Went there after being in the buffet mood. Selection was moderate, but everything I tried was very good. Food was hot and sushi was good enough. The surprise was coconut shrimp, awesome. They also have hot pots, cook your food at the table. Will try next time. read more

This was my first time at Joy Luck. I've been wanting to try it for months, but I doubt I'll go back. The place felt like it was 100 degrees. I was pretty much ignored by the staff member when I asked about the AC. The food was average at best! Crab ragoon were dry. Chicken was overcooked. The ice cream was the best part of the meal and I can buy ice cream cheaper that $15 anywhere. Bathrooms were very clean and parking spaces were abundant. read more

I went there so many times and it is absolute must-go chinese restaurant. Food there are cheap and of good qualities. They have the best Sichuan Style Chinese food around this area, and I am particularly interested in its hot pot. BUFFET is YUMMY,,, 5-star recommendation! read more

The hotpot was super. We just loved it so much. This is obviously very popular among Asians. Me and my girlfriend went there last night and we ordered the Hotpot. Man, this is the best Asian food i had in my life. Well, at least i like it because i have a friend told me it was just ok to him. But really got to try it . Will be back for sure. read more

Love the buffet. There is a wide variety of excellent food. Perfect lunch stop when you have a busy day and need a break.

Just got back from dinner buffet ($8.99 before tax and senior discount), free standing building, not a strip mall location. Service was prompt: as soon as I finished a plate, it was gone. The decor was comfortable and seating was very open with booths around an open center table area but like many Chinese buffets it's a destination for a meal with a friend, not for an intimate date to impress. Lots of variety throughout including on the sushi side; plenty of chicken and shrimp dishes, including whole shrimp and carve-it-yourself roast beef. You couldn't try everything in one meal. Had 2 moderate plates. Kept asking myself, "Do I really have room for anything more?" Decided I did and had a half cup of egg flower soup to which I added white rice and veggies. No one's going home hungry here! I'm a truck driver so parking is important to me. I was lucky enough to leave my trailer at Sam's Club and bobtail over. Still, the parking lot had filled enough when I finished eating that although I had straddled two sets of parking spaces, it was a little tight on leaving and I had to be careful of the parked cars around me. Four stars with better parking, but more than ample for your little 4-wheelers. Very solid 3 stars to 3-1/2. read more

We ate here because it got such good reviews. We got there right when it opened so the food was as fresh as it gets. It was not great, nothing wowed us at all. It had an average selection of food but if you are a foodie then this is not the place for you. The place was cold which made our food cold as well. Perhaps if you order food fresh it would be a different experience because there is apparently a secret menu that offers more authentic choices. read more

Buffet is so terrible, now... never see things change and everything is too oily, hard to digest!

This isn't the best Chinese restaurant, but it is certainly not the worst. Love the remodel and the new design of the tables. They even have the stir fry included in the buffet! I like the environment and the employees are very nice. Sometimes the buffet is GREAT, sometimes it's not so great. Lunch prices are amazing! 14$ for two. read more

We liked the remodeling at Joy Luck. Prompt service with good selection and tastes. Steam pots look like the way to go next time.

Not a buffet fan. Try their secret menu. They serve the awesome Sichuan food. And price is good.

Very decent and tasty buffet selections. Lots of them. It's a deal for $9.99 at dinner time.

One of the best buffets at a very good price, there are bigger buffets out there but their food is sub part to Joy Luck especially at the price point. When all the Asian students from WashU eat at a particular Chinese restaurant you can bet that restaurant has pretty good fare. read more

Just for the station where they stir fry your selections, I would give it 5 stars. Ample variety of fresh meats, seafood, veggies and herbs and condiments. Best in its class! Unfortunately, the sushi and the desserts did not come up to par, disappointing. Service was very good overall though read more

The food is off the hook I ate way way more then I have ever. Couldn't stop I wanted to try everything. Not one disappointment. To bad I live in Vandalia I would be here all the time. read more

Took the entire family last night and it was a true joy as we hadn't been since the remodeling. Bigger brighter and friendly. Sushi was fresh and had enough variety for us, and not out of a box...we watched it being made fresh the entire time we were there. Hot Sour Soup is the best in town. Salad bar includes spicy seaweed salad we really enjoyed. Ok, you can find plenty of candy-coated breaded deep fried chunks of meat, but plenty of wonderful authentic selections throughout the buffet. Are there better Chinese restaurants in St. Louis? Sure, but I don't feel like driving north of 64/40. Are there bigger buffets in St. Louis? Sure, but I don't go to casinos. Joy Luck. Check it out! read more

This is our "don't-feel-like-driving-to-a-better-buffet" buffet. It's not far from where we live, so it's convenient. The qualify of the buffet seems to vary by visit. They are very slow to refill dishes, so don't come toward the beginning or end of the day. Occasionally a few very good items, but mostly average buffet Chinese food. Generally quite edible, filling and not expensive. Good for a quick, cheap, buffet meal, but not one of the better Chinese buffets in St. Louis. I've ordered out a few times, and the food is better off the menu. read more

The buffet at joy lucks restaurant is good just if you want to pig out. If you want to eat somewhere nice it's a pretty good place to go. It's inexpensive and there is a variety of options from sesame chicken to frog legs and sushi. And a few sweet things for dessert. Overall a delightful place to eat! read more

Sugar meats and tons of MSG... If you're in the mood for Chinese buffet this place is exactly what you'd expect! I love it!

I'm very disappointed with the buffet seeing that it is a Saturday night I thought the food would be better, but that is wishful thinking. Most of the food looked like it had been sitting out for awhile. The potstickers were soggy and it just looked disgusting to eat. I ordered off of the secret menu, but was also disappointed in my pork noodles with sour cabbage. The sour cabbage was not fresh it had been soaked in the soup broth for sometime and it was quite flavorless. It almost seemed like they made no effort to cook my food and used the hot pot broth to create my meal. The bill for 5 people was $59 with drinks. They charge for gratuity for parties of 5 or greater. I feel like my money was better spent had I bought groceries and made dinner than eating what they served. read more

Greasy fried Chinese buffet. Lacking in flavor. Staff was not very welcoming, most of them were on their phones and we felt like we had to bother them to get them to help us. read more

Best Chinese ever! I would have given them a 5 star but the workers are kinda rude. I hate that I have to ask for a refill.

This place is sort of a hidden treasure, the food variety is AMAZING. We decided to try the buffet and hot pot, which is about $20 per person. The buffet selection was already so varied that by the time we got our hot pot, we were already kind of full. Nonetheless, a good amount of meat, fish and veggies were brought out for us to dip in our hot pot. On my way walking to the buffet station, I also see a family dining eating food ordered off the menu, I do have to say their food looked amazing and very authentic. When I say authentic I don't mean spring rolls and beef fried with broccoli, I mean brothy Asian food that is light, and very fresh and flavorful, reminds me of passion-infused cooking in China. The price is a bit steep, and the noise level was a bit high, and the place was kinda not very attractive from the outside, I wish they can figure out a way to integrate the hot pot in with the buffet for a lesser price, for that reason, 4 stars. read more

I always order off the Chinese menu. Chengdu spicy fish is amazing!!! Very attentive wait staff. I'm addicted to everything on that Chinese menu. I also like to do the hot pot. Absolutely delicious! read more

The service was horrible. The server a Kim jong un look alike was so far up the waitresses pussy that he couldn't see us. Literally waited 30 minutes for a refil. We're very loyal customers and will never be back. Fuck this place. read more

how come haven't i reviewed this fabulous restaurant yet?! closest thing to Sichuan cuisine one can get in STL. the chilli pepper beef stew noodle is spot on. the spicy diced chicken is also jolly good. luffa dish is seasonal yet particularly northern-chinese-homey. read more

I LOVE this place. The buffet is just a typical Chinese buffet. My kids like it -- mixture of chinese food and some american, with lots of dessert choices. The dumplings and fried chicken are standouts. But the reason to go is for the menu food, which doesn't overlap with the buffet at all. Ask for the Chinese menu in English, unless you read Chinese. I've lived all over the country and eaten at tons of places that foodies swear by, in NYC, DC, LA, and other places. This is better than nearly all of those. My absolute favorite is the fish fillet with pickled red pepper, which is very spicy and flavorful (garlic, ginger, pickled pepper). But there are other outstanding choices, too: the ones I order often are chengdu lamb, mah poh tofu, szechuan dumplings. The bok choy with garlic is excellent, too. But I could list six other items, just as well. Everything on the menu is great. If you don't like spicy food, be careful to stay away from the starred items. And I have to admit, the bathroom is kind of grungy. Lots of folks love the hot pot here; if you go, you'll see many Chinese families eating that, communally. I like it, but like the other stuff from the menu better. read more

This place is very good on weekends but if you go on a weekday not so good I came on a Wednesday afternoon for lunch and called first when I called they said the buffet for lunch was 749 per person when I arrive the waiter said us at a table where my knee hit these box in the middle end it was cold as can be so I said my knee hit I'd like to move to somewhere where my need to own head and it's too cold so then they transferred us to a table where my knees still head and it was against the window that was even colder so then I ended up transferring myself to a table where wasn't cold and my knee didn't hit. When I started to go get food I asked how much the buffet was when they said the buffet was $10 a person I said wait a second I thought this was the lunch mate the lady waitress then explained that this was the dinner buffet and this was dinner food but when I called it was supposed to be the lunch rice and it lunchtime is over but when we started it wasn't at lunchtime and it was lunch food on the dinner buffet and as I got ready to leave and not pay he said oh no will give you the lunch price and as I began to eat it really was lunch food out because they were starting to bring out dinner food so they lied and there was actually a lunch food on the dinner buffet not dinner food because when we were eating there or bringing out the dinner food so they lied and there was no dinner food on the buffet The lunch food was cold and not very good at all the dinner food is very good and hot but don't go for lunch because the lunch food is cold and not worth your money The waitresses on lunch are very horrible and not very nice and not very good on service so if you go to joy luck go on a weekend and in the evening it's worth your money for the evening and the weekends don't go on lunch read more

By far the best Chinese place, yet alone buffet in STL! We just moved here and eat there about twice a month. It's awesome and not that expensive. So happy we found this gem! read more

This place was so delicious! I went on a date here and tried sushi for the first time. Found out I'm Not a big fan of sushi period lol (Not big on raw fish texture... or flavor... Blah :( ) lol, but it WAS Very fresh, and the veggie rolls were awesome. I had a little issue with the sushi chef because well... I was asking which roll was vegetarian (My date had to tell me which to pick) and he was just kinda staring at me like I was an alien or something with the "why are you talking to me face"... wasn't a fan of that, but I chalked that up to MAYBE he didn't know English every well???... or at least that's what I'm hoping it was and it wasn't anything else more unnerving ... :/ But other than that I really enjoyed my experience there for the most part. Everything I tried on buffet was fresh and piping hot and delicious, all good things in my book when it comes to food. So I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for some tasty Chinese food. read more

Ok restaurant the food is very good but the staff comes off as not wanting to wait on the customers. I had to flag down the hostess to get my water refilled and no one ever picked up my plates I had a stack in front of me through out my meal. Again food was good but don't expect to get a smile or any one checking to see how you are doing. read more

This place is great, but you won't tell from the outside. $7 for lunch, $9 for dinner, what a cheap price relative to other buffet restaurants. They also have many other choices such as walnut shrimp, sushi, crab, kongbao chicken, fried rice, steam rice, and more more than you can think. They also have desert and fruit! You also can order from the menu individually for those spicy foods, they are delicious too! read more

How can things go so badly so quickly. I eat here once or twice a month and, while not the greatest Chinese food by a long shot, it was always fresh and hot. Stopped in today at 11:45 am and everything (even soup) was not more than lukewarm and fried items were not crisp but on the soggy side. When I brought to attention of cashier/manager that food was not hot he told me the only to get hot food is to order off menu. What BS. It's seems that the just have just been warming up yesterday's food on the buffet and not putting out fresh hot food until that was gone. Won't be back. read more

Don't waste your money, health, or time. A friend of mine used to do inspections of restaurants and he told me this place was a filthy mess. He gave some details about the kitchen and all the nasty things they CONSISTENTLY get cited for, and I won't give thoses details here, but trust me, you need to eat else where! read more

Great sushi selection, but they need to clean the place up.

Decent Schezuan food if you order from the menu. Not too bad for St. Louis. Somewhat reasonably priced. I did not try the buffet so I could not comment. The main dishes are adequately sized. read more

I almost did not write this review as, the 3.5 star rating is hopefully keeping it below the radar and I don't want it to start getting too crowded to eat there. This is bar none the best Chinese food in the Greater Saint Louis area. It goes without saying to order off the Sichuan menu or the "secret" menu that is not so secret any more. I have been going here for many years since RFT wrote a review on their authentic menu. The flavors on all of their dishes are out of this world. Love the liberal use of sichuan peppercorns. My go to dishes are the dry fired string beans (spicy), any of the pork belly dishes and sichuan boiled beef. I have never had a bad dish or meal here of their menu. Eeveryone I take here is always skeptical until that first bite. Whenever I leave Joy Luck my only thought is about when I can come back. It makes me so sad to see the *ahem* "larger" clientele going straight for the buffet. I just want to shake them and say "wake up! you are missing out on the most wonderful dining experience in the city!" If you enjoy authentic chinese food there is just nothing better outside of China (I was just there for 2 weeks and some of the places aren't even as good as Joy Luck). read more

Very good value. Not perfect food but plentiful and lots of choices. Never had shaomi at a buffet before. Yummy. Relatively inexpensive. The hot pots looked fascinating but you have to know to ask for them. You also have to go looking for the ice cream which is around the corner and behind the buffet. Docked a star because service was not attentive and lighting was very low. read more

Unhappy with the quality of the food, there was a gratuity added to our bill of 10% for service we did not receive. Next time we travel in this area I will try something a little for upscale like Steak and Shake. read more

I ate here for the first time about 2 years ago and had a very bad experience. Gave it a second try recently and it is fantastic. My new go to place for Chinese carry out. read more