3.5 Stars Great Moon Buffet has framed signs on the wall indicating they've been voted "Best Asian Food" at least twice. I don't know who participated in this dubious poll but I'd say Great Moon can at most lay claim to Best Asian-ish Buffet On The East Side. You pay (and tip) up front after waiting in a long but quickly moving line, and then you are seated. Someone makes the rounds with pitchers of water and soda for endless refills (I think you can get hot tea too), and someone else clears your dirty plates. This place is always busy but they've got an efficient system down for feeding the suburban masses in a gluttonous yet timely manner. Prices are reasonable, I think around $12 or $13 per person (adult?). I have no complaints about the service, but I also have fairly low expectations because it's a freakin buffet. Meanwhile you are free to consume as much food as you can manage. I mostly fill up at the sushi bar. It's all rolls (no sashimi or nigiri) and nothing too adventurous, but definitely decent. There are two more (hot) bars with an odd mixture of American comfort food (eg mashed potatoes, breaded fried stuff) and Americanized Asian food (eg beef & broccoli, breaded fried stuff). There are many things of the beige-carb variety, but vegetables too and some surprisingly tasty sauces. Then there's a (cold) salad bar but I have to admit I have not spent much time over there. And there is also a dessert bar but I am proud to say I've never headed in that direction. Not even my boyfriend can stuff in dessert after an AYCE buffet anyways. Great Moon Buffet doesn't deserve the very good or very bad reviews. If you would vote this as Best Asian Food, you should expand your horizons and head down to University Ave and treat yourself to some actual Asian food. And if you want exotic non-Sysco food, top notch service, and an ambient dining experience, don't go to a buffet. read more

I've been searching for a good chinese buffet in the midwest and came across this joint I've found on yelp. From the looks of the outside, it looked ugly and not worth going into.. I swear we almost took a u turn as we were walking up to the door! OMG, once you step in its like national treasure.. the place is absolutely beautiful with plentiful seating and servers. We came in during lunch, which they serve until 3:30pm.. they were packed!! I was eating with so much joy, probably 5 plates for myself! (we drove from stevens pt, wi) read more

The Great Moon Buffet is just like any other Chinese buffet. But they have three items here that really stand out. They have crispy fish nuggets that's not like a battered fish, but breaded (I love how it crunches). They also have steamed dumplings which oddly isn't common at other Chinese buffets (instead of the dumpling sauce for dipping, try the ginger soy sauce). Finally, they have crab legs almost every day (I usually skip the crab legs because they are messy and there is always a line for them). Their other fare is good considering it's mass produced for a buffet and they have a few American dishes like potatoes and onion rings for those in your party that aren't into all the Chinese food. This place is very popular so on weekend nights there is usually a line out the door. But the line moves at a decent pace and the wait isn't usually more than 10-15 minutes. Is the wait worth it? It depends how hungry I am. But usually, yes. read more

I hadn't been to Great Moon in ages. Then a friend shows up out of the blue and says meet me here, I'm hungry. Well, here we go. Service was lacking, as it always is. Get your refill and set your dirty plates out as you normally would, and it takes them for freaking ever to clear off. They were pretty quick to deliver our fortune cookie and try to rush us out though. Little do they know, it don't go down like that. I'm getting my $12 worth bitches. So... the rundown of foods: Salad bar, try at your own risk. Definitely not the freshest of ingredients. Egg rolls - not too bad. I've had worse, I've had better. At least they were warm. Mongolian Beef - very fatty, decent flavor at least. But, skip worthy. General Tso chicken - swimming in it's goo, tasty, crunchy and worth a try. Chicken (?) on a stick - good, probably the best thing here. Chicken wings - better than I remember, try worthy. Rice - sketchy on it's freshness. Pretty hard. Rib tips - hahahahahaha, sure. Call them that, skip these fatty, gross, wanna be pig rip tips. Sweet and sour chicken - not bad at all. Warm apple pie (yes, it actually says warm apple pie) - meh. It was warm. We'll give it that! Fried fish - it's fried... and it's fried into oblivion. Try if you want to eat breading. They do have a sushi area too, which, I'm not a sushi expert by any means, didn't look like any of the sushi I have had before. But, I digress, I still ate a couple rolls and kept them down... so that makes it good sushi? Overall, I've had better, I've had worse. We'll give it the solid "meh" read more

16 Years ago when I first ate here it was da bomb! If I could have yelped about this place back then, it would have gotten 5 starts, but over the years it slowly declined in quality. The sweet and sour chicken always look burnt. They pump out food quick and fresh, but the taste of some of the dishes are just off. The BBQ pork strips are tough to chew sometime or have way too much fat. Their sushi is just regular buffet sushi, nothing special about it. Crab legs are still regulated when they have them (I guess that's a good thing so people don't be hoarding it all), but people still have their kids go stand in line to get extra crab leg servings. Not sure how to explain it, but maybe too much MSG is the best way. I guess I've been eating too much real Chinese food lately and don't appreciate buffets anymore. I would probably take Panda Express over GM nowadays. Their service is probably the only thing that hasn't changed. Drinks are refilled almost instantaneously and plates cleared off quickly. read more

I have reviewed a few buffets before, and my stance on buffets has never changed: You pay a static amount for shoveling food in your face. No hidden fees unless you waste food. It is the simplest way to move a variety of food into your mouth hole and down into the stomach. The bar is set where it is set, and that will never change. Great Moon Buffet lives up to that low-hanging bar. Dinner buffet is around $13.00 + tax and lunch buffet is around $10.00 + tax. Prices include a drink, and for the children, they have a complex weight + height + age algorithm posted near the cash register to help you deduct if your little gremlin can make a mess for free. They have a good selection of Asian Buffet regulars - General Tso's, Beef and Broccoli, Sugar Puffs.. They have a good salad bar too, and a lot of "american" buffet fare like spahgetti, bread sticks, pizza, mashed potatoes. I really do enjoy coming to eat here, though, because the buffet selection is larger than most asian buffets I've been to. They also have a sushi area, and I was able to pick and choose which pieces of rolls I want because I am still a sushi beginner. The dessert area is the typical fare: sheets of slightly sweet mocha cake, creme puffs, pudding and a chocolate/vanilla ice cream machine. A waiter will come around and bring you beverages and tidy your plates when your done. This place does get very busy. Very, very busy, and the line can reach out the door during peak times. With all of that in mind, I've never waited longer than 10 minutes for a place to sit. read more

Work stress makes me crave food - mounds of it. Co-workers invited me to tag along to Great Moon for lunch. The lunch buffet is reasonably priced - @$9. Free from the disapproving look of my foodie wife, I sampled a variety of dishes - several times. I really enjoyed their egg foo yung (I am an egg foo yung junkie, or "yunkie" as I call it.) I also enjoyed the hot-sour soup, roasted chicken, egg rolls, cream cheese wontons, and coconut shrimp. Great, now I'm hungry again. Plus, bonus, my fortune cookie said "You will be an accomplished writer." read more

My family LOVES Great Moon Buffet. We have been coming here since I was a little girl and now I come with my boys. The food is always hot and amazing. WAY better than any other buffet I have ever been to... chinese or not. There is a wide variety of food from veggie, beef, pork, chicken or seafood. Be sure to try a little bit of everything- you never know, it could be your new favorite! The green beans are AMAZING! The line is always out the door for a weekend dinner so come early. It is always worth the wait. The staff is helpful and friendly. Be sure to ask for chop sticks!!! read more

I had heard such great things about this buffet that I was pretty much expecting to be let down. However, I wasn't. Driving up to it I have to admit that my husband and I thought it was a bit sketch, but aren't most Chinese buffet locations? I was ready to expect the "average" from Great Moon - you know, not clean, but not dirty appearance - run down perhaps . . . good food, but nothing that surprised me . . . and overall short-tempered staff. I was surprised to find that Great Moon was above average on the first two of those assumptions, but not the third. The staff at here aren't friendly, they sound very short-tempered all the time and I think my waitress was glaring at us for taking too long to eat. However, the fact that they have actual waitresses and busing staff was very nice - they kept our drinks full and were busy actually doing things the entire time. I think that the staffing is a big reason I was surprised about the cleanliness of Great Moon. This place is really (really) clean, neat and nice looking compared to pretty much all Chinese buffets I had previously gone to. I appreciated that. Great Moon was well lit and the place didn't look run-down. Major points winner with me. The food was great - such a good selection! I am a huge rice fan - any kind - and the white rice was perfect and the fried rice was just as good as my usual "sit down" Chinese restaurant where I order off a menu. The sushi, though I did not try any today, was delicious looking and a man was there making it fresh as people where depleting what was out. The price is a little more than some buffets - but totally worth it. Definitely try this place out!! read more

My husband & I went here as we're new to the area & are looking to try different places. We had been here 1 time last month & it was so-so but I figured that maybe it was just an off night & said let's try it again. Ok...maybe it's just me? But I am not overly impressed & I am turned off by certain things easily. However, this past Sat night 7 pm'ish it was not too crowded. You pay when you walk in & are seated right away. I noticed they have crab legs. The legs are the size of pencils...skinny, not very meaty at all, & barely hot but I say to myself, "SWEET!!! I have been craving these". Wait, there's a sign over them? Something to the affect of "please take no more than 4 at a time". Hold up? WHAT?! I just paid for my meal before being seated & then you limit me? AND it gets better!! There's what I call the "crab leg monitor" that's there either counting out exactly 4 of them & putting them on your plate or watching you through the window as you take them yourself. Yea...ummm.. no thanks. I know people waste but c'mon. That is TACKY!! The staff is somewhat attentive. We were handed out "hand wipes" & fortune cookies w/in 45 minutes of our meal. I actually asked the lady was I being nicely asked to leave but she said "No, I was just passing by". Yea..right. I only play dumb on TV Lady. Glad I didn't want anything more to drink either because they never came back around. All joking aside though, I am not sure if I will return here. The service is hit or miss as well as the food & selections. The sushi is decent but not labelled so if you have any allergies such as myself you have to ask what it is. Sometimes you will get an answer & other times you will get a grunt. The restaurant is clean though & the food is okay. read more

This place has good food but they are very limited when they decide to sell egg fu young. That alone makes me not want to order any food. Ever since golden gate cafe closed, it's hard trying to find a good Chinese food restaurant. read more

You gotta come for the seafood dinner. It's a buffet, so don't expect anything too fancy, but the seafood makes the trip so worth it. They have this breaded shrimp that is crispy, and not too greasy. Sooooo good. Would come here just for that shrimp. Crab legs are alright, but if you are lucky enough to take the fresh ones they are just like a sit down restaurants. Tons of options for anyone, for any mood that you're in. They offer a salad bar, sushi bar, fresh fruits and a dessert table. I've never tried the sushi....honestly don't know if I would trust it. But overall this place is good if you are really hungry and in the mood for some seafood at a very reasonable price. Definitely can go in sweatpants and t-shirt, so that's a bonus :) read more

Our favorite Chinese buffet in the cities. I prefer lunch as the sushi is the same as dinner and it's cheaper. Staff is extremely welcoming and friendly. Food is hot, rotated and stocked well on every visit. Can't wait to go back. read more

There is always a fair amount of people here, however the line never takes longer than 15 min. To get through before you receive your seat. The food is alright, however it is one of the few buffets that have sushi. The sushi is on average with a general buffet, but cannot top a made to order all you can eat establishment. Order multiple dunks at a time as it can take a while to receive any refills read more

Pretty darn flavorless. Everything pretty much tasted the same. Most of the vegetables were over cooked even before they were left sitting on the buffet table. And the fried shrimp had so much batter on it you couldn't taste it. Not worth a visit. read more

The food was good. They didn't have as much food though. My favorites are the sushis. I feel like they really did try. I mean if you were to compare their sushis to restaurant sushis then it's not great but it's almost as good. Let's just say by far they have the best sushis in buffet. The place was clean and there were decent amount of people in there. You know if you find people in a restaurant or place you know that place is doing something right. Our servers were good at their job. They didn't let our plates piled up. read more

It's better than 3 stars It deserves five stars it's amazing their food is most of the time amazing

It was so nice. The sushi was awesome and really fresh. Super chill atmosphere. The service was great.

Above average chinese buffet. Everytime we go here is a good experience. The workers are nice and recently we went with a party of 22 and they set up an area for us and they were super attentive, kept our drinks full and thanked us for our visit. The food is fresh and better tasting then most buffets in the twin cities. I wish they could expand and add more dishes/variety of food. They have a small sushi area and it tastes ok for a buffet but i dont really care for it since im not a fan of seafood. My favorite dishes are the fried rice, lo mein, egg drop soup, wonton soup, chicken wings, double cooked pork and low cooked beef ribs. Tipped them $50 on our last visit there read more

My favorite buffet place. Love their sushi, fish, fruits, veggie dishes, and hot and sour soup. The staff are always clearing plates and never leave your glasses empty. I've tried finding another buffet place, but no other joint compares to them. read more

This has always been one of my favorite places when in this area. The food is consistently good, they don't overfill so it stays hot and fresh, and there is a nice variety as well. There is a large sushi section on one end, then a variety of stir-fry, fried items, salads, and desserts. The service is always attentive and friendly as well. It's clean and big inside so even if there's a line (and there often can be during lunch and dinner times) you are likely to get a seat in short order. In all honesty, if there were half stars I'd give it three and a half, but I will do 4 stars instead of three as that seems too low for the consistency and general quality of the food. read more

This place always has fresh food been here three times and it's been great every time . They keep the food hot and fresh the price is a bit high but we're in Minnesota. I your in the area check it out read more

Went to this place to buy food for to go. Their sweet red pork is f**cking over due meat. My wife call and be very polite to see if we can substitute for different dish. And guess what they told us to leave our name and number if there are more complain on that they will give us a call. So I got mad and took the dish back to them and they threat to call the cops on me. Wow. Do not go to this place. read more

Arrived at 7:30 pm on a Saturday after driving 6 from Chicago. A group of 10, we were seated right away. Price is very reasonable $120 for 6 adults and 3 children ( the 2 yr old was free). Best service I have ever had!!! They made sure are glasses were full and our table cleared. Food was good but food choices in my opinion were limited, compared to Chinese buffets back home. My kids are very picky, they only eat pizza, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, chicken nuggets when at buffets. To our disappointment none of these items were found in this buffet. Every Chinese buffet I've been to have these. Lesson learned, ask before you pay. So having zero food my kids like, they were forced to try something new, which was good right. So they graved the pasta dish, lo mein? I think its called, which they liked, but ate nothing else. Another negative, I'm used to seeing crawfish and mussels, they had none here. Overall food was good but laking dishes kid friendly food. I guess if they had these I would probably give it a higher score. read more

Not worth it. $13 bucks for a so-so buffet? No thanks. Not sure what is their non-buffet menu so you will have to experience that yourself. The place is clean but you can get better elsewhere and cheaper. Try the food courts at the Mall of America. I have been to other buffets at around the $10ish range and the apparent difference here is the number of extra staff they have. The food is rather ordinary. The Chinese in the place are American-Asian kids of immigrants and I wonder if they even speak Chinese ;) read more

Great place to eat with lots of variety! Sushi and hot plates with chicken roast beef and fish or clams, plenty of deserts and great service. read more

Another good buffet to hit up if your craving Chinese and can't just choose one dish to order. They would get a better rating if the sushi selection was better for me. read more

This place was packed. Lots of people must like it, but we thought it was only okay. It was clean, fast, and hot.

I am not really a buffet fan by nature, but was craving massive amounts of Chinese food and so was a friend. We tried one place near White Bear Lake, which was too awful to try and instead we came to Great Moon, which I would describe as the fat kids happiest place on Earth. The buffet fare was clean, quickly replenished, and tasty. There is a wide variety of appetizers, main dishes, a HUGE salad bar, dessert bar with soft serve machine. Waitstaff were attentive and polite. Definitely worth the $11-ish on a weeknight. (Prices vary depending on the day) read more

There is a very well kept food buffet. Food was fresh and tasty. Atmosphere was great, surroundings appeared clean. While dining, a family had a birthday party. It was kept at a low volume as not to be a big disturbance to other guests. Hosts were always smiling and coming by to check on us. I will come back again. read more

Great Moon Buffet - Chinese Near Me - Saint Paul, Minnesota

I had to stop by a nearby bank to fill up my wallet with a couple of Grants and some Jacksons. Great Moon Buffet is across the street and I thought I may as well get lunch to. I got there about noon and no wait to pay and be seated. As usual, there is a good selection of chicken, beef and pork dishes, all with some veggie or two. I got some green beans, corn and black peppered chicken for my first plate. All very good. The veggies seemed to be very fresh. I passed on getting fried rice for this plate. Second plate, I got some chicken with broccoli, some pork strips, more corn and even some onion rings. Still room on my plate, so I added some fried fish to. I really liked the fried fish. Not the healthiest, but very good to me.. Onion Rings, were Onion Rings, not great, but decent. I suppose at a buffet operation, hard to keep warm. These seemed to be at room temperature. I do not like the heat of fried foods straight out of the fryer because it is too darn hot to eat. But these seemed to have been out of the fryer for 10 minutes or more. I will get them again, because I like onion rings, but they could be better. Third plate, I got mongolian beef with broccoli, more fried fish and wontons with cream cheese and crab meat. I did not really taste the crab meat, but they were ok. There was a nice looking brownie type dessert I wanted to try but forgot to. I need to get my first plate at the salad bar at these types of places. I never seem to have room for a melon salad, which if fresh, is so wonderful to me. Maybe next visit. read more

As far as buffets go, this was pretty darn good. I was seated right away, my drink never ran out, the food was tasty. $9.09 for lunch during the week. read more

Great customer service & I love how fresh the food is here! The green beans are incredible, fresh salad bar, & the sushi is amazing too! At night the menu changes & it's great when mussels & crab legs served. Really good price for the food. I am continuously bringing friends there too. read more

The food is legit and fresh. I went on a Saturday it was approx $15 a plate. Although I ate $50 worth of crab. The servers were on point. They cleared out plates and filled our drinks constantly. I'm now sitting here over stuffed and having to poop. I will say it's worth it. read more

This place is amazing. The food is fresh and tasty, the waiters are polite and helpful, the trays are always full and the space is reasonability full at all times. It is 10$ + tax per person and comes with the drink. I strongly recommend this Buffett. read more

The Great Moon Buffet, a very nice place to go to get your favorite Asian food. This place is very well kept, the staff are very friendly, helpful, courteous, respectful, and attentive to the needs of their customers. The food is a wide variety, so you won't have to worry about feeling left out if you don't eat pork, or beef, or if your a vegetarian. Parking is decent, and it is close to the expressway if you are needing to hurry back to work. I am a picky person and I honestly cannot find anything about this place that I do not like, parking could be a ad bi better, but it is worth the try. read more

Great food and services. I love their sushi bar and the dinner menu. This is definitely my to go chinese buffet.

Consistently good, tasty food. The dishes get refilled frequently and I always see staff cleaning. I'm not a buffet expert like some on Yelp but I do like the food here. I only get over here every 6 weeks or so when I get my haircut across the street but every time I've been here the food has been good. The buffet tables are always being refilled so the food is hot and fresh. There's a huge assortment of different Chinese American dishes like Sweet and Sour Chicken, Sesame Chicken, General Tso, etc. There's also dishes such as chicken with black pepper which is one of my favorites. They have sushi bar too with a pretty good selection of fresh and a couple of cooked options, I haven't been here over the weekends so can't comment on the seafood I've seen mentioned elsewhere. The staff also does a nice job of keeping your drink refilled. The place is always busy, even at the off hours when I'm there, for example 2pm. I always leave here very full and wanting a nap!! read more

Really great service... Drinks are always kept full and the tables cleared right away... I wish there was a way to give out cash tips because I always want to make sure the service gets their tips. The food is consistent, however I do wish they would change up the menu from time to time. I know of another location that has more variety but this one in particular I come back due to the service. read more

Great service. However, the food is mediocre at best. My broccoli beef tasted like the broccoli was once frozen. The beef in it was fatty and robbery. We won't be going back. read more