Horrible customer service. The employees were on their phones the entire time and never checked to see if we needed drink refills while our dirty plates kept piling up. I asked an employee who was making the sushi if there was any vegetarian sushi the response I got was "I don't know" then he just turned his back to me and walked away. The restaurant was very dirty and unhygienic. The check got placed on our table within five minutes of being seated. I do not recommend this place, I'd rather eat out of a trash can than eat there again. read more

We were greeted and seated promptly. Then asked for our drink orders. The selections of foods was plentiful, freshly prepared and delicious! We also enjoyed a variety salad bar and their desserts were also plentiful. We will definitely be returning. read more

Our daughter brought us dinner from the Golden Buffett since we have been "under the weather", last evening. It was very good , we are looking forward to going there soon. The portions were large the packaging was neat and clean , the food was very tasty . We didn't know where this was . We looked it up and we will be returning. read more

Very very disappointing this is the worst buffet food anywhere around they won't fill a tray until the last pice of old food has been eaten.I haven't been there in a long while my daughter wanted to eat Chinese buffet and I quickly remembered why it's been so long it was 6:30 pm and the chicken wings were from lunch the sweet and sour chicken is mostly breading all other food is real bland salmon is about the only thing I like and they didn't refill it from lunch. If you want to eat somewhere disappointing here is your spot. Even the ice cream tasted weird and was lacking cream it was almost like frozen chocolate water. You can surely see in a effort to trim costs the restaurant just cut quality down alot read more

As others have posted. My complaint is they over charged both times I been there. Seniors discount is advertised at 10%. But what they do is take one dollar off, which is 7.7%. My other complaint is, there's no napkin dispensers on the tables. The food. Some good some bad typical of all buffets. The good is the Egg Rolls are some of the best and the Fried Wontons are made on the premises and have more filling than most places. Both excellent. The multiple dishes that have vegetables in them. The vegetables are cooked very nicely, not mushy by being overcooked and not undercooked as being crisp, but cooked just right. The other food I felt was better than average is Egg Drop Soup and Hot & Sour Soup. Both soups being thick and having a deep flavor. I also liked very much the peanut chicken and orange glaze chicken. The food I thought was below average was the Lo Mein Noodles. Flavor was OK, but they had been setting to the point where they had dry crispy edges on some of the noodles. Service I found was attentive, but not as friendly as I find at most restaurants. On our second time eating there I did bring the 10% discount issue to the cashier at the time I was paying the bill. Because that was twice now I was being overcharged for myself and my wife also. She adjusted the ticket but had an attitude about doing so. Overall, the buffet is satisfactory and we will return. read more

This is a consistently really good Chinese buffet. I really love the crab cheese wontons Rangoon. I went to P.F. Chang's in Lansing a few days ago & was super disappointed as they went downhill, golden buffets wontons are way better than Chang's! My niece loves the crab cheese bake. The rest of my family like everything here. Dessert & sushi selections very nice also! read more

979 Golden Buffett - Shrimp, pepper steak, chow mein & potato bacon bake - Chinese Near Me - Midland, Michigan

I thought it was $10 a person but my boyfriend and I were charged $27 for the both of us. Not a good place to go, read some mixed reviews and honestly don't come. I recommend pi's Asian express in midland a lot more than this place. About 90% of the dishes were less than 1/4 full. Dessert is a joke as well. Don't spend $30 here, even tropical smoothie next door is better. Edit: forgot to mention that we also did try the sushi and it tasted like it was left out overnight, scared for the next few days and what they bring in the bathroom. read more

Definitely an older Chinese buffet. Awards on the wall said "Award winning oriental food" back in 2005. We decided to stop since it had been a minute since we had a Chinese buffet. Their selection was on the smaller side. I was happy to see they had coconut chicken. However, it was not hot and tasted like it had sat there for awhile and was dried out somewhat. The crab puffs were fresh and hot and I tasted delicious. Their chicken wings were the smallest that I'd ever seen or anyone else in my party had seen. The rest of the food I sampled was the ok. Taste was good but, nothing that jumped out and said let's go here again. My mom really wanted Mongolian beef but it was not on the buffet line. read more

I've only come here a few times and it's a nice small buffet. The kimchi they have there is absolutely amazing and that's why I'm writing this review, to promote the kimchi. It's honestly the best I've ever had and I highly recommend it. Will be going back for cheaper priced dates read more

I am giving this place one start because it's not possible to leave a review and not leave no stars. We went here because it used to be my favorite Chinese buffet and my grandma really wanted Chinese. Needless to say, I will never be going back. The food was not good, the chicken tasted old. My sister found a fly in her food and when we addressed the worker about it, he put the dish with the dirty plates, proceeded to check the rest of the food (he flipped the serving spoon) and walked away. Our waitress also took my plate right from in front of me while I was eating which I didn't think was super polite. Highly don't recommend, please hit up a Panda Express, at least it won't make you sick. read more

In an area that is devoid of good Chinese food: 979 Golden Buffet is a gem! Found this place on a whim, and decided to try it. Food is fresh, cooked perfectly and super flavorful! Some of the best food, truly impressed and will be coming back again! The buffet has a lot of what many Chinese restaurants today don't offer and soft serve ice cream machine to indulge in after your meal. (They also have a fresh sushi bar!!) read more

Wide variety, great price, mouthwatering. I'd definitely dine here again. Also, great deal on carry out.

looked online because the phone number went straight to voicemail. sit down get water go up with my 1 1/2 year old. 75 percent of the food is cold/old. there's empty tins I power through what it looks like and I tried the fried rice which was hard and tasted like the metal it was it in. We ate up the last 4 crab rangoons so they would make more. Those were good when fresh. noodles were just straight up dry. Meat was cold and questionable. I was honestly p***** so we went up to pay and she said my bill was $38? But it said online 3 and under is free. I tell her my daughter is 1 1/2 and she says it's $35. I said for one it was so bad my daughter only ate one noodle and it says 3 and under is free on your website. Still charged for Bf and is food fine. But this is a shit place. ANY buffet has been food, better price, better customer service. read more

Wow, that's all I can say seriously 14 something apiece and we're there at 2 o'clock all day dinner people they charge you the same all day Then on top of that they try making me pay for two children. Mind you I have a six month old and a three-year-old are you kidding me $43 it's not that I wouldn't mind paying that it's that it was a super crappy buffet and they're desperate for money. Maybe they should keep the food warm.! read more

the food was undercooked frezzer burt. my aunt couldn't eat because it was made her sick. my cousin who is 18 months old didn't like the food just by the smell and she loves Chinese food. I got sick from undercooked mogulan beff and egg rolls. the rice and noodles were not cooked properly. and the dessert was shit. read more

We were hungry and craving Chinese buffet. That being said we read the reviews and knew what we're getting into. I'd say most of them are pretty accurate. This place needs to be updated but the food was ok. If you're looking for a low end Chinese place this is it. Lots of variety on the lunch buffet. Food was warm and flavor was ok. Sushi was sub par on taste and appearance. Not sure if they hadn't refreshed after lunch or not. Overall meh... read more

First of all, I am rating this as an Americanized Chinese buffet, not as an authentic Chinese restaurant. Given that caveat, this is the best AC buffet in Midland. The variety is good and the flavor s are good. Also lots of. Non-Chinese items like good deep fri fish and poached salmon. The jalapeño chicken is not authentic, but it is excellent. Good spiced sour soup and not over-vinegar end as at most places. Staff is very polite and attentive. Prices are very fair, especially the take out. To our great surprise when we recently ordered off menu take out, it was very good. A nice option. The old Bamboo Garden under Mrs. Chow was better, but with her passed away, the new Bamboo Garden is a poor shadow of what it was and Golden Buffet is the best of what is left. read more

This place opened up when I was in high school - right next to it, actually. All of my peers were eager to head over to Golden Buffet on our lunch hours, so one day I finally decided to try it. It was the most disgusting food I had ever had in my life. The place smelled horrible, the food was stale, hard, and it all smelled like fish. The staff was not polite, as I recall I hardly left a tip (and I am ALWAYS a good tipper!) Needless to say, I have not returned and do not plan to ever do so. There are much better choices in the area for the same price. read more

I don't recommend eating at any restaurant buffet, so this one is no different. The take out at Golden Buffet is rather good. I frequently get the veggie chow mein or rice noodles. They offer steamed veggies and sauces on the side. The staff is always friendly and I love the free calendars they give out every year! read more

I am giving this one star because I cannot give it zero stars. I came in yesterday and ordered quite a few cartons of food to go. When I was there the food looked mediocre and some of the frozen meats were starting to thaw. I went against my better judgment and brought the food home. Lucky me! I ended up with food poisoning. I should've listened to myself when I didn't think it looked very good. If I were you I would head down the street to someplace else. read more

This is consistently mediocre. My toddler had to use the restroom and they were out of order!

Just dropped by with the family after going to Soaring Eagle resort. The food is your typical Chinese buffet dishes. Taste the same too. We go to a lot of different buffets and this one ranks about average. Nothing great but Not disappointed. Worth the money and great price. $10/person is great for a buffet with crab. So far, only a few buffet out this far out. Drop by if you want some decent buffet. read more

Hot food, good selection. Kids as young as ten count as adults in price! So hang on to your wallet. Maybe a different Chinese buffet would be better if you have kids. read more

I have frequented Golden Buffet since high school, and I still make a point to visit every time I'm home from out of state 6 years later. Best Chinese food in the tri-city area! read more

979 Golden Buffett - a man holding a tray of food - Chinese Near Me - Midland, Michigan

food was ok as usual - but the last time I was there around 1:30-2:00 on a Friday afternoon, the server was rude. Only thing she ever said to us the whole time was "what to drink?" when we first got there. My daughter and I both went up once and were getting ready to go up again and they already brought our bill. Only 10-15 minutes had gone by at this point and they were NOT busy at all! We did not get any drink refills - even when we took our straws out and put our cups at the very end of the table (HINT HINT!) read more

The food was old and repulsive while the bathrooms were a mess!

I've been here several times and the food is, generally, always good. Yummy dishes - rice noodles, coconut chicken, dumplings, and chicken on a stick. The princess chicken wasn't the greatest and their hot and sour soup could have been a bit more sour. Servers were attentive and removed plates promptly. Price was average for Chinese buffet. read more

The food was warm, not hot. The chicken wings were yellow, the cake was so disgusting I had to spit it out. All of this for 9.99 dinner!!! I am not a fan of buffets in the first place, this place has scarred me for life. I will never visit again. read more

While the service isn't always that great, the food is delicious and there's always plenty of it. The environment is nice, though the decorating is a bit confused. All in all, I find it enjoyable read more

It's okay. Given the price. It makes me have diarrhea after I eat here. Also not everything is fresh. Being that I'm vegan and very picky there aren't any vegan options unless you get the grill. The grill sauces are mediocre I'd rather go to Genghis Khan pay a higher price and get a variety of veggies with better sauces. For the price you pay its okay, it could be better. read more

The food is old and you know it's been out in the buffet line for hours. But amazingly I still go there with some friends from time to time. Damn the MSG is too good to pass up. read more

This review applies to lunch, which is the only time of day I've been here (I work, but don't live in Midland). My co-workers and I eat here at least once per week. I haven't found a better value in a chinese buffet anywhere, and I've been to plenty. The food is good, the selection is good, and it's reasonably priced. Pi's has a buffet and is just down the street. The quality of the food is a little better, as you'd expect in a more upscale restaurant, but the prices are higher and there isn't nearly the selection. I live in Saginaw am in Bay City quite a bit, and there are buffets there that are cheaper, but the quality isn't even close to what you'll find here. I've read several reviews saying that the food sits for a while, but I always find a good crowd and high turnover on the food, which is always being restocked. I even read one review saying that the bathrooms were bad, which almost makes me wonder whether we're reviewing the same restaurant. They're updated and have always been clean when I've been there. All in all, good food and a great value. I recommend it highly for lunch. As I mentioned, I've never been here for dinner. read more

The Golden Buffet is AMAZING. You get more variety than other Asian restaurants. If you are someone who does not like Asian food then don't worry because they have variety. Sometimes they have cheesy potatoes, chicken wings, fried scallops, fried fish, and more. The service is also great. My sister and I went there one night when it was late at night and the cooks still brought out new food even though it was getting close to closing time. The servers there are also very generous. read more

I have gone to this establishment quite a few times and have always had decent food and a fine experience. Today however, was HORRIBLE!! Upon entering the restaurant the overwhelming odor of musky fish filled my nostrils, I wanted to gag but thought maybe it was just me. On the way to the table we had to pass by the staffs young children who were sitting on a bench up front playing a video game and getting really loud and excited. Every time I have ever eaten here I have had to endure the staff's children running around, kicking the backs of booths, trying to play like kids would if they were at home. The sad thing is this is not home, this is a place of business, it is actually a place where we have chosen to come eat and generally I do not think grabbing some friends and heading to a day care is the best place to grab a bite to eat...PLEASE GET A BABY SITTER!! We were sat and the server did take our drink order, she was actually pleasant which is very normal, the staff have always been very friendly in my past experiences. The first plate I grabbed actually had dried up food on it, I grabbed another one only to put my hand on something slimy!! I turned the plate over and discovered a pickle!! They DO NOT have anything that comes with pickle!! The 3rd plate I grabbed was from the middle of the stack and that one contained some rouge hair that looked like a very long nose hair!!! The crab rangoon tasted very spoiled, the veggies were good as were the honey chicken balls, but I was afraid to taste anything else because I was afraid that I might get sick. The waitress never came back to give us refills and actually stopped picking up our plates, we ended up with a huge stack of plates, bowls, and food that did not taste fresh. We were there for a better part of an hour and I had to get my own drink, which I did not ever have to do myself. One one of my trips to the buffet, I had to endure a staff member yelling at her child at the buffet line, one of the people from that back came out to escort this child to the kitchen, I could not help but wonder if maybe he had escaped from the food assembly line and was getting yelled at for being away from preparing food! I do not know why they have their children running around like it is a playground! Since there were 4 of us, we wanted the check separated, which usually is very easy to do, I have worked at 2 Applebees and a 5-star restaurant in Grand Rapids in my past so I am not one of those people that just expect too much or will never be happy when I am eating out, I have experience at how things should go and what to expect when dining out. The woman behind the counter could not understand the following request.... "Can you please separate this bill? There are 4 of us and we all are paying separate." She kept wanting to ring me up for the entire bill. I had to repeat myself a few times and actually re-worded my request to try to be as simple as I could be but she could not grasp that we each were going to pay a portion for our bill. The total bill which included the tax was $43.00, 2 of us had Iced Tea and the other 2 had water, but we all had to pay $11.50 each!! I am not understanding the math on that one, since we were over charged I did not leave a tip at all. I brought to this woman's attention that we were left parched the entire time she just gave me a very evil look, not once apologizing for the experience, since she did not offer me an apology I decided I would also include the fact that the plates had piled up at least 6 high which also had bowls and remnants of food. I also added that usually the service and the food has been good but this time it was a very HORRIBLE experience! She just proceeded to ring the other people in our party up!! A person in my group even brought up the fact that she was over charging us and she instantly went into "I do not speak english mode" I am totally disgusted at the fact that we were not only treated poorly, left to sit in filth, tolerate their childrens temper tantrums, dehydrated, and the food this time around was terrible! NO ONE APOLOGIZED for our bad experience!!! I purposely joined YELP just to share this experience and will be talking to my friends about it as well. I do not want people I know having to endure what I just had to sit through! I definitely will not eat at this place again! ******UPDATE******** I was able to reach a manager and explained the entire situation over the phone, she put the phone down several times to yell at someone but I finally did receive an apology; however, also received an excuse that the lady that over charged my group does not speak english and must have gotten confused!! WTF??!! Why is she taking money then if she cannot understand?! The manager did offer me a $10.00 gift certificate but I have yet to pick it up, I do not think $10.00 off their food warrants another outing at this establishment. read more

Good value - The food is generally quite good, although sometimes items stay a bit long on the buffet. Best choices are chicken & broccoli and sweet & sour chicken. Crab legs are good when they're fresh. Staff is attentive. read more

Food wasn't fresh, the guy came out and checked it twice and the food was dry and looked nasty. Will not go here again.

Pedro C said it best. However I only made it 2 bites into my "meal" before I asked for the check and left. This place is by far the worst restaurant I have ever been in. In fact my brother and I played a game of "would you rather" after leaving in which we both decided we would rather take a half eaten gas station doughnut with coffee grounds on it out of a trash can and eat that instead of this garbage buffet. read more

Hate to do this but had the worst meal here last night. I have had better experiences in the past. In their defense we got there at 9:00 PM. Should have known this was a bad time but went in any way. almost everything was only warm. Mostly dried out and just bad tasting. It was embarrassing how bad the food looked. I should have left but it was so late and I had school age kids with me and just wanted to get them fed. I think they should close earlier when the food is still fresh or offer a deep discount this late in the prep cycle. Just do not go there after the main meal time. This was mostly my fault. read more

we got some chicken stuff and noodles from this place and it was pretty good....we got everything from buffet....the orange chicken was really good....and the price is also reasonable.........got place to eat lunch..... read more

I have eaten at Golden Buffet for years because I live in the town. I will start off with the positives. The cost is cheap and the staff are friendly. However, the restaurant quality seems to have been decreased in recent years. I haven't been there in at least two years because my friend's mom got food poisoning from eating the crabs. That was pretty much the last time I have attended to the place. Up till recently, my other friend complained that she found two bugs in her food that she took out in plastic bag from there. She had to throw it away obviously. Then, a girl that I went to school with mentioned that her dad found a part of metal brush in his food, plus a spider went across the table while they were eating. I do not trust the place anymore and I suggest that others should not go to Golden Buffet either. There are much better Chinese places to eat at in Midland such as China Palace or Pi's. read more