Empire Buffet

They’ve moved under same ownership to Grand Buffet, 2340 E Griggs Ave.
This was one of my first places of comfort for Asian food after moving to Las Cruces. Also, their frozen yogurt machine was the bidness. Thank goodness they’ve brought it with them to the new and improved, fancier pants Grand Buffet.

Ugh.

I like this Chinese Buffet restaurant. They have a pretty good choice of dishes on their buffet line or you can pick your own stir fry ingredients and have them stir fried fresh. One of the best features is their fresh made sushi. Very good!

As a new transplant to Las Cruces I was on the lookout for new buffets. I was on the fence as whether or not to try this buffet after reading past reviews. I decided to give it a try and I was actually surprised.
The food was tasty and fresh. The sushi chefs were kicking out good sushi the entire time we ate. This place had a little of everything. Basically a traditional buffet with sushi, and a Mongolian style grille.
The place was not pack but it was crowded, probably ¾ capacity and its a Saturday evening about 6pm. I don’t know if this had anything to do with the freshness of the food. But there was a pretty good turn around on the buffet and it didn’t seem like anything sat for long.
I gave it four stars because out of all the reviews about the food, I thought the service is what was lacking. Not the buffet maintainers but rather the wait staff. Most were late teen early 20s and seemed to be more interested in making sure they didn’t miss a text than to make sure drinks were capped off or napkins weren’t needed. The only reason I got a refill was because I asked. It was a filling buffet and for $ 12 I would come back.

Someone did greet us when we walked in but that was it. Never was greeted or checked on again until the check was brought. There lunch «special» is $ 11.49 per person. Which is a great deal if the food is of a good quality. Now the review REALLY starts.
There food is HORRIBLE. We got there at 11:15 AM thinking the food would be fresh and good. Every single dish I tried was OLD and hard except for the sushi and don’t get me started with that. There was so much grease I had to literally pat the «skinless» chicken down with napkins. And look I know buffet places sometimes use food from the day before. But for everything to be OLD? I told a girl I saw on her phone at the front and she said «no you eat food very fresh and very good». Maybe when it was cooked 3 days ago it was.
This would be a good $ 5 buffet since the quality is so so LOW but $ 11.49? Are they on crack?
Avoid this place if you can. A long time ago they use to be good but like so many places here in Las Cruces they get «complacent».

sushi is awful. Imitation crab on just about every sushi. Everything taste preheated. Service was ok. Won’t be coming here again. My wife swore this place is great. Guess she doesn’t have taste buds.

Awesome sushi. Very friendly with a wide variety of food at a really reasonable price.

Was in Las Cruces, for the weekend and my family and I decided to eat here. Yeah, well we made a big mistake in deciding that. The meat inside the dumplings had a fishy taste, and was raw. The lo mien was over cooked or had been sitting for so long that it had a mushy texture. It was service though, that was by far the worst thing about this place. Our waitress didn’t come to the table, until we were halfway through our meal and we had to keep looking for someone else to help us. This was hard because most of the servers decided to take their lunch break at the same time and we’re sitting down eating. When our waitress did finally come to the table, she was rude, even though we were nothing but nice to her. At the end of our meal, the waitress stood over us, looking to see how much we had tipped her, until we got up. Later that day after looking at my bank account online, I saw that I had been charged $ 10 more than what I had been billed at the restaurant. We had to go back the next morning to dispute the extra $ 10 charge and although we had our copy of the receipt and showed them had been charged to our account online, they refused to refund us for the extra charge. We were told by the manager that their copy of the receipt said different but when we asked to see their copy, they, «lost,» it. I guess I’ll have to take this up with my bank. So, we’ll never be eating here here again.

Cold and tasteless food. Wish I would’ve taken the other reviews seriously before coming here. So disappointed. They have a variety of food to chose from but it all looked super old. And when you walk into a restaurant you can smell the yummy food being cooked, we didn’t smell anything. The staff was friendly though so that’s the reason it gets 2 stars.

The worst Chinese buffet I’ve ever eaten. I’ve eaten a raw shrimp and brought it up to the management’s attention and they don’t even care. I could have been food poisoned. I would never come back to this place again.

I’ve always had friendly and kind service here, and I crave going back for the food. An excellent selection, although not «real» Chinese food, has great taste and the buffet is never left unattended.
They have a student discount, as well as great price!

The food quality was good when they first opened. Last three times, I went it was borderline awful. I have not returned in several months.

Empire Buffet offers decent Chinese food at very decent prices. Not a bad buffet choice.

I can’t fathom how this place has gotten so many positive reviews. I guess if you like unlimited sushi (think California rolls), it might be OK. But everything else is super sketchy, crazy salty, and about as inauthentic as you’d imagine a buffet like this can be. Sure, there are signs labeling all of the food, but good luck if you’re vegetarian. Labels like «pot sticker» don’t help much. Have some rice, I guess.
Now, that said, there are some times when you are just craving crappy Chinese food. If you are having one of those days, go here. I have occasionally loaded up my plate with fried cream cheese butterfly wontons (aka crab rangoons) — and they do make those right. So bad… but so good. If you’re willing to endure several hours of post-​bad-​Chinese-​food-​bloated-​coma, it might even be worth it. Your call. Personally, I’m waiting for a decent Chinese restaurant to come to Las Cruces, where I can get my crab rangoon fix and not hate myself afterwards. It may be a long wait.

We had to go to Las Cruces for an appointment and out daughter was requesting miso soup. We saw the reviews on Unilocal for Empire Buffet and thought we might as well try it. We have been to some pretty divey Asian buffets in our lives, so we were prepared for some MSG-​ladened-​typical-​Chinese-​food-​mystery-​meat-​fare. We were pleasantly surprised. The restaurant was very clean, smelled appetizing and the buffet area was well lit. All good signs when it comes to a buffet. My husband and I had a traumatic sushi experience a few days ago so our expectations for buffet sushi were probably pretty low. We were pleasantly surprised.
First, the variety of foods is pretty overwhelming. The differing foods are well organized but not clearly marked so it may be an adventure for those that are not familiar with what foods look like.
Second, the sushi is the best thing in the buffet. There is a decent variety, no raw items however, and the woman preparing the sushi was very nice. The sushi looked beautiful and was quite tasty. I mean it’s buffet sushi and I was comfortable trying all of them and didn’t think any were questionable. There was only one that I didn’t enjoy and it was topped with cooked salmon and I didn’t like the combination of flavors. Everything else was really quite good.
Third, two adults and two children ate their fill for $ 21 before tip.
I did try some of the Chinese food and would consider it the same caliber as most Chinese buffets some items were better but nothing spectacular. I did not get a chance to try the hibachi/​Mongolian BBQ set up the had, but it looked good and I will try it next time.
Overall it was a good experience and we will return.

Yum!
$ 16 for 2 adults and a 3 yr old, and its all you can eat?! Sold.
The sushi selection is decent. All a wide variety of California rolls. Definitely little to no raw fish options.
Their imitation crab dish is good! My only gripe is, I wish they had more shrimp options.

Yuck. Golden Corral with Asian food. I went because I heard the sushi was part of the buffet– but it’s all rice and no fish. That’s how they get away with all-​you-​can-​eat sushi for $ 10 at lunch time.
Everyone is packed in like cattle at small tables with no dividers between them. Nothing I hate more than staring into someone’s gaping maw while trying to eat my own food. The staff was exhausted with bags under their eyes– no one seemed to be tipping, so I’m sure they could care less whether you had what you needed. Serve yourself, it’s a buffet!
Won’t be back. Maybe it was the giant family stuffing themselves next to me, covered in sweet-​n-​sour sauce… but I get the shivers when I see this place.

Not good, not bad. Been here twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. Recommend lunch over dinner hands down. By dinner time, most things have been sitting for a while and you could tell.
Menu choices are your standard Asian buffett items, which is a good thing. I don’t think they really switch up what is offered since it it so large. Sushi looked okay, but I don’t trust sushi at places like this, especially how many thousand miles from the nearest ocean. My friends liked it though.

After reading the Unilocal reviews for this place, my wife and I were intrigued. How good can a buffet restaurant possibly be? While I am still not convinced there is such a thing as a «five star» buffet restaurant, we were shocked when we pulled into the parking lot on a Friday night and discovered a thirty minute wait just to get a table. Wow. Now that is something I have never seen before at a buffet. Is it really that good? So we decided to come back the next day at lunch time and find out. Here’s what we found.
Service: ⁴⁄₅
I have never understood why all-​you-​can-​eat buffets do not put their drink dispensers in a public location where people can get their own refills. I’ve seen it at Golden Corral, Hometown Buffet, you name it. Is it simply to give the servers something to do? Needless to say, it is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, so I thought I would mention it. Aside from that, nothing to really talk about here. They refill your drinks. They take your dirty plates. And they do a good job of it.
Food: ⁴⁄₅
If all they offered was the sushi and the Mongolian BBQ, I would give them a ⁵⁄₅ easily. I could eat my weight in sushi and BBQ. There isn’t a huge variety in the sushi, just crab, salmon, tuna, and I believe yellowtail, but it is fresh and tastes great. In addition, the Mongolian BBQ is great. You mix whatever meats, vegetables, and noodles you want and they cook them right in front of you. For those two items alone, this place is worth the money and then some.
On top of all that though, you have all the «traditional» Chinese buffet type items. You’ll find the white/​fried rice, the sweet and sour chicken, the broccoli and beef, etc. These items are far less tasty than the sushi and BBQ. Do yourself a favor and fill up on the good stuff before you even look at the «regular» buffet items. This stuff is fine, but it is what it is, cheap buffet Chinese. Stick to the good stuff and you will get your money’s worth.
Overall Impressions: ⁴⁄₅
Empire Buffet is a fantastic value. The lunch price is about $ 7 per person, which as I said, if you fill up on sushi and BBQ is simply an amazing price. The tables are packed a little tight though. My wife and I had considerable trouble getting in and out of our booth. I understand they want to get as many people in there as possible, but it is a little bit off-​putting when you can’t even get up from your table comfortably. Or maybe it’s a sign that you ate too much?
In any case, I can see why there was a line for this place. With so many of the other Asian options in Las Cruces gone in the past few years, this place is miles ahead of the other options left in town. I still don’t believe in «five-​star» buffets, but Empire Buffet is about as close as you can get. Definitely check it out.

If you like nigiri sushi and sushi rolls, this place is freaking awesome. I ate about three pounds of raw salmon, tuna, whitetail and rainbow rolls in the last week at Empire Buffet and I spent roughly $ 15 (two visits). Now, Mercury-​poisoning not withstanding, this is a sweet-​ass deal! If you are like me, alarms are going off in your head right now. There is no way that they can have Sashimi-​grade sushi at a buffet. However, the fish was cool, has the correct texture, was being freshly prepared, tasted great, and most importantly, did not make me sick. Score!
They also have other stuff to eat, like Mongolian BBQ and some good somewhat traditional Chinese entrées. The most popular buffet area, by a mile was the fried food, which I did not try, but it is fried, so it can’t be all that bad. You will probably be satisfied no matter what you get, but, if you like raw fish, you will get one hell of a deal!