Elgin Buffet

The food is pretty good and there is a nice variety, but the fact that the staff kept allowing groups of inconsiderate people from talking every salt and pepper shrimp the second they put it out on their plate is inexcusable. Every single time, they would put out 20 – 25 shrimp, the person waiting there would load up 3 plates of then and leave nothing for anyone. Kept happening the entire hour we were there! Will not go back.

A long time ago we liked it. Then we didn’t like it so much. Then we tried again and didn’t like it at all. Have not been back for several years. Went for the lunch buffet today. Will never go back until there’s new owners. The food was Bland and unexcited. Selection was marginal. Definitely not worth the price for the lunch buffet unless you don’t care what you eat and you just want a lot a boring food. They offered a 10% discount for many many groups of people but somehow I didn’t qualify.

Came to this place on a Tuesday evening, about 6pm.
This place was pretty much deserted when we got here. The price for 1 adults, a 12 yr old child, and a 8 year old, was $ 32, which in my opinion is quote pricey for a buffet. Nonetheless, the food selection was not very great. They had the typical Asian buffet type foods, but much smaller space. The food looked very dried out, doesn’t look like it was changed over in sometime.
Went to the Hibachi grill, and was told to leave my plate there until someone can get over there and cook it. Waited over 10 minutes for someone to cook the food.
The customer service was non existant. If I could, I would have asked for a refund. Would rare this place 0 stars, just based on taste, appearance of the food, the lack of customer service and overly inflated prices.

Over a couple of years, I have visit this place to eat Chinese foods. Business have change management, changing names from China Buffet to International Buffet then to Elgin Buffet.
If I was going to talk about the 12^th dinner free card or Elgin Community College discount, it would have been old news, considering the fact that I don’t go often to this place.
The foods appeared to lost its Chinese fine cooking touch. For example; I don’t remember Crab Rangoon being so tiny. If you ask me, I didn’t eat lot of food in one plate and am not even on a diet. Sitting down with the food, they have flat screen TV with channel with no sounds. A commercial for Taco Bell appears on the screen for the new Taco Bell meal. It was more enticing than my 2^nd dish in the buffet. When I tried the soup, they used to have a good base for your custom soup. But, maybe I came on the wrong day? It was soy sauce soup day. You kind of wondering whether it was the over-​bought soy sauce or the expired soy sauce? For us American, soy sauce soup is just as tomato soup. Or not?
I don’t know when I’ll come back but am not returning any time soon. By the way, did they really purchase a gambling license to open a Video Poker room and sell lottery at the side? And, yes, the picture about the shrimp was not a hoax. On my table, I got a reminder about Oyster giving ill born «bourne» illness. Did it forget to mentioned that it better not to eat it in the certain season? But, then again, if I really catch the Bourne illness, I would turn into Jason Bourne from the Bourne Identity movie.

The place is awesome for the buffet price. They have very good list of menu. What do you expect from a $ 12 meal… All you can eat has its new meaning, They Limit you on the salt & pepper shrimp because people here really likes it. Crew looks at you as if you didn’t pay for what you eat. What can I say. I like shrimp!

I remember coming here a few times whenever I was home from college over the holidays. Maybe their recipes have changed, or maybe my stomach has gotten weaker since, but I ended the night by vomiting everything I ate here. So take my review with a grain of salt and maybe a breath mint.
The food is oily and salty, but some dishes were decent. You go in, pay, and get the normal Chinese buffet grub. General Tsao’s chicken, empress chicken, jello, different soups, some seafood mixes. My family loves their spicy soup, which is extremely hot and is probably flavored with a combination of habaneros and hell.
Uh, that’s about all I can remember. Tons of MSG and oil, which is what may have triggered the stomach turning. Fast on the plate removal. Place was clean, but my toilet was not.

Nothing special, typical buffet.
Your basic types of food at a Chinese style buffet. Sushi, noodles, rice, random pizza, chicken wings, etc.
If you want all you can eat, this is the place for you.

Poor at accepting customer feedback. Cost control through old and dried out food. Bad plate removal and table maintenance. Good place to avoid.

This place is tucked away in a strip mall next to Elgin Fresh Market.
Service:
You pay to get in and you serve yourself pretty much. Nothing much to say. Everything is always refilled on time and all the stations are clean which is really nice as far as buffets go.
Atmosphere:
Typical buffet decorations. I am impressed at how relatively clean everything is. They also have decent looking party rooms. The music is also very nostalgic of 70’s and 80’s music with lots of ballads. Overall the atmosphere was quaint and enjoyable.
Food:
I have to say that the food is very hit or miss. There are good dishes, but there are a lot of okay dishes. Crab rangoons, Orange chicken, Beef and Broccoli, Sushi… Were all okay. I did enjoy their chicken legs and white fish. This is pretty much the typical buffet were you come to get full and call it a day. Your tongue won’t be wowed, but there is enough variety to keep eating. Even the soda and ice cream were okay. This place is okay. The good thing is that the buffet is very generously priced. You get a lot of variety for very cheap prices. $ 7.75 for lunch, and $ 10.95 for dinner. They even have cheap party prices it seems. The only thing I have to warn you all about is regarding some of the dishes. MSG overload! It is kinda common with buffet places, but yeah… You are going to get tired and sleepy if you eat the right combination of things. Or eat something too much lol. My tongue is rather picky though considering all the places Unilocal has taken me to lol.
Fair prices for lots of alright food. Clean and Decent atmosphere too! And unlike most buffets… This place passes the bathroom test lol.