I'm a fan. And a vegetarian, so that's saying a lot.
My favorite dish is one I make, and I like that I can control every ingredient by picking each out from the hibachi grill. I usually throw together all the veggies and teriyaki sauce, grilled, delicious.
My carnivore hubby likes the wacky stuff they put out- usually lots of seafood, sometimes crawfish and frog legs. No comment.
The BEST Chinese buffet in the N. Ky area, hands down! Â I have been to them all as I love Chinese food. Â This place is the cleanest and freshest of them all and has the largest variety of food of any of them. Â They have a Mongolian grill in the center as well along with a regular, full salad bar. Â They usually have crab legs and boiled shrimp also. Â Their food is the BEST!
Review Source:I'm going to make this short and sweet! As far as Chinese buffets go ( frankly not a huge fan of any of them) this was good! Large selection of  asian dishes, hibatchi, sushi, salad bar, american cuisine & desserts.. Overall, a good value and worth the 15 min. drive into NKY for a Chinese Buffet, if that's what you're after...
Review Source:I am a bit of a Chinese food snob, and when it comes to buffets in the NKY area many leave a lot to be desired. Â Empire is amazing because for the same price as other area buffets, there is easily twice the selection on the buffet. Â The food is fresh and quality of food and service is consistent. Â The hibachi grill and sushi offerings are fresh and delicious, and they even have six different flavors of Blue Bunny ice cream for dessert, which is great for kids. Â The buffet also has amazing super cheesy pizza, great if you have picky kids (or adults). Â My personal faves here are the sweet coconut shrimp, duck, broccoli chicken, and the crab rangoon. Â Be sure to try the egg drop soup, which is just absolutely wonderful.
Review Source:After reading the multiple glowing reviews of this place, I was excited to try it out when I had a free Friday. Two of my colleagues and I hopped in the car and raced down from Cincinnati to make it before the kitchen closed at 10p. This is the one grudging mitigating circumstance - though we arrived at 9:20p, perhaps this was a contributing factor to Empire Buffet's lackluster performance.
It's a bit of a drive from the city and takes about 20 minutes so it's not exactly close or really near by anything else really worth visiting so generally I find this puts more of a demand on the food - I am coming for that restaurant and that food specifically and likely going out of my way to do experience it.
Upon driving up into one of the more confusing parking lot strip malls I've encountered, we walked into Empire Buffet greeted with the not-entirely-pleasant fishy oily odor that seems to pervade many Chinese food buffets.
After being seated at our table (Dinner is $10.99 not including drinks), we walked over to the buffet. Put simply, it disappoints - a lot.
Large chunks of Krab (imitation crab/fish cake) swim in troughs of ice in a poor masquerade of actual seafood and the mussels look like they might be just a little too green. Crawdad's populate the ice as well but look like they just suffered months of trench warfare in  mess of claws, legs, and other appendages. Finding an intact one is easier said than done. It's rather beyond me why they're on ice anyways - these thing should be hot and seasoned rather than boiled and chilled. Boiled shrimp intermixes with their freshwater crustacean counterparts but are neither shelled or de-veined. The former is OK, the latter is not.
A large hunk of roast beef sits in dried au jus and cooks away from both the heating element and the heating lamp. The color and consistency make it look more like old pine firewood than it does something you'd want to eat. I attempted to tackle it with the provided carving knife and encountered guerilla like resistance - I passed.
The many chicken variations (teriyaki, bbq skewers, sesame, general tso, etc) are all WAY overcooked and could probably pass as sticky jerky and both my friend and I agreed, the general chicken and the sesame chicken taste so similar that we were pretty sure they were simply labelled differently but prepared en batch.
The sushi assortment was a joke. A single plate bearing 5 pieces of sushi (each a different kind) sat covered in saran wrap and after I took 3 (against my better judgment based on their haphazard arrangement and appearance) the meager population of sushi was never repopulated. A Chinese gentleman apparently in charge of the grill and sushi seemed never to notice nor understand our request for resupply.
Even simple steamed rice is crusty and dried with hard bits that make you feel like you're eating uncooked ramen noodles. I was actually really disappointed when even a last-ditch effort to enjoy my food at the ever-present canned fruits found in every Chinese buffet did not include any traditional Asian fruits (longan, lychee, etc) and only pears, pineapple, and weird looking apricots.
The best thing I had that night, which isn't saying much, was the Mongolian BBQ dish I constructed. But even that was odd when the previously referenced Chinese man took my plate, walked into the back and then returned some 5 minutes later with it cooked (what was the Mongolian BBQ grill for then?)
It's nearly as far of a drive as Kyojin, and though I didn't think Kyojin was amazing, it FAR outpaces Empire Buffet in every department - especially the sushi (which is where you get the bang for your buck).
Save your money and skip the visit. If you want affordable quality sushi, get a <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> GC for the Painted Fish and eat up. If you want a Chinese buffet, go to Kyojin and bypass the extra fee for sushi (unless you want it). Sorry Empire Buffet, it was just so bad I don't even feel inspired to give you a second chance to make it up to me.
One of the better Chinese buffets in Northern Kentucky. Plenty to choose from during the lunch hours and taste and temperature have always been good. Sushi is available, but its buffet sushi - so don't expect much. Their crab rangoon is one of the best items on the buffet.
The service is good. I went there with a group of 15. I had one coupon for a couple dollars off of the lunch buffet and they honored the coupon for the entire group.
This is one of my top picks for a chinese lunch buffet.
One of the best buffet I've had in Northren Kentucky. Buffet here is fresh. The place is clean, new and busy for lunch, reasonable price. Also get them to cook from the Mongolain grill.
The golden rules of eating buffets is, Don't eat at 11:00, because it's the left overs from the night before. I think most Chinese restaurant tends to try to save money, so they sell it the next day. Don't eat after 1:00, food tends to stay out in the air for more then 2 hours dry out...yuk and look how busy the restaurant is, food gets turn over quickly if it's busy.
So, I Would recommend this place...yummy.
Very good buffet, though it was odd the dinner price was charged at 2:30pm on a Sunday. The food was hot and the buffet looked very fresh. My brother has lived in town for 2 years and told me there were no Chinese buffets. Yelp helped prove him wrong, and I believe they have returned several times since.
Review Source:This Chineese buffet is a good place to get the best bang for your buck. Â If you like a good Chineese buffet, you'll enjoy the variety of food on the bufet at Empire. Â They have four bars with traditional Chineese fare to some American fare, with a full sald bar and sushi bar. Â They also have a dessert bar and a cooler with self-serve hand-dipped ice cream! Great for families on a budget, especially for lunch. Â Empire Buffet charges roughly the same as your other run of the mill Chineese buffets, but with a lot more options. Â Everything tastes great, and I will be sure to go back next time I'm craving a great Chineese buffet!
Review Source:Every time I come to this place, the Imperial March plays in my head.
Chinese buffets are very hit or miss for me. Either I come home with a belly full of happiness, or bowels full of sadness. I'm not sure where to put Empire on this scale as they are remarkably inconsistent.
I've had many good meals at Empire. I've also had many bad ones. On a good day, their food is quite good. Not the best Chinese buffet out there, but quite tasty. They have a larger than normal salad/fruit bar, which I think makes their standard fare slightly lacking. However they have most of the staples you'd expect, along with a few distinctly American dishes thrown in for flavor. They also certainly win in the decor, as Empire looks like a fancier place than it is. The fish pond in the lobby is a nice touch.
Perhaps I'm an unlucky chap, but Empire has also shown me a bad time. My biggest complaint is that the rice is undercooked. This has not been a once in a lifetime fluke, on three separate occasions I've gotten steamed rice that was hard as a rock. My solution was to switch to fried, or vice versa. Still annoying. The heat lamps also seem to be underpowered, as their food is cold unless brought out fresh. I find that at Empire, I have to limit my selection.
And while certainly not the fault of Empire, they've had their fair share of rude patrons. Twice now, I've been at Empire where one of the other diners have caused a scene by yelling at the waitress/waiter. I don't want to dock them points for a bunch of jackasses, but it's certainly made dinner a bit awkward.
So, I'm on the fence. Give Empire's roulette wheel a spin, you may come up big - or go home unhappy.
I cant believe there arent more reviews on this place! Theres a good size crowd with no wait all the time. Some of the best chinese food at the price in town!! I Â know people that come here to get carry out by the pound over the more expensive Chinese restaurants.
Their Crab Rangoon is great. Tons of variety here, you can get just about anything you can think of including sushi (albeit buffet sushi, so don't expect teak) and  a Mongolian grill. If you haven't tried it your missing out! Empire could easily become a good spot when you get that Chinese food craving!
salt and pepper shrimp is phenomenal!
really really love their chicken with broccoli.
crab legs are always fresh tasting and constantly replenished.
my boyfriend wishes they had frog legs... that is his only complaint.
the mongolian grill option is delicious too!
the bathrooms are so clean and nice - and admit it, who doesn't have to use the bathroom after a chinese buffet?
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