China Garden Buffet

This buffet does the job when you’re in the area and craving for a CLEAN and FRIENDLY all you can eat place. Food is average, but service and atmosphere is excellent. Very courteous staff and clean floors, tables, and surroundings makes this the safest place for an all you can eat Asian food restaurant. If they can improve the quality of their food a bit more, it would be 5 stars. Not to say the food was terrible; it filled me up and I cleaned my plate after each visit to the buffet. If you are craving for a buffet, this is a safe bet.

I’m not sure what a Chinese buffet would have to be in order to earn 5 stars. I’m giving 4 stars because it met my expectations for Chinese food served on a buffet. I was impressed that although I showed up later in the evening at about 8 o’clock, all items on the buffet we’re fully stocked and appeared fresh. I particularly enjoyed the Hunan spicy beef which had a lot of flavor and just the right amount of spice. Some sushi rolls are also available as well as a Mongolian Grill option where you can custom order. I really went for standard Chinese fare and I was not disappointed.

The sushi is OK, but other dishes are very good, not too salty like many other Chinese restaurants I have visited. Service is fast also. Love their dim sum small cakes!

it was good for it being a sushi buffet it’s a definite spot to eat at i’d definitely eat here again.

It is what you should expect from a Chinese buffet. They have shushi that is average, and yes some dishes are a little cold. It is just average Chinese food not bad but not that great either

This restaurant (actually named «Sushi Buffet») is very sad.
The sushi was atrocious. If you like actual sushi, anyway, which I think most sushi eaters do. The stuff here sits out for a while. The rice is hard. They put stuff like cream cheese and weird sauces on the sushi. It doesn’t have that fresh sushi taste that any decent sushi should have.
On the other hand, if you hate normal sushi, you might like this stuff. It’s sort of the fast food version of sushi.
The same could be said for the rest of the food. If you’ve ever had good fried rice, the fast food style of fried rice here will be a joke to you. Most of the chicken dishes seem to be soggy fried breaded chicken. Not particularly well done. And the flavoring for the dishes seems to rely on simply pouring on some flavored syrup. General Tso’s in a bottle.
The onion rings are what you’d expect from a high school school lunch. The egg rolls are heavy with grease. The chow mein was soggy, lukewarm, and relatively flavorless.
I really, really hate Panda Express. But this place makes me long for it. And that’s saying something.
Lastly, check your receipt. We were initially charged the dinner price for our lunch. I couldn’t tell, but it seemed that the woman might have been aware of what she’d done. Whether she did it on purpose, or whether she realized she might have done it on accident, she seemed aware of it before I’d even finished mentioning it.
SUMMARY:
It’s cheap, low-​quality, greasy, blah food. The lunch price was OK, but I would have cried if I’d paid dinner price for that lousy food.

This place has changed name to «Sushi Buffet», but still use the same menu. If you have read my other reviews, you would know I’m a really picky person in terms of food. I don’t mind spending big dollars on good food, but they have to be really worth it. That’s why I’m so unhappy about most of the Iowa City/​Coralville restaurants since they charge a lot and they suck. But I have to say, surprisingly, I don’t hate this place, or actually I should say I quite like it. for $ 10/​person dinner, you really should not ask for too much. You should just consider it as a homemade meal with lots of options. Plus, every dish here is quite decent, if you consider the price. I can afford coming here every night for dinner if I want to. It’s definitely 10 times better than Panda Express, KFC, McDonald’s kind of stuff, and way healthier. You just need to tell yourself: do not over eat. Then you’ll really enjoy it. I enjoy this place way more than all the other so called «authentic Chinese restaurant» in the area. My only fear is one day it will close due to lack of business, such as a slow night with Monday football. We should all support affordable neighborhood places like this and keep it open.

I like sushi here not too bad and I’ll come back.

I’m a fan… It was close… This was a high 3 /​low 4 type of place. I like it and would go back. Yep, I’ll say I’m a fan.
The restaurant is clean. There is plenty of Chinese food and sushi. No, it’s not always the greatest sushi but seriously, can you really expect all-​you-​can-​eat, world class sushi for this price? It’s pretty good food (and plenty of it) for the money.
The other dishes I had were also very good. I love frog legs so let this review be a warning to «Kermit The Frog» — he may need to call The Scooter Store. The frog legs and «salt and pepper» shrimp are delicious! I must have eaten twenty frog legs last time.
A person might not like every dish on the buffet but there is something for everyone here. If entertaining, I would choose this place above the others in the area. It’s pretty tasty! It’s worth a few bucks more to go at night, too… Better seafood selections!

I wish we had a Chinese buffet this awesome in Des Moines!
The food is good for the price. I really enjoyed the sushi buffet, and the selection was amazing and beautifully presented. Was it the best sushi I’ve ever had? no, it was not… but it was pretty good and about what I would expect from a place like this. The rest of the food was general Chinese buffet fare… not a lot of flair, but what was there was also pretty good. The restaurant was clean and nicely decorated, and the restrooms were clean. I was there on a Monday evening, and have no complaints about the food or the service at all. (forgive my lack of descriptive adjectives, but this is just Chinese buffet food… it is either good or bad!)
I am here for two weeks, and I anticipate eating here again several times!

In my experience, «Chinese-​style» buffets seem to follow a predictable pattern: they consistently rock for a while after they open, then they suddenly shift downward by about 10 notches and stay there.
After China Buffet’s renovation to Sushi Buffet, their rock bottom had briefly shifted back upwards to rockin,’ but alas, now Sushi Buffet has slid back down. This is most unfortunate, because my family had become re-​hooked. Let me tell you about our last experience there:
The Mongolian stir-​fry was edible, but the predominant flavor of everything else was stale and reptilian. The nori was tough and flavorless, the rice was dry, and the ahi seemed to be on the verge of turning.
Our table was right next to a wall-​mounted speaker that was BLARING the ambient, «Asian-​sounding» string and flute music ubiquitous to all American restaurants serving Chinese food. If this did not render conversation impossible, the loud people at the next table did. For over 20 minutes, two adults in the party of eight exhaustively chronicled the shortcomings of their mechanical dishwasher, providing detailed analysis of where the old food crusted onto their forks, versus the knives, versus the spoons, ad nauseam. Dirty looks did nothing to silence their shouted, squalid dissertation on drivel. While the other diners presented a kaleidoscopic array of bad teeth, prison tats, beady eyes, sagging bellies, and shuffling buttocks, at least they seemed more inclined to keep their voices respectfully low.

I really liked this place back when it was China Garden. BEST CRAWFISH IN TOWN! Chinese food awesome too! Granted the old interior was a little thread-​bare, but now… Wooo hoo! This place is flippin awesome! Really well done renovation inside, beautiful sushi prep island right in the middle, and still the great variety of Asian food.
I can not tell you how much I love the CRAWFISH here! And the sushi is great too! More than just the 3 or 4 rolls you might find at other places near by. Sushi Buffet has at least a dozen or so to choose from!
This place is the bomb diggity! And you know what??? It really blows the newly rebuilt Peking Buffet away. The re-​open over there was just a flash-​in-​the-​pan.
And they’ve got WiFi !
Lunch Buffet $ 6.99 Open — 3:45 PM Monday — Saturday
Dinner Buffet $ 10.25 3:45 PM — Close Sunday & Public Holidays

Excellent choices — take very little of each item you like on your first plate. Then go back for the 2 or 3 that you like the most. This is very good for a buffet!

The only thing I remember is the crab. They supply a lot of them than other Chinese buffet.

Is this an awesome chinese buffet? No. Will it satisfy your craving for chinese food? Yes. This place has your essentials, and its reasonably priced. Its pretty much all americanized chinese, but come on this is Iowa, what do you expect? Anyways if you need something to fill you up and satisfy your chinese food craving, this place will do, but don’t hold it up to high standards because you’ll leave disappointed.

Lots of food at cheap price. Mostly «Americanized» Chinese food. Includes smattering of sushi and Mongolian grill. Overall, a pretty good value. Dinner includes crab legs but they are very thin and difficult to get at the meat inside. If you are careful, you can find some tasty stuff, but food tastes pretty mediocre. You don’t come here for taste. The Peking Buffet used to have better food overall, so I am anxiously waiting for it to reopen.

I’ve been here twice. The selection is great and the price is ok. The service isn’t as good as it could be and the food is ok. But its a nice addition to Coralville. We need more food places here. I would recommend it to a friend.

alright, i have to Unilocal this because i can’t figure out how these guys stay in business. $ 10 for a dinner buffet that includes: crab legs, cocktail shrimp, mussels, shrimp of all kinds, sushi, fried chicken, pizza, chow mein, fried rice, chicken of all kinds, ice cream, soups, and salads.
anyway, its not your best stuff or come close to restaurants of the San Gabriel Valley, but is a notch up from your Panda Express’s. and it is especially good when you’re that far away from home and need a fix.
surprisingly, the American invention of General Tsao’s chicken is quite tasty. they also have this chicken on skewers. in contrast, all their fruit is obviously canned food. if it was fresh, i’d be here all the time. service is quite good, and you can drink anything you want with the price.
one can appreciate the simplicity of the restaurant area. just eat, go back for more, and eat. if you notice the partition walls, the glass has not only pictures and Chinese writing, but a telephone number with a New York area code. now i really appreciate the reuse and eco-​mindedness of this place. happy new year!

I have not stopped talking about this restaurants Chicked Wrapped Ham bites. Words can not explain how unique and delicious they were. I’ve been to dozens of chinese buffets and I’ve never heard of such a combination. You’ve got to try these. Make sure you either work out before or after you’ve tried them.
I understand that this place is possibly still under contruction. It used to be a steakhouse and the flood of 2008 ruined it. It looks great once you get in and they had 5 rows of buffet tables. I was very happy with all the food and made 2 trips. Even the pizza was good.
I will be returning back for a second opinion. I have to show the other half these chicken ham things. Delicious!

Hey, alright! Finally IC/​Coralville finally came up with a restaurant that has great value. (I have a feeling of being ripped off every time I pay $ 8 for a small plate of food in IC). This place is great!
They have 5 rolls of food/​desserts and then there’s a mini sushi and noodle station. (Plus, there are crab legs during dinner time!)
This place is like the bastard son of your Vegas buffets. They don’t have the amazing stuff, but just food that will make every body’s tummy happy.
Don’t get all excited thinking that this will be the BEST tasting stuff in IC. The Chinese food itself is not great (its not all Chinese food at the stands– they’ve got Pizza, chicken wings, salad bar…) but its comparable to the $ 8−10/dish one would pay at the restaurants down the street.
So far, this is the best value in town. Where else can you get crab legs and unlimited ice cream for $ 10 per person?