy, difficult to peel (usually it is quite easy to peel them), and had the heads on, which makes quite a mess on the plate. (It is the first Asian buffet I have ever been at that had the heads on the boiled shrimp, as opposed to just on the fried shrimp.) And, the crab was even worse. First, there was no Dungeness crab, even though my wife was just able to buy some in SF for $7.99/lb. So, it is not like there are none to be had. Instead, I believe they had the small blue crabs (likely from the Chesapeake Bay in the East), which should only really be served by the bushel, freshly boiled, like it is done back at crab places in the East. The crab in the condition they were in yielded almost no meat, and what meat was to be had, was terrible. So, this is certainly not the place to go if you want even mediocre seafood. And, none of the other offerings on the buffet were worth a second helping. The coconut shrimp came out of the steamer tray in globs. The highlight of the meal was the soft ice cream, which was almost as good as a McDonalds cone. The best I can say is that the service was fairly good. They cleared dirty plates quickly, and kept my soda refilled. But, all in all, I find it unfathomable that they could charge $19.40 for THAT buffet. I have been to many Asian buffets in my time but this was the worst, yet most expensive. Yes, food costs have gone up, but food like that ought to be given away. read more

Here's the deal: when you go to a buffet, you have to know how to work it. I wrote a piece some time ago about how to do this. In a nutshell, pick out a few things that are good and stick with them. Stay away from anything gloppy, soupy or starchy. Beware of anything fried. Take very small amounts of things to test them. Don't put too much on your plate -- go up 20 times if you have to. Choose foods that go well together when you plate up. If the lunch costs you $10 and all you had is a great salad, Korean-style ribs, mabo dofu, BBQ chicken and some rice, you got a good deal. You don't have to eat 95% of what they have. These places are not high-end Vegas buffets, and even those you have to work in a smart way. I gave this place three stars because I am comparing it to other buffets of this type, not Chez Panisse. read more

Everytime I come the staff are friendly, food is good, i have a great experience every time,

HOW COME 4 STARS? HOW COME?! Well, I don't know why but I actually crave for it.... Walking into a buffet, I didn't have much expectation to start off with. The bf liked their weekday lunch, and we decided to check out the weekend menu. It was damn cheap, I believe it's like less than $11 bucks per. You got to pay for drink though, buck something, not bad. I totally agree when you rate buffet, you have to rate it against its own kind. Definitely not against Gary Danko, you know what I mean? With that said, it is definitely worth it for us to eat there. And we went in with strategy. AVOID SUSHI, AVOID DEEP FRIED $HIT, AVOID MSG SOUP. FOCUS ON -- SEAFOOD. And for $11 bucks, I got all-you-can-eat crabs, king crab legs, clams, salt and pepper shrimp, stir fried scallops. (those are pretty much the only items I aim for.... ALL SEAFOOD.) Steam oysters look questionable. But HEY! if it doesn't look too good, then don't eat it. Simple. All seafood dinner finish up with a frozen yogurt cone. Not bad at all. Solid 4 STARS (again, relative to its own kind....) read more

I came here with my coworkers for lunch. And walking into the place, everything was fine, smells good. The food was pretty tasty. I eat the same thing I normally eat at any Asian restaurant. But this time was different and it will be my last time eating here. Long story short, I'm not sure if the cook forgot to wash their hands, the food wasn't all the way cooked, I don't know. But I caught food poison from this place. read more

I came here for the first time for my friend's bday. The food looked somewhat good with seafood and Asian food but some of it made me felt bloated! haha I ate like 3 plates and the server didn't pick up our plates for like 20 minutes. We even had to put the food plates on the empty table because we had no room on our table. They were slow at the time. One of my friends brought are 2- year old soon who didn't eat anything and they charge him full price. I think that was right and they have a children's price in my opinion. Overall, I ain't coming back here and the food didn't me felt satisfy being its a typical buffet. No more buffets for me! read more

If you like diry carpets and greasy food this is the place. I would not recommend you coming here. The only reason I gave them 2 stars is because service was good and didn't have to wait to long for a table. read more

2 star since the food was good, service sucks! I was standing at the bbq stand area waiting for someone to come cook my noodles for me and the worker seen me but walk to the back for about 6 or so mins, so I went to one of the waitress and they said yes but no one came . Finally the guy came and cool after waiting almost 10 mins.. To make it worse, our waitress didn't refill our drinks after walking by us 2x until I said something. By the time we got our drinks, we were already done. read more

A bit on the expensive side for a lunch buffet. My Mom always drag me to buffets for lunch so i've become some sort of an expert. Food was OK and the variety was decent. IMO if i find 3 things I like in the line up it's worth my money. Nothing memorable though. read more

I'm not a big fan of buffets for the obvious reasons. Y'know - the food quality is questionable at best. Like most buffets, the quality is made up for with piles of food for not much money. The plus here is that they seem to restock the hotplates fairly often, so the food remains reasonably fresh. When I am forced to eat here by certain non-foodie friends, I head straight for the steamed fish & rice. I give the steamed fish 7 out of 10 stars. Eating anything else here makes me want to run home & curl up in the fetal position, fully clothed, in a hot shower. read more

The food is always fresh and a good selection for the price. Easy to get in during the week. The staff is generally very nice and attentive. The last time I was here I ate alone and left my jacket at the table while I was going for more food....the jacket was stolen. I asked management but they did not see anything. So, be very careful with leaving any valuables at the table. read more

I don't understand why so many give this a 2 star, it's what you get for the money. They have tons of seafood and other selections for a decent price. The sushi could be better but other than that they have some pretty good food. I especially love the baked mussels...so yummi! =) they have a good selection of desserts although nothing that stands out as amazing. I would go back if I were hungry- i took one star off however because they charge for hot tea...wtf? why would you charge for hot tea? read more

Setting: Nothing extraordinary. Pretty clean place, and the bathrooms are very clean. Nice area...you can always eat here for cheap after losing all your money at the casino about a block away. ;) Food: Not bad at all. For the hungry and the cheap, this is the place. For $13/pp, you can have a very very very filling dinner. The selections aren't bad...from the typical Asian seafood to pizza, they've got lots of stuff to munch on. They had frog legs too for those who are daring. And then there's a whole bar of salad and desserts...yum! Service: Very nice. They replenish your drinks often...you're never out of soda! And they clean up your area as soon as you're done with a plate for 2nds, 3rds...etc. Aweosome bunch! read more

NOT A FAN I hate buffet's and I dont know why i was cajoled into going here. I wont even describe it because, like another user, I am embarassed that I ate here! read more

Upon the latest visit to this place, I found a lot of things more to love about them that I wanted to add another star. Like the food, for instance. It feels like they have changed up their food since I last came here. I like how they added some more diverse food, like garlic bread. It was buttered and seasoned with garlic excellently. On top of that, it seems that they up graded some of their other dishes. Before I didn't like their sum, because it tasted dry. This time the sum tasted just about right. Their cooked crab meat with cheese was an interesting combination and I liked one of the different sushi they had. It looked like an open-faced fried gyoza, but inside was a ball of sushi rice and on top was orange fish eggs. The texture of the sushi rice as cool, mixed with the sweet taste of the gyoza skin and the saltiness of the fish eggs. The dessert bar also seem to have a bit of a make over. Maybe it's cause it's the season for it, or they know where to get good fruit, but they had strawberries that were awesome. The strawberries were like two bites big and if you combined them with the creme puffs...oh it made an wonderful dessert. And speaking of cream puffs, I love the whip cream they put in them. It was light and fluffy, but had wonderfully sweet texture. read more

This is your typical buffet. Came with family members after church service and it was full. Wait was about 15min. Shrimp was good and the grill in the back made fresh food. Will be back for that. read more

Yes, it's one of those cheap cheesy chinese buffets...But! The food was hot and surprisingly tasty and such a low price (9.99 + tax for weekday lunch buffet) compared to Yome! I really enjoyed the soft serve cones, hot and sour soup that wasn't too syrupy, and the shrimp. I passed on the sushi and the american items. read more

i love this place when im hungry! what i love to eat here: crabs crawfish honey walnut prawns minus the walnuts thats pretty much all i eat what i hate dirty bathrooms sometimes dirty cups worst deserts and served in their original packed plastic containers? read more

Empire Buffet - Buffets Near Me - San Pablo, California

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Somewhat decent, given the price. But compared to East Buffet near Hilltop, Empire is way too greasy. Empire is much busier, which is often a good sign with buffets, as it means more turn over. Yet I see the dishes at East Buffet being replenished more frequently. The prime rib at Empire is always overdone, tough, and stringy. The steamed crab tends to be without flavor. Sushi is also a bit tasteless. You can certainly find plenty to eat here that's worth consuming. The selection is certainly quite large. But for my money, it's East Buffet all the way, baby. read more

Today's date, a friend invited me for lunch there!!! Everything was fine and the food was good!! we almost finish our lunch !!!! at the moment somebody came all the way around in the restaurant screaming/yelling on her language to one of the waitress. We thought was a customer but for our surprise was the Manager (a girl) who was giving to all of us a show how the manager of this restaurant respect her personnel and handle his personal and the restaurant. First at all, nobody has the right to treat / yelling another human been as she did!! What she thinking she is??????? Whatever the situation was, she has to call the personal to her office and talk in private NOT gave us a free show to all the customers that we were eating there!! As Manager she doesn't have any qualifications she must go and take a Human Relation Courses!!! I hope somebody can treat the "MANAGER" as she deserve!!!!!! read more

This, by far, maybe the worst Chinese buffet that I have ever been to. This place has always seemed crowded enough on the few occasions that I've been by, so I figured that I'd check it out. The staff is pleasant enough, and the restaurant was clean, but the food was terrible!!! Everything tasted generic, and some of the sushi on display was discolored. To make matters worse, some of the diners sitting near me were being loud and profane... Don't waste your time... read more

Although I've been here a few times and have logged-in twice, I usually don't go there by choice. They do have a variety of food prepared and it is actually decent depending on what your preference s are. The reason that I tend to avoid this place is because of the service. For the most part I see the staff scurrying back and forth cleaning taking plates away, and serving beverages. Unfortunately my with my 6' 3" frame it seems that my "cloak of invisibility" is always on. Now I may be super critical, because when the place opened and the very first time I went there, I was never served or asked if I wanted a beverage, and I was seated right next to the drink dispenser. It wasn't until I got up to get it myself did I gain someones attention. When someone asked me to join them there, I do so with great reluctance. This last time I went, I was served one glass of water, but my cup was never refilled. The server for the area came to our table 3 times, and walked by at least 8 times. When he finally came to clear the table and give me the check he wanted to take the empty cup. I then replied that the only reason it was empty, is because he didn't refill it at any point while I was eating. Overall I will say that the food is good, and the service is OK for others. Depending on when you go, it can be a little noisy as some families bring there young children who play in area or get loud at times. It doesn't seem as if the servers are lazy, just sometimes a bit inattentive. The the meal prices are a bit expensive, but it seems that most of the patrons come to eat their money's worth. If the servers paid more attention, and had a better atmosphere for dining, I might give them a 3rd star. If you want a decent tip, then they might want to at least give me decent service! read more

I love this place!! I eat here pretty regularly. I do have some buffet faves here. I'm going a little while later w my daughter.. I've been coming here for a few years now and I enjoy it..weekends it's mostly always crowded for dinner.. the price is reasonable. My daughter and I come during the week and on the weekends. read more

We went with our daycare center parent group to this establish at a recommendation from one of the parent so off we went. When we first got it, the place looks pretty clean, buffet items were spread out pretty nicely, so my initial impression were ok it's not too bad. My wife had to tend to our 9 months old baby so I got food for her. The chicken dishes were ok, salt and pepper shrimp was good, didn't feel like getting my fingers dirty so I passed on the crab, the pig feet was good, the beef shiu-mai was ok. Salmon, clams were all good Here is where the problem starts 1) What we thought was good looking blackbean sauce steamed oysters, they were undercooked and still have the ocean water taste, it's like eating a stale oyster, after a small byte of that, we put the other 2 aside 2) We were seated at the very corner table by sushi counter, the fish and other ingredients for the sushi was left out, uncover for over an hour before they decided it's time to wrap it up......nasty so naturally we never even touch those nasty sushi. It's the whole setup, just pure unsanitary. 3) The Mongolian stir-fry area, I see the cook never wash his hands after smoking and he must hate the cooking oil, he squeeze so much out every time, other guest that got the food cook might as well be drinking oil instead. 4) this is the worst part of it all I got my wife a fish steak, it appears to look like frozen sea bass from Taiwan because of it's not as fatty as the ones from China. What it turns out to be are "oil fish" they have close resemblance of Taiwan sea bass but instead it's use for industrial where the factory extract oil from those fish and use it for industrial use. So my wife's stomach felt weird on the way home she started paying the bathroom frequently and each time there are oilly and waxy stuff which is exactly the same symptoms few years ago in Hong Kong with the same fish being mistaken for sea bass. For the pain the grief this establishment have gave my wife, I ought to give it half a star. Having said that other items were not bad so I'll give it one and a half star read more

Best buffet in the East. But it's always crowded and you gotta wait in line for about an hour. Charge your phone.

As a buffet, you don't expect the best food. However, given that this place could not live up to my already dwindled expectations, I will just say I've had better. First off, buffet sushi? Obviously not going to come loaded with hamachi- however, I was hoping for perhaps vegatable options. However, the rice was just awful, everything about it was awful. The options were surprisingly enough: yellow blocky stuff (egg), bright green blocky stuff (?), and unagi (to my surprise). I'll just say don't be fooled and think "ooh, I can eat lots of cheap sushi." Now, the actual chinese food, was poor. The rice lacked in the same way all fast food chinese places does: it tastes steaned, starchy, and the carrot/pea combination is seriously overdone. I can't say too much about everything I had one bite of here, at least. To be honest, I filled myself up enough by taking a bite of everything, it's just that each bite was- meh. read more

YUCK! Worst chinese food buffet EVER. I've been to other cheap ones, but compared to this place, it is terrible!! What suppose to be "honey walnut prawns" was drowned in mayo & coconut sauce; YUCK! Mussles had a lot of mayo on top as a topping; YUCK! This place loves to use mayo on everything. The most simple thing to make, beef & broccolli, did NOT look appetizing at all! TOLERABLE: crab, oysters, fried prawns Ate here yesterday, and today my toilet is being punished all day. My stomach still hurts!!! read more

Close and convenient but no butter for the crab.... the staff was really nice and we did not feel rushed or overwhelmed... they could over do a better job at keeping the restrooms clean read more

This buffet is one of the best in the area if your looking for seafood go in dinner time. They have plenty of choices like sampling, crab, shrimp muscles, oysters etc. They have like three soups to chose from as well and plenty of dessert. I went on a wends day evening. They say on weekends it gets packed. read more

This has got to be one of my favorite buffets I love seafood and, they have so much to chose from! The oysters are delicious, the coconut shrimp, the rice, the pork buns, the sushi, crab legs, clams, fruit, etc! And, there is someone there to cook you a stir fry if you prefer that you can make it your own, Its hardly ever crowded when I go.. the waiters are great they smile which is highly important to me it makes my dining experience much better. The reason why I rated it three stars was because last time we went with only 5 people they charged us about $83 which was ridiculous I guess the prices went up but of course I complained they said that they charge for the food you don't finish... I was like uhhh seriously?! Do you want us to lick every damn thing off our plate? I haven't returned since then. I enjoy the food... but charging for food that hasn't been eaten? Get real. read more

First of all, it's a Chinese buffet. Second of all, it's a Chinese buffet--and if you know anything about Chinese buffet, you know not to expect too much. Empire Buffet is your average, diversified Chinese buffet. The food is a little heavy on the mayo and the sauce, but because their service is good and the Sushi wasn't terrible, I'm giving 3 stars. read more

This place is the epitome of a typical Chinese buffet: lots of different dishes with mediocre taste. It's not bad for what it offers if you're looking to get your fill with large quantity of meh-quality food. I tried a couple of plates with a sample of most of their Chinese dishes and most of them tasted alright. What left me confused was how the hot and sour soup ended up more like hot and sweet soup though. I personally feel like it's one of the soups that isn't easy to mess up on, but empire buffet's version of it is bad enough that I had to add a tobacco sauce to make it more edible. Clam chowder was sad. There were chunky bits in the soup as a telltale sign that the flour wasn't thoroughly mixed while they were preparing it. I'll give them props for making sure the food trays are always full and frequently stirred though. Service was alright. I had to flag someone down to get my drink refilled but they're pretty quick about it once you get their attention. To my surprise, their sushi is actually not as bad as I expected. I tried what looked like red snapper and mackerel nigiri and the rice was actually marinated. Red snapper was a bit rubbery but still edible. Their dessert tasted old. Most of the pastries I tried weren't all that easy to bite into. With all that's said, for $11ish a head, it's not that bad for a quick lunch if you're looking to save some dough albeit at the expense of getting better quality food. read more

Diverse selection, but that doesn't equate to great food. Pros: Chinese, a bit of American, and even Japanese! Salad too. Cons: The food is what you get at a buffet. Of course. Standard buffet. I tried a bit of everything--egg rolls, pot stickers, chow fun, mongolian make-your-own bbq bar, salad, fruit, won ton soup, fried won ton, mussels, etc. I came with my relatives. Because my grandfather doesn't speak English, buffets often give him the flexibility to choose what he wants to eat without saying a single word. The other people in my family enjoyed the plentiful seafood--the crab, the lobster legs, the oysters, mussels, clams. The restaurant ran out of the crab crackers so my mom had to break the legs by hand. The food was rather decent, but nothing amazing. Avoid the sushi. You get what you pay for at a buffet. The fruit was surprisingly well-picked and sweet. Especially the watermelon and honey dew in the middle of November. They have plates that look like they're from bamboo! Fortune cookies aplenty to showcase its american chineseness restaurant at bill-paying time. read more