Cancel

    Open app

    Search

    The River Buffet

    2.3 (50 reviews)
    ModerateBuffets
    Closed 8:00 am - 11:00 AM, 5:00 pm - 11:00 PM

    The River Buffet Photos

    THE RIVER BUFFET ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Quiet
    Good for groups

    You might also consider

    Recommended Reviews - The River Buffet

    Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
    Yelp app icon
    Browse more easily on the app
    Review Feed Illustration

    Reviews With Photos

    Crab legs
    Tuan P.

    Let's cut to the chase as I cannot finish this review without addressing the biggest issue with The River Buffet, THE LONG WAIT. We were in line for 1 hour and 20 minutes before making it the counter. I would bet, this is the estimated wait time for most people. I only go here for the seafood buffet on Saturday as I don't really care for any of their other food. Crab legs are the only thing I eat at this buffet and they are delicious. I would say the crab legs at River Buffet are even better than at some restaurants. Giving the long wait, I don't understand why they are not doing the number system. Sign in and get notified when the table is ready. It's a missed opportunity for a buffet located in Riverwind Casino. One, customers don't have to stand in line for hours and two, they can go play on the floor. I don't know what management is thinking, making people actually wait in line; this is CRAZY! A helpful tip. They are still offering 15% or $6 off when you have a player's club card which you can sign up while waiting in line.

    a large group of people standing in line
    Christopher C.

    Update from my review from 2 years ago. I have to say things have changed significantly since my last review. I definitely recommend the now "Willows Buffet ". I love the all you can eat crab leg night(Saturday) and that is the only day that I eat at willows. If you are willing to arrive 1-2 hrs. Prior to opening at 5:00 pm. On Saturday, it's definitely worth the price of $40. Service is excellent and the crab is very good, sometimes salty but usually cooked perfectly. I definitely recommend and hit this place up usually every other weekend. See you there.

    Cleanliness and food quality
    Jack S.

    Deciding to try the buffet on Saturday evening. In summary, it was horribly disappointing and no worth your time. 21/2 hours in line to find a mostly empty buffer. We were seated at 9:00 and they immediately ceased filling the empty buffet although you're told it will be 11:00 when they stop the buffet. This photo of the mens room says it all, the food matched the mens room!

    Snow Crab Legs
    Becka N.

    If you're looking for all-you-can-eat crab legs in OKC, look no further! It's only $34 if you have a player's card and $40 if you don't. (You can sign up for one for free if you're 18+) Soft drinks are included. I believe it's only available on Saturday nights starting at 5pm so you might wanna come early and beat the rush. You have to wait in line for the crab legs and they come in buckets! It's 1 bucket per person with about 2 bundles or 10 crab legs. They also ask whether you prefer king crab legs, snow crab legs, or a mix. You can get in line as many times as you'd like. The lady serving the crab legs is so sweet and the line moves fast. The king crab legs were huge, but I was not a fan of the taste. It was more salty and dry than I prefer. The snow crab legs on the other hand were very good. It was easy to crack and tasted fresh. Overall, there was a good consistency with each crab leg. There's also a buffet with some pretty good options to choose from. We had steak, fried oysters, fried calamari and fried fish which were all pretty good. The dessert selection was also pretty nice! I was happy to see creme brûlée! Just watch out for some of the desserts since they can be extremely sweet. The crawfish was horrible and flavorless so I don't recommend trying this. Overall, this all-you-can-eat crab legs experience was definitely worth the price and wait! Where else can I satisfy my crab legs cravings for only $34?! Everyone that works there is also very nice and checks on you frequently! Check. It. Out. P.s I heard there's raw oysters on some Saturdays.

    Kristi W.

    The food was pretty good and they have the same menu Wed-Thursday nights. I've only been to this buffet 1 other time and that was their Seafood buffet on Saturday night and it was good!! A little pricey at $40 per person but they offer King and Snow crab legs. Yesterday's menu was the usual fried chicken, chicken fried steak, prime rib, turkey and dressing, meatloaf, baked potatoes and masked potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows and brown sugar, peel and eat shrimp, some really delicious ceviche, and fried catfish. The also a Mexican station and I tried the beef enchiladas. They were ok I guess. Their weekly buffet price is $23.99 with 15% off if you use your players card so I thought that was a great deal for hubby and I. The place was literally empty but we didn't mind because we you didn't have a bunch of hungry people cutting in line to get to the trough, Lmao!!

    Theresa T.

    The crab legs are back, so we are too!! The line for the buffet was definitely not as long as it was back in the day, so we got through fairly quickly and were seated after about 15 minutes of waiting. Also, the price of the buffet is usually $30, but since we had players cards, it was $4.50 off! The crab legs were not very juicy and stuck to the shell when you tried to peel them out. And the mussels had a grayish tint to them. But nevertheless they still hit the spot! I really like the clam chowder. It had big bites of clam and warmed me up from the cold weather outside. I also found myself visiting the fried oysters frequently throughout the night. I also had many servings of the cocktail shrimp, but it had a strange seed seasoning of mustard seeds, fennel, and peppercorns that I could've done without. Regarding the meatier options, the prime rib was tender and juicy (my bf waited for the newly cut slab to be brought out) and the ribs were fall off the bone. And for dessert, I loved the pecan cobbler. The fruit tart had a nice lemon-y kick to it. And there was a small desert plate with a white meringue cookie with a light creme dollop that went fast. I got a bite of my bfs but should've just stollen the whole plate because it was so good!

    Dessert
    Tony R.

    Update: I stopped receiving comp coupons after I posted this review,even though I gambled the same amount of money in this place. So I can't report if the quality of food has improved or not. So the managers do read the reviews here they just don't care. I won't be back even to gamble. The place is clean and the staff is friendly usually. The only reason to eat here is because you have a free coupon. The catfish and the salad bar is always good in my experience. If you pay money to eat here you will be really disappointed.

    Huge ribs

    See all

    6 months ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Max M.
    110
    1
    0

    21 days ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    10 months ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Troy P.
    25
    167
    21

    1 month ago

    Simply disgusting. Found nothing edible and awfully tough to watch the guests devour the bad food.

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Tuan P.
    448
    861
    5027

    3 years ago

    Helpful 4
    Thanks 3
    Love this 2
    Oh no 1

    5 months ago

    I ate there about two hours ago and I am currently on my bathroom floor with the WORST case of food poisoning.

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 2
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Jack S.
    2
    118
    60

    3 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 2
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    7 years ago

    Helpful 3
    Thanks 0
    Love this 2
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    7 years ago

    Helpful 4
    Thanks 0
    Love this 3
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    8 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 1
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 1

    5 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Ray R.
    0
    25
    1

    3 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    10 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    3 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    5 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    9 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Da B.
    81
    474
    714

    7 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0

    9 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Hoa N.
    3
    16
    29

    4 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Good food, good waitress, good place to eat and have fun! Always clean and delicious deserts

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    4 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    7 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    7 years ago

    This is my favorite buffet by far I don't thank it can get any better then this great food and awesome staff

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Quin L.
    213
    22
    5

    8 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 3
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Steak nights are the best. Would recommend any night though. Awsome staff and customer service

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    11 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Mike S.
    24
    23
    0

    5 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    10 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Helpful 2
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    9 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 1
    Oh no 0
    Photo of Chris G.
    33
    81
    23

    8 years ago

    Helpful 0
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    6 years ago

    Helpful 1
    Thanks 0
    Love this 0
    Oh no 0

    Page 1 of 2

    Ask the Community - The River Buffet

    You might also consider

    Verify this business for free

    People searched for Buffets 521 times last month within 15 miles of this business.

    Verify this business

    Panda Garden Chinese Buffet & BBQ

    Panda Garden Chinese Buffet & BBQ

    3.2
    (79 reviews)
    4.9 mi
    $$

    We came in a Saturday night and were sat immediately. They came by to fill our drinks frequently…read morewhich was great. It seems like they bring out more fresh food around the dinner rush which was nice. They had everything a typical buffet would have and everything was good! They even had Mongolian bbq, sushi and an ice cream machine. Pretty standard buffet with all the options. Good for cheap meal!

    Let me be clear in stating that I do not expect any Chinese buffet to be high quality or sparkling…read moreclean, but my wife and I have been here several times over the years and the experience this week was awful. We had a long wait time to be seated because there was only one hostess and one server working. We were seated directly next to another full table despite half of the tables in the restaurant being empty. The tables are very close together and I felt like I was joining another family's dinner. I got two plates at the buffet before sitting down, a plate of sushi and a plate of hot food. It was all pretty bad. The curry chicken was cold and tasted off, I actually didn't eat more than one bite and I am usually a "clean your plate" person at buffets. The sushi was all mushy and gummy. The broccoli in the pork and broccoli was undercooked and hard. The green beans were old tasting. There were a couple of good things like the pepper steak and the fried items. My wife and I had already eaten about half our first plates before the water came out. Again, because of understaffing I would assume. As we looked around the restaurant, many tables had old food and trash that had not been cleaned for long periods of time. For this experience it was $32 before tip. Just too much for the quality. We won't be returning.

    Photos
    Sushi bar
    Sushi bar
    Fragrant Beef
    Fragrant Beef
    Sushi

    See all

    Sushi
    Legend's Restaurant

    Legend's Restaurant

    4.3
    (158 reviews)
    2.7 mi
    $$

    Darling cozy decor and warm inviting vibe Food delicious ,…read moremenu options varied and everything is yummy! Service is impeccable and timely. We will be back soon. Rating our experience a #10!

    Great service and atmosphere. Food was uneven in terms of quality…read more My wife and I ate here for the first time with two other couples on a Saturday night. One couple lives in the Norman area and reserved our table. I was excited to try this Norman institution and enjoyed doing a little research in The Oklahoman archives ahead of time to find out more about its history. The dining room reminded me of Cheever's in OKC: close quarters, white background, plenty of extra items hanging everywhere, including wine glasses hanging from wooden racks attached to the ceiling. The menu reminded me of both Cheever's and Charleston's. It leans into a more sophisticated set of flavors, but they're not trying to rock the boat. The list of items on the menu is long enough that everyone in your party can find something that they would like to eat, but it's not overwhelmingly long like the one at the Cheesecake Factory. Another couple ordered the spinach artichoke dip for our table. I had a bite on one of the petite toasts that were served with it. Not bad, but it didn't have the background spiciness or discernible parmesan cheese flavor that I like to taste in spinach artichoke dip. Every entree comes with a salad, and I ordered the blue cheese wedge salad. On the positive side, the wedge of lettuce was icebox cold and crisp. The bits of bacon sprinkled on top added just the right amount of salty and meaty to the salad. On the other hand, their homemade blue cheese dressing did not have as much blue cheese in it as I expected. Not sure if their recipe involves so much mixing that the blue cheese chunks disappear in the process or if they started out with a blue cheese that doesn't break off into chunks. I prefer blue cheese dressing with tang, and this one didn't have it. My entree was one of the specials: miso-mushroom fried chicken thighs. I was enticed by the menu description which mentioned bone-in chicken thighs and local mushrooms in the sauce. I was disappointed that what came to my plate were two boneless chicken thighs. They were wrapped in a crunchy fried coating that I enjoyed, but boneless is not bone-in. The mushroom sauce was tasty, but it didn't match what I imagined in my head. I was expecting whole or halved mushrooms but received little bits of mushrooms. I respect their recipe. It still tasted good, but I would rather sink my teeth into mushrooms when they are called for. The accompanying squash medley was excellent; crisp tender squash added color to the plate and sang out the praises of summer vegetables. The accompanying sour cream mashed potatoes were silky and complemented the chicken well. For dessert, my wife and I tried the chocolate peanut butter pie. It was not what I expected based on past experiences with desserts that go by this name. Usually, this is a chocolate cookie crust with a light peanut butter pudding filling. What we received was a chocolate brownie crust topped with a layer of peanut butter frosting (confectioners sugar + peanut butter), a layer of chocolate syrup, and a few actual peanuts. The peanut butter frosting was much too sweet, there were not enough peanuts to create a crunchy counterpoint, and the chocolate brownie base was almost a crunchy counterpoint by itself because it was so dried out. It helped to eat bites of the pie with the vanilla ice cream next to it, but the manufacturer of this vanilla ice cream put barely any vanilla flavor in it. Our server kept our drink glasses full throughout the evening and answered our menu questions with honesty. Overall, I can see why Legend's has survived for nearly 60 years. I wish them all the best for many more decades as a leader in the Norman restaurant scene.

    Photos
    Legend's Restaurant
    Lamb Chops
    Lamb Chops
    The golden hour

    See all

    The golden hour
    Thai Kumkoon Restaraunt

    Thai Kumkoon Restaraunt

    4.2
    (65 reviews)
    5.1 mi
    $

    First Time at Thia Kim Koon - Norman, OK Serving the…read morecommunity since 2001 We finally tried Thia Kim Koon, and overall -- we were impressed! The food came out hot, flavorful, and clearly made with care. Here's what we ordered: Tom Yum Soup Spring Rolls General Chicken Chicken Fried Rice Pad Thai with Chicken (one regular, one spice level 3) Everything had great flavor, and the portions were generous. The General Chicken and soup were standout favorites. The only small critique? The Pad Thai noodles were a bit on the mushy side -- something we saw mentioned in other reviews. But honestly, the flavor made up for it, and we'd still order it again. It's always nice to support a local spot that's been part of Norman for over 20 years. We'll definitely be back to try more of the menu!

    Got the pad Thai and house curry. The pad Thai was decent and pretty average. It was what you'd…read moreexpect. Got a 2 spice and it was a great balance without being overly spicy. The house curry was the worst curry I've ever had. I honestly think the cook messed it up and or gave me the wrong order. I did not taste any curry at all. It was straight coconut milk, chicken, and veggies. I ordered a 3 spice and did not taste so much as 1 chili flake. SO VERY disappointed... I'd like to mention that they have a lunch buffet. I should have just got that instead. Checking it out on my way out, it didn't look very impressive, but I'm positive that it could not possibly have been as bad as the curry they sold me.

    Photos
    Pad Thai
    Pad Thai
    Pad Thai with chicken Chicken fried
    Pad Thai with chicken Chicken fried
    General chicken

    See all

    General chicken

    The River Buffet - buffets - Updated July 2026

    Loading...
    Loading...
    Loading...