We tried the supper buffet for the first time, on Thursday. We were met with a large variety of different foods, all fresh, hot and flavorful, all of which we found quite delicious. The service was great, too. In sum, we felt the dining experience was a good value for the price. Though restrooms could be improved, overall, restaurant was clean. I can't imagine why anyone would ever complain about their food. We'll definitely return, and soon. Thank you, everybody at Ocean Buffet! You're the best! read more

food quality went down, service was horrible and ambiance was dirty and nasty too. gave a low tip for underwhelming experience and the server yelled at me. funny it was the first time she talked to me during the whole hour I was there read more

It smells like a geriatric home mixed with covid and depends diapers. The food would make ray charles flinch. It's in the Top 3 of Gainesville, FL for being the most horrid spot to eat. Please do not go here. Everyone in here has been choking, gagging and coughing as if it's the emergency room at UF. I actually think I saw Covid floating in the air. How this place has passed any food or restaurant inspection is beyond me. To sum it all up.....DO NOT GO HERE. Eat at McDonald's or Burger King. read more

Ocean Buffet - Chicken. The most disgusting chicken known to man. If you stare long enough at this photo, you'll throw up. - Chinese Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

I read the reviews and didn't see many recent ones so decided to drop by and see for myself. Surprisingly decent crowd for a Wednesday evening. TL;DR: Above expectations. Average Chinese buffet with many offerings. In depth: Food quality was consistent with expectations but it's clear where they cut corners. Fried sushi rolls are premade (made clear by a large container of pre fried uncut rolls) but there is a sushi chef that makes the raw rolls and nigiri fresh. Their rotation with the food was consistent. Oysters and shrimp were fresh. Crawfish were too salty for my taste. All the cooked meats/fish were tasty and of good quality. None were too dry or left out for too long before being replaced. Overall good quality Chinese buffet with about average expectations. As long as you set your expectations accordingly, you'll be satisfied with every bite. read more

The food was absolutely disgusting. Only two people in our entire party got a plate and one of the plates was not even touched! We paid for both, while I understand it is a buffet that being the reason I paid for both plates. They then proceeded to tell us AFTER we ate that they are only taking cash! The workers were completely rude, and very hard to work with! HERE WITH AN EDIT! The one girl who ate the food ended up getting food poisoning! The place is absolutely DISGUSTING! read more

A very middle of the road Chinese buffet. On the better side of average I'd guess. Good for a quick lunch to get you fed with a little bit of variety if you're sick of McDonald's. If the best buffet I ever tried was a 5, and an above average one is a 4, then this would be a 3.5. All of these places seem like they basically serve the exact same stuff, wether here, down in Miami, or in Atlanta. It's a $10 all you can eat buffet, what can one say about the food quality and experience? Nothing was very good, nothing was very nasty. The waitresses weren't overly annoying or rude. (On a side note, what's with the waitresses at buffets these days? Does anyone else find this weird? It's a buffet... I guess they figured out if they have the bussers bring at least yer drinks you can call 'em servers and pay 'em below minimum wage while I have to make up the difference with a tip... For bringing me a glass of tap water which I gladly did for myself for decades. And for staring at me while eating awkwardly and silently to make sure I'm not stealing food for my dog. Smh). Also great to see they finally stopped pestering people about gloves and masks and other such utter inanities. I'm tempted to give em back one star just for that. That's about it. It was ok. I'm full. I did not get diarrhea. I think by now you get my point. read more

I don't know why I never got around to reviewing Ocean before -- I've been eating there for years and sorely missed it when they were closed through the first stage of the COVID-19 panic. My four-word review: Lots of good stuff. The TL;DR: For about the price of a takeout dinner at most Gainesville Chinese restaurants, give or take you get a full-featured buffet with a number of popular "American-Chinese" dishes, as well as a few "just plain American" dishes (the three that come to mind are ham, roast beef, and fried potatoes). I highly recommend their stuffed mushrooms, which I could easily make an entire meal out of if everything else wasn't great too. There's also a sushi bar with a large selection, and a hibachi grill where you pick your own ingredients and they're cooked in front of you with your choice of sauces (there's a tip jar at the hibachi, and the tips are well-earned, but if you're a cheapskate, don't worry, you've already paid). In addition to a dessert section on the buffet with e.g. puddings, jello, pastries, etc., there's an ice cream cooler with six or eight flavors to choose from. In my experience, the food is hot, delicious, and well-prepared. The visible areas are kept clean, the staff is friendly and helpful, and the price is right. I've probably eaten at Ocean 50 times and have never had a bad dining experience. If I could change one thing about Ocean, it would be an exceedingly petty matter of personal preference: I love their salt and pepper shrimp, and I love their crab legs, which are only put out for dinner (which costs slightly more than lunch because, well, CRAB LEGS!). Guess what the crab legs replace during the lunch/dinner changeover? Yep, the salt and pepper shrimp. So I can only have one or the other, depending on what time of day I visit. But like I said, that's petty. There's no time of day I've found when the food isn't great and the service stellar. read more

The food here is not the best, but it's also not the worst. They have a few good sushi options and everything else is just your typical Chinese buffet. The service is good if you get a handful of good servers. If you're unlucky enough to get the bad ones your experience will be terrible. The ambiance doesn't have anything special, but it isn't terrible. Overall this place is pretty average. read more

Waitress was on-top of drunk refills and plate clearing. Overall service was great. Food was middle of the road. Price was about where it should be for the food quality. Steak/roast beef was a poor cut and over cooked (tough) but that could be from just not enough people eating it. read more

First time eating here. First looks, not a very clean place especially the female restrooms. People where coming in and going straight to the buffet without washing their hands, and the overall look of the restaurant is unkept. The price is low but it is not worth it. read more

I enjoy this place once in a while for the food type. Food is alright but variety makes up for it. However, the service can really improve. I guess you could consider you are on your own since it is a buffet style, but if you don't tip 18%, the waitress may chase you down. read more

Not very clean. Below average food quality but plenty of options. Wouldn't visit there twice.

We were there for lunch, signs posted that said there were dinner plates which we avoided. When it came to the bill, they charged us dinner prices. When we asked she said no, so we paid it. We struggled to get water, having to flag someone down. She took the bill and stood there holding the credit card. This is the bad part. .. she demanded we tip her and would not even let us stand up until we gave her a tip, which she watched. I always tip and tip well, this was unacceptable and I will never return. read more

Went to Oceans Buffet in Gainsville on a recommendation from a friend sayings this restaurant was better than the one in Ocala. I will have to disagree, the restaurant in Gainsville was shabby, dust was hanging from the what use to be a water feature wall. The serving area was not clean. When dessert time came around the ice cream scoops were disgusting. I tried to bring this to the notice of the serving staff and I was told, they were not dirty, I was wrong, when I showed them I could scrape the old food on them off with my finger nail, I was again told they were clean. Obviously they are not able to see the difference between clean and dirt. I will never go back there. So revolting to think about what I ate. read more

The price to eat here is one of the best perks for sure. Super affordable. $11 adults and $6 kids. LOTS of options to choose from from sushi to desserts They even have a hibachi table. The food is adequate. Big fan of wontons and theirs wasn't that great. Best chicken is the Honey for sure. Biggest downfall is the front of house. Unfortunately it was dirty and very bland when it comes to atmosphere. Flies. Everywhere. Maintenance is sure needed. Overall a decent experience. read more

See all

The sushi and hibachi is great but other than that almost all of the food is cold the orange chicken is soggy and the vegetable egg roll tasted like it was expired. We weren't done with our food when the waiter came over and asked us to pay her for the food. After we gave her the money for the food she literally asked us to tip her. Mind you we didn't enjoy our food nor the service we got. But nonetheless my boyfriend gave her a dollar then she looked at him and said that's it ? I'm sorry but that is extremely disrespectful to ask for a tip especially after bad service and rushing us through our meal. Somebody needs to talk to the team and fix that because wow. read more

The food was horrible and cleanliness was questionable. I would not recommend eating here at all.

For a buffet, they have pretty good options. Unlimited sushi and freshly custom made Teppanyaki made this a place my son really wanted to try. We were very pleased with all the different options of items. Everyone in the family, even the kids, managed to fill their plates and have a great time. We also enjoyed the desserts and ice cream. read more

Great food but lots of low income idiots here. Sit as far away as you can from fools, unless you are one, then join the crowd.

The service and food is what one would expect from a Chinese buffet. The food is fresh and there is always plenty on the steam tables. I don't consider the food great, but it is average in a good way. My favorite is the hibachi where you can pick out the items you want and have it cooked fresh. We visit this restaurant often and it's very consistent. read more

Taste was good, temperatures were not. Several hot dishes were lukewarm. They seemed to turn the food over quickly so it wasn't that big of a deal. read more

Been 3 months since my last visit and entrance doors were STILL FILTHY!! Food was still fresh + delicious. Staff very friendly + attentive. read more

See all

I got food poisoning and the server was rude. When I tried to get her attention to let her know the oysters were bad, she rolled her eyes and kept walking. I will not be back. read more

The staff was rude and the buffet was not refilled during some points. When I finished with my meal, the bill was 46 dollars. The waitress asked if she could keep the change out of 60 dollars. I told I was not giving her a 15 dollar tip. The she would not let go of my change, and proceeded to hover around the table with a cloth to wipe the table down. I felt rushed, and taken advantage of. I will never go back there again. Now used to be a good place to go. But the Chinese that work there are extremely rude. After I walked away from the table I think I got cussed out in Chinese. read more

This is a GOOD buffet food is fresh and hot, they have little to none American food on the buffet like most do. Sushi was very good and I love it when they put the spicy mayo so you can take as much as you want, I personally like to mix it with my wasabi that's what we call the crazy sauce. They do have a great ham on the buffet everyone at the table commented on it, shrimp was cooked perfectly, the fried rice was just ok needed to be seasoned more. Sweet and sour chicken and pork, fried fish was amazing, the Hibachi station is well stocked with fresh sea food, chicken, pork and beef with really fresh vegetables and sauces. The place is very clean and well kept, restrooms could use some work,the waitress were very nice and would take your plate soon as you were done sometime to soon ;-0. Great prices for the food and service that you receive. 10% off us old folks which is nice. I would recommend stopping by and trying it out! read more

See all

The food is delicious and the staff is exceptionally pleasant and professional. The best food in Gainesville.

I gave them another try and came earlier in the day. The food was more fresh and hot this time but still mid. The sushi rolls had no taste. The cold shrimp and steamed mussels (or clams?) were good. The hibachi food was good except for the chicken, as it tasted funny, so I didn't eat it. It's not worth getting sick over if the food may be spoiling. I'm not saying it was spoiled, but for me, I'm not taking the chance. I don't pay with a card here anymore because I've read reviews where they change the tip amount and/or chase customers out the door demanding a tip. I make sure I have cash only. It was odd when the server came to the table and wouldn't take my cash up front. With tax included the check was $12.35 (lunch price). I left $17.28. I would have gladly left $17.35, but I didn't have enough cash. She acted annoyed and threw the money back down and showed me the check (pointing to the $12.35, accentuating that I was leaving .28 versus .35. Clearly she saw the three $5 bills with two $1 bills plus the loose change of .28. This was giving her a $4.93 tip. That's one penny shy of being a 40% tip, and she refuses to walk over 15' to hand it to the girl at the register!?! She didn't deserve that much because she only filled my water up once (adding no ice) and picked up a dirty plate three different times. I try to bless people in the service industry with great tips. Even though she acted like that, I took the whole $17.28 up to the cashier and told her what happened. She apologized and then took the money to the server and they were speaking Chinese in front of me. The server never apologized nor did she say 'thank you'. I'm shaking my head at how rude they tend to be at this establishment. For the record, had I paid with a card, she would have had to take it to the cashier. I'm sure I'll be back in a few weeks and hope for the best lol. I guess next time I'll have plenty of loose change to leave the exact coin portion lol. I still can't believe this stupid-ness and ungrateful-ness (yes, I made these words up) of the majority of the servers at this place. One more thing, IF I left 15% on the total check, with tax, that would have been $1.85. If I left 20% it would have been $2.47. She was tipped $4.93 (sooooo sorry I was missing .07 to give you an even $5) or that you were too good to accept some loose change. She got a 40% tip. That bears repeating. read more

Took my family here to eat on valentines day. I've been here a few times before and never had any problems. I had a few of every type of sushi this time... ended up getting food poisoning! Would not reccomend read more

the food was AMAZING!!! The service was also amazing, the workers are so polite and nice and funny. All u have to say is that this place is really good. read more

Figuring I would beat the crowd and hit an early dinner at 5 PM, I came upon Ocean Buffet which was kind of tucked away next to Jason's deli. As expected there was only a couple people seated eating. So I browsed the buffet and checked out at all the food. Everything looked fresh and delicious. I pretty much took a small sample of everything on the buffet, to include a couple flavors of sushi. Everything was fresh and tasted delicious, I was not disappointed. I really liked the fact that they also honor the military with a Military Discount. You can't beat an all you can eat buffet for under $12. I will most likely be coming back to this buffet read more

Ocean Buffet - Chinese Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT LEAVE A TIP the waitress was rude and came back ASKING for a tip, who does that? Considering the fact that there was no service to tip for, you grab your own food. The food is ok it's not completely terrible but it's nothing wow. The place could be cleaner but the place itself is a bit creepy and off. The sushi is ok but I do not recommend eating a lot of seafood. There is an ok amount of variety of food so you can get full here. I recommend if you want to come here come alone the money isn't worth wasting. Overall 2 stars don't recommend for kids or elders or people with sensitive stomachs. read more

I was here on Friday night... and where do I start? *sigh* Walking in the first thing you notice is that there is a fountain right at the entryway... except it is not working, and hasn't in a long time. Seriously, if you aren't going to get the fountain working again, at least fill the bottom with sand, dirt, or pearock so that it no longer is obvious that it is a broken down fountain. We were seated immediately, which was pretty nice because it was busy. Of course, it appears that this place is a favorite with people who have small children, and it seemed overrun with 3-10 year olds screaming about whatever it is children of that age scream about. This is not a complaint about the children however... it is about the parents who do not seem to care about the noise pollution. Our drink orders were taken, and then it was off to the buffet lines. This place is buffet only, so they simply take your drink orders and move on... no menus, no nothing... just go get your food. I always first take a tour of the buffet lines to see what is being offered before even grabbing a plate, as that allows me to form some semblance of a plan in my head of what I am going eat, how I am going to situate it on my plate, etc. I tried a number of items on the bars, and while the regular chinese buffet items were pretty much par for the course, there were some items that stood out... but not because they were good things... First, the carving station with the beef is carve and serve yourself. The utensils to use for this process were greasy from having been dropped into the pan one too many times, and the beef itself was overcooked (hello, leather!) Next is the seafood. Yeah, don't bother. The scallops are deep fried, tasteless, and rubbery from having been in the buffet tray for god only knows how long. The crawfish were also relatively tasteless, and had the same problem of having been in the tray too long. The salmon was alright, but needed seasoning. There are other places in town that offer chinese buffets... probably worth driving a couple of miles and eating at one of them instead. read more

I am the wrong person to review Ocean Buffet, I do not care for buffets, and Chinese food is not my favorite, but it was the birthday of my favorite 10 year old, and Ocean Buffet is her favorite place to eat.  So eat at Ocean Buffet I did. My first concern was cleanliness.  So I checked the Health records for this place before I went.  Surprisingly they were not bad.  The building looks older and grimier than I like, but the latest inspection found no roaches or other critical problems, mostly just hand washing station issues and storage time of food issues.   My second concern was that there would be nothing there that I can eat.  This also did not turn out to be the case.  The selection was varied and quite large for this type of place, and while I did wonder around for a very long time with a plate in my hand afraid to put anything on it, I finally realized that I could make myself a vegetable stir-fry, and I got to stand there while it was cooked to stop the guy from squirting disgusting sauces into my food as it cooked and I could stop him from over cooking the whole thing.  This was a big plus.  The fry-guy had a bit of an attitude.  I had to explain that I had no proteins in my stir-fry, so I could have it as uncooked as I wanted which really seemed to insult him for some reason.      After eating my stir-fry (just broccoli, onions, peppers, jalapenos and snow peas) my husband goaded me into trying some of the other food.  It was hard at first, I did a whole lot more walking with an empty plate, but eventually I sampled a bunch of it, just a tiny scoop of all kinds of goos and mushes, none of the raw stuff.  I tried a lot.  I am just not a fan.   I think the collective yelp reviews for this place are right on the money.  Ocean Buffet gets 3 stars on 117 reviews.  I think that's fair. read more

It was great, awesome service and pretty good food, especially if you're hungry and trying to get full

The food is decent. The waitresses are loud and rude ... while not dirty, it could be cleaner

Had lunch with the family here and everyone enjoyed it. Food was flavorful. Lots of choices from hot Chinese, American and Thai dishes to sushi and mongolian grill. Great price for the amount we devoured . This is not our first time here and it will definitely not be our last. read more

This place is not bad considering many of the options for Chinese food in Gainesville are about the same price. Yes, you heard that correctly. This place is definitely not going to break the bank and will also fill your stomach up. Dinner buffet and a drink will run you about $15.23 a head but they always accept their coupon for 10% off with purchase of a drink so youre looking at $13 and some change. The food: the buffet definitely has variety although it doesnt really change a lot. The food for the most part is hot or kept at a temperature that is sufficient for buffet food. Dinner time is great because you can order Hibachi style food where you select your choices and then watch while someone cooks for you. Dinner also offers oysters if thats your fancy. The atmosphere: this isnt too bad although its a bit drab and definitely needs a redo on color schemes and what not. The servers, while attentive, often gab with each other as well as the front desk so some parties may feel like they are less than attentive. Overall, this is a decent place to eat with many food choices. However, one thing to keep in mind is that there are no other choices as far as Chinese buffets in Gainesville. Happy eating! read more

The texture of the meat on the buffet is perfect. The overall selection great. Service was spot on. Desserts was great.

Definitely on the better side of decent, this restaurant has a smallish selection but a lot of good food. The sushi is always fairly fresh, and the inarizushi is great! The hibachi grill is just another good thing at this restaurant, especially because you can always fall back on something hot and fresh you chose yourself if you don't like the buffet offerings. read more

Ocean Buffet - The buffet, as seen from the back seating - Chinese Near Me - Gainesville, Florida

Went here on Father's Day, without really realizing it was Father's Day. Really a very nice buffet, though the oysters, both fried and raw, were off. Can't beat the price. read more