The food was good. My grandson loved it. The atmosphere is friendly. We will be back again

Arrived to the restaurant and our party was seated at 8:46. At exactly 9:02, the entire staff surrounded the buffet and started removing all of the food from the warmers. (Most of the food was already half empty when we arrived.) They did not add any new food to the buffet and a full 30 minutes before closing they stopped us from getting any more food at all when we had just gotten our first plate.. They still charged us full price! EXTREMELY rude staff subpar food absolutely never ever will we eat there again.! Terrible and overpriced! $75 wasted on one small plate. ZERO STARS. read more

We arrived to plenty of parking and were seated right away--no wait at all, which was a great start! We absolutely loved the huge array of food. Everything we tried was delicious, hot, and fresh. The waitresses were very attentive and kept everything running smoothly. I also thought their "over-eat/waste food" policy was hilarious and honestly reasonable. If people are wasting food when others are starving in the world... yeah, I get it! The ladies' room was very clean and even had toilet seat covers (a big win for me!), but C said the men's room was a bit on the gross side, so hopefully that gets some extra attention soon. One thing to note: they don't serve alcohol, and they only carry Pepsi products--so just a heads-up if you have a drink preference. Overall, we had a great experience. We especially loved the noodles and chicken fingers, and we'll definitely be returning! read more

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I really enjoy ocean buffet with my family. It was so much to choose from the sushi and seafood the soup and different types of meat after we fill ourselves up we went and had the dessert that they had on display. I was not disappointed. I was very much pleased, and my family was too. read more

This is a decent buffet for the price but I have been to better. The sushi is mostly rolls, the hot n sour soup is pretty good, the honey chicken is pretty good too. I had crab rangoon, chicken wings, teriyaki chicken skewer, and egg roll. Those were pretty good . Staff is friendly read more

None of the food was very hot, the server never came back to the table after FINALLY bringing drinks once. She was distracted and was cleaning the restaurant the whole time ignoring the patrons, and the food just keeps getting worse and worse. We've been coming there for a long time but this was our last time today. Dirty silverware, dirty utensils at the sushi bar ( beyond what is expected), dirty bathroom, and nobody really cared that we weren't taking care of. We would have stayed for another refill and probably gotten dessert but we're so aggravated about being ignored and thirsty that we left. Paid $42.96 for a subpar crappy meal with no service.. Don't do it, you'll regret it. And all they had to saywass "oh I'm sorry". YES YOU ARE! read more

An absolute disaster... I was hoping that the food here was going to be at least decent, but it wasn't, I guess that's the price of only paying 13 bucks for a buffet, but seriously?? My lemonade was warm!! And the food was atrocious, the salmon was horrible, and so was their swai fish, it was gooey and tasted rancid! I didn't leave a tip, and while I usually do at food places, at a buffet I didnt feel like it made sense because we are literally the ones who get up and serve our food. The waitress was NOT happy that I didn't leave a tip but I'm sorry it wasn't worth it at all. Just an overall disappointment, and HIGHLY recommend not coming here! read more

From reading the Yelp reviews it seems like Ocean Buffet is hit or miss. Knowing this we still decided to go because typically with a Chinese buffet one can find a few items that are tasty and load up in them. A few rounds of oysters more than pays for the cost of admission. Sadly, Ocean Buffet is a total miss. It was bad. Really bad even going in with low expectations. All 3 of us couldn't find a "go to selection" that we went back for seconds. The best part was the sushi but they all tasted the same. It was a little worse than convinent store made sushi. I was really disappointed with the hibachi grill. The guy manning the grill paid more attention to his phone than he did to the customers. The employee making the sushi kept showing everyone his to jar and wanted money for bland tasteless sushi. The buffet itself was really bad. All the beef in the different dishes was shoe leather tough. It was inedible. Then there are the signs..... They have signs saying you will be charged for all the food you waste. We were all done with a round of food and our dishes were still full because the food was horrible. I could only imagine the restaurant trying to charge me for eating the garbage they were serving. I would have thrown a fit for the ages of they tried to charge me for what I didn't eat. They even messed up the sweet and sour soup. The worst thing on the buffet was originally one of the reasons for going here, the soft shell crab. I picked up a claw to put it in my mouth and it wasn't a soft shell crab. It was a papershell. To hard to eat fried and too soft for eating the inside meat. They over fried it and the meat was stuck to the shell making it impossible to eat. I've never seen anything so ridiculous in my life. The oyster.... they didn't smell bad but after seeing how bad the food was at Ocean Buffet I was afraid of eating raw oysters. I'm being generous giving them 2 stars. The best thing was the waitress refilling the drinks quickly but to be able to do this it seemed like she was almost sitting at our table while we discussed how bad the food was. She didn't speak any English so asking her a question was useless. Don't go here if you've eaten Chinese food before. This place really sucks. It really sucks. read more

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does not feel too clean, ate here with my family for graduation. this was a desperate attempt as it's one of the only chinese buffets in fl.

Great fresh food. Amazing selection of foods. Great sushi and cook bar. If you go ask for a sweet girl named Kelli. She is so great! Fast friendly a real hard worker. And very nice . My wife and I absolutely adore her when we go. The setting is very well layed out and the atmosphere is open and friendly. Highly recommend. Only fault I see is the outside is a bit aged and the outside light is still laying on the ground. But other than that amazing . read more

Stopping in again to mention how much we love Ocean. This place is the most nostalgic memory of Gainesville for me, after living here for 6 years. The great memories will stick with me forever! Kelly, an absolute sweetheart, was always so kind to my son. One of the biggest pull factors are the prices here- second to none. You can feed your LARGE and BIG EATERS here for cheap and the food is healthy and quality. We always go for sushi and choose to load up on tons of veggies with protein in hibachi and fruit for dessert. They have an amazing selection and never disappoint. Very consistent quality. Love it! read more

Okay so it's my f*cking mistake for trusting a 12 dollar sushi place lol. If you're looking for a sign, this is it, don't go, spend your 12 bucks for a chipotle bowl or Panda Express cause wow I just paid money for food poisoning. Again my fault for trusting something so cheap. The food was all weird tasting, the sushi tasted like really fishy, the cooked food like the rice, the lo mein and the orange chicken were cold and just slimy almost. Also the waitress gave us warm lemonade, what made me confused is the place was PACKED. Also If you get a plate of food and you don't like it because it tastes disgusting, they will CHARGE YOU FOR THE FOOD WASTED. Do yourself a favor, don't me stupid like me and consider going to this place for the f*ck of it. read more

I totally see the appeal for people who have a hefty appetite! The food was edible (I think). Staff was fine - empty plates taken away quickly, drinks refilled quickly. Big variety of food. I knew the moment I saw it, I was going to be in trouble. At my age (53) I simply cannot eat low quality food anymore. I wind up feeling like crap every time and boy am I paying the price for it now. Headache, chills and a gurgle in my tummy that can only mean one thing. I told my husband if he loves me at all, never to take me to one of those places again. Clearly I am MSG sensitive. I hope alka seltzer fixes me. If you have young growing boys with stomachs made of steel though, it's worth the price - 5 of us ate for $100. #neveragain Wait wait, I came back to edit my post because I forgot the funny part. As I'm looking for soy sauce, I find what appears to be soy sauce in a Siracha bottle. I give it a squeeze into my little plastic cup. Well I guess a red pepper flake or something was stuck in the tip. I squeezed a little harder and whatdoyaknow- soy sauce all over my tshirt and sweater! So not only did I suffer the drive back to our hotel with headache, chills, and gurgles - I had to endure the insufferable stench of soy sauce all over me! That hot shower couldn't come fast enough! But I'm fine. It's fine. We're all fine. Update: it is now the following morning and I tell ya, I suffered all night. I can't tell if I have a slight case of food poisoning or not. All I know is I wish I had intervened on the decision making. I would have rather paid $50 per person for a nice ribeye not served by community serving utensils. In retrospect, that's just really gross. #nevereveragain Update day 3: definitely food poisoning. Absolutely suffering. read more

I went in hoping they had the "Chicken-on-a-Stick" with the chinese flavor I had while in north Georgia. Sadly, this chicken-on-a Stick while very good didn't have the flavor I was looking for. I have been to many Chinese restaurants recently in Brunswick, Saint Mary's Georgia, Jacksonville, and now Gainesville. The Chinese restaurant in Jacksonville was the best until I visited Ocean Buffet. Now I wish I lived in Gainesville because the food at this restaurant is very good. Their food don't have the strong "ethnic" flavor experienced in Washington State, but it is very good for the South Georgia, Florida area. There's something these other restaurants put in their food that I like, but don't seem to get it at the southern restaurants. If you are in Gainesville and looking for a good meal, this is the place for you. read more

This place is small and old fashioned.We couldn't eat in peace as after our first plate the waitress brought us our check and walked by our table numerous times to see if we put $$$ on the check.I told her we would pay when we were done but she kept stopping by to pickup the check. We ended up leaving and I wasn't even standing when she came by and swiped the $$ before I could get up. I told the manager, but she didn't care.rushed rushed rushed.We only tried the food, and anything that had a breading, basically was all breading. Fried foods were overfried. I won't go back there read more

1. Parking and access is good enough, if it feels crowded there's always parking in the front and side of building. 2. Seating and ambiance. The place looks clean as expected of a buffet place, it is busy on Sundays after 12:00PM. Normal oriental decor not to fancy or elaborate, but a nice place to seat. 3. Service, once you talk at the front counter they will seat you and ask what would you drink. Service is pretty good, as the server walks by several times and asks you if you need anything in English, Mandarin or Spanish. 4. Food is in the higher scale of a buffet type restaurant. Everything seems to be well organized and well prepared, there is an area where you pick your uncooked food items and they will cook them while you wait. I was surprised at how many of the items taste really good and fresh. Will definitely come back. This gets high marks from me on the buffet restaurant scale. read more

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Don't you just love it when your server talks loudly (to themselves?) in a foreign language as they seat you and every time they pass your table? Not the most welcoming dining experience, that's for sure. I won't be back. read more

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I have been to this buffet at least 3 times in the last 2 months because it is so good! I paid about $50 for two people. It is always busy and sometimes the counters get a little dirty and sticky but I've seen employees come around and clean up several times in one night. This is one buffet you cannot go wrong with! They have a sushi bar, hibachi grill, and about five rows of buffet lines. They have ice cream and a whole buffet line of dessert! read more

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Eh. It was your average Chinese buffet. Nothing too crazy worth noting. Food quality is slightly below the average Chinese buffet. Price per person is relatively inexpensive so you're definitely getting value if you come hungry ready to try a lot of dishes. A bit too condensed from a layout perspective but that's more of a secondary thing. read more

Pretty average buffet with tired ambiance, sticky table, lots of fried food, great noodles, hibachi grill, loved their vegetables with brown gravy. Large variety of sushi - the salmon one I had had hard white rice and the salmon was too fishy. Nice fast and quick meal with easy parking. Service was great and prompt. read more

absolutely insane, the food is disgusting and the prices are insane for the disgusting food

Had an enjoyable hour-long weekday stop here for lunch. Arrived right as it opened and was seated immediately. Ate a ton of sushi; it was all fresh and delicious. The atmosphere was great, lots of customers for lunch, but plenty of seating and there of course was pently of food hot and ready. Really, just a great experience from first bite to last! read more

Always plenty of food here at Ocean buffet.rThe ladies waiting on the tables are always so friendly.downside is some of the food is less than pleasing and can be a little tough to eat read more

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The food from the steam table was cold cold, I had a bowl of egg drop soup and a glass of water. And was given $5.00 off the bill. I've tried this place for years sometimes it's okay sometimes it's horrible, old food, flies all over the place when I mentioned to the front counter they didn't move. This restaurant needs a weekly inspection before someone gets really sick I started to eat some raw oysters that had a stinch. read more

Like Seafood to have to eat with friends and and family and "- Get Give Cards to help Jen out too "!! Maybe sure the food is hot enough- Hot teas"!! Like chicken and Steak or Rice and Beans and vegetables read more

The food is good, I have been eating here for years. The variety is amazing. I have read other articles and they degrade the food as being bad, and just plain rotten and disgusting. I am saying that I have never seen anything there that I would not eat. There are things that I don't like, that I may not recommend. But for the money there is a just more than you might expect. Service was better than expected. The girls are fresh off the boat, and some have little understanding of English. But they definitely try to accommodate. Ambiance is lacking in that it is a large open area packed with people enjoying the food. read more

BAD SERVICE Food been good, but one of service was terrible! Super terrible that I never met before. No service, and the server Rolled her eyes! PLEASE ATTENTION YOUR DAMN ATTITUDE! read more

I'm a sucker for buffets and this place was a lot better than I expected. The lunch special is 9.99 for all you can eat with a wide variety of asian foods. Personally I went mainly for sushi but tried to try almost everything. The sushi is small but that just means you can eat more of it. For the $10 lunch price it is very good, I ate probably $40 worth of sushi anywhere else. They have an assortment of basic rolls and even some semi speciality looking ones. They also have hibachi where you can choose a variety of meats and veggies for the chef to cook for you! I would not recommend the steak at all as it was super tough but the shrimp and lo mein was amazing from hibachi! Some other thoughts on the food. I loved the black pepper chicken, shrimp, chicken and broccoli, lo mein, would not recommend the general tso and the muscles had no sauce. Overall great value and I definitely recommend if you're dying to stuff yourself to the brim. read more

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This has to be one of the worst places I've ever eaten at. The food was terrible, the rice was uncooked, the chicken wasn't even chicken it was straight breading. The eggs rolls had a smell to them. The sushi was hard and the avocado was brown. The only thing good about this place was the hibachi and the guy who was cooking it was cool. Will never come back to a place like this. Stomach has been in shambles since I left. If you ever visit stay away from the buffet there is nothing worth eating. read more

This Chinese buffet is not doing enough to stop the spread of COVID-19. The place was overly crowded at lunch, with no distancing and people everywhere. The serving utensils were touched by dozens of people and were not replaced by staff. I didn't even dare serve anything from the ice cream bar. The food on the buffet was sparse and rarely re-filled. There was a very small selection of dishes and what was there all tasted the same: lacking flavor. There are very few labels on the dishes so people don't know what they're eating. This could become dangerous for people with allergies. The staff cleared our plates but never refilled my water the entire duration of our meal. Every restaurant can have a bad day and deserves a second chance, though I don't think this is a one-day issue. read more

This place slaps if you're hungry and ready to feast. The lunch buffet comes out to $10/person. We like going for the evening buffet since there's usually crab and crawfish. The hibachi is always good, as is the sushi. They have al; of my favorite rolls (I'm basic lol). Service is always amazing - we're seated quickly, our plates are taken away promptly, and our drinks don't go empty. They are using plastic utensils and disposable cups right now. This place does get crowded during peak times nowadays, so social distancing isn't always possible. Don't skip the sweet donuts on the buffet line, they are the best part. read more

I've been to Ocean Buffet several times over the past 5 years, and recently returned in December. I wanted to leave a brief review about how I felt about it in a CO-VID19 world. Safety: They try to socially distance with tables, provide Styrofoam cups, plastic silverware, and disposable gloves. Additionally , people are asked to wear their face mask when moving around to get food. Quality of food: I'd say the quality is consistent with what it has been in recent years. It isn't the best quality Chinese food, but if you're going with friends of family you'll be able to find at least one option that you enjoy. Some items are far better quality than others. For example, the salmon and tuna (attached photos) are incredibly low quality. The sushi option is meant to be just that, one of many options. I don't expect it to be 4-5 star sushi restaurant quality, but I'd say the quality is incredibly poor. The coconut shrimp, mushrooms, and Japanese chicken were all great options and incredibly tasty. I also tried some of the pepper steak which was pretty good. There is a standard "made to order" hibachi area where you can pick your ingredients, and they'll cook them in front of you. This might be one of the best options. I didn't decide to do that this particular visit. Service: Overall, the waitress was very nice and attentive. There have been some times where I've been here and received next to no service. I'd rate it a 4/5 for service. My overall rating is a 3/5 due to the sushi quality that served as my first plate and potentially destroyed my appetite. At the $13.99 dinner price point, I think there could be some improved options. For people looking to hang out for 1-2 hours, and enjoy a lot of different food...this is a great spot because of the wide variety. You can try a little bit of everything from fruit, dessert, chicken, salmon, shrimp, lo mien, rice, vegetables, etc. read more

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Could have definitely been better; the noodles seemed overdone and there wasn't much variety.

Buffet is alright. Decent selection of seafood, sushi, and standard fare. I didn't die yet from the raw oysters, but bit a shell or rock in the shrimp scampi so avoid that. The spare ribs were nuclear red, dinner menu doesn't have that much extra to offer. Crawfish were underseasoned and out of season, so of course they were frozen. Sushi was alright, wish they had more nigiri. A lot better dessert options than most places. Staff are mostly Chinese read more

I'm definitely a fan of Buffay Chinese food, but I was not overly impressed with Ocean buffet. I waited about 10 minutes for someone to help me at the hibachi grill, never saw anybody, and the food was subpar. I will say the garlic shrimp was good and the pepper steak was very good but with that said, I still feel they could've put more into it. The place was clean, which surprised me because outside the trashcan was overflowing and the sidewalks were clean, which would normally stop me from going again but I thought I'd give it a try. I'm not sure I'll return there. It be nice to find a good Chinese all you can eat buffet, so I'll continue looking. read more

The food was good. The waitressing is decent vacuum are usually clean and the restaurant always seems clean.

It's good, there's a nice variety of stuff The service is OK and the food was good. The sushi is OK read more

Not what I expected, staff was okay. Food was always in the dishes, place is kept well clean. My problem was the food sucked. Noodles were bland, beef and broccoli was bland as well. Also very busy. read more

I've been meaning to try Ocean Buffet on my many trips to Gainesville. The reviews seem to be a hit or miss here, but luckily, I had a pretty good experience. The waitress seemed suspicious of us throughout our meal, so I get why others note the bad customer service. I guess I was just too hungry to really care... I pretty much stick with my regular entrees: General Tso's/Orange/Honey Chicken, white rice, the sushi roll buffet, and the crispy fried shrimp. I think it's amusing that there's a sign inside the restaurant that states there's a 2 hour maximum for dining and they have cameras. I guess they posted this because some people stay too long? Eat too much? LOL. I'm not sure, but I think I ate enough in about thirty minutes so I'm good with the two hour time limit. I can see where it could offend others. I can definitely say that this place stays busy. Every time I've driven by this location, the parking lot was always full and I think that's a positive sign. My recommendation is to try it out. Don't go overboard even though it's a buffet, but in my experience if you overeat, you'll only feel gross and not appreciate the flavors. Overall, everything was delicious that I put on my plate and I would definitely go back for a quick and convenient lunch in the area. read more

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This place should be closed down, food safety needs to come in and shut the doors!!! They serve rotten oysters on the bar that smell like DEATH for just anyone to eat and doesn't care about sick elderly mother with medical conditions in bathroom and immediately having to leave.. instead there worried about the check and demands payment regardless of circumstances, very rude staff that doesn't understand English nor even cares to understand the situation they act like they don't see or hear you, the hot food on the bar was cold the plates were wet and the waitress do not care for there tables as they should or understands the risk of food born illness of contaminated shellfish, I hope the money to them was worth it and hopefully nobody else gets severely ill from there poor choices. read more