City Buffet

They went out of business last month. I’m surprised they lasted that long. Nice location and beautiful building but very very very poor management.

I was not impressed. Bad food and bad service. The price was out of the question for this place. I will never return. I suggest Pacific Sea Food for the same price.

**3.5 Stars**
All-​you-​can-​eat Lobsters. *Enough Said*
PROS: Lobsters glazed in Brown, Garlicy Sauce, King Crab Legs, Fresh Fruits, Good Desserts like Eclairs, Lemon Cake, Staff does an excellent job at re-​filling empty food trays, Waiters were really attentive and friendly.
Most items were fair and average at best
CONS: Hawk/​Camp out with the anxious, greedy patrons for Lobster re-​fill, you have to time it right and make sure you’re either 1^st or 2^nd in line, otherwise, you end up with nothing and could be the 1^st for the next batch.
The sushi bar was questionable, I didn’t even try, but there was a big selection of various rolls
Dinner: $ 17 (with drink)

City buffet, formally Jen buffet, formally Zen buffet, formally Hometown buffet is still a pretty good buffet. Not as good as any of the previous buffets that were housed here but still better than your average Chinese buffet. Rand H. Robyn N, and myself had lunch here today and they had most of your typical Chinese fare plus a few things I have never seen before. I tried a lot of different items here and everything was tasty and the service was fast and friendly. So City buffet may not be the best buffet to serve food out of this building is still a good one and a solid four stars.

Last Friday, 4÷15÷11, my family and I went to City Buffet as we had been there before on a number of occasions and liked the food. We were especially partial to City Buffet since their promotional prices and coupons made their buffet a pretty good deal. So on Thursday afternoon, I called the restaurant and spoke to the manager who told me that they accepted ALL COMPETITORS’ coupons as well as their own expired ones (as they advertised). I also inquired about the pricing and was told that the pricing was still $ 13.99 for dinner on weekdays and $ 14.99 for the weekends. I was also told that they offered take out service by the pound which was $ 5.99 per pound without seafood and $ 8.99 per pound for their seafood take-​out.
We got there and were extremely disappointed and angry:
* First of all, after we ate, we were told that they did not accept competitors’ coupons, in direct contradiction to what the manager told me;
* Their crab legs, braised lobster dishes were very slow to be refilled. All the other people there were grumbling about this too;
* They did not have the fried, cracked crab and the Dungeness crab as they advertised;
* And they raised the prices on Thursday nite. Why wasn’t I told that when I called on Thursday afternoon?
* Further, they did not have a take-​out option by the pound. They charged me the full dinner price for a little container of food that I took for my other daughter who was at home.
I expected the prices to go up or the menu items to diminished since I suspected that their pricing and their menu offerings were «introductory» in nature, but the thing that pisses me off if the use of deception, lying, and false advertising. The honest provider would publish new prices and new menus and would not give people false information over the phone.
I just drove by the place on my way in to work this morning and the big advertising banners are still up at the restaurant with the false pricing and false menu items.
What deceitful and unethical people own and manage City Buffet in Chandler!

food is barely warm, quality and selection drop greatly. I am very disappointed today.

This place was absolutely the worst buffet I’ve ever been to.
Honestly, I’m not even a picky eater. Even though I am Chinese, I would not say I’m a Chinese food snob. I firmly believe that amazing Chinese food and dim sum can be found outside of San Francisco and yes, even in buffets. I love myself a good Chinese buffet and have been to much better ones.
BUT, this place is just bad
As a disclaimer, I do not eat seafood, so it was partly my fault for coming here. I can’t comment on those dishes, but I can’t imagine them being very good based on the other dishes
I started with noodle bowl station. This is really what convinced me to stay here since I love noodles. Well, the wonton were tiny and bland, while it seemed like they put three noodles in the bowl with a huge amount of broth. The beef stew noodle was also lacking in the amount of noodles and the noodles were still clumped up. The beef was so tough, and there were 7 or 8 pieces of anise in the bowl. Too much.
The mongolian grill was next as I figured, this will be better since I can choose my own stuff. NOPE. There was hardly any flavoring in the stirfry, the meats were awful quality, and no sauces really to flavor it all.
They have standard «Chinese» buffet fare like beef broccoli, spring rolls and orange chicken, in addition to some dim sum. The dim sum buns were hard and these dishes just tasted unappetizing. Blah. The spring roll was especially offensive. The only thing that I enjoyed were the fried wings, which I stuck to after discovering everything else was not good.
Save yourself the trouble and find another buffet if you’re hungry.

We recieved an advertisement in the mail for $ 8.95 but when we got there it was $ 11.95. They had a note on the door saying that they would no longer be able to honor the sale price. It was very shady! If you are going to advertise a sale then honor that price.

This place used to be called Jen Buffet. They’re now under the dubious ownership of City Buffet, though the chef is still the same (for now).
Seriously underrated. I’m Chinese, so naturally, I love buffets. Still, I find most of the offerings in Arizona to be lackluster if not downright disgusting. In terms of seafood, the quality at Jen Buffet (or City Buffet, as it’s called now) is fresher than even Pacific Buffet, specifically the sushi/​sashimi and the shrimp. The grilled fish is also really fresh. There are less items than Pacific Buffet, but the quality is generally better. Here’s the run-​down of my experience.
Day of the Week: Saturday Night
People: Generally empty – there was one family speaking Cantonese seated near us, but mostly non-​Asian diners
What I ate (at least, what I could remember):
Tuna and Salmon sashimi – fresh if small-​portioned
Various sushi items – typical California roll, Philly roll, spicy tuna – fresh and tasty
Seaweed salad – too salty
Octopus – too salty
Mussels – chewy and fairly fresh
Oysters – clean oyster taste, though my brother complained his was bitter and had sand in it
Crayfish: Cantonese family swooped down on these as soon as they refilled the tray; did not get to try these
Clams: fresh and tasty!!!
Roast Beef: My piece was a bit tough/​overdone in texture, but the flavor was good
Coconut Shrimp: The one Americanized Chinese dish I’ll admit to actually liking – a bit soggy, but again, the flavor was good
Stuffed Chicken: surprisingly good; the outside was crispy and the inside with thick and juicy
teriyaki chicken: nice sweet/​savory glaze and juicy, tender chicken inside
Mongo BBQ: light and not overly sauced
hot and sour: I have low tolerance for spiciness, so I thought it was a bit too spicy – my mom loved it
custard bun: small and delicate – possibly the BEST custard buns I’ve eaten at a Chinese buffet. Not soggy and not dry – the PERFECT dim-​sum quality texture
banana «pudding» (in squares): silky smooth, cool, and delicious
unlabeled dessert that tasted like banana pudding with a tasty base of banana cake and bananas – it had the «fake» artificial banana flavor that my brother really enjoys
unlabeled soft-​serve «ice cream» that I strongly suspect was actually frozen yogurt – not watery, but a bit icy as frozen yogurt often is. I loved it, though, being lactose-​intolerant and all
cantaloupe-​fresh!!! It was actually FRESH!!! Oh, the joy of finding fresh fruit at a Chinese buffet
Missing food (that is, what Pacific Buffet has that this place doesn’t)
–Crab legs: my mom said they used to have these, but Chinese families would grab 5 – 6 plates of crabs legs per person, in order to get their money’s worth. Personally, I’ve always found crab legs at buffets to be bland and uninspired
–Pineapple RIce
–Red bean paste bun shaped like a peach
–More sashimi/​sushi offerings
–frog legs
–hard scoop ice cream (green tea amongst other flavors)
–sweet dessert soup (with white fungus, gingko nuts, and dates/​longan)
–BBQ pork buns (actually it might have been Phoenix Palace that used to have this way back when it was a buffet)
Price: $ 9.99+tax. Best deal EVER.
For the value, City Buffet has the freshest seafood in town. Almost everything was authentic (no overly sauced, greasy, «spicy» Americanized Chinese food here) and that might be the problem. Chinese people like authentic Chinese food, but they would never go to a buffet unless it had expensive items like crab legs and sashimi – otherwise, they can just prepare it at home. I’m afraid this hidden gem might close down or worse, descend to the depths of bad American Chinese. And there’s far too much of that already.
4.5 stars (but I’ll round up)

We live pretty close to City Buffet (Used to be called Zen Buffet) and my kids, who are buffet freaks, have been waiting to try it, and I saw that they just had a name change this week and had new prices listed outside. For adult it was priced $ 8.99 for the buffet and with 4 teens that’s a great price, because they sure can eat! The staff was very friendly and attentive to our needs, drinks were being refilled without asking, and there was a good amount of people in restaurant. Now I have to state that even though my kids are into the buffet dining experience, I am not, but having said that, the place does offer a variety of dishes, all of my kids where equally happy with the selection that they had and everyone did get plenty. If you are a person who likes seafood, they had plenty for you, shrimp, crab, mussels, other fish; one of my daughters loved the fact that there was even sushi. The place was clean and staff was always making sure there was never an empty dish. According to my kids the only down side was that they stated the ice cream was lacking in flavor. I am sure I will be taking them back their again to eat.