Midtown Buffet

The nightmare has ended.
I was the first to review Midtown Buffet on Unilocal.Now I am the last.

Went by there a few times in the past few week only to find construction going around the surrounding stores and there gate pulled down. The number has been disconnected so it looks like they have gone out of business. Too bad… I really enjoyed there food …

I have to agree with A.D. I am not sure why Midtown Buffet has so many bad reviews. I was in NYC and needed a meal (lunch) before catching a train back home. It is just your typical chinese buffet. Everything I sampled was very good and at the correct temperature. The server kept my soda full. Not fancy and not a place for a romantic date. But if you need to refuel in Midtown for a reasonable rate it is a good choice. I would recommend and repeat.
Price for lunch is $ 11.25. That includes the buffet and soda (free refills). With tip it is 13 or 14 out the door.

Would give zero stars if I could!
The health department really needs to check this place out. The buffet food is cold when it should be warm. I’m pretty sure I’ll get sick from this.
Nothing is fresh. It’s all reheated crap hat was probably cooked a few days ago. Soggy messy tasteless food.
The place also has a faint urine/​stale mop smell to it.
Don’t do it. Just don’t.

Not sure why this place has such bad reviews but I remember when this place opened when I worked in the area many years ago. It hasn’t changed… The menu items are basic but are prepared fresh. My little sister and I enjoyed ourselves there for her birthday brunch.

worst asian buffet experience ever!!!
do not come here at all cost, or you will regrat!
food is decent, nothing special about it. service is probably the worst you can experience in nyc.

As a Chinese, I hate a lot of Chinese restaurants in New York and this is no exception. The food is just too sweet and oily. I understand that it does so to adjust to the appetite of the foreigners, and better Chinese restaurants are a lot more expensive. But still… I know I pay for the location…

I really am surprised this place has so many low reviews. I came here because I really wanted a buffet and I love love Chinese fo. I walked in expecting the worse… this place was not bad at all! Maybe New Yorkers just have super high standards (I Love NY!) Either way… I had an awesome lunch!

If I could put a zero star I would… worst buffet EVER! No flavor to any food…

It isn’t the best food I’ve eaten, it surely isn’t the worst. Although it may not feel like good quality products (they probably aren’t), please ask yourself this: what do you expect? It’s an American Chinese food buffet right by Times Square with a B-​rating.
I knew walking in that I had to lower my expectations. I just finished eating, and I’m full, so that’s a plus. I’ll await the results on my culinary expedition tonight.
You get what you pay for. Location! Location! Location!

This buffet is horrible. Don’t come here. The food isn’t even good for the price

so weird to see all these bad reviews. I came in here because it was raining and freezing that day and needed coverage. I was really hungry and didn’t want to go far to get food. I thought oh ok, $ 13 buffet is expensive for lunch but I was shocked at how good it tasted. the things I really liked was the wonton from the wonton soup, squid, shrimp and potato. everything I tasted from this place was decent but these were the pieces that caught my eye. the wonton had a lot of flavor since its been basting in that soup for so long. I can also choose as many wonton as I want because this is a buffet! not like when you get the soup from take out and it only comes with 2 wonton pieces. the potato I had was soft and easy to eat. the squid was great, slightly fried. the shrimp was also good too. the service was good too, they were kind waitresses. the manager shouldn’t be talking on the phone that much though. he was on the phone the whole damn time I was in the restaurant.

I am in shock and awe that the Midtown Buffet is getting these bad reviews. I’ve been going here for years. The first time I went was maybe 10 years ago, when I worked across the street. It was a lifesaver because I low carb and the other places nearby didn’t offer much of a selection and were too expensive.
Well, I just went there last night. It was 20 minutes before closing, they warned me, so they were kind enough to let me eat at the discounted rate of $ 15. The food was still warm, though obviously they were not going to add more to what was there. It was all very delicious. They gave me all the soda I wanted.
This is the only Chinese buffet in all of NYC that doesn’t make me feel ill after I’m done eating. Nothing super sweet or super greasy. I hope to go there again for many more years. It’s the only place in Midtown that I would recommend to others, because all the other restaurants around there are $ 13 for an appetizer. That’s ridiculous.

Oh my, what can I say about Midtown Buffet that hasn’t been said already.
I used to work 6 blocks north of this dump, and when my friends and I wanted a cheap Chinese food fix we would head there. By the grace of God my friend and I (who were the regulars of our office) never got sick. I can’t say the same for the people that would tag along with us.
In a perfect world, 9 bucks (including tax and tip) for a buffet in New York City should be a dream come true. You don’t have to read my review to know that this place is a dream of Freddie Kruger proportions.
The food is sub par (to be kind) and the waitstaff will hover (AND I MEAN HOVER) around your table until the bill is paid.
One day my friend and I walked there at lunchtime and the place was closed. We thought the place was another victim of the times. It turns out the place was temporarily closed by the NY Board of Health. God only knows what their grade was! I will not go into the gory details here but if you are curious go to the NY Board of Health website and plug in Midtown Buffet and STAND BACK!

So I know the food and service here aren’t the best quality, but you have to consider the location when you go here. You’re not going to get top quality buffet Chinese in Midtown, sorry.
That said, I love going here. It’s the best place I can think of to get crappy Chinese food and kill time with friends that enjoy the same. The first time I came here was when I had a friend visiting from out of state and we were looking for some place to eat before I took her sightseeing, so I could just have a lot of sentimental value to it.
Still, I’ve been here with friends on multiple occasions and it’s always turned out alright. The only thing I can really say it to avoid most of the desserts.

I always said, there is no way you can get bad food in NYC, but this place breaks the rule, the food is B A D. I don’t know what I was thinking the moment I decided to stay and give it a try, I often go to NYC and from all my experiences in modest and fancy restaurants, this is the one that deserves the award for worst food ever.
If you walk by this place, save your money and find a Whole Foods and grab something from there.

one of the worst places in my life i have EVER eaten! Food was disgusting, old, straight from the dark ages! People sitting next to us found a roach in their soup! The waitress then gave them their refund.
I don’t know what they put in this food, but i will never come back to this establishment.

I can’t believe this place, the only thing they got right was the Jello.
This is without out doubt the worst food I have ever eaten…
There was NOTHING good in the whole buffet.
My stomach is still recovering!
DO NOT DO IT TO YOURSELF!

I can’t believe I did this. For the faint of heart and/​or stomach, don’t read this review. Really, don’t.
I’m going to preface this by giving some unsolicited advice. If your «friends» dare you to do something, insist that you can’t do something, and then start to make wagers accordingly, sometimes it’s best to swallow your pride and walk away.
This afternoon, a challenge was issued, a gauntlet thrown. It was stipulated that I couldn’t eat [redacted] pounds of this food. Let that sink in. One pound of this stuff is pushing the limits of even the dullest/(most lenient?) of palates. I had to eat multiple pounds. Now I had done things like this in highschool, but I was on a sports team, and there were other guys sick in the head enough to partake in this sort of thing. This time, I was flying solo, the stakes were higher, and the food was infinitely worse.
Even if the daunting task before me wasn’t coloring my experience, the food has only gotten worse since the last time I was here, a little over a year ago. When you’re eating questionable quantities of food, you notice how much everything here tastes the same. Everything has the consistency of mush cooked slightly al dente. You know, just enough for you to remember that you’re eating… something. It’s all as sweet as ever, and to add insult to injury, they have one beef dish these days. And it isn’t a good one.
It’s still ten dollars, but you’d really be better spending it elsewhere. If you’re scrimping, I get it. But for the love of God go to the Halal cart and just buy two orders of lamb over rice and save one for later. If I catch you in here I will beat you senseless so I don’t have to watch anyone else eat what I ate and oh god this is making me… aughhhh
PS. I won. But it was in no way, shape, or form worth it.

I came here for the all you can eat lunch with a friend. This buffet was actually very good. The waitresses were constantly refilling the food and checking on us to take way dirty plates and refill our drinks. The buffet had a larger selection than I expected.
The buffet included some of the following: lo mein, fried rice, white rice, sweet and sour chicken, chicken nuggets, spring rolls, egg rolls, mai fun noodles, fried chicken wings, dumplings, beef with broccoli, french fry puffs, string beans, chicken with broccoli, chicken with mushrooms, oysters, shrimp, soups, and more.
There were even things that I would not expect to see at a midtown buffet. There was char siu and roast duck. There was also a dessert section that had cubes of jello, a few pastries, slices of oranges, fruit salad, cantaloupe, and honey dew melon.
A couple of the meat dishes were dry and hard but for the most part, everything was of a good quality and consistency. It is hard to complain with an all you can eat buffet with so many offerings that is only $ 9.25 for lunch! The dinner buffet however is double the price.