We had not been here for many months. Located in the middle of City Place Mall in Silver Spring, MD, this place has been here for a few years and caters primary to the Latin community (and to me)! Today I was in the mood for their grilled ribs; okay other good stuff too. To my dismay, ribs were no where to be seen. But wait, after an hour they appeared and were better than I remembered. (Stay with me now). Saving the best of this Review for last: Years ago, I had asked them for melted butter for their large steamed Cherry-stone (I think they are) Clams and gotten some kind of yellow grease that was horrible; baa. Upon subsequent returns, the staff was so eager to please me that they would bring it to my table w/o me asking. So as not to be insulting to such gentle-people, I continued to decline the stuff but finally had to stop eating the clams altogether which stopped the butter-ish stuff. Today, after all these months, I casually asked the owner/hostess if they had melted butter. She remembered me, saying she was sorry but only had a poor margarine substitute. I thank her, said no thanks for the margarine, and sat down to lunch. Fifteen minutes later, a steaming hot bowl of real melted butter appeared on my table! To the clams I sprang, and enjoyed for the first time in over a year, my buttered clams! Upon leaving, I spoke with this owner to thank her. She just smiled (she does a good job of that too) and said that she had "waked next door" and purchased the butter for me! Come on, is that good service? No, it is true KINDNESS and what was once called HOSPITALITY. I hope that she is a Yelper and sees this too; so thanks again! read more

Decided to try this place after seeing the lines but trust me, this place is not worth it. While the price is cheap ($14ish per person on a weekend), the food is not up to par. Crabs were overcooked and burnt, fruit was rotten, and the basic sushi looked disgusting. 8 hours later, my stomach was definitely not happy about me eating here. read more

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT...eat at Blue Pearl in downtown Silver Spring. For a long while, I have wondered how good their food was. Decided to give them a try tonight. Oh. My. God. Their food was shockingly bad and it wasn't worth the $15. After I left, I felt sick - not the food-poisoning type of sick, but the I-feel-gross-that-I-want-it-out-of-me type. It's the type where I'd instantly feel sick if you mention that restaurant to me. Just don't go there. I don't know how that restaurant is still in business. Hell, I'm feeling sick thinking about it. read more

hungry? got $12 to spare? walk past blue pearl buffet and go to sabroso across the street instead. stuck in a zombie apocalypse with no substanence? ok go to blue pearl. blue pearl is what restaurants become when owners become harden and cynical about humanity. it is not a restaurant per se, but rather a no frills enterprise with items that seem like food. red flag #1: you walk in the door and you pay first; the truest indication that this is cafetaria style buffet. red flag #2, the dinner buffet costs $12. the buffet items consist of standard take out chinese (general tsaos chicken, vegetable lo mein, fried rice), seafood items (clams, mussels in black bean sauce, fried rock crabs), a meat station (beef teriyaki, chicken satay, korean ribs), a sushi station, made to order pho, and various desserts. sounds good, yes? except the lo mein is so limp and saturated with oil that it sticks to your ribs with every swallow. the fried crabs were well seasoned, but they're so dried that barely any meat exist. my husband best described the buffet when he described the korean ribs: "all the components are there, but there's something very off." ok cut the snark. it is a good place to feed large families for very little. despite the lackluster food, the buffet is full to almost capacity on an early saturday night. the clientele is mainly immigrant families and much of the people seem to enjoy themselves. there's nothing wrong with that. i grew up with very little and a night at blue pearl would have been great back then. but now i have choices, and thus, i would not choose blue pearl again. read more

I was on my way to Downtown Silver Spring to watch a movie at the Royal Majestic Theater when I noticed a banner hanging outside the entrance to the mall advertising Blue Pearl Buffet & Grill "All-You-Can-Eat". It was around 5:30pm and I haven't had any dinner, so I thought I would check it out. The restaurant is located on the first floor of the mall (same floor as the food court) and when I walk inside, the place was almost packed! I thought 5:30pm was a bit early for dinner so I thought I could have a relatively quiet time to myself for a bit before the huge dinner rush occurs. But, apparently that isn't the case for this place. The price for the dinner buffet (which is also the same for the dim sum buffet that is on weekends from 11-4) is $11.45 without tax...with tax, it came out to $12.15. I wait for one of the waitresses to be free from their numerous duties to seat me. (By the way, I noticed all the waitresses had very little down time and seemed a bit frazzled, which I'm not surprised because there are only five or six of them to manage the huge buffet area. They would do one thing, then move on to whatever else they had to do. As a result, they couldn't pay much attention to the needs of the diners, whether it was for refills or other requests). I put my stuff down at my table, grab a plate, and walked around the (long) buffet tables. There is a salad/fruit bar, sushi bar, dessert bar, hot noodles (Vietnamese or Hong Kong style) bar, BBQ/meat bar, soup bar, dim sum bar, seafood bar, and vegetable bar. There is also an ice cream machine at one end of the long chain of buffet bars. I don't remember all the stuff they had, but from what I do remember, they had: - Salad/Fruit Bar: iceberg lettuce, sliced and grape tomatoes, onions, broccoli, baby carrots, kimchi (?!), lemons, oranges, honeydew, pineapple, and lychee - Sushi Bar: california rolls, salmon and avocado rolls, avocado rolls, tempura rolls (I didn't know which kinds), salmon nigiri, tuna nigiri, whitetail nigiri, crabmeat nigiri, eel nigiri, and obviously wasabi, ginger, and soy sauce. - Dessert Bar: sesame rice dough/ball ("Jin deui" for all you Chinese yelpers), Chinese doughnuts, coconut macaroons, vanilla and chocolate mini cupcakes, small square slices of cake, salted peanuts. - Hot Noodles Bar: I didn't take a close look at this bar since I really wasn't in the mood for noodles...but it seemed like they made hot noodles and you could tell them what to put in them (mung beans, cilantro/culantro/mint leaves, carrots, peppers, etc) - BBQ/Meat Bar: beef and chicken skewers, beef short ribs ("kalbi" for all you Korean yelpers), chicken bulgogi, marinated salmon, fried mackerel, whole crabs. - Soup Bar: hot and sour soup, egg drop soup. - Dim Sum Bar: shrimp balls, glutinous sweet rice wrapped in leaves, egg custard bun, shumai, beef dumplings. - Seafood Bar: mussels, clams, squid, fried squid, fried frog legs, seafood and vegetable stir fry, fried/crispy shrimp, crab legs. - Vegetable Bar: bok choy, vegetable lo mein, marinated mushrooms, green beans. So yeah, I'm definitely missing a lot of food in the list above, but I think I remembered at least half of what they had. Okay, so for the food itself. For the stuff I tried, most of them were about average, some above-average, and some that didn't taste good at all. Stuff that I really liked were all the sushi and nigiri (clean, decent quality, although definitely not the best I've had), most of the vegetables, marinated salmon, most of the dim sum offerings, mussels, clams, and seafood and vegetable stir fry...oh yeah, and the desserts (the sesame rice ball was GOOD). Stuff that didn't taste too good or tasted WAY too salty were beef and chicken skewers, beef short ribs, chicken bulgogi, fried mackerel, the soups, marinated mushroom, and the salad bar in general (wasn't fresh...even the kimchi had no taste!). The rest were just okay. I'm not sure if this is an everyday thing for the restaurant, but over half the diners brought their little kids to the buffet and were making so much noise. They were crying, yelling, running around and bumping into things, and spilling stuff from their plates and cups. I guess it's part of the reason the waitresses were so frazzled and were running around everywhere. But yeah, if you want to have a nice, quiet dinner, you can definitely cross this place from your list. Overall, despite their many offerings, most of the food was average, the service was decent (they quickly took away your finished plate), but this place is definitely not a good place to have a date. I would probably come again if I was coming with a large group or if by chance all my favorite restaurants were closed. read more

This is the kind of buffet place you want to go to if you want lots of food on the cheap. Food quality is "meh" but a buffet for all you can eat is only $8, and there is a huge range to choose from. There's a lot of "Asian cruise" in the generic sense, plus some standards like fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fresh fruit, Jello, etc. Sushi is better than Ace prepackaged, but just barely. Dim sum tends to be a bit doughy. Sometimes their fry cooker is running hot, so the stuff they deep fry is a little burnt. Staff is friendly and courteous, but make no bones about it, this is a "eat lots, eat fast, and get out of the way" kind of place. Always crowded with lower income families and their kids (which, you know, who can blame them?). AC in the summer is a little hot, but so is the entire mall around it, which is always on the verge of dying out like teeth in a decaying skull. But it's very clean. The area surrounding it tends to have a lot of canvassers during lunchtime. "Can I stop you for a minute to talk about global warming/youth basketball/save the whales/the Lord Jesus Christ?" Usually you can spot them in matching polo shirts. read more

I realize this place is not supposed to be fancy and I wish I could come here again, because I love buffets. But this place was really disgusting and unappetizing. My soda was flat, the lo mein was totally made with spaghetti noodles, the egg drop soup was pure oil, the pork buns were foul and the pizza looked like it had been sitting there for 2 days. It was also dirty. I managed to make a semi-decent meal with some sushi, fruit, and salad. 2 stars for the price, service and variety. read more

In the basement of shopping mall in downtown Silver Spring, not much ambiance, just cafeteria-ish, which is okay. Not the kind of place you want to boast about frequenting, but truth be told, there is a lot they do right: Dim sum and fresh noodle soup you choose the ingredients. Sushi rolls made on the spot, vegetarian and fish, fresh, flavorful. Always good selection of seafood. Best fried plantains! Good choice of deserts, usually including sesame ball with bean paste filling. Attentive wait staff who never smile (wonder, are they the buffet restaurant work slaves one hears about?) but are good about clearing and refills. It's a Chinese buffet, people, so accept it for what it is: functional, fresh food, low price, lots of variety. Enjoy! read more

I NEVER write reviews, good or bad, but I must save you from making the same mistake I did. I am standing out front, in the cold, as i write this; I could not wait any longer in good conscience. Believe every bad review here, every one of them is 100% accurate! First of all, it took me two passes at the entire buffet before I was able to find (settle on) three things to put on my plate. The whole buffet looks like leftovers or even a restaurant's garbage. When I sat down at my table, my Sprite I ordered was waiting for me. I do not know how to accurately describe the taste of my 'Sprite'. Dirty is the only one that I think comes close. Still determined to 'enjoy' my lunch, I tried the food. I could only stomach one small bite of chicken and one piece of fried squid. Both were room temperature at best, dry and flavorless. I got up, leaving an entire plate of food untouched, and ran for my life! I am stunned that the Health Dept. allows this place to continue serving 'food'. Only eat here if you have a death wish, seriously. read more

My instincts always told me to stay away from this place. I should have listened to my instincts. This is one of the worst Asian restaurants I have ever been to. The hash brown potatoes was the only dish I could stand to eat. The soups were very inauthentic and not well prepared. If you ever see this restaurant just keep on walking! read more

It's not a fancy restaurant but I like going there with my family. I like the variety of food and all taste good. Love the seafood there specially the crab, shrimps and clams. The fried chicken was good too. Dim sum and sushi was ok but I didn't like the vietnamese noodle. The service is good too. I definitely recommend it. read more

I would give this place more of a 3.5 star rating. You can't go wrong on the price! Look at the variety of food you can get and the price you pay and it's so much more worth it than other places in the area. Obviously you can't eat here all the time! They've got everything from your standard American-Chinese fare to dim sum to Vietnamese noodles to sushi. I've come here for lunch and dinner and the only real difference I can see for the dinner option is the roast duck. Not only do you have all the food available but you have free refills as well! I've never had a bad time here. read more

Decent food, decent service, variety of food. Found a piece of egg shell on my boiled egg. Place could be cleaner. read more

Blue Pearl Buffet & Grill - Buffets Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

If we do not have any pay but and this is the best place for you I went on my own during dinner time and it was gross nothing had taste I literally left in the middle of my meal that was frustrated a waste of $14 to eat nothing but cardboard read more

The greasy spoon version of chinese buffets ... for about $12 you get shrimp, duck, crabs, sushi, dim sum, baked goods, soup, and an almost endless amount of other dishes. Is this place high end? No. Is this place the best asian food you can find? No. But, you get what you pay for and should view this place for what it is ... a low end buffet with good variety, very good service, and ingredients of decent quality. The beef short ribs are amazing. The duck is fatty, but tastes good. The dim sum is hit or miss. The shrimp and general tzao chicken are forgettable. read more

Sorry, but this place is utterly disgusting, the seafood does not taste fresh at all. The oysters and shrimp were very mushy, the dessert tasted really old. Plus I went back to get some sushi and wasn't done with my first plate(it was almost a full plate) and when I came back it was already thrown away, when me and my friend were getting up the waitress had an attitude and ask us to tip her. The only thing that was good were the drinks. read more

STAY AWAY FROM THIS DIRTY PLACE!. The food is old and microwaved! Only some is cooked but the place is really dirty and the pho soup is super nasty feels like is just a bunch of hot water with no taste ! Stay away from this place ! It's cheap but dirty the cooks are cleaning then though the food and the forks and knives are dirty they are not washed properly ! There is roaches in the restaurant bathroom. I don't recommend this place! read more

Your average Chinese buffet. Food is decent and a pretty good selection during lunch. They also always keep the food coming, which is a plus. Other than that, nothing too stellar. read more

I couldn't stand the smell of this place. I ate everything that was fried. I was just afraid to have anything that was raw or even cooked.

Meh...your typical Chinese buffet with a large selection of food. I was disappointed with the many hot dishes I tasted which were luke warm to room temperature. The price isn't bad at all but you get what you pay for. read more

I visited Blue Pearl Buffet last week with my friends at lunch.We're surprised about the price. Lunch is about $10 now instead of $7.95 ?? not long ago .. The buffet was so so not that impressive. There were boiled fishes, fried fishes and calamari, clams etc. It's a bit too pricy for lunch with less seafood. It was Monday afternoon, so I guess we're out of luck to get good buffet or seafood. I definitely not coming back here for lunch anytime soon. read more

The food here is decent. And it can be pretty busy which makes the food hot and fresher. However, the last couple times we came here we didn't really care for it. The service is decent, prices are good. But the food quality and selection isn't as great as it could be. read more

So there are a lot of places to eat in Silver Spring. This is not one of them. The buffet is okay, though the hibachi grill advertised was not working when we went. It has a lot of seafood and a mix of a few non-Americanized Asian foods like tamales and plantains. Some food was good, others were lacking some flavor. The price was about $26 or so for two people which wasn't bad but I'd rather sacrifice quantity of food for quality. I would not return since whatever was going on in the men's bathroom was gross enough that my husband wanted to leave immediately. Given that about a solid half of the other patrons were screaming or running children I gladly obliged. read more

Food was pretty bland and I probably won't repeat. The only reason that I came back to this place was because I used to be able to tip the sushi chef a couple of bucks for a big plate of sashimi (no rice). Here's a summary: The good: - Maryland Blue Crabs. Can't really mess them up. - Fruit was fresh. - Fried 'bang bang' Shrimp was good. The bad: - Clams had a lot of sand and over cooked. - Sushi chef kept saying "boss looking" when I tried to tip him for a plate of sashimi. - My kids hated the mac and cheese. That's supposed to be the kid's favorite. - The soup station served up some noodles that were stuck together, wontons that didn't seem to be thoroughly cooked, and stuck together, and the broth had no taste. - the dim sum dishes were bland. Some of the items tasted like the stuff you buy at the Chinese grocery store. read more

So a co-worker suggested this place for lunch, and my thoughts were that this was a more refined Asian buffet. I should've listened to the reviews, as this is an average Asian buffet, food is plentiful, but cleanliness is an issue. I even saw a used plate at the bar. read more

The food isn't good anymore this place used to have some pretty good choices now it's some shit I do not recommend at all !!! Although the soup from the soup place is pretty good. read more

Terrible. Cold, no flavor, dirty. There's better buffets out there. I'd take CiCi's pizza over this crap or get real asian food. SMH.

Cheap yes, typical...i would like to say it is a little more than that. I haven't found another one in the DMV that has such a variety. Warm soy milk, dim sum, pho, beef noodle soup, sushi, crab, and other grilled meats. I will definitely agree that the quality is not worth a 5 star rating. but if you are looking for a buffet, lets be honest you are looking for quantity. We have been to several buffets around the DMV. Since we have two little ones, we need to get in and get out before they get bored. So unfortunately it's buffets for now. We went here one Sunday and then returned the next weekend. We were pretty impressed. I would almost put this buffet on the same scale as a few of our favorites back in San Francisco. The place was packed both times we went but the line was only 10 minutes tops. they have a lot of seating but I agree that tables are too close together. The couple beside us was kind enough to slide their table over a bit so we could fit our stroller in between the tables. i think they need to kick the AC up a notch too. it was a bit warm both times. the food kept coming and was well stocked. you pay first and drinks are included. if you don't feel like soda you can also ask for a Bubble Tea. i believe the flavors were Mango and Honey Dew. Of course it is the powdered stuff and not made from real fruit like its supposed to be. but i still haven't found real bubble tea in DC either. Staff was attentive and cleared the plates quickly. Price is right and we will definitely be back. read more

This place SUCKS. Everything taste like water and they have shitty customer service. Half the people can't speak English.

It is a really good place to have dinner. We also went to it's sibling restaurant at springfiled, va. It is also called Blue Pearl Buffet. The food is wonderful there. Below is their website: http://bluepearlbuffet.com or http://www.bluepearlbuffet.com. read more

Great place to stuff yourself with good food. The waiters/waitresses are very kind, and the soup is amazing.

I wanted to like the Blue Pearl, since it seems to be a local favorite, but it's the Thomas Kinkaid of restaurants - technically proficient but flavorless. The service was four-star, waitstaff were attentive and polite, but the food just fell flat. Usually even an average buffet does something well, but there's just nothing here to like. read more

Rough. I'm not sure why I'm giving it two stars instead of one. Probably because it was cheap for Sunday dinner ($11). Unappetizing presentation of food. Unappetizing food. Did not smell good. Bad iced tea. But they gave me a coke when I told them it was not okay. Awful iced cream in tiny cups. Dining room overrun with children six and under with the sniffles. read more

Have you ever been extremely hungry and felt like you could eat the whole planet? Well this place is just the right place for you because you can eat all you want within just one payment of $10 (or less in happy hour). The service and servers are great. Only one concern is that this place should be a little more clean and sanitized. read more

One of my favorites here, the hash brown potatoes, went away some time ago. And they seem to do the pork chops differently than they used to, not as good in my opinion. So this place, which was a four-star when I reviewed it 3 years ago, can't make more than 3 now. When a place stops serving the things that were the best items they carried, without coming up with suitable replacements, that warrants a downgrade. And except for the soup I mentioned in my July 2010 review, none of the things that made the place worth going to is there. Thus the downgrade. read more

Typical chinese buffet. Large assortment of food. Cleanliness is okay. What makes me come here is the tofu dessert: simple, delicious, and not typical buffet item at most places. The 'made-to-order' pho and noodle soup are also quite delicious. Solid 3 to 3.5 stars, for me. read more

Meh.. This was one of the worst buffets that I went to. I went with a client of mine (she has kids, so a buffet is cost effective).. First of all the waitress gave me a REGULAR Coke instead of the DIET coke that I asked for.. Then she had an attitude when I took one sip and told her that I needed a DIET coke instead of REGULAR.. Then on top of that, most of the food when I got it to my table was lukewarm to cold. I don't understand how it seems hot on the buffet, but then it turns cold once you sit down. The selection of food was standard Chinese buffet stuff.. I would not return.. The only shining moment was the $12.15 price tag!! read more

The price is around $8. per person for lunch M-F. This buffet is mainly Chinese food. The sushi was not good and the desserts were not what I expected. It was just an alright place for $8. but I also have had better Chinese food elsewhere too. read more

I'm pissed. I've been going almost every Saturday soon after it opened. Went specially on my birthday for their free birthday meal that's avertised on their website. They refused and said they don't do that anymore. After being a regular customer for many years I don't even get a free meal? I'm no longer a customer. It might have been good 10 years ago but all the new buffets that opened closer to me are now better. read more

I know what your thinking... all you can eat for 8.95 is a steal, right? THINK AGAIN! almost all of it is just manageable. Would you rather spend $10 -20 for a good meal, or $10 for a lot of crappy food? Just think about that before you go there. STAY FAR AWAY from the Pizza, it puts Chuckie Cheese Pizza to shame. Why is Mac N' Cheese next to the Chinese food? I'm confused. read more