Food was good, I got a verity of different food. Service was good! My only complaint is that every time I come here it seems like they separate groups of people by race. Could be a speculation, but so far out of the 10 times I've been here, 9 times I've been put with people of my race/ color. read more

The restaurant can definitely get a bit chaotic around the buffet area when there is a full house. Overall there is good service and good food. I recommend trying out the hibachi in the back! read more

We decided to go-around 2pm. It was really great. Food was very fresh, not a lot of people. Service was great.

Food was good for a buffet. Decent service. Priced average. Would go back if the area again.

Great place to eat, large variety and the food was excellent and fresh. Nice dessert variety as well.

The food is really fresh and perfectly ready and cooked to. In the buffet, you can serve yourselves and have many foods you want, don't keep eating when your full but your getting my point. So yeah, this Chinese buffet is delicious and international food and outside China and the U.S. In a sushi bar, there is Japanese food and Korean and they're good too. I love this Chinese buffet. read more

See all

Been very satisfied with this buffet. Food quality has been very good. They have a nice selection of items. I've been quite happy with the various chicken and fish offerings. There is good parking available. Pleasantly surprised by this place. Decent value for the money. read more

The $20 dinner buffet (drinks not included) gave us a pretty extensive food selection. The place was packed, even on a Sunday evening. Expect it to be warm inside with all the people and the steam tables. Alcoholic drinks were just $8 but they had almost no alcohol in them so you should pass on them. Service was decent. The buffet items were standard fare other than the nice big salmon. read more

Extremely average. Not to say that's bad (because I've been to plenty of sub-par Chinese buffets in my life), but everything was just OK. Nothing horrible, but nothing outstanding either. Everything tasted fresh & hot enough. Service was pretty standard. Wouldn't go out of my way to head back to Imperial China Buffet, but if I was in the area and hungry, I'd drop in again. read more

Imperial China Buffet - Watertown, CT - Chinese Near Me - Watertown, Connecticut

Typical buffet but a bit smaller in selection than I'm used to. Sushi bar was good and the attendant kept the bar well stocked with a good selection. Hibachi station was ok but nothing to write home about. Table service was great and friendly. Owner's wife was exceptionally friendly with the customers. For some reason they (and me too) they love Shrimp! I've never seen a buffet with that many shrimp dishes. I went around dinner time so expected the price to be a bit higher then lunchtime. With tip it cost me $25 which seems to be high. Would I go back? Probably only at lunchtime... I give it 4 stars which is generous. Oh! Almost forgot! The Bacon-wrapped Shrimp was out of this world! read more

Solid Great Family Resturant and People.....taste it than tell me about it. My Favorite lunch spot when I get good news

Good food, right price. Staff was not always checking to see if you needed anything. The hibachi was delicious. Great place for kids as well. The drink menu is big but the drinks are nothing special. read more

All you can eat Chinese, sushi and hibachi at a great price! That's the best it will get. I have dined at this Chinese buffet ever since it opened up in the former Rite Aid site (yes, I remember that!). Some days the food is excellent, other days it's decent. I have went for lunch and dinner and there is not much of a difference from what they serve for lunch to what they serve for dinner, with the exception that crab legs and a couple other seafood dishes are added for the dinner time. If you want crab legs, you have to be alert for when they refill the tray. The tray gets empty in a matter of minutes (or sometimes seconds). The hibachi is excellent for picky eaters or for those who like to have a customized variety. The sushi is a hit or miss depending on the time you dine in, but still pretty good. The food is what you expect at a typical Chinese buffet, with your general assortment that includes sweet and sour chicken, boneless bbq pork, lo mein, fried rice, general tso's and a bunch others. The alcoholic drinks are good and they are CHEAP! Cheaper than other places that's for sure. During one of our visits, a couple family members ordered drinks and our bill was only around 50 bucks. Not bad! We have gone once around 8 at night and there were a good number of people there enjoying dinner. We probably finished and left around quarter past nine and people were still coming in. The food was still pretty good and fresh during that time. Every time I go to dine in, a lot of folks like to come and fill a takeout container with whatever their hearts desire. Definitely a great choice if you what some Chinese takeout with a lot of variety but without paying extra. Service is great. The waitresses like to chat with regulars but does not mind chatting with everyone. They are really good with refilling beverages, clearing the tables and bringing the check in a timely manner. Only one time the quality of service went down slightly, due to a table of diners who was giving everyone a hard time about the bill. If you don't have enough money on your debit card to cover your bill, please do not take it out on the staff! Seniors get the 10% discount on their bill, kindly let your server know and they will gladly adjust your bill to reflect the discount. Parking may be an issue at times as this buffet is in a strip mall. But there is never a wait for a table as it's a pretty decent-sized buffet. The decor, however, could use a little bit of updating, but who cares? You are there for the FOOOOOD!!! Fun fact: the owners of this buffet are related to the owners of Torrington Super Buffet. Happy eating! read more

Imperial China Buffet - Sushi is pretty good! - Chinese Near Me - Watertown, Connecticut

I think at this point we're all in agreement that "Chinese" food is basically just "American" food prepared by Chinese people. That being said, I like Chinese food, a lot. I'm not saying I eat it every week, but when I do eat it, I'm pretty fussy about it. I've blacklisted numerous Chinese places in the area for nothing more than a soggy rangoon, or a mushy noodle. One of the great things about this place is their ability to keep everything consistent, every time. With a buffet of this size, it has to be a challenge to keep everything on point, but they pull it off, every time. The buffet is expansive, and has just about every type of Chinese food that you can imagine. I can confidently say that I've tried 90% of it and never hated anything. I'm admittedly about 80% various meats most of the time, and not heavy into anything with seafood or veggies or anything, but I do make it a point to taste stuff...simply because it's a buffet. And everything has always tasted good. That being said, listen people...I shouldn't have to tell you to NOT eat Sushi at a Buffet, but I'm going to anyway. Don't eat the Sushi. If that's your thing, go across the street to Sakura. On the flip side though, the Hibachi service here is actually pretty awesome and a cool way to get that Hibachi feel without the whole rigmarole of sitting in a Hibachi place. But again, if you're totally into that, go across the street. If you're looking for a solid Chinese food take out or buffet experience, this place will not disappoint. Prices are more than reasonable, service is on point, and the food is exactly what you'd expect. If you're one of those snobby, arrogant American's that has "toured" China and "knows" "real" Chinese food, then you'll probably be disappointed. Which is okay, because you're probably a terrible person anyway. read more

Imperial China Buffet - This is everything. Literally everything ..in one container - Chinese Near Me - Watertown, Connecticut

A wonderful buffet, filled with a ton of choices. Food fresh and delicious. My mother's(90 years old now) favorite place for gathering family for her birthday. read more

I visited this restaurant on December 19 for lunch around noon. The food was ok, not great and not too bad. There was not a wide variety but enough. Some items they were serving them cold i.e. tea, fried zucchini, dumplings, crab ragoons, while other items seemed to be dried out i.e. boneless ribs and the mussels. I do have to agree with one of the other reviews listed; the shrimp variety is far and few between. On the flip side, the catfish was absolutely delicious the same with the beef mushrooms and teriyaki chicken. The interior was very clean. I even heard a few customers saying the same thing. The staff was polite and attentive. If you are looking to satisfy a quick craving then I would recommend this place. I certainly would not go out of my way to go here again. read more

Food tasted surprisingly good but I got the WORST food poisoning I've ever had. Fever and the works that normally accompany food poisoning. I was throwing up for 2 days. I will never go back. read more

ok so my boyfriend and I were doing our laundry one sunny afternoon at 3Js and needed to kill some time while our clothes were drying. So we decided to check out Imperial for drinks and appetizers. We sat down and immediately ordered beers and then we looked at the menu, looked at each other with our jaws dropped. I ran to the bar and canceled the beers and we ordered a scorpion bowl instead. This place is ridiculously inexpensive when it comes to cocktails! So we sucked down our delicious scorpion bowl, shared some potstickers (delish) and then took our buzz to the laundromat and had a blast folding our laundry! That's what laundry day should be like everytime! Side note: we did come back for the buffet and it is definitely worth it. Lots of options, sushi, grill & dessert also included in buffet price. Plan to come back and bring the kids in tow sometime. read more

Imperial China Buffet - SCORPION BOWL - Chinese Near Me - Watertown, Connecticut

See all

Is it the best Chinese food? No. But what Chinese restaurant is good in town? But solid buffet or you can sit and order separately. Always good service and drinks are super cheap!!! read more

Imperial China Buffet - the menu for imperial china buffet - Chinese Near Me - Watertown, Connecticut

See all

Chinese buffets are hit or miss, as even if one has great food and takes good care to make it right, if there isn't a crowd turning over the dishes and keeping it busy, you end up with low quality from sitting out too long and then the chef's care / recipes become irrelevant because you're dealing with dried out food that isn't fresh. luckily with Imperial Buffet, that is NOT the case. they're always very busy. their dishes are excellent. i personally love the Peanut Chicken and the Szechuan Chicken. They're really delicious. the crab legs are great too. this is my favorite buffet and i try to go at least once every few weeks. my only complaints would be with the soft serve ice cream and sundae toppings being removed (fortunately they still have hard ice cream), and how slowly some of the dishes get filled, as i've waited 15 minutes for crab legs before, only for them to bring enough for only 3 - 4 people and then i had to wait again. not to mention you always get that a$$hole that takes 24 crab legs and doesn't know how to eat the whole thing so they waste it. crab legs are far and away the main problem with slow fill ups, but i've had issues with getting some of the other dishes too, not big enough issues to decide i don't like Imperial, but I know that people LOVE to complain and i want to warn them here on this review. i think this problem can be fixed if you ask them to refill the trays, but in my experience at these buffets, they take the person who speaks the least amount of english and has the least amount of joy in their life to keep the buffet filled up and give a heads up to the kitchen about what needs filling... they tell you "10 minute!" every time you ask, even if the dish is 30 seconds away from being done. and they make sure you know that "i don't want your questions!" with the way they answer. you might think "why are you giving them 4 stars when you're complaining?" and it's only because that problem, i's not exclusive to Imperial, it's par for the course at every buffet. it must be in the "how to start a Chinese buffet" manual that all of these owners buy before starting one of these businesses. read more

I don't know how this place averages 4+ stars. First of all, it has almost more non-Chinese food than Chinese. All the food I tried was tough and over cooked. They were missing other items that were not replenished the whole time we were there. The food that was there looked dry and shriveled and had to have been reheated several times and placed in a warming oven or under heat lamps. Food eaten was bland and flavorless. If I wanted fried chicken and wings, ribs and French fries, potatoes or roast beef, I would go to a different restaurant. Our oriental waitress with a cute Hispanic name looked bored and never refilled the water or even offered. We were obviously bothering her with our presence and interrupting her texting time and conversations with a coworker. I normally am an awesome tipper but I couldn't be bothered to give her much when she sighed while giving us our check. It could have been an off night but I won't be back to find out. I am sure there has to be real Chinese food here somewhere. read more

Really clean restaurant right when you get in you can notice. Food was good and they definitely have a wide variety of Americanized Chinese food. It's better than a majority of the takeout places around. Would go back there compared to going to a regular takeout place. read more

My coworkers and I were hungry and on a budget. Imperial Buffet didn't disappoint. THey had a WIDE variety of seafood including friend shrimp, shrimp cocktail, mussles on half shell, baked salmon, baked catfish, crawfish, baby octopus salad, and of course, sushi. All of these were delicious. The great thing about buffet is you can try a bit of everything. There is also your typical chinese-american dishes, as well as the standard soups (egg drop, hot and sour, wonton). ALL FOR 6.95! I'd love to go up there for dinner one night, considering there is even more food, including ginger lobster on friday and saturday night. Great buffet, check it out if you are in the area, it looks a little grimy from the outside, but once see the food you will be impressed. read more

When dining inside, there is a large variety of tasty food. For takeout food, there is much to be desired. Roast pork egg foo young is missing the pork and chicken and broccoli is very dry, missing the liquid and carrots that are usually included. read more

clean, friendly staff, great covid safety measures, so happy they're back in business. The best place to go in Connecticut, period.

Sometimes you just feel like eating massive amounts of Asian food. This is a good place for that. First off, service: Always hello with a smile when you walk in. I usually go for lunch, and try to get there early (11:30) to avoid the crowd. I'm shown to a table and a server comes over and takes a drink order. It's lunch, so I settle for soda, otherwise, there would be a Scorpion Bowl with my name on it. It's brought quickly, along with an invitation to help myself at the buffet. The servers don't make much small talk - it's either because their English is not good enough to carry a conversation, or, my preferred interpretation, they speak English better than most of the patrons and don't want to show off. We'll come back to service in a bit. Food: There's something for everyone. For starters, a cold bar with seafood (at lunch, mussels, marinated cuttlefish, peel-and-eat shrimp and salad), and hot soup (won ton, hot and sour, and egg drop, at my last visit). There's also a sushi display, and it's not too bad. Nothing too exotic, and mostly vegetable rolls, but still, sushi. Once you get past that, there are 32 hot entrees available, both Chinese and American. Since I'm not there to eat mac 'n' cheese and chicken fingers, I go right to the regional specialties. I'm partial to the pepper chicken, the honey chicken, and, of course, dumplings and spring rolls. There's a hibachi where you can create your own fried noodle dish. After that, dessert. Jello (which is actually very popular in Asian countries), puddings, various canned fruits (lychies!), the occasional fresh melon, cakes, cookies, and ice cream - both dipped and soft-serve. Back to service: Your server doesn't hover around the table, but always makes her presence known if you need something, if you need your soda refilled, or if there are empty plates to be cleared away. The check is presented promptly, and when you throw cash on the tray, you never hear "Do you need change?" (the one thing that I wish more restaurant owners would teach their servers not to say!). They return with your change with a couple of fortune cookies (which are of American origin, not Chinese), thank you for coming in, and invite you back. Let me say this: Yes, this is a buffet, but PLEASE tip the servers - at this particular place, the service is better than in most other restaurants I've been to. There's also a tip jar at the hibachi and sushi stations. Toss a couple of bucks in there - those guys deserve it. The buffet itself is about $10 at lunch, more at dinner. With tossing a couple of tips around, it works out to about $15/person, which, for the amount of food available and service, is a real bargain. What really affects your final tab is how much you drink. The cocktail prices are better than reasonable, and most fall into the Tiki theme (the aforementioned Scorpion Bowl, by the way, was originally created in Honolulu around 1933). They actually have a wine list (your choices are red or white) and they have some beers (since I don't drink it, I couldn't tell you what kinds, or how much) Is it the highest quality food? Not by a long shot. Is it a relatively inexpensive place for a group or that "special date"? Yep. If you're in the area, I'd take a chance on it. read more

My favorite buffet in the area! Staff are very friendly and very prompt with removing plates. A strange, but to me, significant detail: this place has tea cups and kettles that aren't shaped in a way to burn your knuckles, like some other local buffet. Their "spinach bun" is one of my personal favorites; I look forward to them. When there was that nationwide spinach scare a couple of years ago, they had to get rid of them for a while; it broke my heart just a little. I don't like sushi, so I can't comment there. You can also get to go; I see a lot of people doing that on their work break. But I don't like to rush like that when I go. read more

Best buffet around town !!! Food is fresh and staff is super nice ! I love this place !!!

I used to get lunch from here occasionally from time to time, and I did like It I went a few weeks ago and took a to go plate, and not long after my stomach was bubbling bad. Whatever I ate did not agree with my stomach. Not only that but you can tell the quality of the food has gone down. Time to move on read more

Waitress was polite but the food was nasty and cold, they didn't have many options, and the options they did have were almost empty, got ONE plate of food and couldn't finish it because of the quality. $45 for two people who only got one plate each. wouldn't recommend this place, go to the buffet across town, much much better and many more options read more

I would say that I am a huge Chinese buffet fan and go to one at least once a month with a time period in my life where I went as often as once a week. Over the years the affair has transformed from a "let's stuff my stomach until I cannot stand it anymore" to a "I need some quick Chinese in me". Now in regards to Imperial China Buffet I would say, pretty decent affair here folks. Nothing spectacular and everything I had have, I had better elsewhere. First course involved some lo mein and various Chinese food dishes. Really nothing to talk about here. We are talking standard Chinese food, some mixed sea food dishes, beef and broccoli, crab rangoons, and a shrimp with imitation crab meat dish. They were all meh at best, but I would like to state that nothing was overly salty which is a common problem at cheaper chinese buffet locations. Next course the Hibachi. This is the best thing about this place. The Hibachi was pretty good. I had noodles with beef, shrimp, scallops, onions, with two eggs. Asked for the garlic sauce (knowing you can't go wrong with such a classic sauce). I added sriracha on top of it all just because I like things spicy. Loved it. I would come again and the next time skip over other things and just go full Hibachi. My fiancee had about the same thing but with teriyaki sauce. Big mistake, the teriyaki sauce was very sweet. It really killed the dish. Stick with the garlic sauce folks. I then moved on to a loaded dish of sushi. They really try to have more of a variety then the standard spicy tuna, salmon rolls, and california rolls. There was some sort of eel roll and also a I believe tempura shrimp roll. The sushi wasn't too bad, now again this is measuring from chinese buffet standards. I would definitely eat the sushi here again. I know other places where when trying to eat sushi it instead invokes my gag reflex. The sushi here was fresh enough where I didn't get that aged fish taste. I finished up with some ice cream and sugared fried dough balls. Hard to mess up fried dough balls and they definitely didn't mess it up. Only complaint would be that the balls were evidently sitting around for an extended period of time which made it a tad stale. So Imperial China Buffet like previously mentioned is very decent/standard affair. It doesn't stand out but it definitely isn't at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to quality. I guess this would be the place to go if one does not want to venture into Waterbury. We will be hitting up a few more buffets in the coming few weeks so will see how Imperial ranks in regards to this area. read more

I mean, what can you say? It's a Chinese buffet and they're all the same. $13.95 a piece before drinks but sushi and hibachi grill is included. I think all buffets the food sits out for way too long and typically I don't go to any Chinese buffets. I prefer the Imperial buffet in Plainville, not sure if they are affiliated and I'm going to go with no. However, I'm a fairly picky eater so I just got rice, general tso, and sushi and it was decent. I would come back when I have a craving for it; which is once a year. read more

We have been coming here for a while now. For starters, the staff is very friendly and attentive. The servers are good about keeping your tables cleared when you're done and always offering a new beverage when they see it getting low. The prices are very reasonable, food plentiful and they refresh the food on the buffet often. In recent years they added the hibachi grill and the sushi station. The hibachi has a nice selection of items as well as sauces to cook them in. After you have made your selection, the chef cooks your food on the flattop grill while you watch. The sushi station is nicely done with some seafood and vegetable rolls. Not a large selection, but nice enough. We usually come here for lunch but the dinner menu is a bit more varied with a larger amount of seafood items like crab legs and other specialty seafood. The drinks menu is very reasonably priced. I haven't taken advantage of that yet, but have seen some nice sized scorpion bowls go out to the tables. The food on the buffet is a mixture of some American and Asian. The soup station has sweet and sour soup, wonton soup and chicken soup. The dessert station has cakes, puddings, fruit and ice cream. The salad station has green salad items, a seafood medley, surimi salad, and cocktail shrimp with cocktail sauce. I've been to other Asian themed buffets before and have never seen one of this size and tended to so well. It is because of these reasons and the cleanliness that we continue to come back. read more

They are not a fancy cuisine joint, but they have a lot of variety of foods and they are constantly refreshing them. You will find something you like there, guaranteed. Great for kids, lots of locals and I actually love their desserts. Decent prices, too. Why not stop by? read more

The food selection is wonderful. Sushi, sea food, fresh fruit, many chicken dishes, pizza, chicken nuggets, French fries, ice cream to name a few! The staff is nice and the bathrooms are clean. Prices are pretty good for all you can eat. My only complaint is the website price for drinks is a dollar while the restaurant charges 1.95 per soda. Not a huge deal but something to consider. I'll definitely go back again soon! read more

The food is delicious enough but it makes me sick afterwards every time. I don't know why - it doesnt effect my family the same way. Be careful if you have a sensitive stomach. read more

Since my last review, this buffet has become one of my dad's favorite restaurants, and he chose this for our Father's Day meal, which was the second time I've eaten here. There was some lunch special going on for about $10-11 (can't remember the exact price), and surprisingly it was pretty good, exceeding my expectations of a cheap Chinese buffet. We came towards the start of service so the food was much fresher than the last time I was here, and almost all the dishes I tried were well-prepared and tasty. My favorites wound up being the salt and pepper squid and some kind of stir-fried rice vermicelli dish, the latter of which tasted refreshingly authentic (we are Chinese). I also had a plate of hibachi noodles and it was just okay. I'm sure it would be great if you're into that kind of stuff, but my noodles were too soft and swimming in the sauce I chose. I didn't get a chance to try the sushi that day nor the raw bar because I had a cold sore, but the sushi certainly looked good and offered a greater variety than most buffets I've been to. Overall, most of the food was a little on the salty side, but that's to be expected from a Chinese buffet. The desserts were your standard fare. I wish the fruit was a little fresher, but again, Chinese buffet here. The service was perfectly satisfactory, and the restaurant appears to be clean. All in all, it's not the best food in the area, but it just might be the best buffet, and for $10/person, the value of the lunch buffet can't be beat (it had a pretty generous amount of seafood despite the cheaper price compared to dinner). I doubt you'd be able to sample a greater variety of food for $10 anywhere else in the area. I would return! read more

This is a decent place that has a little something for everyone. I also like to just order take out from here sometimes. I like the "hibachi" option and the sushi included with the buffet pricing, however the last time I was here I was disappointed they took out the roast pork and had a meatloaf thing that just didn't look appetizing, also there were no raw oysters either. The oysters and pork were my main reasons coming to this buffet. read more

Surprisingly good! Not the largest selection but everything I had was fresh, hot, and very tasty. Definitely will be back.

This place is disgusting. Most of the time the food is Luke warm and today I was in the restroom and a lady was leaving a stall that works there and DID NOT WASH HER HANDS. read more