Royal Star Buffet

Average Asian buffet with reasonable price. Usually, Sundays are the most expensive, but it was only $ 12.99.

Better than I expected … we will return on our next trip to the Skagit Valley …

I have been to this place quite a few times since it was Royal Fork (the former American buffet) since I live in the area. The owners of Royal Star left me a great impression when they first took over. The food was edible but the customer service won me.
I returned last weekend and I was utterly disappointed. The food in general sat out for too long even though the restaurant was full. The taste of it has gone down hill like crazy. It was revolting to be point and that I left before I was full.
It just happened that I went to another Chinese buffet in town called Four Season this week. It gave me a good idea of how their foods compare. Four Season was way better in terms of quality, variety and taste. Although I do NOT recommend Four Season either. (Read my other review if interested.) I am sad I have no more buffet place to go in the Mount Vernon — Burlington area for a quick meal.
Neither restaurant seemed to have failed to keep up with quality once a steady flow of customers was established. Why bother, right?

Like most buffets, you will NOT leave hungry. This is a classic Chinese buffet with all of your favorites and some surprises too. Go for the General Tso’s chicken, kung pao chicken, broccoli n beef, orange chicken, fried rice, and lo mein — all delicious. Honorable mention to the fried wontons and the tangy hot n sour soup.
Plenty for everybody’s tastebuds for about $ 16/​person for the dinner buffet+drink+tax ($ 4 less for lunch). This is a good Asian specialty buffet: try any of the foreign dishes you want but avoid the mac n cheese or anything American.
Plenty of space to sit anywhere, staff is attentive. Many different options of average desserts.

Good mix of Asian and American food. Just make sure not to come later in the evening or the food quality won’t be nearly as good.

Amazing fresh food with good selection. Didn’t go at first because of the poor reviews at Unilocal,but came across it at TripAdvisor and decided to try it, after seeing its high scores.
One guy was unhappy due to the change from American to Asian foods, but this doesn’t have any bearing on the quality of food at all, which happens to be fresh and undrenched in oil and sauces. It was my first time to ever eat sushi in a buffet place. It is that fresh looking and tasting. 5 stars for this one.

I think there is a total character minimum… so here it goes.
Crab legs for days. Crab legs for days. Crab legs for days. $ 11.99.
Just kidding… but seriously, they have CRAB LEGS. Also, something I didn’t notice until I was half full, they have a Mongolian Grill inside as well. That is a great surprise!

This buffet is quite alright. I do have to say that their food isn’t CONSISTENT. If you walk in on a day where the food isn’t regulated often, you can notice the top layer of the dishes just getting that top dried out layer, it’s hard to explain but you’d know it if you saw it. The price is top notch, even for the weekend. Having lived in Seattle, weekend buffet prices are out of this world, but this isn’t bad, NOT BAD AT ALL.
When visiting here, I do have my favorites, and then there are the dishes that aren’t my flavor. So I know what to get and what not to.
The customer service isn’t the best but it isn’t the worst. My party and I are always seated when entering the doors, and are consistently checked in with for drinks and empty plates.
So I rate an A-​Ok, but of course I’ll still come around here!

Dropped in on a Sunday afternoon around 2:30. Sunday is a one price all day meal, and very reasonably priced. You don’t pay until you leave, which I like because if I don’t like the foodI’ll complain about the bill.
The staff were very friendly, the place was clean and the food hot and very good. Most Asian buffets are pretty much the same with the same tired dishes and ho-​hum offerings. The Royal Stars Sunday offering is exceptional. Everything from coconut prawns to fresh sushi, lots of salad options and a delightful dessert bar. My only complaint is that I only made it through half the dishes offered. Next time I’ll start at the opposite end and work my way back. Enjoyed it thoroughly and we will return.
BTW, I noticed the previous reviews are a bit dated which probably accounts for the difference between my thoughts and theirs.

This use to be a ‘regular American buffet’ then changed to a Chinese buffet.
I have tried it a few times, to give it a change, maybe I caught it on an off day, when things were not the best, but after eating here a few times, I just would not return.
They have a variety of dishes, but maybe because they do not have a lot of customers consuming food, the food in the hot trays tend to old, and dried out, not tasting real good.
The restaurant is clean, but not real appetizing.
After eating here, I would not return.
There are other restaurants in the area that are a better option.

Definitely didn’t expect this place to be this good for the price. They have traditional American, Chinese, Mongolian grill, and sushi. We mainly ate the sushi and didn’t hit the grill, we will save that for next time. Overall the food was very good quality but the overall value was fantastic.
Apparently this used to be a typical buffet a little while back.
I would highly recommend for the price and the quality. We went for lunch and it was $ 7.69 for adults and kids were $.60 x age.

I recently had the chance to venture down to the states on a one day road trip. A number of my friends informed me about this place on my route as an alternative to the classic Tulalip Casino buffet stop. I thought why not and so punched in the address on my GPS and away I went. Luckily I did, since this place indeed was not easy to find.
The seating area is insanely huge. The food assortment is just as vast. The staff are all friendly and seems to be fluent in mandarin.
Pricing is around $ 8 for lunch and $ 12 for dinner. Keep in mind they also charge for drinks here at $ 1.09 per person. I’m afraid I can’t eat as much as I used to at my old age but I did tried a large number of items. Their japanese food assortments was quite decent… offering a number of rolls.
A huge section is mainly dedicated to chinese cuisine. There you can find spring rolls, beef and broccoli, sweet and sour pork… list goes on and on. I had to say though they had a large assortment of prawn dishes, but the spicy fried prawns were the best.
A mini-​section was dedicated for the mongoli grill type of fare and last but not least the western section of roast beef, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, gravy… which I coined «Uncle Willy» classic assortment.
All in all I wouldn’t suggest going here on a consistent basis but indeed agree that this could be a viable alternative to the casino buffet for those folks that are on a road trip to the states and back etc and wanted a place to stop and eat before crossing the border back into Canada.

The food is OK… but it’s only real selling point is that it’s right off the freeway (and easy access for the Seattle/​Vancouver traffic). But if you want the BETTER Chinese buffet in town, you gotta go to the new Four Season’s buffet in Burlington.
Pro’s: friendly staff, tasty ice cream staff, service
Con’s: not a great selection, some of the food tasted a little old, not a great fish selection, price is slightly more expensive than Four Seasons for an inferior buffet.
Fortunately, it’s about the same distance for us to get to the Royal Star and Four Seasons… so it’s really a no-​brainer which one we’ll be going to now in the valley.

I was really sad when they closed down The Royal Fork. Maybe it wasn’t the best buffet in the world, but it was the buffet with the best fried chicken, at least in my experience. I used to go for just the chicken and Belgian waffles…
The Royal Star has kept both of those items. They’ve changed them slightly, but I’m happy they are at least still there.
This chicken seems to be from a different vender, but the same recipe. They use these ENORMOUS legs. I wish they’d just use normal chicken.
The waffle bar is lacking. They only have butter and syrup. If they would just add strawberries to even their fruit bar, and then put whipped cream SOMEWHERE, it would be sufficient. As it is, I have no interest in it. :(
The food selection was vast, but primarily asian food. Ordinarily, I just don’t trust asian buffets, but absolutely everything I tried was very good.
The Spicy Kung Pao Chicken is delicious, as are their potstickers (make sure to use the sweet/​spicy sauce!), the chicken skewers (marinated in a vaguely sweet sauce. SO good.), and these little deep fried rolls that are sprinkled with sugar. Even better if they were sprinkled with *cinnamon* sugar, but still yummy.
They had green salad (not as extensive of a salad selection as Fork had, and the sunflower seeds were stale, which was disappointing. I also didn’t care for the bleu cheese, but it wasn’t terrible), a selection of fruits, a selection of American foods, a waffle bar, a sushi bar, a dessert selection, a mongolian grill, and an asian buffet. For freaking $ 7.69 for lunch! I am quite amazed by both the price, and the quality of the food.
By the way, you should take note that the Sunday and Holiday prices are dinner prices all day. I went on a Sunday at lunch time, because I was driving by, and I did not think the tiny crab legs that were the ONLY thing I did differently from «lunch» were worth the more than $ 4 difference in price.
My only other complaint is the food turnover. The last 2 times I’ve been there, the fried chicken didn’t look super fresh when I got there, yet it basically took them the entire time I was there to turn it over. I think they should do so MUCH faster. If that means cooking less, more often, then that is what they should do. Why bother keeping the awesome chicken if you’re going to disrespect it?
In any case, I’m really happy with the food, quality, and variety, overall… I was sad that Royal Fork closed, but I’m SUPER happy with the replacement. I will definitely be back. I hope this one lasts…

This place is situated ½ way between Seattle to the Canadian border.
Used to be Royal Fork, one can see it on the freeway By I-​5.
They kept the nice fried chicken and many American food menu and add more Chinese items.
I tried their Mongolian grill which taste really good, but you have to know what, and how much sauce to put them in. The meat choices are chicken, shrimp, beef and pork etc with many fresh cut veggies. Lunch costs only $ 7.69, Dinner is $ 11.99, $ 1.00 off for 60 and over. And it is free for all senior over 90! How wonderful!
Place is kept clean, food are fresh and kept in good display.
Will stop by again when traveling close by for dinner when they offer roast beef, ham and more!

In a word, YAWN! I was hoping for so much more when I walked into the place. The atmosphere was very appealing, the food LOOKED inviting, but in the end it left me wanting. Overall, the food was very bland and tasteless. If it weren’t for the Mongolian grill, it would have been a total bust. Okay, I may be a little harsh, but really folks, grab the spices and live a little. I think this place use to be a standard buffet joint as it comes up as the Royal Fork Buffet on Unilocal.
Pros: The food was hot and looked great.
Cons: Tasteless and boring.

The quality has fallen a bit. No sushi. Just cold boiled shrimp. The roast beef was a dull beige but wasn’t tough. The service was slow. We were about 25% through our meal before the drinks showed. up. The plates piled up on the table before they were cleared.
I did try the Mongolian grill this time. It was pretty good but the meat selections are limited to beef, chicken, shrimp and squid.
I don’t think I’ll go back again.