Tendo Buffet

I started to go to Golden Coral next door but walked out! I went next door to Tendo had a wonderful meal! The food tasted great and there was NO line and not so crowded. The food was authentic and plentiful. The price was right and they gave use an extra 10% off. We will be back.

Do not try oysters or sushi… They are almost inedible. Your best shot would be hibachi grill that you pick your own ingredients for them to grill.

Who puts ketchup on sushi? They do, which explains how terrible the food is

UPDATE: The aftermath of dinner at Tendo cannot be understated. Its hard to describe in a public forum so I’ll just say that I marvel at the strength of our plumbing. It was a good solid 72 hours before my husband was feeling like himself again. I don’t know what exactly it was that came with that food, but it was atrocious.
If you have a stomach of steel, brave Tendo. Otherwise, beware.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I have pretty low expectations for chinese buffets. I don’t eat sushi off buffets, and I’m always leery about seafood that’s been sitting out for any amount of time. I don’t expect to get authentic Chinese anything– I expect to get a Chinese version of Golden Corral.
With that in mind, this actually isn’t a bad buffet. The selection isn’t large, but everything I tried was good. Especially worth noting– the egg tarts are great! The teriyaki chicken skewers are delicious… their donuts were a bit heavy, but they were well-​sugared, making them a lovely treat.
My husband got the mongolian BBQ and he said some of the meat looked a little old (chicken sitting in lot of juice, grey beef) but there were some fresher cuts in there and he chose those, and he said his was good.
I can’t comment on the sushi other than to say there was a small selection (read above– I am not eating sushi that may have been sitting there for a while).
I’d go back and try this place again. The food was typical chinese buffet fare, with a few stand-​outs, and the pricing was really reasonable– $ 12 on a Sat night.

Cheap prices. Cheap food. What did you really expect when you came here? It’s simple, you come here for quantity, not necessarily quality. You got more than you paid for.
My stomach is about to explode. That is all.

This place use to be good several years ago, but has gone steadly downhill. I went several weeks ago and that will probably be the last time.
I went in about 9:00 and closing time is 10:00 on weekdays, 11:00 on weekends. Several times I have went late, but more than 1 hour before closing time.
Both times when I went up to the buffet, food selection seemed very limited and they do not always refill everything. The sushi selection used to be good, but that also seemed very limited and they do not seem to make the effort to make anymore once the supply is gone to ensure a reasonable selection.
I do enjoy their selection at the Hibachi Grill and they do a good job of seasoning and cooking the ingredients the way you want it. Buffet food is good, but again, not like it used to be and sometimes I notice it is not always kept hot. I noticed the restaurant is not as crowded like it use to be so I guess that is why the food is not hot because of it sitting there so long.
Service is spotty when wanting refills for your drinks and employees are sometimes not friendly.
I do hope they can work on improving the situation with the buffet (like keeping it refilled) and the food quality and the service to stay in business, because a few more buffets are scheduled to open in the Frederick area this year. Hint!

Chef Lin Buffet is more authentic asian food and has much better selection. Won’t come back

Stopped in a couple nights ago with the bf…
and that is really the extent of my knowledge. We both were feeling adventurous and decided to give it a shot. The buffet is $ 11 or so and is SUPPOSED to also be a sushi buffet. We went in sat down grabbed the plates I looked over the (lack of) sushi offerings and said no way. I didn’t eat. There were maybe five rolls to choose from and all were the fake crab. Only one raw fish option which was salmon and the fish had a metallic shine to it, which not sure if it’s an old wives tale but I was always under the impression that you shouldn’t eat raw fish that looks like that.
That aside the BF decided he would take his chances, most likely due to the fact that he had already put some food on his plate. You could tell the food was low quality and I would really consider it a Chinese buffet. Long story short, still on the quest for a sushi place in the Frederick area (I miss you Yoyogi!) and will never be back. Save yourself the frustration and couple bucks and head two doors down to Golden Corral if you are in a buffet mood, at least there you know what to expect and there are no false representations.

not bad by any means, just a bit pricey for what it is. All the food is really good, and its got some pretty cool stuff going on with the interior lighting/ambiance…but who cares about all that stuff?

Delivery is better than this place. Very greasy, no flavor, and horrible service. The sushi is very suspect as well. We’ve been here two or three times in the past and its gone from bad to worse each time. So many better places to go than are less than 10 mins from this place in downtown Frederick.

The only buffets down where I live have really weird stuff on them and are expensive and terrible. This Tendo Buffet has tons of great food and it isn’t scary looking. The price is still a little high and it doesn’t come with a drink except water and hot tea are free. They do have sushi available on the buffet which is included in the price so that’s a plus. We’ve been 3 times and have like it every time. We’re going back again tonight!

Not worth the $ 12 «price of admission» for weekend dinner. The positives: They do try hard, presenting a number of seafood dishes including «crayfish», batter dipped shrimp, clams, and sushi (warm). The best item on the menu by far is their Teriyaki Chicken sticks, big hunks of nicely cooked marinated chicken that are good fare.
But as a whole, most dishes look and taste anemic… the egg drop soup looked like egg drop soup, but thats about it.
Tried Tendo twice… I would only return if I were starving and I was paid for this review!
Huge variety, steam table quality for the most part. Not worth the price.

My wife used to love this place for the varieties of shrimp. We’ve been there a few times. She has now asked me to remind her that she really doesn’t find it all that good any more. I never felt that it went a little beyond the typical Chinese buffet with a grill and some sushi. This may be good for Frederick, but doesn’t rate compared to the places in the D.C. suburbs. There is nothing very exotic on the buffet. There is enough selection that if you want to nibble on a bunch of different Chinese/​American dishes, you can make a meal of it. There are a few more seafood dishes, like steamed clams, beyond the usual suspects.
The sushi selection is pretty minimal … usually one basic nigiri sushi and a bunch of rolls, many including cream cheese. Cream cheese does not belong in sushi, in my personal opinion. When the place isn’t busy, they just let it sit there. Every time we’ve been there, the sushi guy is also the grill guy, so if he’s making sushi when you want a grilled dish, you’re going to wait a bit.
The hostess is somewhat surly. They are pretty good about refilling drinks and taking dirty plates away. As soon as you start on dessert, they bring you the check.
The dessert selection is not bad.
Labeling is inconsistent, although that is the norm for this kind of restaurant.
If you go in mid-​afternoon, don’t expect to find much fresh food being put out.

I didn’t find this to be anything spectacular, I think the Chef Lin Buffet not far from here is slightly better as the food seems a bit warmer and such. We had an Asian woman as our drink server and she was a bit ignorant and pushy when it came time for us to pay as we weren’t exactly done eating (she even rolled her eyes!).

The last time we went my spicy tuna roll tasted fishy, the waitress was miserable and my ice water tasted like the soap hadn’t been fully rinsed out of my glass. Additionally, it is a sushi buffet, therefore — and here’s the newsflash to the uncaring owners — the sushi should be plentiful!

Don’t bother trying the sushi; it’s all made with very dry imitation crabmeat. Wouldn’t really even call it sushi!
The hibachi grill was the best thing about this place. Nothing fancy, but cooked fresh is much better than the rest of the food, which was…
…your basic (americanizedChinese buffet, complete with old, dried out beef, fatty chicken-​esque type meat, and lots of fried food.
Last thing: it’s not cheap. $ 10 per person, which makes it kind of expensive for a family of four.

Trying a new Asian-​influenced buffet is always something of a crap shoot, since the experience can range from horrific to passable.
Have just ONE bad buffet experience and it’s easy to get gun-​shy.
Since I’ve been to the Tendo Buffet twice now — once during the opening week and now months later — I can say I feel like it’s a place where you can get a relatively nice spread of Asian dishes and pretty solid sushi without taking your life into your hands or feeling like you’re eating in a retrofitted bowling alley.
Courteous staff, open layout, moderate prices… it all adds up to a safe bet for lunch out or a weekend low-​pomp-​and-​circumstance meal out where everyone can choose something they’re likely to enjoy.

i’m asian and this place, for the price is pretty good. it’s around $ 11 for all you can eat buffet style.
the sushi isn’t that great (i lived in japan and know what sushi is SUPPOSED to taste like) but for being in Frederick that’s as good as it’ll get so it’ll do.
they have a hibachi grill (included in the price) where you pick your meats and veggies and they grill it up for you. you can ask the grill to make your food spicy, sweet or not say anything at all and get the standard teriyaki flavor.
the variety of foods you can choose from are just like any other chinese buffets you go to in the area but are a lot more fresh. the food just doesn’t sit there on the warmer and it doesn’t look old and dry. they continually bring out fresh dishes.
the waitresses are chinese and hard to understand sometimes but they’re very respectful, kid friendly and aim to give you great customer service. they are also consistent with taking away your finished plates and refilling your drinks.
great place for good chinese food.

This place is cool, more of a place you take coworkers out to when they do a good job. Cheap yet filling, however I do wonder where they get all their seafood at when the price is under $ 20. I tell ya you probably don’t want to know holmes!
And I’m cool on eating sushi at a low end buffet, clearly a no no for many solid reasons.
Go here for the wide variety of Asian cuisine at a working mans price.

It’s ok
If you are looking for a cheap, good eat then you could go here. I agree with the other reviewers, there is nothing extradonary here. They need to offer more of a selection of sushi as they are advertising it as also a sushi buffet. I love all you can eat sushi places but they do not have offer that much here. Like I said… it was ok