Metro Buffet

This buffet was so bad I had to go to panda express to get my Chinese fix afterwards.

To the owners of metro buffet… I have to say Your seasoning is very bland and almost nonexistent… look at the rest of your ratings… if you want to improve go to your competition that have higher ratings taste their food… or just improve on your seasoning… Also you need to turn up the heat in your buffets the food was almost cold definitely not 140° like it’s supposed to be… that’s a health violation!

So, this place is a very good Chinese buffet for the price. They have a good selection of sushi, and they have 2 types of rice to satisfy your Chinese needs. The chicken is also very delicious. ⁸⁄₁₀ would dine again.
P. S. They don’t have tofu, so don’t be expecting that.

Worst Chinese buffet ever. The egg rolls trasted like they were freezer burned. The Mongolian beef was dry and tasteless. When you fix a plate for the grill, you don’t expect them to boil it.
I will not go back.

The last little bit of «yum» is gone from this place. For about five years my kids have come here with me when mom is out of town. We have a long history of destroying crab legs, gorging on steamed pot stickers, and putting a hurt on the sushi bar. Well, all that has come to an end it seems. This last trip was not good at all. The crab legs are gone, the pot stickers are tough as hell and the sushi has that «not do fresh» taste. Even the crabmeat and egg rolls have gone south. All that for 15 bucks a head, yeah. not again.
So long Metro Buffet, thanks for the memories!

Sooo it’s a typical buffet, mostly asian-​themed stuff but your usual fried gut bombs and even a sushi display. I say display, because, c’mon, you’re not going to eat buffet sushi of unknown age… are you?
Dinner is $ 12 for adults, w a soda it’s $ 15 out the door with a full belly. The bbq ribs had an unusual flavor — avoid those — and the various chicken-​based foods had a definite ‘this could be cat meat’ stringy-​ness to it. I focused on the fried stuff, you really can’t go wrong with mounts of fried shrimp and crabmeat rangoons, right?
Service was prompt, I mean really they were tripping over themselves to refill my soda (probably cheaper to bloat customers with pop than even their cheapest food offering). The décor is worn-​the-​heck-​out, crusty booths and chairs and carpet that probably should have been replaced when they took over from Denny’s a decade ago.
Don’t expect much, stuff your face, and feel no shame eating here. It’s good to glutton every once in a while.

I’ve eaten here a million times, if you are craving a little bit of everything then this is the place to go. Sushi, macaroni and cheese, pizza, salads, etc. The location is in dire need of a makeover, but overall it was a fulfilling experience.

Went for sushi and it was rather disgusting. Rarely saw waitress and the place was empty. The fish seemed anything but fresh.

«HOUSE OF SADNESS & SLOP» — THIS restaurant is truly a terrible place to sit and eat. And, if you’re from Cedar Rapids… and attempt to defend this wretched place, seek medical attention immediately — you may be suffering from a tropical brain disease. I have eaten at many many MANY Chinese restaurants and this Godawful swill-​pit ranks as THE worst. The food is definitely SUSPECT (at best). It just tastes bad, it is visually unappealing, and the hygiene of the staff is questionable. Speaking of the staff — our hostess was both «snotty» and «pissy» — I swear to all that’s holy this nasty girl hissed at me when we asked if they served beer.
This establishments ONLY FOCUS is to get customers in, feed them this horrible meal, and get them out — WHILE OVERCHARGING FOR the garbage they serve! For two of us (1 beer each) it came to over $ 34 ! WTF! For what? NOTE* If I were traveling on a slave ship from Canton China… I’d imagine this is the food I’d be served. I can find no redeeming qualities about my eating experience here, other than the parking was free. (Several days later and I’m STILL angry) DONT EAT HERE — PLEASE (ugh).

A few co-​workers and I went to this Metro Buffet a couple days ago and it wasn’t bad.
We were immediately greeted when we walked through the door and we were shown our table. I picked up a plate at the buffet and definitely helped myself. I grabbed some Chinese food and sushi. The food isn’t bad, but you can tell it’s cheap buffet food. The sushi wasn’t that bad either. I would compare it to Hy-​Vee.
Overall, its a Chinese buffet so we know what you are getting yourselves into when you walk it. It was good, cheap Chinese food.

Look at all of the other one star and two star reviews… ditto.
The food is questionable and the sushi is worse than Hy-​Vee.
Cleanliness isn’t a priority.
Bathroom makes a porta potty look good.
When the Zombie Apocalypse occurs, no one will come here to find food. No one.

Metro Buffett (nice name for a Chinese buffett right?) is a guilty pleasure for me. It is located in what used to be a Denny’s. The place is decorated with a bit of East Asian décor, but I don’t think they are too concerned with setting the atmosphere. It is a single location restaurant; there used to be another one on the other side of town, but it closed several months ago. Is the food great? No, it’s above average overall and will not be mistaken for fine dining (do fine dining Chinese restaurants even exist anymore?), but I mean c’mon it’s your standard Chinese Buffett. The real appeal is that they have a great variety and you can eat all you want for a reasonable price (the lunch buffett Mon-​Sat is about nine dollars). They have a large U shaped salad bar with all the standard fare with my favorites being crab salad, grilled chicked salad, and raw shrimp (I believe they have crab legs too). The main buffett has all the usuall Chinese dishes as well as a few American throw-​ins plus excellant stuffed shrimp, stuffed mushroom caps, and mini fried chicken wings and drummies. They have a fair sushi selection, but I find it to be a bit bland. My only other complaint is that the crab rangoons are smallish and could be much more fully stuffed. Every time I have gone in I have been quickly seated by a friendly hostess and was able to get right to the buffett. I have never ordered carry-​out or from the menu so I can’t comment on that, but if your in the mood for Chinese and want to get your fill then this is the place to go.

The quality is poor. Service was okay. I live in Cedar Rapids and it still isn’t worth the drive.

My, how Metro Buffet has declined! I’ve eaten here off and on since they first opened. The food was once fresh and tasty with large crowds ensuring quick turnover of the food. Now there are few people and the food sits in warming trays for waaayyy too long. The size of the chilled shrimp has gone from being medium sized to very small. Good luck with crab legs. They too have been downsized in size and they often keep only a few on the buffet line. They do have some decent sushi/​maki although they are getting cheap and don’t put out much of the tuna, salmon, and octopus sushi like they once did. (Hints for owners: (1) Food that has been sitting out for awhile needs to be replaced with fresh food. Do you really think you are going to gain new customers by serving them old food that is dried out and lost it’s flavor? Your customers have paid for fresh food… not stuff sitting all evening under a heat lamp. (2) Stop trying to reduce costs by cutting back on the quality of the sushi and seafood. You still charge the same amount you charged when you were using better quality ingredients. We customers are now getting less for the same price. (3) Try varying the menu a bit. It is always the same food. Try a little variety for a change.)

The food was very poor, and my expectations were low going in. The coconut shrimp and chicken tenders were very dry. My usual fav General Tso’s chicken tasted like mostly breading. Regretful!

Another average Chinese buffet. You’ll find one in every city in America. If you eat based on volume and are ok with mediocre food (that’s me) then this is a good choice. Their best attribute is the large selection. Btw, if you’re a low-​carber/​SB dieter there’s a decent amount of protein to choose from.

What to say… Honestly, this place is gross. Its filthy and the food is questionable. You definitely need to select carefully what you’re willing to put in your mouth. I’ve never tried the sushi here, because frankly, I don’t want to die. That being said, the waitresses are really nice and don’t give you dirty looks when you show up with a gaggle of noisy kids. For some reason, just about every time I make the trek down to CR to visit family, somebody desperately needs Chinese buffet and we end up here. =/
As an aside, in the 90s this was a rockin’ Denny’s that let teenagers order nothing but coffee and sit and smoke cigarettes for endless hours. There was also a cigarette machine in the hallway to the bathrooms that only took quarters. I have no doubt the waitresses hated all those teens, but I’m pretty sure being there kept a lot of people from ending up in jail. =)

We were introduced to this place by a friend. Our first visit was great! Our 2^nd visit was not quite as good. But our 3^rd visit was absolutely horrid! My wife got some beef off of the buffet, and spit it out after putting it in her mouth. At the same time, I was about ready to ask the waitress for another table due to the smell of cow manure coming from the mans boots sitting behind us. Low and behold, it was the beef that smelled like cow $%&@ !!!
We consider ourselves luck not to have gotten sick from that visit. And after talking to a few other people, they say it isn’t as good as when they first opened too.

I used to like going here just because of the vast selection of food. Mongolian grill, steaks, sushi, salad, all the typical Chinese buffet foods, and some American food too. I hope you all realize this is a buffet so I’m judging it as one. I never expected super great food that melted in my mouth all the time. I expected quantity here and I was never disappointed. Worth the lunch price.

25 minute drive from Iowa city… this is certainly worth the drive.
The cost is $ 10.99 for the dinner buffett (which is all day Sunday).
They’ve got crab legs, full salad, satay bar and the Chinese stuff.
I think once again, its great for trash compactors like myself, where I can stuff it all in and it’ll be good for the entire day.
Favorite food: nothing really stands out but overall quality was good.
Downside: the sushi is pretty bad. It looks better than it tastes. I can’t stomach the fish… I mean, it really tastes like old stale pieces of gum…
Go for the value…