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    Ichiban Buffet

    4.1 (110 reviews)
    Closed 11:00 am - 9:00 pm
    Updated 2 months ago

    Ichiban Buffet Photos

    Business Info

    ICHIBAN BUFFET ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Dogs allowed
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Ichiban Buffet

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    Reviews With Photos

    05/10/26. IG: @jasfoodchronicles
    Jasmine A.

    Stopped by again for the second time on Sunday, 05/10/26 to celebrate mothers day! It was super packed and the wait time was insane! Had to check in and grabbed a number (was #26). Overall waited around 40 minutes before being seated. Adult prices that day increased a bit due to mothers day. Originally $22.99 per adult and it was $24.99 that day. Regardless, still a great deal since this place serves a BUNCH OF SEAFOOD VARIETIES (ESPECIALLY SNOW CRAB, FRIED CRAB, MUSSELS, CLAMS, SHRIMP, ETC). 5/5!!!!

    The lobby mascot
    Kenneth L.

    05/07/2026 Came here for a pre Mothers Day dinner. I really hate crowds and traffic. My mom said the buffet is excellent she really enjoyed the food. My wife loves this buffet too. They love the seafood hahaha I'm not much of a seafood guy I like meat. If you're a meat eater then don't come here you'll be sadly disappointed!!! Well since my mom and wife loved it it's going to get 5 Stars.

    Danny N.

    Buffet was okay here. It opened recently and it's near me so I have it a try. The selection is pretty typical to a Chinese buffet. The sushi was okay, nothing much to rave about. I wish the dessert selection was more but the price wasn't too bad.

    Interior (Buffet Food Area)
    Ian A.

    I had a very delightful experience at Ichiban Buffet (Covina). It's POPULAR and extremely AFFORDABLE! Woah! I had the Saturday Dinner Buffet ($22.99). Surprisingly, the food is cooked/prepared very well for a buffet. I hope those exemplary chefs don't leave anytime soon. (Quick Note: All Seniors 65+ get $1 off. And Kids 3 to 6 are $9.99 for dinner. Also, Saturday & Sunday is All-Day Dinner unlike the weekdays.) I arrived at Ichiban Buffet (Covina) on Saturday (around 11:55AM). I was seated immediately; however, I noticed that the location got very crowded near 1:40PM. Parking is extremely easy; the lot is HUGE. If you're a Covina resident, you'll notice that this buffet is located where the old Hometown Buffet (near the AMC) used to be. Staff is very friendly by the counter. However, Staff becomes very busy and businesslike when doing their responsibilities. Currently, the location felt very efficient and machinelike. Food is regularly refilled. If I were to nitpick, although the plates are fairly clean, it feels like one or two sticky plates scrape through. Fortunately, this buffet does feel relatively clean and comfortable. As mentioned, I had the Saturday Dinner Buffet ($22.99). There's a surprisingly large variety of tasty options! There's sashimi, sushi rolls, crab legs, beef ribs, fish, shrimp, mussels, sho mai, soup, salad, and more. The ice cream station looks a bit rundown, but I can't complain. The food tasted fairly fresh and flavorful for a buffet. It's TASTY and crazy affordable. On ambiance, Ichiban Buffet (Covina) is clean, spacious, and busy. There's so many customers!! There's many, many tables. It's also family friendly with the high-chairs for young kids. Overall, I found unexpected joy at Ichiban Buffet (Covina). This is the most popular buffet destination in Covina!! If searching for very affordable food and well-prepared, flavorful dishes, this is a wonderful choice!! I happily recommend. 4.8 out of 5!

    Ray M.

    My family and I visited this restaurant for the third time and brought friends with us. I am so glad that this restaurant appears to be going to survive, as word of mouth has definitely spread about the value and great food it offers. The restaurant was CROWDED!! Despite the numerous tables in the huge redo, it was no challenge to find a large enough table for our party of nine. During our first two visits, we observed only a handful of customers at the restaurant. Naturally, we were concerned that this restaurant would not survive without support. I am so Glad we were wrong. This restaurant offers such GREAT, fresh, and tasty food. The variety of sushi available is impressive. Each piece of sushi is well-made and tasty, unlike other buffet restaurants. There are so many types of fish, shrimp, crab legs, and other seafood, which is truly impressive. Chicken options are also numerous, including fried, BBQ, and black pepper. There are beef options and many other delicious food options, including but not limited to fruits, veggies, ice Cream and desserts. The employees are all hard workers, clearing tables every 10 to 15 seconds, and the price is UNBELIEVABLE! My party of nine ate like kings and queens. The total cost for our group was $254.00, including tax and a $40.00 tip--an incredible value for a great, fun, and positive dining experience. We are HUGE fans of this restaurant, and we will Continue to visit as often as possible.

    ( ^_^)b
    Kevin M.

    Ichiban Buffet is a new Asian buffet to the city of Covina. This used to be the old Home Town Buffet when i was younger. This location has easy parking since the lots is huge. The location for this buffet is also enormous. They have so many table and booths and even a separate area that could probably be for private parties. The staff greeted and seated us the moment we walk in. We came in on a weekday right before 5PM. They were already starting their dinner by this time. The restaurant was not crowded at all. In terms of selection, they offer many traditional items you would fine at any Asian Buffet. They offer a teppanyaki station, sushi bar, fried food, Chinese food options, some dim sum and soups. They do have crab, crawfish, seafood boil, and cold crab legs too. The value of the buffet per person is definitely worth it. As the time went on the restaurant started to get packed. Overall, I think Ichiban is a great addition and great option for family looking for solid buffet. I'd come back again with my family for sure. ( ^_^)b

    Menu
    Lily V.

    My family saw this place just opened and we decided to come for a Sunday lunch. The price is the same all day for weekends. They had an adorable Shin Chan statue in the front with a beautiful waterfall display. The table we sat at was near the back next to the Mongolian grill. I definitely enjoyed their crab and short ribs, very good and I had several helpings. I do like they had a lot of fried food options for the kids and their dessert and fruit section was larger than other buffets I tried. I didn't eat any sushi because I dipped up on their seafood, fried foods, baked mussels, and steamed options. Unfortunately, some foods were too tough to eat such as roast beef, teriyaki chicken, chicken skewers, and some of the beef dishes. I had to stop eating them as I couldn't chew them. The servers were not around much, I think there was only a few and as it got busy, they made only a few trips to our table. We didn't need much attention, but I can tell when it's busy they are running everywhere. The ice cream options were nice, hand scooped and 8 flavors! I think this was a nice buffet, since it was new, I learned to not keep expectations high.

    Erika M.

    Ichiban Buffet's atmosphere was amazing. The food stations were very clean and full with a large variety of protein. I had sushi, baked salmon, shrimp, clams, steamed rice, and kimchi. Let me just say, ALL of the food was fresh!! The salad bar was filled with a large variety of fruits, jello, and cookies. They also had ice cream in 4 or 5 different flavors. Making it very easy for one to over indulge. The employees were constantly filling up each station with fresh hot/cold food. And the servers were attentive, and making sure drinks were filled at all times. This was my first visit because they have been open about a week but it won't be my last. I was very impressed by the service and cleanliness of this establishment. They have my vote.

    Smaly K.

    I felt like it was your average chinese all-you-can-eat buffet; nothing was amazing or stood out. A couple of the trays were empty; they didn't really keep up with keeps everything stocked. Including the ice cream; one if the flavor was all out. There were some items that I normally don't see at other buffets, so that was cool. The waitress tried to carry too much while cleaning our table and dropped the plates, and some of the food got on my cousin's back. She didn't apologize, and left some of the foos garbage, including a crab leg on the floor behind our chairs.

    abigail P.

    Hmm.. where do I start? First things first, please make sure you ask about pricing and time changes before you get embarrassed eating out with your family. It was our first time there so we didn't know the lunch and dinner times. As soon as we entered we were greeted and were asked to follow the hostess to our seat. We started getting our food and towards the end I seen there where putting our crab legs so I asked my husband to get me a plate of 3 not many. He brought it over to our table then a lady approached us asking if we could not get the sea food. I was so confused being it was a buffet, I told her okay. Her English wasn't so good so another lady came by later and said you need to pay more to get seafood. She clarified that they started to serve dinner now and it included the seafood. She asked if I wanted to pay for dinner, which it wasn't much more but I just wanted those three since I was about full and leaving soon. I told her no, she persisted for me to pay. I told her no we are about to leave if she wanted to take the plate she could. I was surprised to see that the girl where bunched up and looking at me to see if I got up to get anymore food. it was uncomfortable. There's a pic of them glancing here and there. They found out I caught them and took off after. I got to say the food was good and the other people eating their food were very chatty with us because of our baby looking over. There was good variety of foods and dessert options. The cake ice cream flavor was my fav! Another thing I didn't like was that there weren't no diaper changing area in the restroom. Will I come back, yes... it's not that expensive. I posted the sign we didn't see coming in. Hopefully it avoids a few embarrassing moments and you get to enjoy your time with your family. Enjoy the dinner pics. (I couldn't get lunch pics)

    Lunch
    Ben F.

    Finally made it back to try their lunch & selection is well-worth the value on their price point which most restaurants charge just only for one plateful of a dish nowadays. Panda Express 1 rice/noodles with 3 main dish combo is already at $13.50 so at $16.99 with an added options of salad, sushi, seafood & sweet desserts, is it a better option? If you are not particular about paying $9-10 more per person, then I would say Umi & Shiki Buffet definitely will give you a slightly better selection. But if you have a family, the price difference adds up to a tank full of gas. And frankly, how much can one really eat which on average is most likely around two plateful. So, I do not see the point of paying more. This is especially true when you have members in your party (like children) who will only eat pizza & noodles. Their selection on seafood on lunchtime includes 4-5 different kinds of fish dish, 3-4 kinds of shrimp dish plus the usual orange & teriyaki chicken. The dimsum section offers chicken feet which is an Asian delicacy rarely offered in other places. And their siomai, by far, is the best-tasting of all buffet places including Umi & Shiki. As far as service, they are all similar in cleaning up your used plates quickly. In fact, somehow this place feels less confined because of their spacious dining area.

    Clary A.

    Lots of food selection!! Food being refilled constantly . Very good price as well. This used to be the Hometown Buffet spot. Glad Ichiban Buffet took over. The shopping area will be busy again. They also have Tepenyaki option and lots of ice cream selection. Lots of parking. Friendly servers. Check out Ichiban in the City of Covina.

    Jessica T.

    A basic Chinese runned ayce buffet. They have all your basic food you typically see a a Chinese buffet. I stopped by on a Saturday and decided to check this new place out. There were plenty of tables so there was no wait. No complaints on the service. For the price, you get what you paid for. The only con would be some of the dishes were dirty. A few dishes still had food residue on them. ;(

    Plate #2

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    3 months ago

    Saturday Afternoon. Delicious food, bonus points for crab legs. Clean Restaurant, with attentive servers. Will be returning.

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    1 month ago

    Food is cold and everything fried. Lack quality and flavors. Worse buffet I've been to so far.

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    3 months ago

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    2 months ago

    My 3rd time visiting this buffet, the big selection and good taste of the foods, keep me coming back.

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    2 months ago

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    1 month ago

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    2 months ago

    Great yummy buffet! Would come here again, came here with my 2 kids and hubby, great price!

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    1 month ago

    Delicious! enjoyed my meal and happy to have them in the community. The service was great!

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    3 months ago

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    1 month ago

    Good food and service. Friendly waitress and clean restaurant and the price is very reasonable !

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    2 months ago

    Service is excellent. A great variety of food. However, food does not appear that fresh to me. Tastes are kind of blend.

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    2 months ago

    The food was very fresh, and very different varieties of food to choose and pricing is decent!!

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    2 months ago

    Food was hard and chewy and cold. Disgusting would not come here again we all left with food poisoning !!!

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    2 months ago

    Food is really good and sushi is good this restaurant has the nicest staff and it's very clean

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    3 months ago

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    2 months ago

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    3 months ago

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    23 days ago

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    25 days ago

    amazing in value and price . go when it isn't crowded and don't forget the teppanyaki station

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    2 months ago

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    3 months ago

    Food, service. Very clean. Friendly staff. Have gone 3 times and so far had not failed.

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    Page 3 of 3

    Ichiban Buffet Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Ichiban Buffet

    Room for a banquet 50 guest with sound system and overheads?

    They can host 50 guests or more in one side of the dining room, they have 2 sides, one in the front by the entrance and the other one is attached on the side. I don't know about sound systems and overheads.

    Do they have a senior discount?

    Yes, $1 off. That's what they gave my mom who is 84. We had 3 people.

    Would like to see what kind of food included in the lunch buffet. Any crab legs?

    Unfortunately, no crab legs during the lunch buffet, that I saw. I'm sure the crab is served at dinner. However, they do have a good selection of fish items.

    Is there crab legs during lunch?

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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    Ichiban Buffet - buffets - Updated June 2026

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