Jade Buffet

It is sad to see that such a place would come in with such poor food quality. It is likewise sad for this place to have pushed a local place two doors down, out of business when their food was stellar. While the food is hot (a given), noodles, dumplings and rice were not kept fresh and were beginning to dry out. Rice rolls and sushi were the smallest I have ever seen in a restaurant. Much of the meat served was not trimmed well, was tough and had gristle. The shrimp in dishes was not deshelled completely. Service was good and attentive. This is the third time we’ve been here. 2 Sundays and a weekday lunch and it is the consistent poor quality that led me to review it.

We go to this buffet every time we drive through Durham. I love their frog legs!!! This time it was a bit crazy with kids running around but the food seems consistent. They have a Mongolian grill as well. Typical Chinese buffet with extras including frog legs & sushi & a large selection of fruits. I personally think it deserves more than 2 – 3 stars. Staff is friendly and speaks only a little English but I feel that is normal. Rough neighborhood. I probably wouldn’t go there at night, but not the restaurant’s fault.

This was, by far, the worst buffet I’ve ever been to. Let’s check out the buffet before committing, my husband said. How bad could it be, I replied. Spoiler alert: It was worse than I ever thought possible. NOTHING was fresh. Literally everything had been sitting out since likely the lunch hour (this was at 7pm, mind you). There were just a few things on the sushi bar left, all of it completely dried out. Everything on the fried food bar was stale. Or maybe they just refried everything leftover from previous days? It was disturbing, to say the least. And I swear they were serving refried Chicken McNuggets. Same shapes, same breading, same chicken consistency, just refried. All of the other items in the buffet were just as bad. Cold/​lukewarm, dried out, congealed. We paid our bill and left without eating more than the few bites it took for our stomachs to turn. This is no exaggeration. We literally went somewhere else for dinner afterwards. Be warned. Also, the photos can’t be by real customers. If you look, they’re mostly by just one person.

I was really liking this place. Tonite was the straw. Waitress didn’t understand Hi-​C and made apple juice. The Ice T had a rubbery taste. The food was not warm at all. Nothing stood out. The fried okra was breaded on the outside but raw on the inside. The hibachi tasted like bloody meat. Very unsatisfactory

As far as Chinese buffets go this is definitely one of the better ones I’ve been to, but, if you know much about Asian buffets, that’s not saying a whole lot. It’s definitely one of my favorites in Durham. It’s clean, the hosts /​servers are always polite, friendly, and quick to do their jobs. It’s about a $ 13-​$ 15 meal, if you get a drink. They have sushi made in house, salad bar, standard asian mix on the buffet, and fresh hibachi grill where you pick what you want and someone cooks it fresh for you, and ice cream /​fresh fruit bar. I did discover Ichibahn buffet recently, and I’m fairly certain that both are owned by the same people, which has been my go to as of late, but if I want to change things up, I’ll go to Jade. Jade has more Asian options, whereas Ichibahn has similar Asian options, but half the menu is «American» food.

The food was tasteless at best. The sushi guy was to busy watching his tablet to refill the sushi bar even after being asked. The habachi grill was dirty and my food had specks of burnt food on it and that too was tasteless.
There were many empty or almost empty trays on the steam table. The fried rice was like cardboard and the half crabs were over cooked and yellow from the oil. Even the ice cream was tasteless. They had boiled shrimp but I couldn’t find any cocktail sauce. There where 6 large plastic squeeze bottles but none were marked. The waitress was friendly, but very busy.
I was there Sat. around 1PM.

This place was better than what I expected due to previous reviews people posted. I enjoyed the variety of foods. Fruits, Chinese cuisine and Japanese cuisine is good. I’ll be back. It’s a nice atmosphere fir the money and employees were nice!

Have been here many times and the food is completely unpredictable. Sometimes it’s good (for an Asian buffet) and other times it’s barely passable. The sushi chef is downright surly. There are no vegetarian options other than green beans when they have them, white rice, and veg. lo mein.
Their competitor near Chapel Hill Blvd. is way better.

Don’t go if you’re expecting what the pictures (uploaded by the owner) show. And even the commercial that you might see on TV. The food was decent but nothing up to my expectation. I visited on July 4^th and the business was really slow during dinner time, so that could have been a major factor to why the sushi buffet lacked sushi…
The restaurant is well kept and the couple employees I conversed with were all very nice. They give you the 10% Unilocal discount if it’s your first time!
I definitely want to give this buffet another try and I hope to update my experience.

I had pretty high expectations for this buffet after seeing all the great Unilocal reviews and photos. Maybe it was because I went on a holiday (July 4^th), but the food was mediocre and wasn’t as great as I expected.
I was really looking forward to the sushi! But, the sushi buffet was never refilled and there weren’t that many options…
Maybe I’ll give this place another try if I’m in the area…

Just a tad bit of a disappointment when we walked in a few min after the lunch buffet and they said they’d have to charge us the dinner price BUT totally made up for it with Thee best sushi from a Chinese buffet that I’ve ever had. The fish was super fresh, colorful and tasty. They had the kind of sushi that you usually only get at a sushi restaurant. The other food was super delicious as well. So much variety and a lot of stuff I’ve never tried before.

This buffet has something for everyone and excellent prices. It is one of my Dad’s favorite restaurants and I like going with him. Everything I’ve tried has been delicious. I absolutely love that they have so many options to choose from. This is not a wimpy buffet. You can even dip your own ice cream for dessert. The staff is friendly and they do a great job of keeping drinks filled. Bonus: The bathrooms are always clean.

Lots of food for people that loves quantity not quality! The hibachi was bland and the sushi huge very difficult to eat! The rest is the same ordinary Chinese food!

Best Chinese food buffet in Durham but still only mediocre. Far better than China Buffet near South Square.
Staff is attentive and friendly.

«Decent Chinese buffet by Northgate Mall»
My family and I tried this for dinner last night, and we were impressed. It’s clearly similar in many respects to «China Buffet» by South Square, so I’ll draw parallels.
Price– Comparable between the two. Dinners were $ 10.99 on a Friday night at Jade, BUT they offered a 10% off special for first-​time Unilocal check-​ins!
Quality– This was variable across dishes, but within the range expected for a buffet, and nothing was bad. The sushi seems similar in both variety and quality to China Buffet (maybe a few more/​nicer kinds at China Buffet). As with many buffets, a lot of dishes tend to be on the greasy side.
Diversity/​Selection– They had a larger area here where you could pull out ingredients and let the chefs cook them together for you than at China Buffet (like what they do at, e.g., Bali Hai Mongolian Grill)– Jade wins on that. Several other dishes here that are not at China Buffet, like frog legs. A few more soup selections here, too. However, they didn’t have the nice «hot pots» like China Buffet does on weekend dinners. China Buffet also had a few specific dishes I like that I didn’t see here. Overall, I’d have to rank them as comparable for main dishes.
For desserts, however, Jade wins– Maola ice cream rather than quick soft-​serve, and a few other options that China Buffet doesn’t have.
Service– The servers were definitely attentive on bringing us refills and on taking away used plates. Everyone was friendly.
Cleanliness– Seemed good as far as we could tell, both in the dining area and in the restrooms. This will be the area to watch as the place gets established– both in terms of the dining area and how they deal with the food/​utensils that have been sitting out.
Misc– Parking was easy– it’s right by Northgate. Décor was not memorable (I don’t remember). Seating was mostly comfortable, though someone rather large in the booth behind me kept «bouncing» and shaking the back of my seat. We didn’t get (nor even see where to get) chopsticks. Music was random– definitely not aiming for being a Chinese restaurant.
Synopsis– I’ve long been (and still am) a fan of China Buffet, but I have to say that Jade will very likely be entering our Chinese buffet rotation.

Probably the best sushi in the area! the sushi chef was totally grumpy when i moved the straight line of the rolls, but i expect that from a perfectionist sushi chef. I laughed it off. He may be grumpy but he is an artist!
the overall taste of the food is great. i can tell there is a little more oil and butter in some of the dishes, but overall, the quality is very good.
I was little disappointed when there was no dim sum. (I had seen the photos posted beforehand, and in two photos, there is a sign «Dim Sum», so I was expecting some dim sum.) But the amazing sushi made up for the lack of dim sum.
I would bring my whole family again!

I received an email from the restaurant asking me to come back and give it a second try and I obliged. Here is what I noticed differently. Mind you, the first time I dined here was around 7pm on a Tuesday evening. The second visit was around 2:30pm on a Saturday afternoon.
The food was actually warm this time. I also saw more fresh food being put on the buffet. This may have been because there were more guests on this occasion. I also did not notice the strange after-​taste that was present the first time. I really think all of this could be credited to the fact that they were supplying the buffet with fresh food and we weren’t eating something that was sitting for a while.
The sushi is still great! I probably ate a whole plate of sushi alone.
The music has been changed! It was at a lower volume than my first trip and I did not notice any bad language.
I did not try the hibachi area again. The first experience was pretty bad (everything was swimming in soy sauce) and I really did not want to waste the food if it was still like that. I would love to know what other people have thought about the hibachi bar.
The service is still really great. I never had the chance to ask for a refill because they were so attentive. The place is also very clean.
Overall, I would go back again based on my second trip to Jade Buffet.

Three of us just ate all we could eat for about $ 10.00 each.
Now the food is really good with a few exceptions, here they are.
1. Sweet and sour chicken. Over breaded and the sauce was for lack of. Better word bland.
2. Service, while most of the staff walking around pays attention one male server seeing my tea and ice cups low asked if wanted to get them refilled. That was the last I saw of him. After about 5 minutes I waved down a cute waitress and told her what had happened, it was not long before I had my tea.
3. I advise against getting mint chocolate chip ice cream, it is rather cheap tasting.
Now so much was food I can not name them all so I will just hit the top few.
1. Awesome fruit bar, I mean really I have not Sean so much fruit on a bar unless it was at the farmer market. Looked fresh too!
2. General Tao chicken 9 – 10
3. Wonton soup 9 – 10
4. Clean, I mean really clean I watched I. The hour I was the there the line was wiped 4 times.
5. With the exception of the one incident the staff is great and quite vigilant.
All in all I would rate this a 4.5 but, we can’t so .5 so in-​light of the tea and the few negative things I drop it to a 4. I will tell you this though I am very hard to get a 5 out of so you guys did really good.

My family comes here almost every weekend! It’s a pretty standard Chinese buffet, but what really makes this place a star are its: seafood (salt and pepper shrimp, salt and pepper crab), the tripe, pepper frog legs, and chicken feet!
Seriously, the frog legs are amazing – seasoned perfectly, pan-​fried (I think) with just a light batter to give it a great crunch, moist meat and not over-​cooked. If you have never tried frog legs, definitely give it a shot! The tripe is also super delicious – not overcooked, just enough bite, and great flavor to it.
I love the sushi as well – for a buffet, it’s pretty fresh, great variety (they have eel!!!).

The BBQ pork ribs are out of this world, IMO. They have the most delicious sauce on them! I could easily make it the only thing I’d eat there, but then I’d miss out on so much more. Be warned the dumpling sauce is super spicy!
Decent sushi choices on the all you can eat buffet. I don’t really know my way around everything sushi, but I was happy with the ones I tried.
Didn’t make it over to the grill area where you can fix a bowl of whatever you want and they’ll grill it up for you.
They also have Maola ice cream and I found their sherbet the best I’ve ever tried. It didn’t have that icy texture, but instead was more like creamy ice cream. Yum!