Flaming Grill and Buffet

The poster on ⁰⁷⁄₂₈ was correct. We drove by there this morning about 10 A.M. and it is closed, with «Property Available» signs on 3 sides of the building. I originally
posted about this place on 4÷2÷2013 after our 1 and only visit. I’ve noticed that it had been getting more negative reviews than positive ones lately. I think it only lasted about 5 months.

Just an FYI to future customers: Drove by the Flaming Grill & Buffet today (July 28, 2013). There was a sign hung OVER the Flaming Grill sign that said «Property Available» (or something to that effect) and then a phone # below it. (See photo)
However, there were a few cars parked in front of the buffet so not sure if the business is still open or already closed.
(Never been to FG&B coz not a fan of buffet food but figured future customers may want to know.)

I somehow convinced my lunch crew to come for the buffet last week as I had a coupon to get the buffet for $ 4.99 if we bought a drink. Flaming Grill and Buffet is in the old OCB space so it must have worked out well to pop in a new buffet.
When we walked in, it just seemed sad to me. It was pretty empty, weird florescent lighting, no music, and sadfaced employees standing around. Even with the pretty depressing vibe, our waitress was on top of refilling our drinks the whole time.
I was pretty amazed at the food options. There was the usual Chinese buffet fare but then a bit of dim sum, some sushi and a few that were actually quite good, a hibachi grill and then oreo cookies, giant sausage you cut yourself, frog legs and chicken feet.
I actually liked what I had at the buffet. Some of the maki rolls were good, the pepper chicken, general tso chicken sweet & sour chicken were all good and not spicy at all. I liked the sausage plus enjoyed the ice cream options.
Flaming Grill Buffet is not half bad but my coworkers have already let me know they have no interest in returning. One said he got sick after and blamed me. :P Wah wah.

Avoid the ice cream freezer! People’s hands have touched the ice cream scoops, the scoops are then placed in a sink that recirculates the water to clean them off. In turn, this is only recirculating germs. People’s sleeves and hands are down in your ice cream when they scoop theirs. Hair from peoples heads dangles into the ice cream as well. Not to mention that there is no sneeze guard either. I am surprised IDPH has said nothing about this unscrupulous measure the restaurant has taken. I makes me question what else is going on behind closed doors, if that is the best judgement they have made. This was my second visit here, and the food quality was hortible.

We decided to get the lobster and steak buffet. Don’t do it. It’s tough meat — the lobster I had to fight with to get it out the shell and then it was chewy. Stick with the main buffet. I happened to like the sushi part and then fresh veges and fruits.

Contrary to many of the reviews here. I didn’t find this new iteration of the Chinese-​leaning mega buffet to be anything but really good. It wasn’t dirty, reeling in bad service, or bedeviled with awful food. Most of what we had was pretty good, if a bit mildly seasoned. The sushi is pretty good for a full range buffet, especially considering the $ 8 lunch price. On a late Monday Lunch session, the place was busy, but handled it well. Few items were left empty and all were either hot or cold as appropriate. The Hibachi bar leaves a bit to be desired, as they don’t season the food as they cook (and you can’t by yourself) unless you specifically tell them to add the few items they have available. All in all, a worthy addition to the area.

Food OK… Selection limited… very tight, tight, tight inside… this place is NOT one of my favorite Asian buffet

My family was away and so my mom asked me to come to this place. It was near her office, so I figured why not. It has been years since going to a Old New Country China Buffet type place, and I remember why… To be honest, I only ate the hibachi and a handful of other things that didn’t look overly cooked, overly greasy, overly preserved. I also have a sensitivity to nitrates, and on some days grease, so I do have an excuse to be rather picky at times if I don’t want to suffer from hives or a stomach ache.
As mentioned in another review, nearly everything was fried, soaked in grease, was too salty, too sweet, or just looked old or brown… lots of brown. I walked around, seemingly aimlessly, looking for something that would satisfy my hunger without giving me gut-​rot or stomach pains.
I loaded up on the hibachi items, creating a fresh noodle dish with veggies and pork and beef. Unfortunately, every plate that passes through that flat top gets the same treatment — soy sauce, garlic, chili. If only they would customize this part to the taste of the customer instead of cooking it all the same. What I envisioned picking the ingredients would’ve all tasted the same anyway if I blindly threw stuff on my plate. I am part Japanese and I really don’t want everything tasting like soy sauce. It should not be used haphazardly like some people use ketchup. With that said, however, it was by far the best thing at this place.
I then went on to try the shrimp scampi (what was I thinking? horribly greasy and shrimp tasted very fishy), a beef roast (horrible using A1 sauce as a glaze), broccoli salad (what was I thinking? I was hoping it would taste like Sweet Tomatoes’ version. Dead wrong and disgusting.) — and I really can’t remember anything else I ate aside from some fresh pineapple. Repressed memory perhaps?
There was a ton of ice cream it seemed. (I didn’t venture over to eat any, as by this time I just wanted to leave.) Other desserts were very hit or miss.
Service was good, so I give it one star. My glass was always full of iced tea.
My mom luckily had a coupon, but management is either clueless about how to use coupons, or they are siphoning extra money from each check. Basically, we got the total and gave the coupon. The server comes back and I see that they simply deducted the coupon from the bottom line, not from the subtotal. Taxes were calculated off the original amount, not off the discounted amount, so depending on how many people are on the check, it could be a few dollars difference. I tried to educate the simple tax code to the server, but she said, «it is the way management does it. I’m new, I don’t know.» I just left it and left the restaurant.

Quick Summary: Low Quality Cold Food in a Dismal Atmosphere
We arrived at 7PM on a Tuesday, hungry and curious. After having read the other reviews, I didn’t walk in with high expectations. All I expected was to find enough decent food to satisfy my appetite, with no frills or fancy.
Unfortunately, what I found was much worse:
— cold food: Many of the menu items were lukewarm, or actually cold to the tongue.
— poor hygiene: I saw a worker rubbing their nose as they were replacing food on the line. Maybe it’s not a big deal… But then I see another employee doing the same thing. And finally, one of the «servers» (as such, at a buffet) was picking his nose while standing around talking to another employee. I felt that I was in environment where all the employees had a cold and didn’t wash their hands. Just a feeling.
— bland and tasteless: The General Chicken was sickly sweet, no spice. The Lo Mein tasted like nothing.
— food mixing: This is a pet peeve of mine. I shouldn’t find bits of lettuce clinging to the Chow Mein, or the occasional chunk of chicken in the vegetable dish. It’s a sign of general sloppiness — a lack of awareness in the kitchen. Cleanliness is not far off.
I could go on, but by this point I’m hopeful that you’ll take my word for it and avoid this restaurant like the plague. Other users have referred to this as a «price point» buffet, but I think it’s much worse. A price point buffet, to me, means medium quality at a reasonable price. That’s what I walked in expecting. Instead, this was very low quality overall.
A final point: As I asked for the check, the server asked if everything was okay. She didn’t seem to expect a response, so when I said «No», she didn’t seem to hear me or process it. I then said «The food was cold». Her response? «Try Hibachi.»
Stay away or you’ll regret it.

Oh dear lord I should have checked to see how long ago this place opened. I noticed it in one of the sales flyers in the mailbox and mistakenly thought it was a new joint. Usually when these buffets open, they are fairly decentish to surprisingly good the first few weeks to hook you in and keep you chasing the food «pipe» in hopes the food will be good again as the quality steadily declines to the utmost of disgusting disappointment on a plate.
If you are diabetic, avoid this place at all costs due to a gross misuse of sugar in practically all of the dishes — even those which are traditionally meant to be savory.
Guess what. We had the utmost of disgusting disappointment on a plate. Everything was BLAND and overly sweetened. If it wasn’t greasy bland, it was just plain soaked in sugary disgust. Soy sauce and Siracha could not help this food. Thai chicken you say? Seriously? Where is the basil, the lemongrass, the fish sauce, the Thai pepper and all of the other complex flavors that go into Thai cuisine? Unmarinaded red, tough, candied chicken lacking in anything containing salt or other seasoning swam in it’s sickening syrup.
Pork ribs, tough and slightly scented with five-​spice powder, again knocked me down with the overuse of sugar and underwhelmed me with the apparent complete lack of salt, or other sodium product such as soy sauce, fish sauce, etc. BLAND, ugh!
Wings, disgusting, greasy, flavorless, no seasoning whatsoever.
Soup, again, lacking in seasoning.
My companion said the orange chicken was fair, but again overly sweet and lacking in salt or a pre-​marinade. The greens were similar in nature.
The chocolate mousse was brown, there was no chocolate flavor. We were trying to decide what made it brown.
I could go on, but do you really think this dump merits a book???
We tried to politely convey our concerns to the manager, the manager said he would tell the chef. He did not seem to be paying attention and seemed to have rehearsed this line many times, «Come back next time, food better.» We conveyed our thanks and that we would not be returning.
Again, I wish we had seen they had been open several months. Don’t bother with the Flaming Grill & Buffet, the Flames will all be in the reviews.

Huzzah, a new buffet and a new opportunity to see if there’s a place that can actually pull off the buffet-​style restaurant without completely missing the trees for the forest of food. As is typical though, that’s the case here with Flaming Grill and Buffet. After two visits, the second of which will probably be our last, the glaringly obvious flaws quickly become apparent.
Namely that the place attempts to offer such a wide array of food, that what ends up occurring is a mediocre experience across the board. Certainly enough, if you’re not sure what you want for dinner, a buffet may sound like the best possible option. Everyone has the potential to walk away happy, but if that’s the case and you get that excited for what amounts to little more than trays of slop being scorched to oblivion under heating lamps, then Flaming Grill and Buffet fits the bill. Otherwise, head to a grocery store to cook for yourself or narrow it down and head to a full-​fledged dining establishment.
Buffets are, more or less, the Dane Cook of the culinary world. Offering enough cuisine to slightly appeal to everyone, but never really please. Flaming Grill and Buffet does offer a wide variety of food, so you can aptly pick your poison. Typical Asian and American flair is peppered by a sushi bar, which after trying once wouldn’t ever dabble in again given the odd taste after, what I can only imagine, sitting out for so long. Adding insult to injury, the dessert and ice cream wouldn’t even pass muster on the cheapest portion of a significantly more respectable delicatessen.
The place isn’t in the best shape and it shows. Despite signs instructing parents to be with any children going to the buffet, it’s essentially a free-​for-​all. Watching a child reach for food using their bare hands, parent in absentia, was enough for me to be adequately grossed out to the point that I left my full plate on our table and refused to touch it further. The random food bits scattered on the floor and not-​quite-​clean tables will leave you wondering why your sleeves are getting stuck from the sheer amount of stickiness.
Should I encounter a buffet that’s worthwhile beyond a doubt, believe me, you’ll all be the first to know. But Flaming Grill is anything but and well worth avoiding when there’s so much better nearby, namely Sushi Station or Cooper’s Hawk, both of worth won’t leave you wondering how you wasted your money to go out. Buffets are typically summed up with the old adage, «when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.»
I think that is impeccably true when it comes to Flaming Grill and Buffet.

How can anyone complaint about this place??? I mean you have such a large amount of food to choose from and the prices are soooooo affordable. We’ve been there at least 5 times now since they opened and my husband and I and our family love the place! It is so affordable and there is always such a large selection of food. The trays are always full and you can get fresh sushi that is actually delicious. My husband loves the hibachi grill. I also actually enjoyed it as well. I especially like selecting my own meats and veggies and variation of sauces.
The service is always very friendly and the restaurant is always so clean. I also constantly receive coupons in the mail. What a deal! This place is great for families as well. A large selection of food, that is actually very tasty and a low price? We are fans and will continue to eat here.
The only complaint I do have is sometimes they do get very super busy with very long lines and the restaurant does get a bit loud when they are packed to the gills. My recommendation is to try to go during «off peak hours». You will have a more pleasurable dining experience.

Summary: Not a bad place, decently big, fairly clean, good selection of food, not just chinese foods. A better deal than Royal, same price as Royal Lunch for dinner, but ¾ the variety, but the food is better since Royal’s recent decline in quality.
— — -
Lunch adults 7.59 (3 – 6 is 3.39, 7 – 10 4.99)
Dinner adults 11.39 (3 – 6 is 5.39, 7 – 10 is 7.39)
Drinks — 1.59 unlimited (cheaper than lots of buffets)
tea and coffee is 1 dollar
Their flyer says they have a frequent buyer card… i wonder what that entails, if i go back i will have to ask haha.
They do not sell alcohol, some guy was pretty sad about that
If you have a large group you can make reservations (i tried for 7 and they said «come on in! we have lots of room, no reservation needed)
— — -
Food
Hong Kong Style Chicken — a big chunk of chicken in what I thought was almost like teriyaki sauce — pretty tender and good tasting
Roast Duck — Dinner only — Good tender flavorful duck, wish I had plum sauce though haha
Black Pepper Shrimp — it’s like salt and pepper but not spicy but fried well enough that you can eat the entire shell — this is often an epic fail in most buffet places, i was impressed!
Broccoli and Cheese Casserole type thing — I really enjoyed this! Good non Chinese food at a chinese buffet, I like this concept.
Cray fish — they had some kinda really strong spice, i don’t normally eat these so i won’t judge
clams — there were 2 kinds, both were pretty good
Sushi — there was a wide variety. I tried the non shashimi stuff, and they were all pretty decent. They had flavor to them which was good :)
pot sticker — it was ok
Calamari — ok
egg roll — lame don’t even try it
«Fried Scallop» dude I tried 3 pieces in this mixed bin of fried scallop and fried chicken nuggets… um yea even things that lookedl ike they were scallops weren’t really them, eventually I found one and it wasn’t scallop, it was actually the crab meat i think.
Fried shrimp — this was pretty good
The hibachi cooking was actually really good, one of the best I’ve had in the buffets I’ve been to, blows royal away even though the selection is smaller, the last time i was at royal they burnt mine… (not pictures for selection of raw ingredients)
— — -
Dessert
Lychee, winter melon — both good. also liked the strawberries
they had a variety of other fruits as well as those heavily syruped fruits… ick but the fresh fruit looked good
Pink mouse … in individual containers, kinda tasted like cotton candy then i wanted to throw up… yea it was horrible, i ran to get ice cream to wash it down
ice cream — what can you say, it’s ice cream, they have
Raspberry sherbert
vanilla
mint chip
strawberry
rainbow sherbert
chocolate
cookies and cream
butter pecan
— — -
Random Discovery
Fish ball stuffed with meat (yes it’s a soup and it does not say there is meat in them but there is! It’s the most random discovery in the entire place, try it!
— — -
Service
Pretty good service, good at taking dishes away and keeping our water filled
— — -
Other random stuff I did not eat
Crab (2 kinds — I think one is dinner only) — looked good but I’m lazy
Prime Rib or some kinda roast (yea things that sit under heat lamps = dry)
garlic texas toast
Americanized chinese like fried rice, beef and broccoli, lo mein etc — they all looked good, not sure of the taste
steak — not a big fan of thin meat — tends to be overcooked

Went mid afternoon, so that may be many of the challenges. We ended up talking, so we got to see a lot of what was and was not happening.
Bathrooms were filthy. Details not appropriate, but more then just extra paper towels on the floor.
Wait staff does not bring water automatically. Food was luke warm or colder. They did have a wide variety of dishes. One row of fried, and a section of Sushi, and a small hibachi made to order (mostly fake crab). The sodas were off (yeah-​Pepsi), but staff was courteous and refilled frequently. I saw no replacement of food that was bland on the warming tables.
Staff was good about removing finished plates.
With as many options for Chinese and oriental buffets in the area, this new location (about 2 – 3 months, long enough to get the kinks out) feels like it has been around for 25 years and needs to be retired. They market (even before opening) with coupons in the ValPaks but they are not worth passing the 3 other buffets to go there even if they were cheaper. Royal Buffet is far Superior, even China Buffet is better.
No WiFi so meeting is hard in this day of needing data everywhere.
Maybe it is just mid-​afternoon but this place does not make it in my mind. I hope they implement better, or have better ‘rush time’ food.

I hate Chinese buffets and was forced to come here… as expected the food was meh with tons of gluttonous people lingering around waiting to fill and refill their bellies. No wonder Americans are morbidly obese and diabetic! But I digress sorry!
They have a whole buffet table of fried crap and more fried options. Noodles, rice and more greasy carbs.
I gave them an extra star because they at least had a salad bar option. Oh did I forget they have a buffet table full of deserts?!
Eat America, stuff yourselves, get lethargic, comatose and plop yourselves in front of the tv!

We went here for lunch yesterday and all I can say is Eh! It was your very typical Chinese buffet that you will find anywhere around the area, except one thing, the service is HORRIBLE!
We arrived about 12:45 and the place was PACKED! Meaning there was a line at the door to get a seat. It was so unorganized, it was chaos. They are very understaffed and the same person who was seating people was also stopping to work the register. I saw many open tables yet we waited a good 10 minutes once the staff was done on the register to actually seat us. We also had to wait the same time to get our check to leave, and i had to get the waitress’s attention to give us our check.
The Food as i mentioned was nothing special, very typical China buffet food. I was disappointed that they had 2 stations of desserts and salads, 2 stations of American type food, and 2 stations only of actual Chinese food. Then there was the Hibachi station and a sushi station. I want Chinese food, not chicken nuggets, mac&cheese or pizza.
You are better off spending a couple more bucks and going down the road to Royal Buffet. No American food and its all above average quality.

this buffet is pretty big and they continuously bring out fresh food. There is also sushi and a grill where you can pick your own ingredients and they will cook it for you.
We came here for an Easter buffet, luckily we beat the crowd and were seated right away.

Pretty solid Chinese buffet.
The buffet was bigger than I expected, and had a huge variety of food to choose from. The food tasted good, and is always fresh– After 10 or 15 minutes, every food item is replaced with freshly cooked ones.
No matter which item (s) you choose, you can be assured that it is freshly cooked and delicious.
As many mentioned before, this buffet recently opened. The staff can actually speak English well, and they can be understood easily.
Give it a try, you’ll thank me later.

If there’s a buffet within a 50-​mile radius of me and my family, you can bet we’ve tried it. Flaming Grill and Buffet just recently opened. This used to be our neighborhood OCB, and we’d been watching the construction/​remodeling in the last few months and couldn’t wait to try it.
First visit on Saturday for lunch. It was packed! We arrived right around noon. Oriental décor and furnishings running throughout the restaurant… darker interior and lighting, even though we were there during the day and natural light was streaming in through the windows. Decent-​sized private room towards the back, and a smaller private room near the restrooms (it’s kind of walled off on its own… at first we thought it was a host/​server station, but there were people eating in there!).
I have to note this — this is one of the buffets where you’re gonna leave smelling like the food. Just want to point that out for anyone who’s sensitive about those things like I am!
Pretty much upon entering, you’re greeted by the food. It’s located directly next to the host/​reception area. There is a small waiting space here (and packed on this particular Saturday), but once you enter, you can see the dessert station to your left.
Staff was extremely friendly and pleasant. We were greeted immediately and shown to a table (booth) toward the back-​side of the restaurant. Comfortable booths, plenty of seating and table space for our party of 4. We had two different staff clearing plates for us and they were both friendly.
Food selection here directly compares to most other buffets in our area. Salad bar, dessert bar, and 3 hot bars of a variety of food. Favorite staples of ours: honey glazed shrimp, steamed clams, donuts, eggrolls, spring rolls, variety of noodles. The prime rib was ok and so were the ribs. Sushi selection is decent (according to my husband and 5yo daughter), and the hibachi is a nice touch too. We’re used to Asian buffets that have crab legs, no crab legs here for lunch, but the shrimp and other seafood menu offerings were decent. They have chilled/​cold peel-​n-​eat shrimp and mussels as well at lunch.
Serve-​yourself ice cream station… with the ice cream scooper standing in a cup of streaming water (no critique here — this is common in these kinds of buffets, I just personally think it’s less than sanitary!), but ice cream selection was good.
But I think the greatest selling point to Flaming Grill is price…$ 7 for all-​you-​can-​eat at lunch ($ 3 for kids, ours are ages 3 and 5). That’s pretty awesome. We overheard the lady at the table next to us calling her friend and saying the same thing, «$ 7!»
Overall, solid and inexpensive buffet.

Yay! Another Hibachi/​Chinese buffet/​a good mix of American food/​sushi buffet! We don’t have enough of these in the area, nope, not at all.
This one is unique because the owners have decided to one up all the other hibachi/​Chinese buffet/​a good mix of American food/​sushi buffets by lighting up every corner and crevice with eye torturing blue LEDs. I felt like I was in some garishly lit seedy gogo club in the grimy depths of England. As soon as I saw the front vestibule, I honestly half expected to see a stripper pole inside with the waitresses spinning on it for extra tips. Other than the profuse use of blue lights, the food offered varies about as much as your left thumb from your right thumb.
Check out the furniture and both dividers. Look familiar? I’m almost certain that all these hibachi/​Chinese buffet/​a good mix of American food/​sushi buffets that keep popping up all buy their fixtures and furniture from the same supplier in China. The must send the interior dimensions to China where some genius who farms WoW gold as his day job places all the tables and dividers for maximum capacity and efficiency then submits the order to have everything fabricated. Once fabricated, the stuff is neatly packed floor to ceiling in a single grossly overweight China Shipping container and then put on a boat to the US. Upon arrival at the destination, the hundreds of migrant Chinese workers that the owner has legally procured into slave-​like labor conditions assemble the interior together in a matter of days. Voila — another hibachi/​Chinese buffet/​a good mix of American food/​sushi buffet.
Not all the employees wear uniforms though. There are many Hispanic ladies running about refilling the buffet bars and cleaning up after careless patrons. This has become such a familiar sight at many other similar establishments that it just wouldn’t feel right if they weren’t present as well.
The place is still new so the service was excellent. The guy we had spoke English well and was extremely observant and considerate. He saw me struggling with some crab claws and quickly brought over a cracker to me. I didn’t even think they had these! Drinks were quickly refilled and empty dishes were whisked away like magic. He didn’t even skip a beat when we presented a coupon AFTER the check was presented. I thought to myself, «Am I still in America? Someone working a minimum wage slave labor job and is still pleasant to deal with after a rough night of hungry American beasts feeding at the trough?» I was impressed and left happy with my stomach full. What more could you ask for at around $ 11 or $ 12 per person?
In a suburb full of many other facsimiles of hibachi/​Chinese buffet/​a good mix of American food/​sushi buffets, this new one did a great job for me. It’s brand new inside and the service is great so I’ll be back again until the next new hibachi/​Chinese buffet/​a good mix of American food/​sushi buffet comes along.
For extra sh*ts and giggles, check out the strange little corner room right next to the restrooms. It’s a tiny room packed with booths for what I can only guess are the guests that they don’t want the rest of the dining room to see. Screaming child room maybe? Dear god, wouldn’t that be glorious?