William Ho’s Lobster House

I’m surprised to see so many negative reviews for this place. We’ve always been very happy with the food and service here. We also love to buffet.

Hate to do this as my family has went here for 30 years but decided to visit while in town. Poor rude service on phone, waited 5 mins for pick up then got home missing items. William probably retired too bad.

Went here for lunch, food was like a normal Chinese buffet. I felt they had alot of choices the rice was good nothing really stood out. The only downfall was they didn’t have anything for someone who was a vegetarian. So they had to order something off the menu. I would not come back.

Well we were pretty hungry driving around jamming to the radio and hubby asks if I have ever been to William Ho’s, I said no. It was not busy like the two others restaurants we tried. In fact no one was there on a Saturday night. I guess this place used to very popular with Bucks players but I doubt it is anymore. It is so run down and after we sat down I checked the reviews. I should’ve checked with my fellow Unilocalers before we sat down. Lesson learned.
The server was very pleasant but there was this weird smell in the background. I found the origin of the smell when I went to use the ladies room… The smell was coming from the kitchen!
Then we got our food. It was ok, not terrible but not good either. I picked out the beef in my moo shoo beef and made the best of it. Hubby had beef and broccoli and I noticed he did not touch the broccoli, looked a little slimy with the sauce.
The bill was less than $ 30 with two beers added on. It turned out to be an inexpensive evening but I don’t think we will ever go there again.

Love the waitress, she is a doll as always. But… did someone buy the place? I went in with my daughter last week and the buffet items seemed that the quality had changed. The usually fluffy ribboned egg drop soup was really like water nearly see thru, and many of the usually good enough foods also had runny watery sauces, seasons were not prevalent. Even drinks were odd tasting. That being said… The rangoon was good though. All the difference made me wonder if the place was under new management???

Service awful
Went in for call in order and stood there for 10 mins before someone came
Waitress walked by a couple of times and didn’t say a thing. Like guy is in the back doing something. Came very close to walking out
Other Chinese restaurants in the area will be tried. Hopefully better customer service

Never order from here. I swear i called placed a simple order for shrimp and broccoli. It never came. It neverrrrrr came. Im not saying it came late. What i’m saying it didn’t come at all. ⁰⁄₅

We stopped in at William Ho’s last weekend for the first time in about 8 years. The last time we were there Bill and his wife Fanny were both there, although I think at the point that point they had already sold the restaurant. I’m not sure if the restaurant has changed hands again since then, but I think it might have. At any rate, I was disappointed to not see any familiar faces. I worked there in the early 90’s while attending UWM. I remember Bill and Fanny and their food rather fondly. I hope they are enjoying retirement. However, this review is of the restaurant now, not how I remember it.
The place seemed dark and in need of a good cleaning. It was gloomy outside which didn’t help. The empty fish tanks (actually there was one lone lobster in one them) are not attractive. None of the décor has changed. There were only 2 other tables with customers when we arrived which surprised me for 6pm on a Friday evening. I found it notable that the gentleman answering the phones and taking to go orders seemed to argue with every single caller. As we could hear him clearly it did detract somewhat from our experience. We sat in one of the big booths next to the empty buffet table. The women’s room is in need of a cleaning and an update. Based on these first impressions I was nervous that the food would not be good.
The waitress had trouble understanding my drink order. Someone else had to be brought over so I could explain Tanqueray and Tonic. Outside of that, however, the service was very good. We ordered the Peking dumplings as an appetizer. The fried potstickers were just as I remembered them with a generous ball of pork in the middle of chewy/​crispy dumpling dough. These dumplings are the measure I have used to judge all other dumplings, so I was very glad they were unchanged. We ordered the 3 Kingdom and Moo Shoo Pork dinners. Both came with egg drop soup and egg roll. The soup was fine. The egg roll was very large and somewhat lacking in flavor or anything other than cabbage. Thankfully my Moo Shoo Pork was excellent as was the 3 Kingdom. All the ingredients appeared fresh and the sauces were nicely balanced. Not too sweet or salty or greasy.

2.5 Star average is doing injustice to this place. The receptionists were kind and friendly. I got fresh shrimp with Bok Choy, in which the shrimps were done gentle and the Bok Choy quick pan stirred. The Bok choy had a very nice flavor reminded me of hometown stir-​fried dishes. Overall, i like it for this dish and you can tell the people working in there take their business seriously.

Clean, nice looking place with decent service but forgettable Americanized Chinese food. I’ve had chow mein, sweet and sour, egg rolls, combination fried rice, and the allegedly famous lobster, all of it mediocre. They’ve substituted Occidental versions of all Chinese green vegetables. This UWM mainstay would not last long in any town with a real Chinatown. Still searching for a good Chinese restaurant in town.

Stopped in & looked at the buffet. Ick, everything looked like it had been there for a minimum of 24 hours. Being vegetarian there is usually lots of stuff to eat at Chinese restaurants but no so @ William Hos! Even the fried rice had shrimp in it! Dried up little shrimp… Egg rolls, same story. So we checked out the menu, BONUS it said, «Vegetables & Tofu.» The choices had oyster sauce or had shrimp in them, perhaps they didn’t get the memo on «veggies & tofu.» Would not go there again ever, even if it was free.

I only come here for the lunch buffet. Food is always fresh and tastes good (well seasoned, good ingredients). The wait staff is always attentive and friendly. Never an empty water cut, but they don’t hover either. The manager at the front is always nice & friendly and remembers my friends and I from previous visits which is appreciated.
Today I found a small moth in the vegetable soup. The wait staff was very surprised and immediately informed the kitchen. The waitress then came back to me and told me that the kitchen had reboiled the soup to kill all the bacteria. Depending on what temperature they cooked it to, it does make the soup free of bacteria and safe for eating. But for me it is still unpalatable. I spoke to the manager who had been on the phone during this. He apologized profusely and told the kitchen to make new soup which they did and brought out.
The kitchen made the mistake of reheating the soup in my opinion. But the rest of the staff are excellent as is the food.

Williams Ho’s gets the award for the most inconsistent restaurant in Milwaukee!
We have ordered lunch from them countless times and there are times when the food arrives to our office (downtown Milwaukee) still hot, tasty and seasoned just right. Fried rice or Chop Suey is always filled with meat/​seafood. Delivery of our order to our suite is always a headache. The driver will call everytime because they can never find our office (that I must admit I find annoying)
Yet today… we placed an order this morning before 10 a.m. via their website for an 11:30 a.m. delivery time. We called at 11:55 to find out where the order was because it had not arrived and was told the driver had left and it should «be there in a minute» Our order arrived at 12:37 p.m. and to top it off the driver couldn’t find the elevator to bring it up to our office. We had to go down to the concierge desk to pick up our food! It was cold and taste like a cow’s salt lick! All of our food was salty.
Overall it is a good restaurant but as I said, I find it to be far to inconsistant.

Very extensive menu and the delivery drivers are prompt and polite. On weekend nights, they threw in some extra chicken and drinks for us – which was a pleasant surprise. The chicken has been superbly cooked each time I’ve ordered it in General Tso’s or Sweet and Sour Chicken. The egg rolls are absolutely fabulous as well – very large with tons of flavor. I am most impressed by the food quality. I can tell that this is not your typical take out place – everything is prepared with attention and finesse. Worth the extra money!

Luckily the food arrived pretty quickly (about 20 minutes before they told me it would), however the tofu was… gross. I’m usually expecting something firmer, but this stuff had the consistency of jello with absolutely no flavor — flavorless, opaque jello. I ended up adding a lot of veggies I had in my fridge to bulk it up with some flavor, but otherwise I would never order this again.
The veggie eggrolls weren’t bad, though.

Never eaten in house, always take out — maybe 10 times. Usually standard — moo shu veggie, friend rice and low mein. I liked their coupon deal of extra crab rangoon and then free sodas for evey $ 10 spent. However this time, I ordered something different.
Me: «The sesame tofu, how is that prepared? It is breaded?».
Mr Rushy Rush at counter: «Tofu? Yes little bit.»
Me: «Okay I will try that»
25 minutes later at home I open a plastic tub of what appears to be warm brown jello with super soft chunks of tofu. Crab rangoon that may have been «off» and the ordered moo shu veggie — meh.
20 minutes later I was getting far too intimate with the porcelain throne. Don’t eat the brown jello!
Don’t think I will be eating here again.

Before you write off my 5 star review, note, I used to work here.
The people who make this operation work are very hard working friendly people and I consider it an honor that I had the opportunity to work with them
For all who claim the buffet is cold. It is cold if you make the stupid mistake of showing up for it at/​after 3. Note, this is when the buffet ends, they don’t take it down till closer to 4 because fools continue to show up for it. They WILL let you eat the buffet if you show up for it at that time, its not their fault you came so late.
Chicken on a Stick, while intimidating, is probably one of the tastiest things they make. It is almost always tender (note what I said about arriving after 3) and flavorful
To Emily T, who claims she was stuck behind a hoes driver who drived like a granny, there is no possible way unless you physically talked to them that you could know they worked for Hoes. Drivers don’t use any means of advertising the business, there is no sign. We do this because our drivers get robbed every now and then. This is especially important because there is no delivery limit, I would take an order to murray and webster, and then head to the south side. Sometimes I would have to go as far as 112^th and Silver Spring.
If your the type of person who judges a chinese restaurant by their sesame chicken, or any other batter fried chicken covered in sauce, then you should follow this protocol. Write your negative review on a piece of paper and go kill yourself cause your an idiot. The fact that East Garden has so many good reviews mostly based on people’s affinity for their sesame/​orange/​whatever chicken just shows how valuable their opinion on chinese food is.
People like their crab rangoons, personally I don’t but that doesn’t mean you should not get them. The chinese fried chicken is delicious, IF you get it fresh.
If you like Moo Goo Gai Pan, the equivalent on the menu is Chow Gai Kew.
Personally, I don’t like their lo mein, which is called Wor Mein on the menu.
If your worried about the lo mein due to other reviews, I highly recommend the chow mein fun. Note, if you order chow mein (cantonese) you will get crispy noodles. Order chow mein fun and you will get soft, angel hair like noodles. I personally think chow mein fun is much better than the lo mein.
The fried rice is great, please order it. I always get the Hoes fried rice, it comes with chicken, shrimp, and pork. The beef is good too.
The egg rolls are huge but I don’t like them. They have shrimp and pork.
If you want a treat, and are willing to spend the money, order the house delight. Its on the appetizer menu. It is wonderful boneless chicken thighs perfectly seasoned slow cooked in their own foil wrapper.
Please do not order Egg Foo Young, unless you know what your getting. The people who like this dish only like it because they get to eat it with gravy. They complain if they don’t get the gravy. For those who don’t know what it is, it’s egg mixed with cabbage. Which is then fried. it is a fried egg cabbage pancake. It is gross. There is not a single employee at the restaurant who is willing to eat it. It is impossible to eat without the gravy
I love Hot an Sour Soup. This stuff is good, however they put barely any pork in it. But they do get the flavor profile just right which is a quality I look for in every chinese restaurant I eat at. China wok also makes a good hot an sour.
They also have a large number of traditional dishes. Where else in milwaukee can I get an authentic Steamed Whole Fish with Ginger. It is soo great.
Note, they do not have clams or mussels unless they are in season. But they always have fresh fish, crab, and lobster.
Some of the best things I ate their were purely traditional foods that aren’t even on the menu. They cook this for the employees, but there are a great many chinese customers who like to order off the menu.
I think that’s about it for my rant. I understand this restaurant has faults. But I believe it has been unfairly judged by those who barely give it a chance. I am fairly picky, I work in the food industry, but I will never stop eating at William Hoes.
If your worried about you food being cold, order take out. It takes them less than 10 minutes to make whatever your ordering.

This being our first buffet review, we decided to load up at the locally famous William Ho’s. While we typically disagree about the quantity and quality of food that comprises a good buffet, our opinion about the other aspects that are important when analyzing a Chinese buffet are usually in accordance. Before getting into our separate individual critiques, Slob and Snob agree on the following overall analysis of William Ho’s:
1. Clean, good management and a waitress we barely remember (always a positive) but always seemed to be there when she was needed.
2. Upon entering we noticed the seating area was dark but filled with a good lunch crowd.
3. Inexperienced, less discriminating buffet goers would like this better than a higher quality, pricier Chinese buffet. However, those same inexperienced Chinese buffet goers may struggle with knowing what they are eating as none of the various buffet items were labeled. This was not a place for the refined, discriminating Chinese buffet aficionado.
This is where we differ:
Slob
William Ho’s is a standard Chinese lunch buffet experience. It has the Slob’s staples; fried rice, lo mein noodles, sweet and sour chicken, egg drop soup and crab rangoon. The egg drop soup and crab rangoon taste great. The noodles are filled with vegetables (not a compliment from the Slob) and the sweet and sour chicken is not edible. It tastes like generic grocery store chicken that has the disclaimer «Contains rib meat, pork, turkey, chicken» etc… The Chinese donuts, fried rice and crab rangoons were surprisingly tasty. Several items are shockingly out of place. Pickles, oranges, an old token salad, canned pineapple tidbits, pepperoncini peppers, onion rings and fried chicken should have been replaced by Chinese food. If you want to fill up on some greasy Chinese buffet in a nice environment, William Ho’s will do the trick.
1. Quality — ²⁄₅
2. Quantity — ¹⁹⁄₂₅
3. Cleanliness — ⁴⁄₅
4. price — ²⁄₅
5. replenishing — ⁵⁄₅
6. service — ⁵⁄₅
³⁷⁄₅₀
Grade -.74
Favorite Item: Crab Rangoon — crisp with great filling
Item to avoid: The token salad — completely unnecessary
Snob
This one was not a favorite of a Chinese buffet snob. First of all, there was a general lack of flavor and attention given to the quality of the food. In addition I found most of the food to be too greasy and items like the chicken & broccoli and beef with string beans lacked basic seasoning making it very bland. On the other hand, the stir-​fried spicy chicken dish was flavorful and something I’d order off the menu as an individual dish. There were too many deep fried options (about 7) and not enough stir-​fried entrees (about 3). I tried the egg roll and it was a good size, but chewy with an unusual yet decent flavor. I will not be back to this buffet.
Favorite Item: The spicy chicken — flavorful, tender chicken
Item to avoid: Pork? kabob — fried until unrecognizable; some type of burnt meat on a stick, a label would have helped, but not enough to get me to try that thing.
1. Quality — ⁸⁄₂₅
2. Quantity — ⁴⁄₅
3. Cleanliness — ⁴⁄₅
4. Price — ³⁄₅
5. Replenishing — ⁵⁄₅
6. Service — ⁵⁄₅
²⁹⁄₅₀
Grade -.58
Overall Ratings List
1. William Ho’s (Shorewood) — .66
If you would like us to visit and review a Chinese buffet that we haven’t yet, simply post a comment in this blog with the name of the restaurant and it’s general location. Please include who you think would enjoy the buffet more, Slob or Snob.
*Disclaimer: The comments are intended to reflect the food from a restaurant’s buffet, which may differ significantly from ordering from the menu.

As an ardent aficionado of Amercian-​Chinese food I think I’ve eaten at nearly every restaurant of that type in the Metro Milwaukee area. My girlfriend, however, is much less adventurous and generally likes to stick to places that she knows and likes.
We have a tradition, both usually being stuck working on Christmas Eve, of having dinner at a Chinese restaurant that evening before heading off to fulfill familial obligations the next day. This year, I convinced her to try Will Ho’s, which was a place I ate at all the time when I was an undergrad at UWM.
I haven’t eaten there in forever, but I still love the décor. We had the place almost to ourselves and got a quiet little booth in the middle of the restaurant. The paint is a bit flaky and the table a bit wobbly, but I love the golden Chinese dragons in the middle of the ceiling and all of the decoration and trim is very cool. It beats hand down the décor of most Chinese restaurants in the city, which range from fast-​food lunch counter to «throw up some rice paper and call it a day».
The food, I’m sorry to say, was only so-​so. I got the curry chicken, because I am above all things, a complete whore for curry. It was actually better than I thought it would be. Curry anything from most Chinese places in Milwaukee will get you an assortment of meat and vegetables in a very thin sauce with a barely-​there taste of curry. Will Ho’s was actually pretty thick and had a good curry flavor. There was even a trace of heat there, which as a serious chili-​head I never see in a Chinese restaurant. A true Christmas Miracle, wasted on my non-​believing heathen self. For shame!
My girlfriend got the vegetable lo-​mein, as is her custom, and did not enjoy it at all. She thought the sauce was kind of gross, to be honest, and while she can usually fix things with the addition of copious amounts of sweet and sour sauce, the kind Will Ho’s provides in a big squeeze bottle was just not very good. She left unsatisfied.
I got an order of crab rangoons that I loved, but as I’ve said before on Unilocal,I’ve yet to meet a crab rangoon that I didn’t like. They are just an amazing food combination.
All-​in-​all, I didn’t think it was awful, but it definitely wasn’t up to par with some of the local competition. And since I don’t think very highly of Chinese food in Milwaukee anyway, that’s probably a less than stellar endorsement.
I doubt we will be back, but that has more to do with East Garden being a few blocks away than it does with the food produced by William Ho’s.

I met a friend for lunch today at William Ho’s. I grew up not far from this restaurant, but I’ve never dined there or ordered from their delivery service, so today was my first visit.
We did the lunch buffet, which featured most of your standard Chinese lunch buffet items: egg rolls, crab rangoon, veggie lo mein, egg foo young, sweet n sour chicken, rice, etc. What I found little different was that the fried rice was a combo of shrimp and chicken. Usually, there is just one meat or seafood item, and often times just veggies.
Bottom line is that for $ 6.55, the value was there. The food was better than I expected, and while you might think all Chinese buffets taste the same, I beg to differ. I’ve been to many in town and not all are worthy of a return visit. This one was good enough to try again IF I’m in that area, Yes, there are better options for Chinese on the east side (mostly off the menu ordering), but you could do worse. They’ve been around a long time, so that should stand for something.