Terrible. overcooked crab Rangoon and chicken and cashews that is mostly just celery, which I would not have ordered if I had known. The picture online did not show that. I think places need to put actual pictures of what they're cooking because this is gross. Lo mein was gross and loaded down with mushrooms when we put down we didn't want those in there. I would recommend you go to Peru for Chinese. What a waste of $30. read more

Lin Garden - Burnt crab Rangoon with runny filling - Buffets Near Me - Ottawa, Illinois

See all

Since the new owners started, the prices went up & the food is TERRIBLE!! The young girl who runs it is very ignorant. They ruined a very good restaurant. I have even seen roaches running across the floor & on the walls!! I will never go there again, someone should shut them down for GOOD!!!! read more

Order them from doordash a long time ago and got there Beef lo mein and the vegetables tasted soapy asf almost like the didn't rinse them out and just put it on the plate and sended it out to me I will never order from them again my opinion stick with China inn at least they would rinse out there vegetables read more

I thought their food was excellent and hot I got it delivered. I had steamed dumplings, pork fried rice & a beef egg roll. Not New Chiam but the next best thing since new Chiam is closed up now. Would definitely recommend very fast delivery also. read more

(Jul 2023) This is now my Favorite place to get Chinese the food is now so much better aswell as the service. It seems like they are figuring things out. The place is a bit older but still gets the job done. They also have ice cream if you wanted that. read more

We picked up General Tso, peanut chicken, steamed dumplings and egg rolls tonight. It was all fantastic. Really fresh and so good!

So disappointed. I order here often because they deliver. Normally we have a pleasant experience. Today was horrible!! We called in an order at 10:40 a.m. asking for delivery for 11:20. The woman who answered said it would happen no problem. At 11:30 we still did not have our food. When we called she said it just left. 11:40 no food. When we called she repeated again that it just left. After explaining that our order was over 20 minutes late she told me she was cancelling our order because she didn't have time to talk to us and then hung up on me. If you are hoping for delivery don't order before 11. I was informed that the buffet is first then an order might get started around 11. I've worked in restaurants that have had buffets and I have NEVER heard where a customers order sits until a buffet line is set up. Why offer delivery and say it will be there at 11:20 (even 11:30 would have been fine) if you aren't even going to cook the food until you feel like it. The woman on the phone was rude, kept cutting me off and threatening to cancel our food "unless I left her alone". OH AND OUR ORDER WAS WRONG! (I would give this place no stars if I could) read more

I order lunch takeout every other week from here. You get a soup, side roll, main dish and fried/white rice for under $6. My mom loves their egg Foo young. My husband and kids live the sesame chicken. I like their general tso's and Hong Kong rolls. Their crab Rangoon is pretty excellent, too. We've frequented their lunch and dinner buffet. Pretty accommodating for the area. They make things fresh. Don't expect stellar decor or good furniture and ambiance. It's just a eat and go type place. 4 stars for Ottawa area. The family that runs the place is really nice. The female owner always recognizes me and asks about the kids if they're not with me. read more

I very rarely feel it necessary to post my experiences with restaurants, and I am always quick to first give the benefit of the doubt. However, given my personal restaurant experience I cannot in good conscience give this buffet experience anything higher than the 1 star minimum. My best guess would be that this is a struggling chinese restaurant in a smaller town that, in order to increase profits, decided to offer a cash cow buffet model. The previous reviews got us in the door, the food though will keep us away with no intentions of returning. The staff was attentive, and the cashier was friendly, but perhaps the experience of ordering takeout and receiving fresh food is better from this establishment. 1 star read more

Wow. Ordered dinner from here and it was so fresh, warm and good! Egg rolls were perfect...crisp and warm. The chicken was not dry and the rice was awesome. Shrimp was fresh and nice size. I will definitely order again! read more

It's been years since we last tried this restaurant. It appears that it is under new management. The buffet was very good and there were many items to choose from. I noticed that staff was very attentive to make sure that each item was refilled quickly as needed. We are fans! read more

Food was terrible customer service was terrible food had no flavor asked for refund over phone was told to bring the food back and would get refunded drive all the way across Ottawa and was refused a refund because I had taken a small bite out of my noodles read more

New batch of food was mixed with old batch .at 5:00 waitress was nice...but I come for the food and was turned off

Food was not very hot. Probably taken off buffet. Delivered in 10 minutes. Low prices but small portions. Mongolian beef was mostly onion. Very little meat. Egg foo young was spongy. Overall it was ok but I will get my deliveries from another yet more pricey place in town. read more

Price is about 12 bucks per person for dinner. They do have age discounts for kids but not that big of a difference in price. They don't have sushi. Never had bad food there. Staff is always nice but you shouldn't have to pay for your second refill on your drink. Not a very good place for families since seating is very limited. Not really a huge selection, but what they do have is good. read more

Ever since the new owners took over ,the buffet is always empty, and dried up, service sucks ...we will never go there again!!!!

I love going to Lin Garden. They are wonderful people. They take pride into there restaurant and just not trying to make a buck. Nancy and her husband Hao are amazing. The choices that they have are very pleasing and delicious. They make sure that the food is changed frequently and is kept hot! The only bad thing I would say is there daughters are the waitresses and they do need to speed it up when it comes to refilling drinks and cleaning tables. But other than that we will be back. read more

Ate here yesterday. I couldn't even stomach half of the crap they had out in their buffet. It was all hard, cold and tasted terrible, probably because it had been sitting all day. My friend and boy friend managed to eat and after leaving, immediately got sick. My friend was violently ill. I called the restaurant and told them about the incident and they said I could come back and get a refund. We drove back across town and when I got there, the woman refused to refund our money. Further she screamed at me and told me to get the f*** out when I mentioned that the food was terrible. The previous owners would have never served such a poor excuse for food or treat their customers so badly. I reported them to the health department and will never eat here again. Shame on Lin Garden. read more

Food was ok, staff was pleasant but could be friendlier to paying customers. We like smiles from businesses we spend money on. Look at people in their eyes when speaking to them. Restaurant was clean, food handling seemed sanitary. Steam table could have been hotter. read more

Food is usually pretty good. Sometimes you can tell it's been sitting under heat lamps all day. Fried rice was like dog food hard today. You only get 1 refill before they charge for more drinks. Now they have signs up if u leave food on your plate they charge you for waste. Well it's a buffet there will be waste. Plus if you don't want waste make sure your food is fresh and good quality. Only desperate business owners post signs about waste and refills. Bad business. read more

I am from the Chicago area so we are spoiled by good Chinese food. Lin's hit the spot but it just wasn't exceptional. The rice and vegetables were quite good. The beef dish could have used a higher quality beef. For the local area it's probably a good spot. read more