Empire Buffet Sushi & Hibachi

I have been coming here for over 10 years. Today will be my last time. Everything was cold and dry. If that wasn’t bad enough we got stung by the fact that they charge $ 14.99 for «dinner» all day on Sunday, even for lunch (every other day lunch is $ 7.99). We talked to the manager and they didn’t care. Steer clear, we will be. I’ll also be disputing the charges with my cc.

avoid at all costs! horrible food ! Creepy employees staring at you!
Dirty, smelly.

I’ve had a sit down lunch buffet here, and a carry out lunch special. When I sat in and ate I noticed all the food I had eaten was luke warm to cold. The sushi was okay. I thought I would try a carry out the following week. General Tso chicken was very good, and actually hot! Lot of food for the 5.25 lunch special. Lunch was great if they could just keep the food hot at the buffet it would be great too!

6:20 pm on a Friday night and the White Rice, general Tso Chicke, Crab Rangoon, and Egg Rolls where cold. The sushi was cold also but that’s how it supposed to be. I drove 10 minutes out of my way because of the reviews to eat here and an highly disappointed.

Food was great and there were a lot of options. Sushi was good and there was a hibachi grill also. The price was very low for lunch and i was please when my meal cost me under $ 11. Will come back for sure.

Looks like a new joint, very clean. I went straight for the sushi bar, majority are variations of the California roll but all were tasty. The also have these creamy fried shrimp that made my go back for seconds. I ate too much rice so I pretty much just ate a plate and got full immediately.
Will go back again if I feel like driving.

don’t come here! very dishonest business!!! came here to grab some lunch 4 minutes before 3:00pm when lunch will end they would not give me the lunch price ridiculous… so if i came at 2:30pm i couldve eaten past 3pm and got dinner… she had the nerve to ask me was i not going to eat seafood??? they will never get my business again. there food is not that great anyway. there’s about four or five items i eat from here anyway… save your money go somewhere else.

I used to go here years ago every two weeks for lunch. This is the first time I’ve been here since they remodeled. It used to be a very good value for the money. Average food for a good price. Now it’s average food, with a lot more selection, for a lot more money.
Chinese buffets, even average ones, usually have at least one dish that is well made and interesting. Sometimes that is enough to keep coming back for. I didn’t find that here. Nothing unusual or higher quality. Everything was Ok but not interesting enough to come back for dinner.
I’ll try lunch at least once before I write it off completely.

The Old Chinese Buffet renovated and changed names! End result of this major update is impressive. The renovation features a Hibachi bar and grill where one can order and create a custom dish. The selections of sushi such as rainbow and California are plentiful. Wide variety of dishes build out the buffet experience. Since I have been here several time for both lunch and dinner, the only difference involves the addition of dinner meats such as ribs, prime rib, and ham to the menu for two extra bucks. Lunch definitely a better value. I am a tough grader and would prefer to leave 3 ½ stars but when I compare to other 3 stars, this place has at least ½ leg up. Hope to see ya here soon.

Good and diverse food, all the standard dishes, plus sushi. Plenty of soups, vegetables, meat, seafood, something of everyone. Good price.

Food was very good (especially for a buffet). Lots of flavor and kept hot. The restaurant was also very clean, which isn’t always the case at many buffet restaurants.
The sushi selection was good and you can also get fresh hibachi food with the buffet.
Don’t let the outside fool you, this place is worth the visit.

Surprisingly clean and well attended. Bathrooms were well kept, but in need of a paper towel dispenser so that people can use a towel to open the door after washing hands. Food is good for a buffet and the sushi selection is nice. Definitely worth a try, and don’t be fooled by the ugly exterior of the place.

We’ve driven by this place several times and thought we’d give it a try. I’m usually not a buffet kind of person but I thought «Hey, how bad can it be?» Sadly, really bad.
The quality of the «food» is barely edible; to me everything tasted like it was just about to turn. I have never spit more food into napkins. As far as the service, well, there’s much to be desired — a bit rude and rushed (even though the place wasn’t even half full). Within 15 minutes I asked for the check. $ 42 for 1 adult, 2 kids — plus we still really hadn’t eaten yet so we incurred another expense going to a place we liked and trusted. But really, its a small price to pay for a lesson learned and avoiding a food-​related illness.

Service was exceptional, sushi was nasty. I came in and was seated right away. Let me say the waiter was extremely attentive and polite. So I go up and get sushi because I was too poor to pay for actual all you can eat sushi at a sushi restaurant. The roll selection was very basic, a lot of rolls just consisted of imitation crab and avocados. Needless to say, I still stocked up since I was super hungry.
So I sit down to eat and begin to dig in. Some of the rolls tasted alright, and by alright I mean like grocery store sushi from a franchised market. Other rolls, yikes, the rice tasted very tart and hard, also the actual rolls were really chewy like steak fat. In fact, one of the rolls tasted so terrible I had a hard time swallowing it. It almost tasted like some weird kind of fishy mush.
All in all, if you’re desperate for a meal this place should satisfy that need. I gave it 2 stars for the service and affordability, but they lost the rest with the quality.

If you can’t even make good fried rice, that’s pretty sad for a Chinese restaurant. An indicator that it’s not close to being «authentic» or good. I even make better fried rice at home… Blahhhh.
I got their lunch special. moo goo Gai pan with chicken. VERY oily. Tasted ok but super greasy. I do like their Americanized hot and sour soup and egg drop soup. Spring rolls are ok too.
Haven’t had their buffet so can’t judge on that. But «judging» by the fried rice, probably just «bleh» like Hibachi Buffet on Delany.

I like interior and the service of this buffet, but the food is not very tasty unfortunately.
It was my first and last time in this place.

At twice the price it would be a great place. A diamond in the rough. A good find. Excellent buffet selection — fresh sushi. Cook to order hibachi. You can’t lose.

This is one of may favorite lunch spots — for $ 10 lunch come to ($ 8.06) BOOM!
This is perhaps one of the largest Chinese buffets I have been to — a LOT of choices. I don’t eat wheat — so, much of it is off limit. My favorites are the BBQ chicken on a stick, rice noodles, steamed clams, the shrimp ceviche, the sauteed fish, sauteed asparagus or/​green beans. Oh and the hot an sour soup — SO good. The sushi is acceptable, always fresh — it is a buffet so if you are looking for GOOD sushi go to Sushi Kush. Most of all I love the HIbachi option — if i don’t like it, I only have myself to blame and have yet to mess up =)
For for dessert they have as assortment of little cakes, jello, pudding, cookies, fresh fruit and ice cream. I don’t know about the rest, but the ice cream and fruit is good =)
The service is what one would expect for a buffet, my drink gets refilled as needed and the plates empty cleared promptly. The staff seems happy to be there and that always makes dining more pleasant.

Regular place for me and my family. It’s Mundelein’s first Chinese buffets! We were thrilled.
You can’t beat the price, and the food is pretty good. Of course, for $ 10.99, it’s not drop dead delicious, but it’s served hot and consistently. Good amount of space between the serving stations.
Great Peking duck, hibachi style meat, and
The only thing is that the staff aren’t enthusiastic to be there, so it’s a bit awkward to feel like you’re not wanted in the restaurant. Décor is sorta plain. Sometimes there are loud kids but hey, at a buffet, frankly, you should expect that. (It’s quiet on weekday late afternoons!)

I’ve been back now three times to Empire since it (re) opened, and I have to say I continue to be impressed. My first visit was take-​out, but the subsequent visits have been sit-​down. Everything has been delicious.
There are six buffet tables (I counted this time:-) with as many as 12 items per table. That is a HUGE selection — if you go away hungry, it’s your own fault. Food was refreshed frequently, and I didn’t see anything that looked to be old/​dried out (a common problem on many buffets).
The Hibachi (make your own) stir-​fry added a few vegetable selections to the choices compared to my first visit. I would like to see some additional sauce choices — the only ones so far being Kung Pao, Garlic, Soy, and Teriyaki. My co-​diner wanted a mongolian-​flavored sauce, while I was wishing for individual flavorings to add such as lemon water, ginger water, sesame oil, etc. that we’ve seen at other mongolian grill places. I was happy with the stir-​fry I made, but additional choices would make it even better. (A girl can dream!) The stir-​fry chef was working on his spatula-​flipping while I was there — if you have children, that will certainly entertain them for a few minutes while they wait.
Instead of the familiar soft-​serve ice cream machine we see in so many locations, there is a freezer with scoop-​your-​own hard ice cream in about six flavors.
Parking/​location is probably the only drawback at this time, which has me keep this at 4 stars, but with that location, there’s not much they can do. Be aware that there is parking and a normal entrance on the backside of the restaurant as well if it looks full in the limited spaces out front. I actually prefer to park in the back.
Staff was attentive, refilled drinks and removed used plates promptly.
We had two adults at lunch, and the total was $ 16 (with water to drink).
I will most certainly continue to recommend this to friends as a great lunch or dinner location if you’re in the area.