Great Moon Buffet

When I lived in MN I would go to great moon buffet with my mom all the time and I came back to visit and I met some friends here and I found mouse poop in the cream cheese wonton. After we left my friend told me her brother in law had also found mouse poop on his plate when he went to eat here before.

Ok… being from LA & NY my family and I were very skeptical about Chinese food in the heart of St. Paul or Norwegian town! Well first of all it is ok price for all you can eat. The food though was a pleasant surprise. We have access to Alhambra /​Monterrey Park in LA (which has some of the best Chinese food around). This place would do quite well and probably kick some other so called all you can eat Chinese restaurants to the curb. So for being in the land locked land of MN & seeing very few Asians… it was nice to 1) walk into a Chinese restaurant and see Chinese staff 2) having quality Chinese food and AYCE at that!

Gah, this buffet was so disappointing! I would give 1 star to the food and 1 star for the customer service. This is one of the few buffets I have went to that barely had any dishes to offer! It’s busy and bustling with people, but I honestly don’t understand how and why, when they don’t really offer a variety of different dishes. I don’t think I will be a returning customer, just because of the fact that it is so pricy and the menu isn’t even big. The food is above average when it comes to flavor, but do be aware that some of the dishes doesn’t taste as fresh; for example their coconut shrimp, the batter for the shrimp didn’t taste fresh. It’s so disappointing because coconut shrimp is one of my favorite dishes!
Despite the food, the customer service is above average, it is better than your average Chinese buffet customer service. They check up on you and take away your dishes, they also refill drinks frequently and were nice and friendly.

Growing up in a Jewish family, I developed a deep appreciation for the Quintessential Chinese Buffet (if you don’t understand this statement, go watch a couple episodes of Seinfeld. I’ll wait). Great Moon Buffet delivers on my expectations in every way. Wide array of chicken and chicken-​like dishes that have different names but essentially all taste the same? Check. Mongolian grill station in the back? Check. Sushi station that you know probably won’t be very good but you feel like you should try anyways? Check. Dessert offerings that look like they were bought frozen at Costco and thawed this morning? Check. Sad-​looking salad bar with, for some reason, cubes of Jello? Check and check. All the reviews complaining about how the food isn’t «authentic» or «flavorful» don’t understand the motto of the Quintessential Chinese Buffet: quantity over quality. Is this the place you take that cute girl who you finally got up the nerve to ask out on a date? No. Is this where you go when you’re planning to propose? Also no. Is this where you celebrate your first anniversary? No, why are you still asking these questions? Is this where you go because it’s a Wednesday night, and you’re both too tired to cook and just want a cheap all-​you-​can-​eat meal with a vaguely Asian theme? Yes, because that is what the Quintessential Chinese Buffet is, and all that it ever strives to be. May it live on for eternity.

Look, I like to consider myself a Chinese food connoisseur. You could say Chinese food is my favorite. I’ve had just about every kind of Chinese food there is. Ranging from very traditional to Americanized.
If you’re looking for traditional Chinese food, just like mama used to make, this is not the place for you. No buffet is, at least not that I’ve ever been to. Go to China, that’s where the good stuff is :-).
But if you want good quality, fresh Chinese BUFFET food, come here. The place is always busy, even during the week. So the food is always fresh. They have lots of options too, and the flavors are good. And I can honestly say, in my entire life, this is the best Chinese Buffet I’ve ever been to.
Of course it’s not fine restaurant quality, or traditional. That’s not what buffets are. They give you lots of food at a reasonable price. I feel like a lot of the bad reviews here are from people who just don’t understand what a buffet is.
But trust me when I tell you. The food is good, fresh, and one of the best places to eat in town. The service is awesome, they’re always quick to refill drinks and clear plates, which is a rarity in buffets. They’re friendly and nice with kids. It’s a good, friendly, family atmosphere*.
*Except for the guy that wipes the glass at the buffet lines. He’s mean and hates everyone. You’ll see what I mean.

Decently priced buffet and it has everything you’d want from sushi to a decent salad bar to Chinese food. Food is of good quality for the price, go hungry because you have a good selection to choose from.

I just went there for lunch and will not be back. Besides for a salad bar, they had 3 other bars of food and half of it is american food. Mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, pizza, garlic bread! Wow, but thank goodness because the chinese food was so bad, I filled up on pizza and ice cream. Also this is not the place for a fast lunch. I have never seen so many senior citizens at a chinese buffet. They all had walkers and/​or moved really slow and did not know what anything was, so they took their time and yours. The staff was very pleasant though.

Came here on a Sunday afternoon and the line was out the door. Aside from the wait, the buffet was well stocked with plenty of options to suit anybody. Salad bar, seafood, sushi, chicken, rice dishes, fruits and veggies, deserts, etc etc. They didn’t have any bowls for the ice cream now that I recall which made things slightly awkward on my plate;) Overall satisfied. The staff wasn’t anything spectacular, but I came for the food.

The Green Moon Buffet is easily the most popular restaurant in the Robert Street neighborhood. The unassuming parking lot is always packed. The dining room always seems to be full, and there is typically a line to be seated.
It’s a hive of activity. Servers are constantly refilling entrée dishes. There is no time for buffet options to get cold. The mongolian BBQ line moved quickly — and I was able to enjoy some flash-​fried lamb and veggies. The sauces were on the salty side — so I appreciated the fact that soda is included in the buffet price. The potstickers they offer are steamed and fried — which left them the right combination of moist and crispy.
There are many fried options, salads, and desserts. My companion found plenty of items to fill the plate… but I found myself adding Siracha to almost every entrée in an effort to create flavor where little existed.
Great Moon provides a buffet of great filler. They offer food volume and freshness — but the flavors aren’t there. There isn’t much range for a palate to wander. They’re missing the half-​dozen flavorful, unique, authentic or memorable dishes needed to make ‘Great Moon’ a truly great buffet experience.

I have been to a few Chinese buffets. This one is fantastic. The food is pretty darn good! Most of their food is spot on. The fish is a hit or miss depending upon what you get. Those mussels and clams were the best I have ever had. The crab was so-​so. As this is my first time trying crayfish, I really am not a good judge. I did however enjoy it. The food gets restocked about every half hour depending upon how packed it is. The service is top quality. They are on top of grabbing empty plates and refilling drinks. Extremely friendly! I will definitely be back.

We have eating here since they opened and sometimes 3 days a week! The last two times we have eaten there this worker has come to us yelling about we took too much Mongolian grill food. I was throwing this plate away with food because this time the grill was very dirty when he cooked our food. He stated we used too much oil and I’ve never used the oil before. He began to yell at us so before I went to jail I decided to leave! Never again

Hmm… trying to figure out why everyone loves this place. First, I had to wait in line for 15 minutes. I know that is not a huge amount of time, but there were only 4 people in line and a less than half full restaurant when I arrived, so I thought it would have been a much shorter wait. Next, I was taken to my table. I was seated in a booth. Both seats had been duct taped more than once and there was still a giant hole in the seat. The table was sticky with what I’m guessing may have been ice cream. Already, I was not impressed with my experience here, but I thought «Wow, the food must be outstanding to get such good reviews despite the long wait, old seating, and dirty tables.»
Well, I could not have been more wrong. The food was just not good. The cream cheese puffs were soggy. The lo mein was crunchy from being burned to the pan. The chicken with broccoli was cold. The wonton soup tasted like nothing. The sushi was mushy and lukewarm. The green beans had barely been warmed. I have to be honest, I did not try the Mongolian bbq. The line for it was long and it was being cooked one dish at a time, so I did not want to waste any more of my lunch break. Overall, the only thing that I found to be not too bad was the fried fish, which I normally would not have tried. I was running out of viable options though.
So back to my table… At one point, I tried to use the salt shaker to rescue some bland food. It was stuck to the table, presumably with the same stickiness that adorned the rest of the table when I arrived.
Whew! Finally, my lunch was over. My server came to my table with a fortune cookie and a tip tray… and then he just stood there. He had been friendly and had been diligent in refilling my drink and removing my half-​filled plates and I had planned to leave him a tip… but now it was uncomfortable. I was still finishing my previously frozen (and still partially frozen) cream puff. I said thank you and waited for what seemed like several minutes for him to leave. I understand that not everyone leaves a tip, but perhaps hounding them to leave one is doing just the opposite. I was so uncomfortable that I almost did not leave one.

Took the boys out for some recreational eating at the Great Moon Buffet. I hadn’t been there for a couple of years. We stopped going when the new buffet opened in Signal Hills, just across Robert St. That one has since closed due to poor service.
The first thing that hit me when we arrived was the fact that at 5pm on a Monday the place was already packed. The next thing that struck me was the price. $ 13.50 seems a little high priced for a buffet in West St. Paul.
It was pretty crowded and a little difficult to navigate the several buffet stations. I think we all skipped the Mongolian Grill this visit. It did look fresh and tidy, but didn’t look like it would scratch my itch.
The food I had was hot and fresh. But this wasn’t my first rodeo so I was going for the fresh and hot portions toward the bottom of the newly filled items.
The place was clean and the service was very good.
The bathroom was a different story all together. The sink area was so wet it looked like a baby elephant had been taking a bath in there. I was thinking about dropping a star from my review because of those damned automatic paper towel dispensers in there.

The current reigning Asian Buffet Champ! Lots of options. It gets busy for lunch, which is good because the food keeps coming out fresh. For when nothing but Asian Buffet will do, go here.

I discovered this earlier this week after looking for a replacement for my favorite that closed its doors. Surprisingly, this place was right across the street and never noticed it. I must say, the food was very good, nice variety of choices to eat, clean restaurant and great service. I was happy to find this place and will definitely be back soon!

This place wasn’t all that bad. We stumbled upon it after driving to the Hibachi Grill only to find that it was closed.
This restaurant wasn’t too pricey and the food was basically what you’d expect from an Asian buffet. Nothing unusual here.

Ill start with the negatives. Expensive, bad egg rolls, bad cream cheese won tons.
Now the good. Great Mongolian Grill. Small but tasty sushi selection. Hot food that doesn’t sit out for long. Busy bustling place.
Try it.

We tried Great Moon Buffet because we had a coupon.
We drive by it all the time, but never stopped in. We had been going to Hibachi for some time, and never gave this place a second thought.
Well, I’m glad that we gave it a try. It was pretty darned good. Even our picky boy (who typically eats only orange chicken) was happy with what he ate.
We all were satisfied with what we ate and I have to say that their hot and sour soup was some of the best I’ve ever had. I was quite surprised by this and glad to have experienced such a thing.
When we’re looking to eat at a buffet again, this place will be one of the top on the list.

Mongolian BBQ!!! The build your own plate for the wok is definitely my favorite part.
On a very rare occasion a few things on the regular buffet look a little iffy as far as being fully cooked goes, but that’s something the public should know to keep an eye out for at buffets, I feel.
They have recently added a sushi bar. Their salad bar is diverse, and they have a soft serve machine.

This location is very similar to the Great Moon in Maplewood, however the chef is different and you can tell. There are a few good items here that are not at the Maplewood location and then vice versa. This location has better pork eggrolls, seafood selection, soda selection, fruits, salad bar, build your own stir fry, and veggies. The other place had better cheese wontons, egg drop soup (they put PEAS in the egg drop soup! Ewwww. now all I tasted was peas. No egg in the egg drop soup), hot and sour soup… plus the service is better at Maplewood. I can see why Maplewood is busier than this location. The service is better.
Good value for lunch but not for dinner. Selections for dinner don’t make it worth the extra you pay. Go for lunch only.