Pan Asia Buffet

I’m kinda impressed, San Marcos. No wonder my parents frequent here so often! I would give it a 3 just to be nice, but in actuality, its a 2 in terms of other buffets I’ve been to.
I like that this buffet doesn’t have too any «filler foods” — ie: a bajillion types of fruits, millions of ice cream flavors, or a huge section of fried items. However, the seafood (especially shrimp) tasted super frozen/defrosted…and they served so much of it!
The highlight for me was definitely the hibachi station, where you can have delicious plates of stir fry noodles made to order!
Salad Bar: standard. Edamame, potato salad, macaroni salad, BYO salad items, cocktail shrimp (not very good, just warning…), oysters (YAS), fruits (cantaloupe, bananas, watermelon, grapes, canned peaches), chocolate fountain (marshmallows).
Soup Station: Simple soups (egg drop, hot and sour soup, seafood soup) but delicious! Also steamed rice in a rice cooker in the same station.
Sushi Station: EHHH. Nigiri is not very fresh, and very limited options. Rolls are very basic, and have a lot of imitation crab. I wouldn’t come here for the sushi.
Hot entrees:
–Grilled salmon (YASS. I mean, it’s a bit dry but they are generous with the huge amount they constantly put out)
–Stuffed mushrooms. MEH.
–Fried chicken wings. YAS.
–Tender beef. YAS. They sure know how to conserve their meat! This delicious tray of food has all the tendons and ligaments that you can get in a bowl from phở… but unlimited!
–Teriyaki chicken. Chicken is chicken. not bad!
–Orange chicken… errrr…kalbi short ribs… pretty bad.
–Imitation crab in those sea shells. Not bad! I like gooey, mayo stuff so this floats my boat.
–Cream cheese wontons! YAYYYY. Been craving these!
–String beans. OMG YAS. Most places are skimpy on this, but the beans here are huge and succulent. Perfect!
–Potstickers
–Sausage (not Asian sausages… bummer)
–Squid
–Catfish (YAS)
–egg rolls (pass…)
–Oysters/​clams/​mussels. YUM YUM. FRESH. (FYI, it’s the cooked kinds.)
Grill station:
–All kind of vegetables! Mushrooms, bell peppers, broccoli, onions, bean sprouts, zucchini, etc. Super fresh!
–Meats are also great– love their thin sliced beef! Get this instead of the other meats if you want it fresh. (They also have whole, fresh eggs… stir fry noodles!)
Desserts:
–Okay, REALLY GOOD cheesecake. I had 3 slices… OOPS.
–Egg-​tart/​crème brûlée? They tried, they tried.
–Cookies are a bit too stale but good size.
–YES to almond cookies! There is also banana pudding/​tapioca pudding.
–Ice cream is the runny kind… not creamy, but I still like it. It’s also hidden in the corner near the salad bar.
Pros:
–cheap prices. $ 10.99 for weekday lunches? $ 4.99/lb for to-​gos? $ 1 off for Unilocal lunch check-​in?!
–clean environment. Bathrooms are super clean, and the service is quick and swift.
–Abundant parking. It’s in a decently large plaza, you have to find a spot.
–Fresh (ish) produce. For sure the vegetables
Cons:
–The grill guy hates his life. he can’t really hear you from behind the window.
Overall, a good buffet in the area with great prices, great service and decent variety. I would dine here again if I just wanted a variety of foods but probably check out other places first before coming back for round 2.

I like this place. It’s newly remodeled and very popular ! There’s a separate room for parties which is great ! It’s very clean and the food is great ! The sushi is very fresh and the mongolian grill is one of very few around ! Their buffet items and always very tasty and fresh. They are always at least ½ full, so you know the food isn’t sitting around for a while ! Their take out prices are a bit high so now I only eat in when I go there.

This is one of my favorite Asian buffets in San Diego… and it happens to be near my house! They have an awesome variety of sushi, which is my favorite part. With buffet sushi standards in mind, the sushi is excellent. On weekends during dinner, they typically have crab legs. Their selection of Chinese food is great. Then their «Grill» section has decent steak, and other grilled items.
The number one best item that I come back for is their croissants. They are a must try when you go here. I can eat croissants and sushi here daily and it’d never get old.
The reason they get a 4 star, and not 5, is due to the customers? As much as I love this place, it just doesn’t feel as clean as it could be. I see large families coming in with little kids, and I see them using their hands to get food, etc. Then I never eat pizza here, but I saw an employee put the tong handles on the pizza. that grosses me out. If I didn’t love their sushi selection, and other items, I would probably not be back. I do recommend you coming here though. Great food, but affordable buffets like draw lots of different kinds of people. I once saw a toddler with a poopy diaper… disgusting. I can’t blame the restaurant though, and I try to look past that and enjoy the food.

One of the best seafood /​Asian buffets in town, ranging from the crab legs to mussels to many varieties of shrimp, crab and other seafood dishes. It is billed as an Asian buffet which is true, but I think what sets it apart is the seafood. American food too.
I’m not a big fan of their sushi rolls because they all seem to contain the imitation white crab, but I like the regular sushi: salmon, giant clam and eel. Salmon poke. Sometimes there is shrimp sushi too but not every time. They used to have a spicy tuna roll based sushi, but I have not seen it lately, just the imitation white crab based rolls.
Tofu dishes too for vegetarians.
There is also a hibachi grill station. I recommend having your steak, fish, chicken, grilled fresh, and not taking it from the side where they have piled a bunch of pre-​cooked food. The dinner steak is better than the marinated beef, but whatever you choose have it made fresh. The pre cooked food tends to be overcooked and can dry out.
Be aware that at close to 9pm they start piling the pre cooked food onto the side and close the grill down as the cooking staff eats.
Many of the buffet dishes are fabulous. Especially some of the mushroom dishes and shrimp ones. Blue crab, salt and pepper shrimp. Lately the food has been fresher and better hence the fours stars. I like the fresh croissants too.
Salad bar is decent. I am not into dessert, but there is some there along with a flowing chocolate fountain.
The service is marginal — all the times we have been there not once have they refilled our water glasses. Another time I needed a fork because mine was bent way out of shape and they took a very long time to get me one, and had to be reminded. It’s pretty much self service for everything, but we’ve never had a bad experience there and sometimes the food is great.

I’ve been to pan Asia several times. The food here is fairly decent; actually fresh tasting. It’s not like other buffets which have a greater variety of foods but it’s clean, never really crowded, I like the feel of the restaurant. I honestly come for the noodles made on the hibachi grill in which you choose the meats, vegetables, spices you’d like. It’s so delicious and what’s better it’s made right in front of you, definitely my go to meal. It’s inexpensive to dine here as well so that’s a plus. I introduced this place to my roommates and now it’s one of our regular restaurants to eat at when we want Mongolian style noodles. I’ll definitely be back :)

It was delish!!! The food was very good. Better than most Chinese Buffets. I would definitely return again and I would recommend this place to others.

Worst Chinese buffet I’ve been to. We walked in just as they were switching their lunch to dinner menus, and they made it a big deal about us only getting food from their lunch menu, which we were fine with. What made it a negative experience is that the hostess stared at us the whole time my daughter and I were up getting our food. Made me feel extremely uncomfortable. The worst part was the little disgusting kid sitting behind us, who went to the chocolate fountain dipped his fingers, licked them, dipped them again and NOTHING was done about it.
We ate the usual, orange chicken, chow mein, veggies, rice… and it was just as bad as the service. Nothing really out of the ordinary. They had a nice dessert selection, but again nothing extraordinary. Will definitely not be going back. The check in $ 1 off was NOT worth using, specially since they seem irritated when I told them we had one.

This buffet was clean and organized and the service was very good. There’s a wide variety of foods/​cuisines. My friend and I arrived just before the end of lunch and the beginning of dinner. We were given the option of paying the lunch price and being very careful about which foods we chose, or paying the dinner price. We opted for the dinner, as it was very confusing about what we could/​could not choose.
We’ll go back.

Unimpressed. The food is mediocre at best and not one server or chef smiled in the duration of my time there.
We decided to try this place out because so many friends recommended it to us. I don’t see why. The place was crowded when we came in but we didn’t have to wait long for our table. As soon as we were seated, the person took our drink orders and we were off on our own to get our food.
I’ll give you a tip right here: Don’t trust their raw food. In fact, don’t trust anything that wasn’t freshly put out for you. I got their mussels and shrimp in the cold area and they were pretty fishy. Not only that, but the mussels were also tough to chew on. The shrimps were so tiny that you can barely get a decent sized bite out of one. The bbq station wasn’t that great either. The steak was overcooked and dry and the squid was over cooked as well. Both were super hard and chewy that it’s like you don’t eat it for the taste, you eat it to get something in your stomach.
The best thing there is probably the hibachi, because they cook everything in front of you. The meat isn’t too stiff and dry, and everything is freshly cooked. But even then, I got a few pieces of under cooked noodles. Also, you need to watch your food or something, because they can accidentally mix your plate with someone else’s since they cook multiple plates at the same time. I found a piece of shrimp from someone else’s plate that the guy must have accidentally pushed into mine, because I didn’t get any shrimp. It’s pretty dangerous if you’re allergic to something that someone else has in their plate.
Most foods here are probably a step above Panda Express. Everything’s luke warm and just sitting under a heated lamp. There are some better choices, but all the things that have been just sitting out, don’t taste that great. I really only recommend getting something if they JUST put it out, right in front of you. With that being said, their baked seafood is decent, but only when it’s fresh.
There’s really only one or two places where you can get plates in the entire stretch of food, so it sucks having to go back and forth for new plates. Same with the utensils. They only put one tray of utensils in the middle of the buffet that I end up having to go back and forth for those too. The crab tools are in that tray too, and the crab legs are on one side of the buffet, so you’re going to have to walk to the middle of the buffet, and cut in front of a few people who are crowding all over the counters in order to get the crab tools. Not only that, but the utensils are pushed to the far end of the counter that it’s closer to the chefs than to us, so it’s hard for me to reach. I had to stand on my toes to get to them. Not very convenient.
The only things that the servers really did here was collect our empty plates. Didn’t really refill our waters, and didn’t really check up on us. They just picked up our plates without making eye contact. They passed us about three times before we were able to get their attention. I was in there for a good hour and a half at least and not one person working there looked like they weren’t tired.
Also as a side note, the women’s restroom floor was sticky and according to my brother the men’s restroom floor was flooded with some type of liquid. So gross. So maybe take a bathroom break before you come in here, if you can.
And another side note, you’re going to come out of there smelling like grease, especially if you have long hair. I’m writing this review after I washed my hair with twice as much conditioner, and I can still smell the remnants of grease in my hair. So you probably shouldn’t come here before a nice event or something unless you want to be smelling like greasy Chinese food.

Good asian buffet. One of the better buffet spots around. Great for large groups.

Nice buffet. The food was great. Try their salmon! And a lot of variety. Not your typical buffet with pizza, pasta and ribs. I highly recomment this place. And we went on thursday night so it wasn’t crowded which was great.
Ohh i only gave them four stars because i ordered sprite. And i guess the one they gave me was old, or from an opened bottle. It didn’t have the spirit in it anymore. Their lemonade was great though.

Probably the best Asian buffet in the area. Definitely better than Luxe buffet in oceanside. Crab legs and habachi grill. Plus, only $ 3 for my 3 year old!
Update:
I originally gave 5 stars, but I deducted 2 because of the service. We came around 8:15pm and they close at 9:30pm. We had arrived over an hour before they closed, but felt rushed. No one came to refill our drinks… until we waved them down. When we asked for the refill, the waitress wasn’t very plesant and brought back my pepsi, but it was flat! Around 9pm, all the staff (except the hosts) left their stations to sit down and eat. They were still open for another 30 minutes, but paid no attention to the customers. Priority should always be the customers. At least wait until we all leave instead of ignoring us… especially since your doors are still open for service!

The food was terrible here the last time we went for lunch.
Save your money and spend it elsewhere.
None of the soups are edible. Everything tastes off. Usually overcooked and sitting around. Stay away from the cooked salmon and the sushi.
Will not be returning.

Love this place, as a buffet person I rather come here than go to a casino buffet. Food is delicious, fresh, clean, and affordable…
The only thing missing is good chocolate goodies. Eventhough, they have a chocolate fountain, it’s not that good of a chocolate

This place is great. I live in Santee but I drive all the way to San Marcos because it’s the only good Asian buffet in SD. I definitely recommend it as a family outing or even by yourself. Totally worth and doesn’t cost a lot for the quality!

Great variety and favors here. The price is actually pretty good for what you get. The staff isn’t overly friendly… Or friendly at all… But we all know you’re not going to a buffet for the service ;)
My only real complaint is that the desserts are sub par. Disappointing, really. But on the plus side– there’s always marshmallows to dip in the chocolate fountain so you feel like a little kid again (no sarcasm)

Not a bad place, decent buffet. Don’t come here expecting Las Vegas style buffets or anything but we enjoyed it overall. Met up with a few friends for a kids get-​together for dinner on a Friday at 6pm and honestly, it wasn’t too crowded. There were 17 of us and we took up most of the back room with no issues.
There were a lot of good stations with meats and seafood and a chocolate fountain that the kids love. Here’s some of my favorites:
–sushi station was decent, my kids loved it and kept asking for more
–fried station was another one we liked, who doesn’t like fried chicken and egg rolls?
–crab legs weren’t bad, they refilled it pretty frequently, but I didn’t like the sauteed crabs, it lacked meat in the shell and most of them fell out
–I didn’t have the ribs but my husband liked it
–Dessert station was ok, some jellos, puddings, chocolate fountain with only marshmallows to dip in
Overall, just like any Chinese buffet and worth a stop for large crowds.

Whenever I have no idea what to eat I’ll end up here. It’s relatively cheap and offers a ton of food options. I usually end up getting the following:
–Shrimp
–Grilled Squid
–Stuffed Mushrooms
–Baked Salmon
–Stuffed scallop shell
–Clam soup
Food turnover is quite good so it’s always hot and fresh. Due to the high amount of fried foods, you’ll end up walking out smelling a bit oily.
Sunday is dinner all day, but you’ll be able to get crab during lunch time.
Overall 3 stars, good variety, cost, and food.

Probably the best Chinese buffet I’ve been too. The food was actually pretty good, although it is a buffet so don’t expect it to be spectacular. Certain things were better than others, although I was very impressed with everything I got. Great selection too!
Came here with my mom Sunday at noon; very packed, tons of kids screaming. It seems like they change there prices very often too, it was 15.99 when we came.
The teriyaki chicken was absolutely delicious, the fried chicken was so crispy and very yummy, and yes they have crab legs! They were huge and the meat came out of them so easy! Way easier than any actual seafood place I’ve been too. Everything was very good, although not a fan of the pot stickers they were cold and hard unfortunately.
Something I didn’t like was when I was getting food and going down the isle a worker was following me cleaning up the counter. It bothered me, it felt like she was rushing me so she could clean up the counter. (She was standing right next to me, and followed me every time I moved)
Service was great, drinks were constantly filled. I’ll definitely come back, my mom and I were pretty impressed.

The best of any San Diego Chinese buffets (hibachi, savory, seaside, sunrise and buffet house) that I’ve been to but not amazing. If you want good quality Chinese food, don’t go to a buffet, come if you prefer quantity over quality. There is plenty of seating. Service is okay, workers don’t look too happy all the time. Plates are removed in a pretty timely manner, but drinks are not always refilled unless asked to do so.
My parents often like to eat here for lunch on weekdays. There’s really very little difference from the dinner menu; during dinner you additionally get fried crab, honey walnut shrimp, and salt & pepper shrimp. You’ll see a lot of elderly folks dining here because they have a buy one get one senior meal half off deal on the weekdays. They also use fivestar, so rack up those points! The quality of food is most worth the amount you pay compared to any other chinese buffet.
FOOD: They have a hibachi grill station, a salad bar, sushi bar, soups, a variety of chinese foods, desserts, and a chocolate fountain. I use to enjoy coming here for their sushi bar variety because the selection was large and tasted decent, but their rolls have gone down in quality. If the sushi was like it once was, I would give Pan Asia 4 stars instead. The hibachi grill noodles are okay depending on how you choose to make it. They also offer other similar types of foods like any other chinese buffet. Weirdly, I enjoy their stir fry vegetables: the broccoli, cauliflower, and mushrooms which I pick out. I also like to get a bunch of their steamed clams and add it to my hot and sour soup. My other favorite thing is also their chocolate fountain, I like to cover my cookies and fruits with their chocolate which is very rich.