Food is inconsistent. Old dried out, breaded dishes are soggy (Gross), got chicken that was UNDER cooked. Salad bar was really sparse, the ripped pieces of lettuce were to big to eat without cutting. Will NOT be back! Management needs to do better get your act together. read more

Food not too good this Sunday. Clams were sandy... crawfish was cooked well but no flavor. Sushi tuna was fishy smelling n tasting not edible yuck horrible tried it twice even. Crab ragoon was leathery. Oyster looked great but was painfuly mushy. Must be an off day here. Everything else was ok. Pho was good it save the day. Two stars today. Otherwise they are usually pretty good. read more

See all

Absurdly the worst buffet in Madison! Not rotated at all No service at all. Cookie cutter buffet. I got sick! Avoid avoid avoid! read more

If you're going here just for the sushi then I highly recommend it. Otherwise, the Chinese food is just average and most of it lacks seasoning. There was no wait when I got there and I was seated promptly, but one of the employees was sitting next to the buffet talking on her phone the entire time, which seemed unprofessional. I also found it odd that they had Christian music playing in the background - perhaps something more relaxing and less religious would be a better choice? read more

Great selection of food, always fresh. Service has always been good. Price is very reasonable .

Went here for my birthday, after after reading some of the reviews lately I was fearing the worst. However, the food was good, the hibachi was good, and the buffet remained full the entire time. I don't know what people are expecting when they come here, But you will receive a large amount of food, and as much of it as you'd like. I ate the sushi, it was good. I also ate from the raw bar, that was good and no one felt sick the next day. This place was packed. Yet my service was excellent. A plate didn't remain on my table for more than a few minutes after I was finished with it. The server gave me trinkets and do dad's. He was really great. It takes a lot of courage to wear make America great again in Madison Wisconsin. He got a good tip. The ambience, is a Asian buffet. I don't know what people expect. It's a buffet. It's not going to be the finest of dining, but the food was good. read more

Need something quick for a large group?? Journeys is my go-to cater spot. Since they're a buffet, they can have trays of food ready in as little as 15 minutes! Great for last minute get-togethers. If you're looking for several dishes at a time, call ahead a few days as courtesy. Dining in isn't too bad either. There's a good variety for all types of eaters--from a basic sushi selection to several buffet carts, to the Mongolian grill, and various noodle soups and baked goods/sweets! Service has always been great! read more

See all

Very good service and friendly. Food is so good there I am a repeat customer. I always go with a from family there. Price is little bit expensive but worth it. read more

Came at 145, not the freshest. Most of the seafood was imitation crab. The lunch buffet price I was advertised on their own website was $8.45/adult. They charged me 150% of their advertised price. read more

I came here for lunch on a weekday, the price wasn't bad, at $11.99. Overall, the food is good for what it is, a Chinese buffet. There are some really good pluses, here are a few. 1. Hibachi station- put whatever veggies, noodles and raw protein (chicken, beef, pork and shrimp) on a plate and the cook prepares it. Sauces are available to put on afterwards. 2. Pho soup station- put beef or meatballs, Thai basil, bean sprouts, rice noodles, jalapeños in a bowl and it's cooked in the broth. The broth was kind of bland, but soy sauce and sriracha helped. 3. They put out a lot of sushi, and actually they kept bringing out fresh food. There was a decent amount of people, but I wouldn't say it was crowded. Everything was well stocked. 4. There was salad and fresh fruit, and fried chicken wings. There was no sauce on the wings, but a breading/batter that was really tasty. I wish I could have had more of those, because they looked so good. But I got really full and topped it off with soft serve ice cream. Vanilla, chocolate or swirl. The server was prompt with clearing dishes and refilling my lemonade. I would go back, especially for more wings and to try the stuff I was too full to try the first time. One thing that I really liked was that there was Christian music playing on the speakers. It wasn't very loud, but I could make out the songs since I was in a quiet corner. read more

See all

Almost all of the sushi was made from imitation crab. Not even Philadelphia rolls (basic), just several versions of the same thing.

Great rolls, fresh hot food, amazingly fast service. Highly recommend! Lots of seating.

Wow what a gem. The food is about what you would expect from a buffet. They have a ton of variety and nothing is going to blow you away in terms of quality or taste. Having that said most everything tasted good (aside from a few things I didn't care for) and it was all pretty fresh. The service was fantastic. Our waiter kept coming around and bringing us little trinkets which was probably the most heartwarming thing I've ever experienced at a restaurant. Very prompt service, everyone was friendly, and it was kept relatively clean. They have a ton of options, even cheese pizza slices if you're traveling with picky young eaters. Under $20/person for the buffet and a beverage so price wasn't too crazy - especially when you factor in how much variety you're getting. read more

Food selection , quick service , ambience, one of the better buffets in the Madison Area.

The place is jumpin! And it's a Delicious Flavor Adventure for anyone without a wimpy gut. Some of the stuff is spicy, but it's spicy in the most delicious and amazing way. Full of flavor! if you can't handle the spice - then stay out! Amazing first time experience and I'll definitely be back for lunch again! The staff was helpful and available to assist me as needed. I felt like I stepped into Little Asia right here in Madison. It's an awesome vibe and really makes the experience fun. Combine everything - the vibe, flavors, and people - it's a full deck. A+ EDIT: There's probably more to this place I've just not discovered yet. It's really like an exploration&discovery experience coming in here for the first time. Very, very, cool. And I've been eating for the past hour - getting ready to eat something sweet and head out... and I feel JUST FINE. Yummy read more

Journey Sushi & Seafood Buffet - Just a sliver of the actual place, this shows the main buffet line, which is accompanied by a sushi bar, & a to-order hibachi grill - Sushi Bars Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Not impressed with this place. The only food worth eating was the stuffed crab shells and the red cake. Everything else was either cold or overcooked. Another negative was they weren't ready for the dinner rush. The salad bar was in such disarray with very low dressings and hardly any food items. One unfriendly waiter was running his ass off for a slew of tables. I will not be back. read more

I super enjoyed as did my kids. I am deaf so communicating's always a problem for me, but the lady waitress did very well. Food was OK I guess it was a buffet can't expect anything more than what I got. read more

Journey Sushi & Seafood Buffet - The photo explains everything - Sushi Bars Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Not the best experience for Asian buffet, but okay for the price. Limited food offerings that were not deep fried.

Wow! We went in expecting dried out food but decided to take a chance. We are still floored (it's been over an hour since we got home from eating here) at the value here! Read other reviews and thought it would be barely passable Chinese and terrible other. But figured what the hell, we'd give it a try. Most of what we tried (tried to take a little of everything) was pretty good actually. Had some ribs that I expected to be leathery, but they turned out to be rather tender. Had sushi which was meh.. not terrible mind you; not gas station sushi or even close. Not great either; but would expect great sushi in Wisconsin anyhow? Most of the Chinese dishes were passable! I wouldn't write home about them but I also wouldn't turn my nose up to them. If you're coming here expecting to be wow'ed by the quality of the food. You'll probably be disappointed. Each dish, on its own, is probably better at a place that specializes in a particular cultural food type. But as a variety, it's all rather good. They do decently enough where you'll find yourself saying "huh... not bad at all!" Now on to the price. I do think they are under charging. We got the bill of $36 and couldn't believe it. We were expecting $50 or more. We will come back to see if it was a fluke but I'm doubtful it is. read more

The last time I was here everything had flavor. We came here last night and were very disappointed with the food. The literal only food item we went back up for seconds was the stuffed baked crab. Everything else tasted like it was cooked in watered down soy sauce. The options were exciting at first as they have a large display of different foods and seafoods, but the stale, dry flavor was disappointing. We both felt ill when we left the restaurant. We will not be coming back :( read more

It was amazing, the skeweres were so delicious. Also Jimmy was the best service, helper person. He made little paper origami trinkets for my sisters and it made our day. Everyone was so nice and love the vibe of the place. read more

I'm somewhat "on the fence" about this establishment or should I say "on the pot". The prices are reasonable and there's quite a lot that you're getting and sometimes more than what you even expect. They need to keep the place much, much cleaner. They need to renovate. It smells musty and old when you walk through the door. You can tell that they truly put nothing into the facilities since they opened, many years ago. They say that msg is a cheap substitute for quantity food and expensive seasoning. Especially note that if you are Caucasian, beware of the buffet and stick to the salad bar and Mongolian grill, otherwise expect explosive results that far exceed the impacts of downing a pint of prune juice and extra-strength ex-lax. If you haven't had a bowel movement for a week, by all means, help yourself to the buffet and consider this place a god send. Note that you will need to find a clean bathroom where you can hang out for quite a while that is within 20 minutes of leaving the restaurant and you will not want to use the facilities of this place. read more

You get what you pay for! Isn't it the best food in town? No. But for an all you can eat buffet, with sushi! It's definitely good! We've stopped by several times and there's always a lot of options. Even when they are busy they are constantly refilling food, so it's not like you have to wait around for something good to be made! They also have the guy in back who will cook you up a mixture of what you want (I always forget about him until it's to late, but my husband hits it up every time). We'll definitely be back. read more

We came here right when they open. The nice thing about coming during the opening time is that everything is made pretty much fresh. Honestly, I love seafood and came here because the name say that it's a seafood buffet. Sadly, the seafoods are only available for dinner. The sushi were not the best either. 2 stars because the other foods were descent. I assume the sushi to be made special and seafood to be served all day given the name. The name of this place is so misleading. I don't think I'd come back. read more

See all

Wide variety of sushi, didn't try any. Not sure how long it sits on the tables though. The rest of the food was hot and looked fresh when we went. It did taste great. Nice staff, pricey. 35 for 2 people including one soda. :/ Would have went else where if I knew it would cost me that much when I only had one plate. read more

I was really excited to try this out. I don't mind cheaper, crappier Chinese and Japanese food, and I was excited to be able to try and eat a bunch of different forms of it. Unfortunately, the prices were surprisingly high, and the food's quality was somehow worse than I thought it would be. I decided to take a risk and try out a bunch of sushi at first, and some of it was actually good. You get to see them prep it which is nice. Several of the pieces weren't very good though. The saddest thing for me is I am obsessed with fried chicken in a sweet Chinese sauce. It's a hard thing to mess up. But the stuff here just did not cut it. The General Tso's Chicken just did not have enough flavor to it. It was lacking in salt, spice, and sweetness. With all the other entree dishes, they were all an assortment of bland and over cooked meat. Chinese American food should be anything but bland. And to top it off, the prices were around $20 a person, which surprised me because the food being served was nowhere near good. I really wanted to like the food here, but I was really thrown off by how bad the food was here. read more

This place went down hill. They were out of steak out of pho meat and the lady hardy gave us are drink. Then she asked for more then a 5.00 tip. read more

We were told by different friends & colleagues that this was the best Chinese buffet in the area, so we had to try it! We were so disappointed. There were few choices, and a large ratio of random American fried foods (fries, nuggets) versus actual Chinese or fusion dishes. No dim sum, dumplings, or steamed anything but for dessert. The cook at the grill dumped SO MUCH sauce in the wok, and barely cooked the ingredients, it was inedible. Hot dishes were barely lukewarm, and dried out. The dining area was filthy: every surface was grimy and sticky, the walls, the booth, the table and bench. They provide plastic gloves everywhere, to put on before you touch the buffet, but don't actually enforce it. I saw multiple patrons directly handling the food with their bare hands, putting back stuff that had already been on their plate... We were looking for a new favorite, comfortable buffet but this was not it. read more

This place is a regular go to with the whole family. We frequently go for the crawfish, crab and shrimp. Whether the seafood is fresh or over cooked is a hit or miss but most of the time it's pretty decent. Service is always on point, staff is friendly and accommodating. The sushi selection is nice and they have a soft serve ice cream machine for dessert. We frequent this place at least once a month. read more

Journey Sushi & Seafood Buffet - Sushi Bars Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Updated review- 4 years later. It has gone from a 2 star to a 3 star! The food was still approaching average, but this time some of the food items were warmer than lukewarm! The texture of some of the food items was...interesting, but the taste was what you expected. Workers wore masks and so did most of the patrons. There were also plastic gloves you could put on to serve yourself. read more

Journey Sushi & Seafood Buffet - Sushi Bars Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

I don't know if you had the privilege to try Oysy (sushi and seafood buffet) when it was around, but this is the next best thing and I'll take it. A Chinese, Japanese and American buffet at a more affordable price than most other buffets in town. You can create your own stir-fry, no need to worry about what sauce to make (they have a sauce they use and it complements whatever you put together). There's also a ton of sushi you can choose from. Their sushi is pretty good for buffet setting, they're better than sushi you'd find at other Chinese buffets but no where near sushi special restaurants (of course). There's a salad bar with more options than you normally see, spicy mussels, seaweed salad, squid salad, kim chee and much more. The list really goes on. They claim they have over 200 items at the bar...I guess I need to make frequent trips and get eating, I mean counting. http://www.getnmahbelly.com/2013/10/the-journey/ read more

See all

Some experiences just can't be put into words, a meal at The Journey is one of those experiences. It is the Magical Kingdom of Buffet's. My girlfriend and I already talking about getting married in their beautiful banquet hall. 10/10 best experience of my life read more

I recommended this buffet for anyone who loves eating Chinese food as much as I do! :) (09/17/14) I believe this is the only legit Chinese buffet that's on the East side of Madison? If not let me know! Lol anyhow, I often eat here when I visit my sister and her family in Madison. The staffs are kind and simple they take us to your seats quickly and take our drink orders and we're on our way to the hot food aisles. The price is affordable and can't complain much. The food are sometimes fresh and sometimes dry (but only when it's close to closing time). I haven't had any bad experiences here yet and hoping not to. Overall it's a nice decent buffet to take your date, family, friends etc. read more

Recommended by a friend who lives in the Madison area. We were greeted with a smile and shown to our seats. Our drinks arrived quickly and off to check out the buffet. The choices were staggering. One whole section devoted to Sushi, a large salad bar, an equally large desert bar. This before you reached the main course. Everything from pizza and french fries to little stuffed crabs and then the traditional Chinese Food fare. A carving station for prime rib topped it off. The food was tasty and constantly being checked up on and replenished. Our server was in constant attendance, keeping our table clean and ensuring all the extras were topped off and available. It was a great visit for a great price. We will definitely return. read more

I cannot stop coming here! Basically my favorite restaurant in Madison--nay, my favourite place in the world. I could go on, but just come for lunch and stay for dinner. Bring a book or a friend or the whole family. read more

Journey Sushi & Seafood Buffet - Hong Kong Chicken, Sushi - Sushi Bars Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

Given the limited number of restaurants open on a Christmas Day, my family and I went to Journey Sushi & Seafood Buffet. The restaurant was fairly crowded, but we had no problem getting a seat and were seated prompted and got our drink orders taken. The quality of the buffet was average to slightly above average: some of the foods were very fresh and taste (in particular many of the Chinese foods and steamed/fried rolls), while some others tasted a bit old. The service at Journey was above and beyond what we expected at a buffet. Our server, Jimmy, was fantastic and was attentive to all of our needs. He even brought our table some handmade origami as a present - thanks, Jimmy, for the amazing hospitality! read more

Well, it's not great. It's not terrible. It's also a buffet, where food doesn't tend to taste good, but you get a lot of food for not too much money. If you haven't eaten until you hate yourself, then you didn't do a buffet correctly. It's nice that they have a variety of food. I wouldn't necessarily come for the seafood though... It's questionable... Seafood shouldn't have that "fish smell." That sounds silly, but if it smells like bad fish or overly fishy, then it is no good. Highly recommend the fried donuts, because I have no standards and that is my favorite buffet dish. I do not love the sushi. I do not recommend the sushi. I would definitely go somewhere else for sushi than eat questionable raw sushi. Oh. I was semi-annoyed when we had to change tables 3 times because the servers didn't plan accordingly. There were four of us, and they put us at a 6 person table. So, when a 6 person party arrived, we had to move to a 4 person table that just opened up. It's not that big of a deal, but this was after they had already moved us to this second 6 person table because another party wanted to sit at the particular table at which we were sitting. read more

Honestly really good. They have fresh made Pho, good quality sushi, and tons of options. Great choices for people who are vegetarians, respect halal diets, or want tons of meat. read more

We were there for Sunday all day dinner at around 6:30 pm. One of the buffet table is completely closed. And the rest of food is just so so. Not a lot of choices. Disappointed. read more

The buffet has a variety of stations, a decent size and quality for the Madison area. You have your sushi station with sashimi that's cut against the grain *doh!*, sushi that doesn't taste fresh, and deep fried rolls that are unappealing because they've been fried and are sitting in a cool sushi trays. Even the kimchi, diakon and edamame have a mild fish taste to them. Keep your eye out for the salad bar where they serve shucked oysters with lemon wedges. The hot buffet trays carry your standard Chinese fare (fried rice, lo mein, Governor Tso's Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Chicken and Broccoli, etc) and your typical American dishes to appease to the Midwesterner's taste, such as mac and cheese, pizza, french fries, and egg rolls. I actually like the soup station where they have the crowd-pleasing Hot and Sour Soup, miso soup, but they have a tapioca 'soup', which is a warm, sweet dessert soup that has a light condensed milk-like flavor. They carry some dim sum items such as pan fried dumplings, red bean paste bao zi, shumai, and Chinese sugar donuts. I love the Pho Station! Although there is no raw slices of beef for your piping hot Pho, there is a lovely staff there to flash cook the rice noodles for you along with a soy boiled egg, tripe, or meatball. She ladled two flavorful stock to which I topped with cilantro, lime wedges, onions, jalapenos, green onions, and basil. The basil here are chopped, I wish they would leave the leaves on the stem because there's becomes too much garnish floating around in the bowl later. For around $13, they do not skimp on the seafood. There's cocktail shrimp, fried shrimp, breaded shrimp, (starting to sound like Bubba), stuffed crab shells, and crab legs - all of which they continually replenish. There's also a Mongolian Grill station if you want the freshest stir-fry. End your glutton with a soft serve cone! Swirl-it-yourself, or pick up a mini container of packaged ice cream if you are swirl-challanged ;O) read more

See all