Villa 8 Buffet

I’ve been to my fair share of buffetts and this one is awesome! Sushi, sashimi, tepanyaki, dim sum, seafood, you name it they have it! Not to mention a fully stocked bar. The only thing that’s lacking is the dessert selection.
The service is great and during the week (I went on a Wednesday evening for dinner) it’s not crowded. The place is also clean which isn’t always the case at buffetts.
I live within walking distance (yikes!) and I’ll definetely be going back.

Sign on the door says «closed for remodel». Usually with most or all Chinese run businesses, there would be the obligatory plastered wall or newspaper to cover up the windows.
These guys didn’t even have time for that.
Possible translations of the signage:
— the owners are bickering over who gets a larger cut of the pie (or whatever is left of it)
— the owners may have run into some financial issues. Apologies for the stereotyping but gambling could have been a culprit. If legal issues, seeking shelter and possibly going dark immediately, with or without witness protection plan. And not in a typhoon shelter.
— the feng shui here really sizzucked the dilsnick. Better find the feng shui master and get a refund!
Now where am I going to get my next fix of unrefined greasy salty MSG’d up multi course Chinese with low brow sashimi and cheese baked lobsters with more cheese and mayo than meat, all you can eat black bean sauce clams (even if loaded up with MSG), as well as low tech dim sum that almost rivals Fu Lam Mum?
Goodbye Villa 8. May you be reincarnated into a more noble food destination.

Heard this place closed.
Thank goodness.
Wont be giving anyone else diarrhea.

I will never be going back to Villa 8 Buffet again! the service was so bad, they had spoiled dessert, cold food, and false advertising. Our server was rude.
Having to pay so much for a buffet I was expect a more exceptional dinner experience. I wouldn’t recommend any one to this place.
–Ranndy

Wow. what a disgrace to Chinese food.
The food was not fresh and tasteless.
The oysters were not rinsed properly, every bite had sand in it.
The tuna sashimi had a weird mushy texture.
Not much of a selection.
The shark’s fin soup was ok, not bad, but it could have used a little more flavoring.
The best part of this buffet is at they very back. There’s an area for you to pick out some vegetables, noodles, meat, and seafood for the guy behind the counter to cook for you. He’ll ask if you want it spicy. It really isn’t spicy at all. Don’t forget to tip the guy, he’s the best part of the buffet.

Came here this week with a good friend who treated me to lunch. At first I was actually hoping we were going to go to Ryowa around the corner but she really wanted to try out this place and we were both really happy with our lunch here. It was like $ 30 for the both of us, and I think that even included our refillable drinks. I honestly do not know how they keep their pricing so low.
There was a sign posted on one of the buffets that said something like, excessive waste of food will result in an extra charge. THANK GOD someone finally had the balls to post a sign like that at an all you can eat buffet. Americans can be so f***ing wasteful it’s ridiculous. It makes me sick to see people filling up 3 plates of food and then wasting a whole plate after they’ve stuffed themselves to the gullet with the first two. Seriously, people need to be conscientious about that kind of thing. When I saw that sign, I thought, that takes a lot of balls for an owner to put up a sign like that, knowing people are probably going to bitch about it. I say, anyone who would bitch about something like that needs to stay the hell away from all you can eat buffets, and the manager did themselves a favor by shooing them away.
I really liked their sushi, hot/​sour soup, tapioca soup, seaweed salad, steamed salmon… man they had so much to choose from. Luckily we went in for a pretty late lunch so we were able to avoid most of the crowd.
We met the manager of the place, who was super sweet and came over to talk to me and my friend. She gave us punch cards (if you visit 10 times you can get a free meal or something like that). My friend already went back a second time and is going back for a third time later this weekend! Needless to say, we enjoyed this restaurant.

I finally got around in checking this place out and while I know that this spot might have been great when it first opened, it’s definitely dropped off considerably.
The service is attentive, but then when your party makes up more than %50 of overall customers on a Friday night you would expect that.
I also had to go through 4 people before I found someone that spoke English so I could get some low sodium soy sauce and in the end the lady pointed me to the same bottles that were out labeled «soy sauce». riiight.
But If you like dim sum they have a decent station with at least 6 different favorites such as shrimp dumplings, chicken feet and the beef shu mai was probably our favorite of the bunch. The dim sum chef even came out to our table to take orders and pushed the cart to show us what they had. Not bad I guess seemingly how I rarely see that at any buffet I’ve been through.
The sushi bar was in full effect and their sashimi was fresh with both salmon and tuna. The seafood bar consisted with cheesy mussels, fresh oysters, snow/​dungenous crab and cold shrimp but no lobster in sight (WTF). I did like the Mongolian noodle station where they take items you choose and stir-​fry for you but it’s nothing we all haven’t seen before.
I didn’t get around to the shark fin soup this time around as i’m not a fan but their dessert selection right next to it was spot on with Chinese donuts and mini custard egg tarts but sadly I had neither because I’m trying to cut some weight for the upcoming summer *pats belly*.
The venue itself is large, but it makes it look really bad when you’ve only got %20 capacity plus you have employees walking around like zombies doesn’t help. Teach them *some* English please! They also charge extra for drinks including hot tea so the bill came out to like a little under $ 20 a head. What ever happened to free tea?
This was the first time I left any buffet where I just felt «content» and didn’t really over eat which is very atypical of me because usually I have food coma but I could control myself when the food available isn’t super appetizing. My friend N even joked about leaving early because he has *never* has left any buffets prematurely. I did however enjoyed at least 1 plate of crab legs, but they were a freaking bitch to break open and I even stabbed myself which kind of left an unpleasant feeling.
So we came, we saw and *none* of us were impressed. Good luck Villa, I hope you find new patrons because we will definitely won’t be coming back especially at $ 20 a pop.
Van The Man Must Try: Hmmm nothing. There was nothing memorable.

My mom’s company decided to host their annual xmas dinner in here. The company got the special deal $ 15.99 for din din (Reg $ 16.99) because we were the early birds, and the host liked us.
I remember there was so much hype going on about this place, but it was just «alright» when I tried it.
The best part was their 1.) Dim sum cart 2.) Crab legs and 3.) hot soup section
The sushi bar and the mongolian noodles bar were overrated. I guess that is what you get for letting chinese make your sushi.
Overall, the food itself lacks quality. The sushi bar needs improvement, and the food needs to be heated more.
But given the cost is relatively cheap comparing to the competitors, and they gave us good service. I will give this place a 3 star!

I really wanted to like this place but it just wasn’t happening. I came here for lunch not that long ago, and the level of customer service was horrible. Not only did it take almost 20 minutes to get seated because we were either pushed to the side or ignored.
After we are seated, it took them another 15 – 20 minutes to bring out water and silverware. and 1 DAMN NAPKIN. if you saw how greasy the food was, you know you would need at least 10 DAMN NAPKINS. And when I asked for more, the busboy acted really rude. But anyways, I’ll get back to customer service later…
The food wasn’t bad at all though! For the most part it was your standard Chinese food, but they did have a couple interesting items such as shark’s fin soap and various dim sum items. The dim sum is where the money is at! Fresh steamed, and you can eat as much as you want. That was probably my favorite part about eating here. They had some sushi, and there wasn’t much variety but for buffet sushi it was pretty good. In fact, the food is pretty good if you compare it with other Chinese buffets. For dessert, they had a soft serve machine, with some small cakes (the guava and mango ones are CRACK) and some fresh fruit.
But once again, one more problem. granted it was busy during lunch. THEY SHOULDN’T RUN OUT OF FOOD. for the majority of my lunch (1215 — 130pm) the buffet was half empty. And it gets pretty annoying, when you have to constantly glance over at the buffet just to see if they brought out your favorite items. Because when the good stuff comes out, people swoop on it like vultures.
Again…the store is either poorly staffed or the servers are just plain rude (I think it’s a combination of both) because only one time did they come by to clear out our plates. I never got my drink refilled either.
Overall, it’s only $ 9.99 for lunch. and you do get what you pay for. The food itself isn’t bad at all, but the whole dining experience and lack of customer service just kills this place. I would eat at Villa 08 if I happen to be super hungry and already in the area, but I wouldn’t drive to Mountain View just to eat here.
Oh btw, one final note. there is a bar there and there’s a huge sign that says NO MSG on one of the walls. I find that really hard to believe! LOL

Came here for lunch with a group of people from work. This place has many problems:
1) At the entrance, there’s a sign that says you’ll get some kind of discount if you come for your birthday, but the sign demands that you show your ID. Uncool to put this kind of passive-​aggressive sign in the entrance to a restaurant. You’re here to serve the customer, not the other way around.
2) One of the chairs at our table fell apart when my co-​worker sat down. The non-​existent wait-​staff didn’t seem to notice or care.
3) The acoustics of the restaurant suck. The ceiling is shaped in such a way as to reflect and amplify the noise so that you can’t hear the person sitting right next to you.
4) Tables are way too close together. It gives the dining area an overcrowded uncomfortable feeling. You can’t get in and out of your table without bumping into 6 other people and this is a buffet so you need to be able to leave your table frequently.
5) Wait staff is non-​existent. We were here for at least an hour and they never cleared a dirty dish or refilled any of our drinks.
6) Food is low quality and some of it is cold.

3.5 stars
This place is quite overwhelming. I walked around and around the offerings for awhile till I started to pick some items. However, there were hardly any signs so I didn’t know what I was eating. Of course, I knew I had gotten some dim sum, sushi, fried rice and other items but I didn’t know what else I had gotten. The place is crazy packed but it was one of the cleaner Asian buffets I have been to. The fruits are fresh and sushi was also fresh as well. But nothing stood out to me and it was just another buffet.

I don’t really care for buffets too much, but this one was pretty good for lunch anyways. After reading a review from our friend Khanh my Magma team decided to come here for lunch. The food was good. I wish I could tell you what was good or bad, but a lot of the items had no names to them. I hated that since I’m such a picky eater.
They offered sushi, dim-​sum, teppanyaki, & your normal chinese food items. I enjoyed the clams from the teppanyaki grill, freshly made to our liking. The green beans were good with a little kick to it. The sushi was alright. Once again I couldn’t tell what was what. There was also a variety of soups offered. They had shark fine soup. I couldn’t believe it. You actually get shark fine in every bite that you eat.
I also notice that they had a full bar which included a little seating area for those of you who are just looking for a place to hang out. I will surely come back to see what they offer for dinner. Anyone who is interested in trying this place should go this weekend. The owner came by & told us that they are offering a 10% discount to all that come this weekend. I would call to reconfirm though. Plus you get a free moon cake that is freshly made from there. Apparently it is made by a famous chef.

Just one word.
YUCK.
I’m not sure how this place can get more than two stars. I mean sure if you want to pay a small fee to get unlimited bad, MSG-​filled food. Apparently people’s standards have gone way down.
I think it’s only worth it to come here if you love crab legs, otherwise, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Villa 08 — 1, Kelly — 0
You beat me Villa 08 — I thought I could take you down and devour you up but I was defeated! I could not eat you out of house and home — you outwitted me with your rows of fresh (and fried) food and made me believe I could eat more than any obese man (Apparently my eyes are bigger than my stomach). I failed my mission to close the restaurant down early from my overindulging… my head hangs low. I only managed 3 plates of food and a lobster tail… but I’m sure that counts for something somewhere!
I was surprised how good everything was — This was my first time at a buffet ever and was sooooo happy to hear that I was going to be taken here yesterday. My favorite was their sushi line (very fresh and flavorful — however I didn’t try the sashimi so I can’t comment on that), honey walnut shrimp, eggplant and orange chicken — crab legs were good too but I would not have eaten them if they weren’t cracked open for me (thanks!).
I will come back again for Round 2 and destroy their buffet — this time I won’t eat for a few days so I’ll be a hungry hippo! I’ll get you next time, 08, even if its that last thing I do!

Mmmm… sushi, sashimi, dim sum, seafood, shark fin soup, build your own stir-​fry, walnut prawns, general chicken, crabs, fresh oysters, oh MY! I haven’t seen an asian buffet provide ALL these things and have them all taste good at the same time. Wow.
$ 12 for lunch, $ 17 at nights and weekends. It’s really good, mmhmm!!! Spacious seating… what more can you ask for in a buffet? It’s almost Las Vegas quality… What I loved most was the dim sum items. There were LOTS of dim sum variety, unlike other chinese buffets where they usually only have egg rolls, shu mai, and pot stickers. This place had that and MORE (chicken feet, bbq pork buns, sticky rice, etc…)! Check it out!

Soup — OK.
Dimsum — OK, though sometimes their sticky rice too dry, any else OK.
Hot Food — Good, their Potsticker, Tso’s Chicken, Spring Roll,
Honey Glazed Walnut Shrimp w/​Mayo, Clam, Mussel.
Dessert — Good, if they serve Mocha cake. Ice cream just so-​so.
Sushi — Stay away
They’ve increased their weekday-​lunch price by $ 1 (since 6÷27÷09 hmm…).

So I read on this thread about good buffets in the area, someone had mentioned Villa 08, and i checked out the rating 3 ½. WHOA! not a 1 or 2 star, but a 3 ½! It must be good, right? This is a new buffet, located in the downtown area, from out side it didnt look bad, had this whole little pond area and what not, but then there were these speakers and we heard Juvenile «Back That Ass Up» playing in the background. UGH? Me and my gf looked at each other like WTF did we just hear hahaha! We are greeted immediately by an older women (i think she was the owner) and told us to just wait a bit, then a younger female (i think the daughter of the owner) in these daisy dukes and uggs comes up and says this way (already im thinking, where the hell am i?) So we are seated in this section away from the food area, which wasnt bad because the main dining area seemed like a freaking cafeteria.
So we go venture off to get food, I go straight for the sashimi and sushi. So this was main reason I was excited about this place because they they served sashimi (tuna, salmon, yellow tail and white tuna). They were all cut miniature sized, but I didnt care I grabbed a plate full. When we started eating our meal, the first thing my gf says is WTF there’s a bone in my hamachi. OKAY now thats really bad if anything we should just complained and left without paying! So we carefully continued to eat and I noticed the sashimi didnt really smell fishy or anything but there was a lot of water coming out of the fish (yes frozen fish thawed out) that is SOOOO GROSS!
Went on to get some chinese food, another bust! Green beans werent cooked all the way, most decent thing on there was the walnut shrimp and general tso’s chicken. Fried rice was bland, dim sum was freakin nasty!
Snow crab legs were prob the most decent thing there, and the frog legs were good. I dont think it was worth 17 bucks at all! Maybe 10 or 12 bucks. I felt totally ripped off, esp after we had to wait in front of the register area to pay for almost 10 mins while the owner was trying to cut a deal with one of the customers going back in forth in Chinese. its like geezus just freakin pay for your damn meal already!
I wont ever go back, wont even take my parents there who actually like buffets. Only upside was the worker in our section was very attentive. for all the people who gave this place a 4 or 5 star, I’m going to have to totally disagree! Maybe they went on a good day or was super stoned out of their mind thinking that this can even be considered higher than a 3 star rating just blows my mind away.

**WARNING** Enter at your own risk!
Vomit food
ILL looking
Lacking in quality
Lots of nastiness
A variety of CR@P!
The above describes the food at Villa 08. I had higher expectations with this place. Reading my fellow Unilocalers’ reviews I was hoping for a decent restaurant buffet. But I should know better by now. I do not do buffets.
I won’t go into too much of the details. I lost my appetite after I ate the steamed flounder fish. Have you ever smelled tempura paint? The kind kids finger paint with? Well, that fish smelled AND tasted like tempura paint! *GAG* I don’t usually spit food out, but this time I seriously was.
If you actually want to waste $ 12 and get there before the other crazy asians that come at 12noon, then come around 11:30am. If there’s a line, don’t bother waiting! There are many more restaurants that are way better on Castro Street!
Nasty…
— steamed flounder fish (nasty nasty!)
— fried squid (very tough, thick, and chewy)
— shark fin soup (i didn’t even want to bother with the ox tail soup)
— fried noodles
— wannabe seaweed salad
— stuffed crab
— sticky rice
— egg tart (tasteless)
— pastry pork dim sum (tasteless)
— shu mai (it doesn’t taste real)
— almond jello (why is there a fruit inside?)
Decent…
— the steamed dimsum with a snow pea and carrot on top
— dim sum with chives inside
— some of the sushi
— cantaloupe
Why do people come here? I should’ve just eaten $ 12 worth of cantaloupe! bwahaha

As we all learn when growing up, there are «golden rules» in life. The same holds for buffet and buffet aficionados. «Go Early, Go Often.»
While the health conscious among us may disagree with the latter part, there is absolutely no disputing the first part. It’s almost akin to what I like to call the ‘supernova’ effect.
Flush with cash and customers upon first opening, buffet restaurants will inevitably shine most brightly (relatively speaking) when they first open. The lobsters will be large, the oysters fresh, and the food plentiful. Once the cash dwindles or the customers fade, then corners are cut.
Moonstar Buffet, Minokichi (former buffet where Junnoon now is), and California Korean Buffet all followed similar paths.
It’s thus with great anticipation that I wanted to try Mountain View’s first Chinese buffet soon after their Grand Opening several weeks ago. Given that service and décor are almost irrelevant at buffets (things that may improve with time), I knew that the best time to catch Villa 08 was at the beginning.
On a Friday night, after some arm twisting of MY, we found ourselves at Villa 08. Décor, to just mention, is nothing special. The place is quite large and has very high ceilings. The walls are decorated with Chinese art that probably would fit well in a Cost-​Plus World Market. Table spacing is decent and most are within easy walking distance to the star attraction, the food.
Dinner and weekend buffets are $ 16.95, while weekday lunch starts at $ 10.95. For this relatively modest entry fee, the selection at Villa 08 is quite good. Seafood, soups, teppanyaki, sushi, fruits, salads, and dim sum are just several of the offerings. I did my best to try everything (and in the process ate way too much), so here are my thoughts.
Sushi — a variety of rolls, mediocre nigiri, and small pieces of sashimi are available. The rolls are passable and I did enjoy the salmon sashimi and nigiri. We’re not talking ultra high end sushi, but it’s definitely decent and the three «sushi chefs» do a good job of replenishing the popular items and making sure items stay fresh. Better than joints like Todai and probably the equal of Sushi 85.
Dim Sum — a welcome and nice addition to the buffet scene is dim sum. A standard dim sum cart occupies one end of the buffet table and is filled with all the standards: har gow (shrimp dumpling), sticky rice, and even chicken feet. I found the few items I tasted to be pretty good and recently steamed.
Lobster — you get a ticket for a lobster at dinner and are allowed one per ticket. It’s standard buffet lobster — a lobster sliced in half and smothered with mayonnaise sauce. The size was decent (I’m guessing 1 lb lobsters) but I found the meat overly cooked and a bit tough. Still, lobster is lobster, and while the freshness here is not amazing, it’s better than anything Red Lobster serves. For most buffet joints, this item is among the first that is cut back as business suffers. Minokichi used to be all-​you-​can-​eat lobster, then it was 1/​person, finally they got rid of it entirely before going out of business.
Teppanyaki — a dedicated person mans the teppanyaki grill and either grills or stir fries your items depending on your selection. Choices are forgettable and are mostly vegetables, udon noodles, shrimp, and two meat choices. Although the beef chunks looked tantalizingly like steak, the quality was quite poor. Chewy, flavorless, and tough… I’d say beef of this quality needs to be marinated and tenderized. I’d suggest Villa 08 follow the Korean buffet model and marinate the meats.
Udon or Miso Noodles — California Buffet had an excellent noodle soup section and it was disappointing how bad Villa 08’s was. Though they boiled the udon noodles in hot water, they added lukewarm miso or chicken soup. The entire bowl tasted cold. Ugh. I didn’t finish this.
Seafood — I saw oysters, mussels, clams, lobster legs, snails, red snapper, and cold shrimp. I tried the oysters and they had a nice selection of sauces: hot sauce, cocktail sauce and sriracha sauce. Not the freshest oyster I’ve had, but not bad. I also liked the steamed fish.
Soups — a selection of fungus soup with dates, oxtail soup, sharkfin soup and hot and sour soup were available. I’m a big soup fan (I know, I know, bad value!) so had to try each one. My favorite was definitely the shark fin soup. Though I know that imitation shark fin and chicken were the main ingredients, all the soups were piping hot and hit enough flavor cues that it reminded me of versions I’ve had in the past.
Fruits and desserts — on our night the fruit selection was pretty basic: watermelon, cantaloupe, and seeded grapes. The seeded grapes were super sweet and a nice way to end my meal.
Overall, for a buffet, Villa 08 gets decent marks. It’s definitely among the the better ones in the Peninsula. Plus they take Amex!

I was excited to try out Villa 08 since they seem to advertise a wide selection of food. I was not disappointed. There was indeed plenty of choices. We were a party of 7. On a Friday night, we arrived at 7:30pm and had no problems getting seated. In fact, the place was still pretty empty (my worries of waiting in a long line were quickly diminished).
Pros:
–hot steaming dim sum in steam baskets
–cook to order japanese soba noodles
–cook to order mogolian bbq
–fresh sashimi
–variety of sushi
–shrimp, shrimp, shrimp — too many varieties/​styles to remember
–fast service in clearing our table/​plates
Cons:
–king grab legs — lacked flavor
–soups were bland and served at room temperature
–no sign of the prime rib that people talked about in their reviews
–sodas are sold separately
Overall a good place to eat. Especially for the price of 16.99 for dinner and 10.99 for lunch. I probably wouldn’t come back here all the time, but if I’m ever in the mood to pig out, I’ll know where to go.