I go here quite often. Price is low. Food is just decent tho. Most of the sushi is americanized and the hibachi grill is kinda tasteless as they dont do much seasoning and i wish they would offer marinated meats. The buffet selection is alright. just your average sweet and sour chicken and stuff like that. Nothing special. Haven't tried the salad bar but it looks alright. They offer ice cream. its decent.
Review Source:I went back to One Buffet today since my last review on April 3rd. Â Lets just say I came back to work after picking up my food fuming. Â I go there at least twice a week now for the last month and get the same exact items off the buffet line ((no seafood and no hibatchi)). Â I think by now I have become pretty accustomed to what I pay each time considering its the same items exactly every time I get food from here and I know it's charged by the pound. Â So I put my food on the scale and it reads 2.32 pounds. Â They charge $3.99 per pound of food if you don't get seafood or hibatchi. Â Simple math right? Â Well the usual cashier tells me my bill is $12.48!!! Ridiculous!!! Â I told her it's too high. Â She said well the computer says it's this much and I say I get the same food at the same weight everytime I'm here. Â I told her she's charging me for 3 pounds of food and not 2.32. Â She said well the computer says it's $12.48 and asks me if I'm trying to get a free meal. Â NO I just want to pay what's fair! Â So then she gets out the calulator and proceeds to puch in 2.32 x $3.99. Â Which ladies and gentlemen is $9.26 plus 7% tax which equals out to $9.90. Â Wow surprise surprise. Â I AM being overcharged. But it doesn't end there she says well this is what the price is. Â Really??? Â The calculator is wrong but the computer is right??? Â I'm angry by this at this point, but about to get even more angry. Â I said well it's not right and you need to fix this problem. Â She finally said ok I credit you back the food. Â And I'm thinking well this is nice she's going to take care of me to continue to be a repeat customer due to their computer error. Â But no, she voids out my first credit card purchase for the $12.48 and then says...get this..."ok I'm going to cut you a break and your total is $9.90." Â Are you fricken kidding me??? Â You're cutting me a break??? Â And that's what I said after signing my credit card slip and I walked out the door. Â Needless to say....the $2.60 overcharge is irrelevant it's how I was taking care of, basically telling me I can't do basic math, and then having the nerve to say "you're cutting me a break." Â I honestly think I will never go there agin and I will make sure my friends and family don't either. Â You just lost out on some repeat business!
Review Source:Yuuuuuuck!! Â We tried this place after noticing it while we were at IHOP last week. We usually go to King Buffet but we love Hibachi and Sushi so we decided to skip King to go here last night. Â I will say that the interior is very nice but they seated customers as closely together as possible and so we had no privacy to talk. Â Drinks are Pepsi brand and they cost extra. Â King Buffet includes drinks fyi. Â Our total bill for two people was about $30.
The sushi buffet is not something I would recommend. Â The sushi chef sits in the corner and glares at you while you look at his tiny rolls and they keep the fish in Tupperware in the glass case. Â The cuts of fish are thin and ragged. Â The rolls are filled with carrot and egg with some fish thing on top. Â I sighed when I saw it and tried one piece of roll and spit it back up. Â
The hibachi starts off looking cool. Â Lots of options but as several people mentioned you don't get to choose the sauce. Â The sauce that they use is EXTREMELY garlicky. Â Too garlicky for my taste. Â The only thing that you can choose that won't be overpowered by the garlic taste is the meat (btw, they labeled it as filet mignon but it is flank.).
The buffet area is large and they do have a lot of options and the chicken cuts for general tso and honey chicken were much larger than other Chinese buffets but it tasted a lot like ketchup. Â The seafood mix with shrimp and imitation crab tasted like they were slow cooked in butter so there was barely any shrimp taste left. Â Just butter.
Okay, I'm being too judgmental. Â Long story short, I will not be back. Â If I want a Chinese buffet, I will go to King buffet. Â If I want a Hibachi and sushi buffet, I will go to Royal buffet in Hoffman estates.
OK, I'm Taiwanese American and I travel to Asia regularly (4 to 5 times a year) to eat the most amazing and authentic Asian dishes (actually on biz trips), so I really should be picky or snobby about Chinese food. Â But when I live in white bread suburbia and pretty darn near the cow pastures of McHenry County Illinois, I can't afford to be too picky. Â This place beats all other cheap Chinese buffet places around this neck (red?) of the woods such as China Buffet or King Buffet. Â
The buffet selections are OK and the difference is there is a "chef" who cooks your selected meats and veggies on a big hot skillet or the white folks call it Hibachi. Â But you have to tell him in Chinese to cook the beef medium rare or he would make sure it's well done like cardboard every single time. The other difference is there is a sushi "chef" who rolls the few selections of sushi's onsite. Â I write "chef" because I can't vouch for their culinary expertise. Â Price is between $11 and $14 per person depending on weekday or weekend and lunch or dinner. Â Service is above par and decor is certainly better than your regular cheap Chinese joints. Â
We go there when we don't feel like driving and only because it's as good as you get in Crystal Lake Illinois...then again, that's not saying much than average!
Best buffet I have been to in ages. Outstanding buffet. Lot's of choices and the sushi was very fresh and delicious. The peel and eat shrimp was very good. There were so many choices I was really delighted. The cost of the buffet is extremely reasonable for everything you get. They really went all out with this place and my husband and I love it.
Review Source:At 430 on a Saturday afternoon, the place was packed. Â It was plenty staffed, seated right away and got our drinks right away. Â After our first serving of mostly really awful tasting food, we found very slim pickings, at least 3/4s of the items were either completely empty or only a scraps left. Â There was a lot of 'mayo shrimp' which was actually the best item. Â Tried the hibachi, had to wait 10 minutes as no one was manning that grill. Â Was bland and completely tasteless. Â The sushi was awful, couldnt even eat one piece. Â On our way out, we had coupons printed from their website. Â My printer was low on ink, so the coupon was slightly faded. Â They accused me of photocopying an ad from the newspaper, and when i told them that it was from their website and showed them on my phone that i know their website lets you print as many coupons with no expiration date, they still refused to honor it. Â This place was awful, i am very disappointed and was almost encouraged to tell people outside walking towards it to turn around and save their money. Â the other chinese buffet in crystal lake by the old walmart is much better. Â it is called king buffet, go there instead and stay away from one buffet, the food is horrible and the management sucks! Â ive never been so offended by food or service ever, and i have eaten out lots in the last several years. Â the place was so bad, it prompted me to sign up for yelp just to write this review.
Review Source:We a family of 4 went twice, first 2 months ago when they newly opened, then last nite.
First visit was a busy Friday evening, they refill foods quickly, our 12-year-old boy loved the sushi rolls and the hibachi beef.
Second visit was late nite shortly (45mins) before the evening close. Â not much refill, understanding only 3 tables at the time. Â fruit getting old, other hot dishes drying out. Â don't think getting the money worth even with the 20% discount coupon.
might not go again, no new dishes, generally not tasty when not able to over-eat to get the money worth for the quality...
My husband and I went today. The best thing about the place is the price and plenty of options. Once seated we ordered waters and were unsure if we could just walk up and start serving ourselves or if we needed to wait, we finally just walked up on our own. However, the food was bland, a majority of it tasted as thought it was soaked in butter and salt to hide the true flavor. Nothing really stood out taste wise. The sushi was mediocre and hibachi was just plain there wasn't much seasoning. It was $11.99 for all you can eat dinner per person. We did leave with full stomachs but will not be returning.
Review Source:3 stars overall, but as far as Chinese buffets, its 4 stars... sushi, huge buffet spread and a Hibachi grill with scallops, FILET, new York strip, scallops, chicken, etc... the quality of the Habachi alone is excellent. The value is the best part of this far above average buffet. Good place for a great value and good food. We will be back.
Review Source:I didn't like anything about the meal except the tea. Â Just nothing with character. Â There was nothing revolting however it was all just bland and uninteresting. Â The service was typical buffet service.
I think they need to cut back on some of their many dish options on the various buffet lines and focus more on quality not quantity.
I think people that love stuffing themselves to the gills on very bland food etc might enjoy this place.
Horrible... They have a grill that grills up the good you put in a bowl. They add a sauce that turns your food into a salt lick. No soft ice cream. A limited selection of food that is bad. They had lobster but they only brought out 4 pieces and a line waiting. The first person in line took all 4. The floor is like walking on ice so watch your step. I live in the area and I will never go back. 4 people  $64.00.
Review Source:Went here for lunch with a small group. Â I would not recommend this place to anyone.
Upon entering, it looks like a nice place for lunch. We were seated, drink orders taken, and then left on our own. We didn't know I we should start or not. Â Ended up asking one of the staff walking around and she said yes have fun.
Started with the sushi bar - very bland and actually made me gag. I had tempura and California rolls among a few others and I couldn't even finish the second roll.
Tried hibachi next - decent selection of veggies and meat. The cook went about spicing and seasoning but it was still very bland. Not something I would have again.
Tried the soup station next - egg drop soup is one of my favorites .... Simple and hard hard to mess up, right? Well I almost couldn't get past the first gelatinous spoonful.
Attempted to persevere and try other buffet selections, hot and cold - nothing was appealing after the first bite.
I was very excited to try out this buffet after It was recommended but I would never return.
Food is good. Many varieties.  Reasonably priced.  I really liked the hibachi because you can chose what meats, seafood and veggies you want in your "custom made dish,"  HOWEVER, the only reason I am writing this review  is to let other customers know that although most of the servers are polite, there is one employee that is RUDE.  He is the sushi chef.  We've asked him for a sushi roll and he straight up said no, we're closed and just stood there even though we still had more than an hour before the restaurant closed.   Then another time during lunch we came in right at opening, asked for another sushi roll, thinking he was hopefully in a better mood versus the last time but he said NO. and stared us down for at least a minute or so.  My family also experienced similar encounters with this employee. I could understand if I was coming of as  rude and he was just  being rude back but I definitely know I asked nicely.  Although I thought the food was pretty decent, I don't know if i'd go back.
Review Source:EXPENSIVE! Very expensive. For four people to eat, it was $56. You not only have to pay for the buffet but also for your drink. Sooo... lunchtime on Saturday was considered dinner price without any of dinner options (Generally a larger selection if you're going to consider it "Dinner"). It wouldn't even matter because the food was very bland. I wouldn't recommend this place to anybody. Go try other Chinese buffets in Crystal Lake (without mentioning names).
Review Source:Liked it a lot.... all you can hold down, and a soft drink for $7. Can't beat it.
Standard buffet-style sushi rolls are prepared on site. They have stuff like eel, tamago, salmon... heavy on the rice and light on the fish. Like I said, buffet-style. Not top quality, but not bad either.
When I was there they had two guys working a pair of flat top grills. You can pick out various veggies and meats, and they fry it for you, adding on stuff like oil, chili, salt & pepper, etc.
There are several steam tables toward the back of the place with all the usual buffet goodies. The food was quite hot and fresh at lunchtime when I was there.
Just had lunch here today. Â 7$ for all you can eat buffet. Â If you don't know what is what it may be a little ruff on you. Â Not everything was labeld so if your not into food as much as I am you may be left out. Â The hibachi grill was awesome. Â I stuffed my self with all sorts of great food. Â Come and check it out. Â I really don't understand all the reviews that are negative. Â Try it for your self and write a review.
Review Source:It seems to me that the negative reviews so far are either owners or friends of other Chinese restaurants around here. Â My husband and I have been to the buffet 4 times in the past two weeks. I can't comment on the sushi bar as we did not try it - but it looked pretty. The hibachi bar is wonderful - many assortment of fresh veggies, noodles, rice, fish, salmon, shrimp, chicken, steak, and others I did not try. Sauces are all over the place but one can also ask the chef - who does have a tip jar - but one is not obligated to give a tip to him. To the woman who whined about not taking the hibachi because she didn't have a tip available - you can add it to your credit card. On to the salad bar - many different cold salads with seafood and other stuff made very fresh. The hot food bar was comparable to other buffets and is no worse than King Buffet or Chen's. What stands out are dishes one would not normally find at a buffet. How many places around here have octupus, frog legs, squid, etc. Â And the lady who whined about the honey mayo shrimp - you are so wrong. Â I frequently have it at Chen's and this was not as good in some respects but better in others. Chen's uses larger and better quality shrimp - but you pay for that too - $14 for standard plate. Â Here the shrimp are a little smaller but the crispiness of the rice "breading" is great. I would ask that the sauce be a little thicker too and add the nuts. And here you are paying $12 for the whole buffet. I like to try new things and this place likes to provide - they put out new dishes every day along with the same dishes at a regular buffet. We liked that the ice cream and orange sherbert was Schoeps dixie cups - very clean and perfect portions no little kids taking scoops in or out of a dirty container. The fruit was so fresh all 4 times that the whiner must have been thinking of somewhere else. I saw more assortment of perfect fruit (including large and perfectly ripe strawberries) than anywhere else. some of the little cake desserts were on par with King Buffet - so not fantastic - but the cake that was from larger layer cakes were better. The only thing King Buffet has is the crab legs every night. Try this place - I'm fat and I know good food. Â And BTW - there isn't an option of hibachi or buffet - you get hibachi. sushi. and the hot/cold bar - not just one choice.
I'm coming back to write more after I just reread the negative reviews - what are these people talking about? The whiner who complained about the cash register being by the door where both incoming and outgoing patrons are being served - her favorite King Buffet is identical. So what the heck is she talking about? Also, one doesn't have to pay at the cash register - you can pay using the little tray they leave the receipt and fortune cookies on - just like King Buffet. Has this person gone to either restaurant? Any restaurant? If I sound so negative about these whiners - I am - I'm sick of people who come on here who are not real patrons but related somehow to other restaurants.
We went in after a friend mentioned this place to us. Ironically one thing that turned him off was that you could not get a beer and on this hot day - I wanted a beer!
Nonetheless my 6 year old and I went in after a hot day at soccer practice.
Firstly we were seated and asked what we wanted to drink. We got our drinks and the waitress went MIA on us. Now this is a new place and since there is an option of buffet or Hibachi you would think they would ask "Have you ever been here" "This is how it works".
Nope - I had to call my buddy to ask if we just go up and he says "Yeah".
So we strolled around the buffet - half empty food trays did not look so good. Therefore we opted for the Hibachi style. Now here is where this place tanks big time! They have a very minimal selection of veggies and meats to add to your plate. They have NO SPICES TO CHOOSE FROM and NO SAUCES TO CHOOSE FROM.
You just get your veggie/noodles/rice and an egg if you want one and hand it over to the cook. Now you sit there hoping he's gonna ask you what sauce you want - but he doesn't.
So the food ends up being a bland version of Chinese take out - totally lame. This place could be boat loads of fun if you really had options of spices and sauces along with more meats. There is nothing like it anywhere - as I believe the Hibachi/Mongolian places in Vernon Hills and Schaumburg are now gone - and they were a good 30 minutes away.
Oh yeah - I did add some buffet items to my plate - they were terrible. And my 6 year old selected 2 different buffet deserts - both bad. She went up for another - bad. Finally she opted for fruit - all was okay but I would not let her eat the strawberries because they looked old.
This place has potential - it looks good on the inside and they have plenty of staff. But they need far more options.. IMO they would be better served by dumping the buffet and going all out on the Hibachi side with spices, sauces and more selection of meats and veggies. Add a menu for people who don't know what they are doing and get some beer on tap.
Could be a fun place but for what it is I'd be surprised if they make it a year.
The hubby and I are fans of King Buffet down the street by Big Lots, but we've gotten burnt out. Â We decided to try One Buffet only because we were out to dinner with no particular destination in mind. Â The interior is nice looking with a large, high-ceiling dining room, but the tables are a little crowded. Â I kept having to watch out for other patrons and the busy bus-boy when getting up because there was only room for one person to walk at a time. Â
The layout of the buffet area seemed impressive, but once we started looking at the dish options, I realized that at least my husband might not have too many options (he's not big on seafood or vegetable-heavy dishes). Â I was impressed with the appearance and variety of sushi options and decided to try a bite of everything that caught my eye - sushi and hot items. Â Neither of us tried the Hibachi out of a bit of timidness and a lack of cash for tipping the chefs.
So - the food:  the sushi was decent and better than grocery store and other buffets' sushi, but it was much less enjoyable than an actual sushi restaurant (I wasn't craving it later).  They had several rolls with varying ingredients including masago, tempura crunchy stuff, avocado, shrimp, and sadly but not surprisingly, artificial crab meat.  The hot dishes weren't as flavorful as what I come to expect from other local buffets including King.  They had orange chicken which was ok, but not General Tso's.  They had a shrimp dish that looked identical to my favorite shrimp or chicken in coconut sauce, but instead it tasted like Hellman's mayonnaise - yuck.  They had grilled, bacon wrapped shrimp but it was also ruined with a generous amount of mucky mayonnaise.  And my husband's favorite part  - the lo mein - was bland.  I remember trying a few interesting items like frogs legs, which also were bland, and octopus which was completely tough and rubbery. The dessert station was the same standard cakes, cookies, fruit, and puddings as other buffets; ice cream was in cups instead of a machine.
After we got our fill of mediocre food, we took our ticket to the front register to pay and saw one big planning error on their part. Â The location of the register and hostess causes paying guests and entering guests to collide in one big group, so it was awkward trying to get out.
Anyway, I think part of our disappointment is just that we're burnt out on this kind of stuff. Â If we DO get a craving for Chinese, I'll think we'll stick with King Buffet, which I hope won't lose business because of this new place (and their dying location next to abandoned Walmart and relocated Dollar Tree).
When my husband and I walked in I thought to myself "Oh we're un trouble, we're going to be here all the time". They have a very large selection to compared to other local chinese buffets. However, once I started eating I was very underwhelmed. No dish really stood out (in a good way). I didn't try the hibachi so perhaps if we go back I will. Sushi was ok- not as good as a sushi restaurant, better than grocery sushi. Potstickers were flat and greasy, crab Rangoon too much dough and greasy. Dessert selection was slightly better than other Chinese buffets I've been to.
Review Source:All right..let's go over each aspect here, since this buffet brings a lot to the table (no pun intended.)
Buffet: The buffet is your standard "Chinese" fare. There's the fried chicken dishes (orange chicken, sweet n sour, honey chicken, etc.) There is also an assortment of healthy (in comparison) choices, such as chicken and broccoli, vegetables, etc. All of the food in this portion is about what you would expect for a Chinese buffet. No complaints, but not mind blowing.
Sushi buffet: I've read mixed reviews on this part of the restaurant, but I must say that my GF and I both enjoyed the sushi. It's not really up to a place like Kyoto's level, but it's definitely better than anything store bought. There's a nice assortment of sushi and it seems to be pretty fresh. There was a guy back behind the counter making it while we were eating.
Hibachi: Again, more mixed reviews. It really depends on the cook, I think. I got beef with an assortment of veggies. The meat was extremely tender...very nice. The chef used a few different sauces and spices while making my dish, and it was far from bland.
The waitresses and busboys were extremely diligent in picking up old dishes. When we would go get more food, the dirty plates would be gone by the time we got back.
Okay, so is it better than King Buffet, which is just down the street? The Chinese part of the buffet is probably about the same in quality, but One Buffet has much less choice in this aspect. However, One Buffet has the sushi and hibachi grill. If you aren't really interested in the sushi or hibachi, then go to King Buffet.
Great new buffet added to the area. Assortment of sushi and a habachi grill with many options as well included. Typical Chinese food as well with variations of chicken and beef, soup, noodles, and stir fried vegetables with a cold bar. Plenty of desert options with fruit too. Very clean and super cheap.
Review Source:The Chinese buffet is cold and tasteless. The "sushi" is terrible. The only part my wife enjoyed was the raw bar that is cooked on a flat top grill. She was able to add unlimited veggies, noodles and meats. This made the dinner worth eating. I probably won't be back, my wife might go with friends or family.
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