Freehold Grand Buffet

Came here with a large group of 15 this past weekend. To start when we called to reserve the party room they were extremely rude to us on the phone. We probably should have taken the hint from there and moved on to a different place but when trying to coordinate something for 15 people all over the state this was the easiest choice.
When we got there they forced everyone to pay upfront before even being seated. 3 adults and a child cost well over $ 70. Then when we finally got into the private room the tables were set up in the oddest way. We had to move the tables and chairs ourselves to accommodate the large crowd (something the restaurant should have done prior our arrival and as we requested when we made the reservation). The tables were also very sticky when we were moving them and of course nobody would come in to clean them for us. In addition when we got to the tile floors you could hear everyone sticking to them. I doubt they’ve cleaned those floors since the start of the new year as they were disgusting.
Now as for the food. It was disgusting in every sense possible. Things that should have been hot were ice cold, other things were dried out, out of the 2 plates I had attempted more than half of what I got went back because you couldn’t choke down whatever it was you were eating. I also witnessed unsupervised children touching food with their bare hands including the sushi (and not taking whatever they touched either), lo mein and god knows what else. At that point I completely lost my appetite.
Something else that really annoyed me is after bringing our initial drinks nobody came back into the room to offer refills and many times the discarded plates were left for extremely long periods of time before anyone would come to clear the table. To top the evening I know at least 3 people of our group became ill that night with food poisoning. Please do yourself a favor and avoid this place like the plague because honestly you may just get the plague eating here.

The quality here has went down since my last review. The majority of the food was not fresh this time. Understandably, occassionaly you will encounter 1 or 2 items that are not fresh, but this time was really disappointing. The bathroom is always dirty, or has some kind of maintenance issue. We have started driving to the buffet on 35 in Hazlet, havent been disappointed there yet. BTW

Honestly, the food here is decent and fairly priced.
But, that Port Authority bathroom odor from the men’s room will stop me from going there again.
You can smell that once you walk in.

Food is great, the décor & bathrooms need updating. One of the few buffets I’ve been to that offer sashimi. Fresh & tasty salmon, the chicken in garlic is very good. Great salad selection, but not many desert options. Stick to the classic soft serve.

This place is in a big strip mall, which is kind of outdated and the looks of it some other stores around will close soon, I went here because I didn’t feel like driving to the one down in route 18 which is really good, thought I give this place a shot, this place has been here for many years, and the food quality has gone down hill, buffet looks like any other buffet but there was a terrible fishy odor around, all the food is not fresh what’s so ever, I wouldn’t really want to come back, I hope this place can improve in the future or we will not be seeing this place around anymore,

If I could give this buffet no stars I would. My friend and I went to eat there last night. We both got 1 plate of food. I got 1 plate of crab legs. My friend got white rice, edamame and 3 pieces of oshinko (pickled radish) sushi roll and seaweed salad. I began tearing into my crab legs and as my friend was eating he says the food just tastes wierd. I taste his edamame and there was definitely something wrong! We tell the waitress and she tells us to go up front. We speak with the people at the counter (2 teenagers). We explain that the food didn’t taste right and we would like to leave. My friend will not pay for the bad food and I did not eat a full plate. I express several times that I would like to pay for the amount I ate just not the full price as I am now having to leave early because my friend is feeling sick from their food. They proceeded to argue and say we had to pay because I ate the crab legs. Please keep in mind I did not eat even ½ my plate. I again express that I would only pay for what I ate. Next thing you know they call the police! We wait outside for the police to come so that we can settle the situation peacefully and reasonably. Never once did I say I wouldn’t pay… I just don’t feel I should pay for something I didn’t get. The police show up and exit their cars very agressively at us. Freehold Township Officer Fay and Officer White. They ask what happened. We explain. And the kids explain that we should pay full price. The officers then proceed to accost my friend for not showing ID and go to put him in hand cuffs. Both officers were very agressive in their tone and maneurisms. They tell us we have to pay or they will arrest us for theft. I said it’s not theft, we haven’t left the premises and we would like to pay for just what was consumed. After 30 minutes of being threatened to be arrested I decided to pay full price for my meal. Officer Fay then proceeded to tell us to «go the fuck home»… All we wanted was to handle this fairly and as adults. But instead the establishment which clearly is ok with selling bad food decided to call the cops for this minor disagreement. Therefore ruining the dining experience for the rest of the patrons there by having 3 patrol cars show up to escort me through the restaraunt to pay for a full meal that I never consumed. So much for customer service from the restaraunt and community service by the Freehold Township police department. There were other issues with the food but I will be reporting this establishment to the health department as well.

Ok so lets get started with the food shall we? Well, the food wasn’t good at all. DO NOT get the potatoes, because they are super salty and it just made me cringe. Also dont get the pizza, steak or buffalo wings. They look dull, tasteless and look as if they have been sitting there for the whole day, especially the cheese pizza as I saw disgusting moisture building up underneath the cheese which was disturbing. Moreover, avoid the ice cream machine because it is a mess over there. With sticky spots on the floor near the machine that easily havent been mopped for at least a few days and wasted ice cream cones and ice cream all over the place that is certainly one part of the restaurant to avoid to save your shoes. One thing I would recommend would be the rice noodles which were pretty good and the chicken wings but thats about it. The décor of the restaurant is old and out dated and the tables aren’t the best. OH also, the mens bathroom is a gigantic safety hazard. I walked into the bathroom to discover a fan on the floor plugged into an outlet that spans at least 6 – 8 feet with the cord extended all the way near the sinks. Not only can u trip on that cord, but water can short out the fan and cause a lot of problems if you know what I mean. I cannot believe what I saw and the potential accidents waiting to happen. Lastly lets get to the service and staff. The service was slow, so slow that I had to steal utensils off another table so I can start eating instead of waiting for their few staff members. The staff looks uninterested and almost dead and they dont talk at all. They are slow on refills and other things and usually just walk around w/​a dead expression and not to mention when we first walked in, we came in to find a 13 yr old looking kid behind the table clueless. We had to stand and wait until a waiter directed us to a table. This wasnt a very good experience and I do not recommend this place.

Today I had the worst dining experience I have ever had in my 27 years of life. Never ever ever again. The entire establishment smelled of urine. The food was cold and most had been sitting for a long time. We are not hard to please and barely ever complain but I am majorly upset. The service was terrible. the server barely checked on us. I didn’t receive one refill and the plates overwhelmed the entire table. Did I mention I was charged 50 dollars for 3 people and a baby? As I said. never ever again and I suggest everyone else do the same.

I never have high expectations in a buffet so I am rarely disappointed, but in this case they acheived the nearly impossible, disappointed doesn’t come close to how bad this was. Most of the food was inedible. My stomach hurt from the few bites I did eat so never got to try the Mongolian Grill, but my wife says it had a funny taste, like it was burnt. Exceptionally awful.

I had gone here with my family years ago and was surprised at how good the buffet was especially in comparison to others I’d tried. However I went back last night and was very disappointed. It was a waste of good money. The peel n eat shrimp was overcooked and mealy. Everything had obviously been sitting out for a while. The rice was all dried out, many items were cold, fried foods were soggy, most items had little flavor and the soft serve wasn’t cold enough to make a cone. Do not waste your money unless Gordon Ramsey does a makeover.

Good sushi, but could be better. If they got rid of ‘gloppy’ sauce and served it separately, they would get a better review. Current sushi has too much sauce and should have none.
No comment on non-​sushi part of meal.
Hopefully they read this review & react.

We have been going to the Freehold Grand Buffet for many years mostly because of the selection of clams, oysters, mussels, steamers, etc plus the recently added sushi bar. The biggest negative however, is that the hot food on the steam tables is never hot except for the soups and few selections of dim sum. I’ve often complained but with no results… Today one of the workers lifted one of the food trays to show me that there was almost no water in the bottom of the tables to keep the trays hot. I pointed out to him that there was not enough water and he shrugged his shoulders and unfortunately did not have enough command of English to offer a reasonable explanation or excuse… Each time we leave we say we’re not coming back but this timeI think we’ll mean it. For the prices they are now charging, the hot food should be hot not room temperature.

The bathrooms are filthy the staff is rude. There was no eggdrop soup or steamed broccoli or snow peas. Most of the trays where empty. They had no ice and the sushi bar was out of cucumbers. All my kids wanted was cucumber rolls. Cold food and warm drinks. We will never come back here again

The food is good for the price. The service could definitely be a little friendlier.

It had it’s glory days. It was one of the first Asian buffet restaurants to open in the area. Unfortunately the management got changed at least two times since. And now, the price has gone up and the food quality has gone down. I have to say, it’s one of the worst (big scale) buffet I’ve had. Still better than some of the smaller buffets but won’t recommend this place. Oh, what’s worse? The last time I was there, the cashier couldn’t calculate 15% off correctly with my coupon and I had to correct her TWICE! I’d think she’d be shrewd — so it could only mean she tried to skimp a few dimes from me on purpose! For lunch, for a few dollars more I’d suggest going to Tokyo a few miles up Rt.9 N.

First off — I would give this place zero stars if I could.
My friends and I were looking for a cheap place to eat in the plaza this place is located in. We walked inside and immediately were blasted by a wall of unpleasant odor. It smelt like oil and grease mixed with cleanser. We met the hostess that knew around 10 English words, and seemed like it was her first hour on the job.
I got a little skeeved out when I opened the fridge door to get my water bottle and found sticky residue on my fingers, so I went to the bathroom and washed my hands. The bathroom looked like it was in mid construction with standing water on the floor, and had the smell of a New York City subway bathroom. After getting seated, I walked to the buffet to find a humongous selection of crappy ass food. Almost all of the fried food was sitting in a tray of old oil, and the odor of old fish did not help my appetite.
The sushi was extremely gross, having unknown ingredients in some of the rolls.
There was a worker standing above the fruit swatting flies. SWATTING FLIES.
We felt terrible after this place, the food is not sitting well and was definitely not worth 13.99.
P. S. I made this account for the sole purpose of writing this review.

We have been coming here for the last 4 years. He’s been coming here for many years before that with his family. Ever since I began coming, this place has become worse and worse.
The place: The atmosphere is nice — it’s a typical buffet. Lots of rows of tables, and lots of people. Chinese knick nacks here and there. Kind of dirty — place/​silverware isn’t always the cleanest, and it looks like no one ever gets a chance to clean.
Service: Rude. We never get a smile or acknowledgement that the staff cares we are here. It takes forever to get a drink refill, and no one ever really pays attention to us. When the check is due, they always hover until you have signed and put your tip down. It seems like their patrons are always a hassle to them, even though we’re the ones paying their salaries.
Food: Upside: There is a huge selection. Downside: It has gone so far downhill since day 1. The price of the buffet has been steadily increasing, but the food is getting less and less. The family and boyfriend usually come here for the hot crab legs. If you don’t get here at a certain time, you don’t get crab legs. They are almost always empty. I usually go for the regular hot food, which is usually hit or miss. Some food can be great while others… not so much. They also added a sushi bar within the last year or so. Terrible. The sushi/​sashimi is sometimes okay, but more than not I worry that I will have food poisoning the next day from it being old. Same goes with the sushi rolls. They are not proportionate, and often are rank.
Verdict: We always say we will never come back, but the huge selection draws us back. We hate the attitudes of the staff, but we suck it up because we enjoy cheap Chinese buffets. All in all, this place will get the job done, even if you feel like you’re going to be sick afterwards. We’ll say we’re not going back for a few months, but you’ll probably see us again.

The waiter was genuinely annoyed with being asked for drinks. I had to go to the cashier to get a refill. Funny guy bought a refill with no ice and a picture with ¾ full of warm flat Pepsi. Which was added to the bill.
Then snidely remarks you people drink too much.
The place is expensive for what I had .
There was some rotten crab in one of the legs I had. The octopus teriyaki had a fowl taste that made me spit it out. In all my life I have never done that. The canned peaches were good as was the jello. Any meat that was cooked was horrible. Dry, tough. The only fried food I had was a very small piece of fish.
When we left. For no particular reason
We commented how we were not going back there anytime soon.
The place annoyed me more than ever. As usual I got diarrhea after eating there.again.
I have been coming here seems like at least fifteen years, I could rationalize cheap food with cheap price, but now at twenty bucks per person it’s not good.
This is my first comment in many years.

Crowded, good food, loud, messy— welcome to the buffet!

The main reason to go here — variety! Anyone can find something they like. The quality is so-​so, but as you would expect for a buffet with about 200 items.
Food options include:
–Sushi — more recent addition. Actually pretty good. Made on site. Salmon, tuna, crabmeat, tako, hand rolls. A good reason to go.
–Crab legs — people dive in here. Would be great if they provided crackers to break the shell
–Asian foods: General Tso’s chicken, sesame chicken, dim sum
–Mongolian grill — you pick your raw meats and veggies and they cook it onsite.
–American foods: pigs in a blanket, mac and cheese, pizza
–Salads: — greens, octopus salad, seafood salad
–Soups: miso, wonton, hot and sour
–Desserts: pudding, jello, soft service ice cream, fruits (many canned), cakes
Overall, this place is a crowd pleaser in terms of options, especially if you have picky eaters or kids. Don’t expect iron chef-​level quality though.