I go to this restaurant every Sunday and grab something off the buffet. TODAY WAS DIFFERENT. I decided to get some EGG FOO YOUNG. BAD MISTAKE. The gray was like mop water.( NO TASTE AT ALL) Looks like white liquid. IT SUPPOSE TO BE A DELICIOUS BROWN GRAVY that I usually pour over everything. (Like the Chinese place on 5th St ext.) Anyway It was a lesson learned. STICK TO THE BUFFET. read more

I read many reviews before my husband and I went to East Garden for our Sunday Brunch. I couldn't get consistent reviews. So we went after church without any real prejudgment -- I was hoping to like it. There was a very large buffet that included sushi and desserts and some non-chinese food items. We arrived close to the time the restaurant opened so I figured the food would be hot and fresh tasting. So -- the appearance of things seemed good. For me, that's where it ended. All the food I chose from was greasy and tepid. My husband liked the hot & sour soup but he said the meat was too tough to eat. I was bummed. :( read more

Loveee this place. All food is pretty good and there's a million things to choose from. All you can eat no complaints! Insane potions of good food and only $13.50 per adult! Can't beat it. read more

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I have been to East Garden many times. The food is always good, the sushi is honestly done of the best in town, however, the rolls are very tiny. 2 pieces of sushi equals 1 grocery store sized piece. Take out is the best deal. They charge by weight, but it really always ends up being cheaper than dining in. The dining room is neat, but not clean. They use a tale in the middle to roll silver, keep water glasses, etc. It seems a little unsanitary, but I've never gotten sick eating there. It's better than your typical Chinese buffet, but is still greasy, salty and probably artery clogging. I have never used the restrooms here. read more

This is so sad because I was writing a 3 star review and had about 3 paragraphs typed out the night I went here. For better or for worse it takes me awhile to get reviews done and by the time I woke up the next morning my opinion had changed drastically. While the food tasted good Thursday evening when I went, by Friday morning I was horrendously sick from either their sushi or their shrimp. Btw, I only ate fully cooked rolls and I still got horribly sick. I spent 4 hours vomiting uncontrollably until nothing was left, I nearly blacked out and had to go to the ER. I have had food poisoning before but nothing like this. It is now Monday morning (4 days later) and my stomach is still upset. My body is aching from a full 24 hours of riding itself from any reminder of eating here and my chest is still so sore from such violent vomiting, even though it was days ago. I have never experienced pain like this in my entire life. Do not eat here. read more

Food is above mediocre and plentiful. Self service except for drinks. Ambiance is typical self service buffet.

I feel like John Pinette at a Chinese buffet! ! You go now! You scared my wife! You been here four hours! Priceless. ! Stereotypes can be funny but hurtful! I certainly find this acceptable and food typical average Chinese buffet! Some foods are miss label. Some food cold when it should be hot! Certainly Americanize Chinese food! The service is extremely busy and rarely the same person is seen at each visit! I just wonder on labor situation! read more

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As a retired professional chief from Culinary institute of America I know what to look for. Been many years since I been at East Garden and had pleasant memory of eating at the buffet In the past. Happen to be in the area and my wife wanted to go. We walk in and the buffet look good and fresh. We did not want that much food and decided to order off the menu. It was 11am and we both got the egg foo young. For me the beef and her the shrimp. My beef was rubbery. The egg foo (omelette) look like it was cook in old oil. The fried rise was poorly season and greasy. The egg roll I had to take a napkin and blot the oil. The waitress was fair but could been more attended. May go back and give it a second try. Once a month I need to be in Waynesboro. There is a Chinese restaurant. near the Kroger downtown. We make it a point to go there when in town. Prices are great and so is the food. We normally order off the lunch menu. They do have a large buffet. read more

The staff is super kind and the food taste great. I'm really impressed. This is one of the best buffets I've been to and for the price it's really hard to beat. read more

I placed an online order. One item that I ordered )for which I even have a screenshot of) was for chicken chow mein. This was just one of over half a dozen items ordered. When I picked up the two large bags for the full order I didn't open up any of the containers to confirm what I got. When I got home And laid out all the food There was absolutely nothing that I would call chow mein in the bags. I looked over the print out that was stapled to one of the two bags the food was in and noticed that somehow my chicken chow mein order (again, this was using THEIR online ordering system and I have screenshots showing exactly what I ordered) became vegetable chow mein. Same price as the chicken but this vegetable chow mein had absolutely no chow mein noodles in it at all. Or any type noodles. The Food itself was OK but another screw up was that when I was completing my online order there was a box to make comments and I specifically stated that sdidn't need all the rice that came with five of the dishes as that meant I was going to get five little cartons of white or fried rice depending on which one I picked with each one of those particular a La Carte items. I specifically typed out I wanted two cartons of rice. So what did I get? Five small cartons of either white rice or fried rice. Which means nobody had read the comment I made in that box. So what is the point of having that box for comments when you're placing an order? read more

I went here for years t lunch and really enjoyed it. Then they had a fire and weee closed for a long time but recently reopens. We went in-for lunch and it was good but then I came down with the dreaded MSG headache which killed the rest of the day. I'm guessing that they changed seasoning salt when they reopened, which sucks. So, if you are good with msg then Go for it, but if you don't tolerate it well then skip it. read more

No idea how anyone could give this buffet less than 5 stars. I'm a big buffet person because I'm picky and so is my partner, but they are very touch and go. Everything was delicious. I've never had flounder let alone fish in a cream sauce, and I ate like three servings of it. There were plenty of fish options which isn't always the case and the shrimp were actually de veined, which is also rare. Sushi had vegetarian options which you never see! And masago! And they were good! Fried foods weren't that weird rubbery where you can tell they sat out. Everything was actually flavorful, I loved the soothing music - made it feel like a library, everyone was actually quiet and relaxed. And the service was good, too! Usually buffet servers sit you down and you never see them again. I was just passing through and I wish I weren't cause I was so pleasantly surprised. read more

Very bad food, a lot of oil and bad taste. all the food very cold, unpleasant this place

Okay Chinese food. I have ordered delivery from East Garden twice. Over the orderings, I have tried the crab rangoon, mushu pork, and rainbow roll. The mushu pork was probably my favorite of the three with a well balanced sweet and savory flavor. The crab rangoon is somewhat bland, but, currently, East Garden is the only restaurant that sells them in Charlottesville. The rainbow roll was pretty poor sushi in my opinion as well. Overall, I would not recommend East Garden, but I do think there are worse options for takeout. read more

I ordered steamed dumplings, a salmon roll, and salmon sushi via Uber Eats pick up. The first blunder was that the restaurant did not update their Uber Eats app so I did not know my order was ready until I called to inquire and it had been sitting out. When I did pick up my order, I was immediately suspect of the fish. It looks rather low quality and is very thinly sliced, unlike the meaty slice of vibrant salmon I was expecting. The roll smells fishy in a concerning way. The dumplings are decent but cold because of the timing snafu. I would not order from this restaurant again. read more

East Garden - salmon roll and salmon sushi - Chinese Near Me - Charlottesville, Virginia

Pleasant decor and friendly attentive staff, keep drinks refilled. Food needs to be a bit hotter on the bar.

All buffet place. Lots of interesting dishes, wonderful soups. Sadly, all the dishes that I picked were not hot, just lukewarm. Soups were nice and hot. read more

Great selection of food. Found frog legs as well!!! The food filled fresh as well as the sushi. I love how they have a selection of soups so i can have all soup from seaweed to hot and sour, egg drop wonton and miso soup. Went there around 4.30, it wasn't busy but they changed the food to refresh the buffet. For less than $12.00 per person this place is worth it!! read more

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Take out review- Food was very disappointing. Sesame Chicken was so overcooked it was very hard to chew. Moo Shu sauce had odd consistency. Bad review across my family so we will not go back again. read more

If I can give a negative star I would. I haven't been to this place in years and now I remember why. I went there the other day, and it gave me severe food poisoning to the point I had to go the hospital because it was so severe. I don't know if it was the black pepper chicken, or shrimp, or idk what but I would not recommend this place. read more

Got the chicken fried rice. Seems like they just boil a bunch of chicken and add it to the fried rice. The chicken had no flavor, and weird texture. The fried rice itself was decent. Avoid the chicken fried rice and I would guess they do the same for the chicken lo mein. My friends got general tso's and said they liked it but I tried it and thought it was pretty bland. TLDR: you get what you expect from a cheap Chinese joint-- but avoid the chicken fried rice and chicken lo mein. Overall the food is pretty bland, nothing special read more

Decent food, but not as good a selection as the other Asian buffet on 29 N. Food also not as good as the other one.

We have NOT found this restaurant OPEN for the past 2 months - appears remodeling is in process following FIRE.

I ordered food to go, staff was great, dining room really clean and my food was ready when I got there. Food was fresh, tasted good and portions were generous. Nothing spectacular and didn't scratch the Chinese food itch I had but overall good experience. read more

East Garden is a small little place with a small simple buffet. They have pretty much the same stuff as most Chinese places but the options are more limited. Overall I felt the food was decent, and the waitress filled our drinks in a timely manner. They have something familiar to a cheese wonton but for some reason the filling is cold. Not sure if that's meant to be that way or not but it did not taste that great. The price for the buffet is $9 but for the size I felt like it should be $7 a person. read more

Dumplings were burnt and meals were soggy and very bland even though they were spicy. First and last time eating here.

For years and years, this was a favorite place of ours. Sadly, our last two visits have been a bust. Cold food, mostly empty buffet, and some real cleanliness concerns. I really, really want to love this place again. We'll give it another chance after the memory of our last trip fades away. read more

I have always enjoyed the food and setting here and recommend to anyone who is looking for a affordable buffet and sushi!

We go there primarily for the sushi and it is wonderful, really very surprising for a buffet. The owners are very friendly and so are the staff, they treat us like family. read more

Okay, where do I start? I went home to visit mom yesterday after work. We decided to have a quick, cheap dinner at East Garden. We've eaten at East Garden countless times before, so we were both looking forward to it. The food is usually hot, fresh and tasty, especially around lunch and dinner time. Mom and I head to the buffet counters after being seated by the waitress. I get my usual -- steamed shrimp with Old Bay seasoning, and chicken and broccoli. Mom gets a combination of things -- a monstrous mixture of various dishes. Anyhow, I pop a couple of shrimp into my mouth and notice an off taste -- almost like chlorine. Instantly, a look of uncertainty spreads across my face. At first, I thought it was my taste buds but then I tell Mom to try some of the shrimp on her plate, and without me having to say a word she says, "They taste like bleach!" I walk over to the host (which is presumably the manager) and tell him of our dissatisfaction, and possible food poisoning. I was instantly turned off by his dismissal of our concerns. So I encourage him to try the shrimp. He gets a few shrimp from the buffet and heads back to the host station. Minutes later he returns to our table to let us know his shrimp tasted fine. We immediately get up to leave. I pay the tab and bounce! The quality of food at East Garden has declined severely over the past few years. The poor taste of its food cannot compare to its poor taste in management. Never eating there again! read more

Wow everything was way over done...nothing fresh too much salt...has really fallen off have not been here in years and really sure I should not return. So sad read more

There are 3 quarantees in experiencing East Garden... 1. The sushi will surprise you with how good it is despite appearing as a 'cheap Chinese' restaurant. 2. The service has few rivals, the staff is very attentive and kind. 3. The variety of the buffet is a welcome change. The main reason I am not giving this eatery 4 or 5 stars is: Many dishes are swimming in the sauces, thus causing your throat to be covered with a gelatinous mix of General Tso and Sesamie Chicken. you clearing your throat for the next few hours after eating. Tip: Drain as much as you can off before putting it on your plate. read more

This is one of the worst buffet restaurants I have been to. Very small selection, very carelessly kept and overall dirty. Very horrible experience and we all ended up taking turns in the bathroom shortly after, it was that bad! Everything tastes greasy. Save your money. read more

This is one of the best Chinese buffets in town -- great variety and tasty food. They're always packed at lunch, but run an efficient ship and get people in and out quickly. And the price is always right. read more

visit on 5/29/2011 In general, buffets kind of scare me. Largely because I end up eating way too much trying to eat my money's worth. But partly because most food just doesn't fare very well sitting underneath a heat lamp for an extended amount of time. While this place has a pretty wide variety of "asian" food, none of it is really so good. Most of the dishes tend to be overcooked and soaked in a lot of sauce and grease. I will say, however, that the selection of sushi (nigiri and rolls) is decent. The fish may not be the freshest, but the cuts of fish and sushi rice is not bad. For the price, the sushi is not a bad deal. read more

I used to LOVE this restaurant but it somehow all went down hill. Almost all of their staff was on their cellphones the entire time. I almost grabbed the water pitcher myself. We used to go to this restaurant on a regular basis but now we probably won't. read more

Been here a few times, food was ok. But once, found hair in my food!! though ok, it might be mine, dont panic. Got another plate. Returned another time, and again found same looking hair in my food! Ok, this is not cool! This place is nasty! Asked for a refund and stupit owner refused, i just left. Awful place read more

I went with my sister, husband, and niece. It is a smaller establishment. But don't let that confuse you, it is clean and everything tastes good. Buffet sushi is always scary, but the guy was right there making it in full view of everyone and it looked and tasted fine. Staff seemed nice. read more

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This is our familys fav place to eat. They give our son his fav seat when no one is in it .. And the foods allways frash and hot..

Probably the best Chinese buffet type place in Charlottesville. My kids call it "Eat Garden " and it's their favorite place to eat. The sushi is actually quite good for buffet-style, and the food is consistently a step above what you would expect in a place like this. I've been to Chinese buffet restaurants where I literally couldn't find anything that looked appealing, and I leave feeling poisoned. East Garden is definitely better than that. Still, it's not quite a "five star " experience, so there you have it... read more