Jen Buffet

The place is not called Jen Buffet so don’t waste your time driving around looking for it like we did. It’s called City Buffet now.
Okay so most of the food was your usual fare except for two items that stood out for me and compelled me to give this place 4 stars instead of 3. The first item being the steamed whitefish in soy sauce. This was an item that back home in Ohio we would special order ahead of time, love this with white sticky rice!!! Second item, I don’t know the name of it, was over by the grill area and is this white soft warm bun filled with a pork blend. I used to eat these when I lived in Peru but it’s been years because our little corner of Ohio never had these. I may have just squealed a little when I saw them there! And oh my they were better than I remember!!! It helped make up for the fact that they had no roast duck like others had told me they had (Rand! :P) but oh well!
Other than no duck, their ice cream machine was also down so my husband and child were disappointed but hey fruit is better for you anyways! And they had plenty of options including fresh cut mangoes. The waiter was also nice to my daughter, when she got fussy he tried to make her laugh. Unfortunately that just made her try to crawl onto my lap but he tried!
If anything, I will be going back for the fish and the warm pork buns alone!

With over 150 items (thanks Rand) there is something for everyone here. Mongolian BBQ, sushi and all the usual dishes you would find on a Chinese buffet. The food was fresh, hot and some of the best I’ve had in a long while. I tried a little bit of a lot of things and there wasn’t anything I didn’t like. In the beef dishes the meat was tender and not fatty — the chicken dishes had chicken breast and it wasn’t dry — the shrimp entrees were cooked well, no rubbery shrimp that were too small to find or taste. The vegetables were fresh and nothing was too greasy.
The service was excellent as well. They kept our water glasses and my soda filled, they cleared the used plates quickly and we had all the napkins we would need. They even brought a knife to the table when I forgot to pick one up at the buffet station.
It may not be all «authentic» Asian food, but it sure tasted good to me. Something for everyone and at $ 7.95 for the lunch buffet, you just can’t beat the price.

This rating is based on the sushi alone. My boyfriend ate the cooked food but I was really just in the mood for sushi that night.
Basically they have a sushi guy there making sushi nonstop at random. I was completely satisfied with the variety and the taste. Very delicious! The price is right too. All you can eat sushi is hard to come across. Yum yum!
As far as the buffet and cooked food went there was a huge variety but my boyfriend said it was just standard buffet food. I’ll come here again just for the sushi :}

I have been here twice so I know what’s the best items for my taste. Would give another star if the Mongolian grill had more items and sauces. Trying the evening buffet tomorrow with 2 teenage son’s one whose 18 and a football player. Should definitely get my moneys worth!

I’m starting with the typical «I feel bad, my first 1 star review»… oh yeah, it was bad.
Tues night, the joint was dead (which made us backstep slightly but what the heck). I had high hopes for this place since it’s been advertised in the Chinese local papers, which is a tough crowd. The community wants good food, preferably seafood, and for cheap prices. The food offerings had the dried-​out-​exposed-​to-​air-​look-​long-​time-​look. I could of forgiven them if the seafood didn’t taste either fishy or completely bland (how does crab legs lose their salty brine flavor?). They used the cheap high U-​count shrimp in their dishes as well, but I did enjoy their oysters with black bean sauce. Clams, again no flavor.
Variety yes, but what’s the point if it doesn’t taste all that.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…
Where to start?
1.) Gee, the fried shrimp was pretty fishy.
2.) The innards of the spring roll were pure mush.
3.) Their aesthetically pleasing red spare ribs tasted funny.
4.) The frickin chicken on a stick & fried chicken wings were very dry.
5.) What the… very odd taste for their orange chicken.
6.) Never had sweet tapioca soup before, and will likely never again.
7.) The dumplings consisted of a sweet breading around a savory BBQ pork center. Sweet & salty should usually go together well, but it wasn’t a good sweet.
I’m not a shellfish eater, so I cant cash in on the crab legs. Visited their sushi bar, and the tuna rolls I had were pedestrian. My daughter said the California Rolls tasted funny, and to me they smelled fishy.
They also have a Mongolian grill which I didn’t try, because I didn’t have any cash for a tip… I’m cool like that.
The service was good and I enjoyed the piped in Gaga tunes. Maria was a pleasant waitress. But Zen, at about $ 46 for 3 buffets and soft drinks, you ain’t foolin me again.

Zen Buffet in Glendale Arizona: Run away. Fast.
Am usually the kind of guy that can find the silver lining in almost any situation i. e; «our server was a most *excellent* mouth-​breather…» — but as I write this review I still remain unable to find any redeeming quality whatsoever. It should be known:
#1: I’m a guy;
#2: I’m single parent w/​kids;
#3: I can be Stalin-​esque when it comes to buffets i. e; «quantity has a quality all its own’ — which should be a godsend to ownership when rating a buffet. My expectations are low to start.
As such, I am also very forgiving regarding buffets. Food doesn’t have to be awesome for a passing grade from my boys and I — it just can’t suck. Same thing with service: If we’re missing a place setting or salt — I’m the kind of guy who will just snag one off a neighboring table — and still tip. Place has to reeeally go below and beside the call of duty to rate a negative (and yet I’ll still tip… but that’s how I roll :-)
Zen Buffet — how much do I love thee? I’d planned on making list thanks to the generous 15% off Zen was offering if you mentioned „Yelp“ — but alas, we’ve yet to find a thing. What we *did* notice however is as follows:
1. My boys and I have renamed the restaurant „The Dancing Queen“, as this was the *only* song that played repeatedly for the 1^st 44 minutes we were there. We were having fun watching and listening to the folks around us as they would come to the same sudden realization :-p
2. Much of the food was empty i. e; crab legs (Hey: at $ 12 for dinner, I’d like to have the crab legs as advertised!). I asked the attendant refilling the food *twice* if she would pleease refill it. It took asking the gentleman who was seating up front to get anything crab legs — and then the other patrons were busy waiting in the wings gobbled them all up in about 90 seconds. Never refilled again either.
Oh HEY: I actually *can* say something good about this place: They refill the rice and noodles quite well! But now back to it:
3. One of my favorite dishes — salt & pepper shrimp — was misidentified and not available despite signage indicating otherwise. The salt & pepper frogs legs were as advertised — just ultra weak in the spice and ultra old. The shrimp in the bin that had the ‘salt & pepper shrimp’ sign was red. And breaded. And cold. Health department?!?
4. The lo mein noodles were bland and devoid of any flavour whatsoever, as were the rice noodles. And the creepy looking fried rice (bright yellow) was so hard, bland and cold that we spat it out. 1^st time. Ever.
5. The wonton soup had not wontons (picked out); no baked scallops in the ‘baked scallop» (it was chopped ‘krab’ that was baked in a scallop shell).
It took us that long (and $ 40 bucks) to realize it was time to leave.
I decided to take one quick walk back around the sushi spot. Like before, most of it was out. The sashimi on the far left side of the line looked like it had been cut and set out the day before yesterday. Quite unappealing and I was actually afraid to touch it.
Felt I owed Unilocal a review due to the 15%, and I really feel bad for the ownership who will in all likelihood be out of business soon. And the summer hasn’t even started.
Looking forward to my first *real* review when I can report on a place that I actually want to go to (vs. hungry boys who spotted this place again as we were driving by today).
Off the cuff review here, forgive the spelling/​tense/​general spaciness. We’re still hungry — but for something edible :-o

My new favorite Chinese buffet !!! This place rocks, the restaurant itself is clean and very comfortable and the food (lots of it) is great. Every dish i had i wanted more except for the soup i started with. It was the only one with out a name tag and it looked different then any i had ever seen, so i tried it and it tasted like it was only hot water and egg whites. I know not to ever pick that one again. After that everything was great, from the wide array of shrimp dishes to the roast duck this place has it all and it is all cooked and presented beautifully .So if your hungry for chinese this is the #1 place, just do not have the egg and hot water soup and you to will be giving JEN a 5 star review as well. YUM !!! YUM!!! YUMMMM!!!

Another Chinese buffet taken over Country or Hometown Buffets. I heard good reviews about this place. $ 12.99 per adult was reasonable price, food selections were good, and they even have a BBQ and noodle station for wonton noodle soup, beef stew soup, seafood noodle soup, roast duck noodle soup. If you go to a Chinese restaurant and order three of these soups, that would cost you more than $ 12.99. I’m always afraid of eating sushi at a buffet place. They are never fresh and probably sitting there for hours. I was impressed with the Calirolls. They actually have fresh avocados on top. The deep fried rolls were probably fried a few times. It was tough, not crunchy at all. If you’re a fan of seafood, there are plenty of different seafood dishes to select from. Speaking of buffets, my brother had mentioned Todai buffet. I sure missed that place in the valley. They have so much more to offer.

Definitely worth many return visits. There are just too many good things to choose from, and even with small portions from each tray I had to skip several dishes because I had gotten too full from all the tasty stuff I’ve taken. The place is huge and very clean, there’s a staggering array of food choices, and the staff is very efficient and friendly. There’s a separate area for Korean/​Mongolian BBQ which offers grilled fresh sardines (love it!!) in addition to the expected bulgogi and grilled chops and chicken, as well as fresh ingredients for you to assemble and hand in for cooking, Mongolian BBQ style. They also have a centrally-​located area for sushi (good sushi — for a buffet, that scores major points) and edamame, and the main buffet area also offers crispy veggie tempura to complement your sushi if you feel like giving your meal a Japanese slant. I enjoyed the seafood dishes a lot, especially the poached fish dishes and the clams. Of course they also have the usual buffet staples such as coconut shrimp and beef ‘n broccoli, all very well made. For dessert, lots of fruit as well as the expected buffet dessert cakes and puddings. Thanks, Rand, for introducing me to this great dining spot. A place that can make me enjoy even things I usually don’t like — such as hot and sour soup — is an awesome place indeed.

My wife and I are always trying to test out new restaurants and one thing that the East Valley has a shortage of is Chinese buffets. If you can handle visiting the older area of Chandler in front of Walmart then you just might find that you’ll LOVE Zen Buffet. They are always friendly. We’ve eaten there five or six times since they opened. I’m always impressed and have never been disappointed. The service is great, the food is fresh and the crablegs are excellent. Shrimp, scallops, crab, crablegs and salmon round out what is already a perfect combination. We love Zen Buffet and will continue to frequent that place. I rate it much better than Pacific Seafood on Arizona Avenue. For some reason their restaurant always smells «fishy» and their prices are higher. If you want an excellent value without the «fishy» smell go to Zen Buffet. These folks know how to do it right!

Wow. As far as Chinese buffets go, this is absolutely excellent.
My boyfriend and I became aware of this place via a coupon from the mail. We typically frequented Crazy Buffet (many, many times!) but we were open to bigger and better things. Zen Buffet seemed good, and having coupons was a plus. We checked out the reviews here on Unilocal and we were convinced we had to try it.
So off we went. but wait? What? Jen Buffet? This place has some kind of name confusion going on. Their advertising and their receipts both clearly say Zen Buffet, but the outside of the restaurant says Jen Buffet. Weird.
But the food is decisively excellent. I’m no sushi or seafood lover, but my boyfriend was all over it. He says the sushi is amazing– comparable to some of his favorite (and way more expensive) sushi restaurants. He also said the crab legs were very fresh (fresher than the crab at Crazy Buffet).
The selection was great. I had a nice sampling of the non-​seafood dishes. The orange chicken has tasty sauce. The sesame chicken has the perfect texture and flavor. The mushrooms were wonderful, the stir fried green beans delicious. Pretty much everything I tried was good– even the American favorite, fried chicken, was excellent. Perfectly crispy on the outside, moist on the inside without too much fat. I was also particularly impressed by the spring rolls– in my experience spring rolls tend to just taste like whatever sort of oil they were cooked in, but these spring rolls were bursting with flavor. The sweet and sour chicken was some of the best I’ve ever had, and their cream cheese wantons are extra stuffed without being soggy.
We were full before we got a chance to sample it all. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and plan on returning very soon (we went yesterday and my boyfriend wanted to go back today!)
Highly recommended.

Best seafood buffet EVER !!! Very tasty.!! fresh !!! tray get replenish often. Man o-​man, …, great selection too. did I tell you this is the best buffet ever? If you like seafood, This is seafood lovers heaven. Did I say best Ever!!!

Holy delicious buffet batman! I was in the area saturday night with a plan to eat at either pacific seafood buffet or this brand spanking new zen buffet.
I have horrible self made luck in that my free meal is always in the evenings. Sadly most Chinese buffets fall apart quality wise for dinner. This is horrible considering they are almost always twice as expensive. I had previously scoped out pacific seafood buffet and knew that it looked good for dinner. I stopped here and had a list of things that I absolutely wanted to be happy that evening.
This place was PACKED and that means fresh food when it comes to buffet land. The selection of items here is huge. They have 6 or 7 hot tables, plus a table for grilled goods, and a table for Mongolian BBQ fixings. The trays were also on the smaller side so they were replenished more often.
Everything I tried here was good. That’s not to say the best I’ve tried but to try 15+ different items and enjoy them all is saying a lot. Especially for my food snobby self.
Trays of food were being replaced constantly. Everything was hot and fresh and not swimming in grease. They ran out of BBQ pork ribs which made me sad but was quickly remedied when a brand new scalding hot pile showed up within 10 minutes.
The only disappointing factor of this buffet was the dessert selection. Both gourmet honk kong buffet and pacific have better dessert selections. Honk Kong has higher end pastries and cakes. Pacific has the tubs of the real ice cream. These guys had the standards:
Something with coconut (sadly not macaroons or I would have had a tear of joy)
Lemon/​Chocolate Cake (Costco Style)
Puffy Pastry
Cubed Espresso Cake
Self Serve Frozen Yogurt Machine
They did have a nice selection of fresh cut fruit.
I believe it is safe to say out of the higher end Chinese buffets in town this is #1 or a close tie for #1/#2.
Sorry for the lack of pictures but the drive took so long I was starving and pictures lost priority over a grumbling stomach.