Yan’s Chinese Buffet

If I want Chinese buffet on a weekend this is my place. Small buffet selection but decent, though very uninspired. The place is kinda worn out, the seats are lumpy, but it is generally quiet and seldom crowded. Price is ok

Really disappointed with Yans and how it’s turned into such a dump. The food is always cold and there are always kids running around. Not a good atmosphere at all for dining. Don’t go here.

I really don’t like to leave bad reviews but I was really disappointed. I should have known when I walked in the door and there were no people there… but I figured it was an off hour. Around 4pm on a Wednesday.
The selection is small. It’s not a huge place, so I wasn’t expecting a huge selection, but maybe instead of 3 soups, they could have had fried wontons or something.
The food was cold. All of it. The buffet had steam coming off it, but all the food was cold. The lo mein was dry. The general tso and sesame chicken were watery. Someone else mentioned that as well so maybe it’s their recipe?
The chairs are duct taped together in spots and for a Chinese place, it really wasn’t very clean. There was dust on the backs of the booths and crumbs on the floor. Generally those places are immaculate in my experience. And it was totally empty when I walked in so it wasn’t like they didn’t have time to vacuum.
The waitress was very nice, though she wrongly assumed that my daughter was older than she is and charged me more for her meal than she should have. I didn’t argue. Just wanted to leave by then.
The pluses — even cold, the salt and pepper shrimp was very good and my daughter really enjoyed the ice cream. They also have a nice tv on the wall so you can watch while you eat if your meal companion is drab.

I used to go here a lot with my friends on Friday nights. We loved it, all you can eat for 10 bucks. Back then the food was hot and customers were there. Now no one goes. My friends and I don’t go anymore. The place is always empty and the food is cold because it sits out from no one eating there. The service is still good but they ruined the atmosphere by putting in one TV that the owners kid has cartoons on. If your gonna go here order out don’t eat the buffet because food when hot is still pretty good.

Firstly only gets 1 star cuz i can’t give it 0. Let’s start the experience like any other buffet walk in booths are sunk in from the regular cash cows emphasis on the cows. I expect to see a bunch of fat ass at an establishment like this so I’m not thrown off yet. Sit down with my first plate of possibly the smallest buffet selection ever and half way through my meal I was surprised to find a piece of a steel wool scrubby in my noodles. To top it off the poor ventilation makes you feel like your inside the armpit of the fat sweaty slobs that frequent this slop bucket. All and all quite unenjoyable. This level of ambience is only rivaled by dumpster diving for dinner in a dark alley with your friendly neighborhood hobo!

Went again recently and were very disappointed. Much of the food had been out there for a while and was either lukewarm or soggy. The place seems to be going down hill. It was not very busy at dinner time. The next week, we went back to our local take out place and brought dinner home, hot and fresh.

made the mistake of walking in here last week. first thing first — not a single customer in the place. kids were playing in the front window & doorway when we walked in. 2^nd — the owner or chef? was sitting in a booth reading the newspaper before he noticed us standing there???
Not a soul in the place mind you, I asked is everything fresh? his response was gibberish & said yes. I went and took a look, this was not the case whatsoever.
Can’t bash a place where I could stomach looking at the food but giving it 1 star due to lack of customers & lack of service

Horrible food. No selection whatsoever. The staff was friendly. Food was definitely old and lacking flavor. Restrooms are disgusting. I stopped eating after three bites and we left. Never going back.

It’s just not the same since it changed hands. Staff is friendly but food is just OK. Can’t say it is bad but it used to be much better.

Worse Chinese food I ever had. Very small buffet, chicken was dry, General Tso sauce was watery, spring rolls weren’t crisp, food was cold, some food was probably left over from the day before.

I have no idea why I didn’t read the reviews before coming here. You really gotta see it to believe it. The food station area is literally a small counter full of sesame chicken, dumplings, lo mein, hot and sour soup, and the like. It is only take-​out restaurant food. 75% fried. Maybe more. The dessert table is pretty much a joke. Strange canned fruits and hard jello. It tasted… iffy. I did have the ice cream from the machine which was probably the only good food from the entire buffet. However they had no toppings at all. No sprinkles no sauce no whipped cream, nothing.
The chef came out every now and then. You would think that he’s replacing the old food with the new food but he’s actually just taking back the old food to either reheat or add into the new dish. The first time he came out we got really excited that different food was coming out since the selection was so limited, but were disappointed with more fried foods :(not that I don’t love fried foods but it wouldn’t hurt to serve us green food…
My siblings and I went on Unilocal while we were sitting there to read their reviews and literally cracked up at how brutally honest and true the reviews were. The ones about how sunken in the seats were and how there’s nothing to eat were so true.
Will never be back… it definitely was not worth my $ 9 or however much it was, don’t quite remember.

This is the type of place you go to because every other buffet would take 10 more minutes commute. The selection is very limited, and not only is everything pre-​made, and pre-​frozen, but by the time it comes out, much of it is the consistency of mush. The couple who run this place (it appears entirely by themselves) appear to be working hard, so you want to like the experience. But there is simply nothing of quality.

To me, 3 is too low, 4 is too high LOL I put it at 3.5
I love to eat Chinese on the road so I gave this place a try without looking at the reviews here… which is rare for me.
It was pretty good. The buffet is fairly limited in entrees with maybe 7 – 8 choices but everything I tried was good if not great. The egg rolls and crab wontons were good as were the pan fried potstickers.
White rice, fried rice or noodles as a base layer. Decent little desert bar. 3 kinds of soup.
This place will not WOW you in any possible way but it was good food cheap. I mean I ate WAAAAAY too much and the bill was $ 9.80 for the buffet, a bottomless diet coke and $ 2 tip.
I ate here 3 times for lunch because it was close to the place I was on a project at and the buffet was exactly the same each time.
Maybe they add more entrees for dinner? Who knows. For a fast lunch that is good and cheap if not great, I would not hesitate to go there.
I guess you can order off a menu but I never did as I was in a hurry. Probably would have been quick anyway since I was going at around 2pm and there were generally only a couple other people there when I went.
The location… LOL…it is tucked away in that strip mall but I found it :) Wouldn’t have know if was there if not for the sign out front of the strip mall because you cant see it from the street.

Other than Emperor’s Palace on Wolf Rd and Shining Rainbow on Central Ave there is no decent/​authentic Chinese food in the area.
That said, here is the secret to Yan’s. Order off the menu if you are an adult and let the kids have the fill off the buffet, The good news is that the small buffet means that you don’t have food sitting too long.
Order your food steamed with your sauce on the side and let your kids enjoy the greasy stuff that is similar to most buffets. when i order this way my large scallops are fresh an generous with bright veggies.
The cozy springless booths and ice cream machines are a family favorites in this area.

This is not fancy Chinese food. It’s a freaking buffet of Americanized Chinese food. There’s going to be egg rolls and magenta meat and greasy, greasy lo mein.
I’ve been coming here for years because a) I love their lo mein more than just about anything in the world and b) this place has character. It’s not fancy, sure, but these guys make an effort to treat their customers right (I went abroad for ten months, came here directly from the airport, and, when they saw me, brought out a giant plate of fresh lo mein and a big glass of root beer without me even saying a word. These guys are on their shit). I mean, they used to have a giant sign that said «Thank you for not (e) smoking during Sunday dinner.» And the signs on the old ice cream machine? «Press here before you get it.» Oh, you’ll get it, all right. Anytime I come back to Albany to visit my parents, we have to stop here. It’s tradition.
It’s cheap. There’s lots of food. The family that runs it is extremely nice and keep the beverages and clean plates coming. Again, you’re not going to be wowed by the food, but dammit, this place is a childhood favorite, and will continue to be a favorite through adulthood.

Yan’s is yet another Americanized Chinese restaurant where the buffet is your only option. The interior is dated and dumpy looking, but at least it is clean. The seating is mostly uncomfortable booths that have been known to swallow diners whole as they sink deep into the cushion.
Once you take the plunge and belly up to the buffet you are greeted by a decent variety of the usual suspects: crab rangoons, spare ribs, spring rolls, various chicken dishes, etc. Most of the food is deep fried or slathered in syrupy sauce and it all manages to taste the same, like junk.
On a positive note, I will say it’s not the worst Chinese food I’ve ever had and the service is fast and friendly. However, the whole experience leaves something to be desired and is best avoided.

Conveniently located to accommodate those turned away from Hidden Café.

It’s tucked in a corner of the convenient but loathsome Delaware Plaza. The tiniest buffet in the entire region has one small counter of food and one small counter of desserts. Most of the selections are deep-​fried, and not very appealing.
The most interesting things are the booths. You sink into the old cushions and no matter how tall you are, you feel like your chin is barely inches above the plate of food you’re not quite sure you want to eat.