Empire Buffet

This place smells like urine! Omg the food is horrible! I don’t recommend it not even to my worst enemy!!!

Food was pretty good, tons of options and all pretty tasty. However, service is disappointing. Considering this is a buffet you would think you could go for a second plate without your whole table being cleared off…

They have a good selection of food. Unfortunately some of the food didn’t appear to be fresh. I slipped in around 3:30p and they started dinner. The dinner dishes consist of oysters, clams, crab legs, and a few other dishes. Service was poor and they took a while to clear the empty dishes. I’ve witnessed a server catching a customer taking dinner dishes and only paid for lunch. She snatch the plate away from him and informed him he would have to pay for dinner prices if he wanted to keep that plate of food. Then I seen a family next to my table argue with the server because they were charged for wasted food. I will not be returning to this establishment.

I love this place, Noodles that they fry In front of you, Honey walnut prawns (ALL YOU CAN EAT AT THAT). How could you hate. I love the food here. Workers are kinda rude tho. Maybe family owned so who cares they can do what they want. Super great for the Chinese lovers of the world tho! (like myself)

I showed up at 8:20 pm today and the door sign said closed at 9:30pm.
After I had entered this place, I learned that everyone was scraping the very last remainders on the remaining trays. I don’t mind not to eat a lot but I came here to try various seafood flavors, but most of them were empty.
Also, their staffs were cleaning up as if the restaurant already close. The amount of noise and smell of chemical further discourage me from eating anything. I probably will never come back.
Please make a sign said close at 8:30pm and no fresh cook after 8:30pm so that people can decide whether they should come in or not. Do not try to steal a few more wallets and further taint your reputation (currently 2.5 stars).
Bad practice and greedy.

Chicken and beef tasted weird I couldn’t eat it. Food did not taste fresh. Service was bad really bad. I will not return …

I’m not sure how I let my bf talk me into trying this place, but I’m actually happy that he did. It’s definitely no 5-​star restaurant, but it really isn’t bad considering the many different options that they have.
If you have a taste for greasy, American-​Chinese food, it will satisfy that craving.

Food: I love clams hands down, but a few clams weren’t cleaned thoroughly. I still bite into bits of rocks, especially the large oysters. I’m not familiar with oysters but is it normal to serve them with hair (not human hair) attached inside?
I love the coconut shrimp in which most people thought it was honey walnut shrimp without the walnuts. It’s not overly sweet and it’s not boring either, I reccomend it!
They serve 2 steamed dim sum – in my case it was shu mai and bbq pork buns.
The sushi… it’s okay but not professional. Don’t expect a wide variety of sushi. The cut on the sashami was large and messy rather than thin and bite-​size. It was stringy when I took a bite out of it.
Enviroment: The place is constantly kept clean. You could barely see any trash that is left on the floor for hours. It has an easy pathway to walk back and forth at the tabling area.
Service: The waiter was patient and tried his best to find a table for a large group. Although he was very busy during Christmas he still seems calm and welcome to help. Another waitress helped us reheat our oysters that went cold on our table.
Overall, if you are looking for sushi, this is not a satisfying place to go but the Chinese food is good and the service is excellent and friendly!

DONT EAT HERE ITS TERRIBLE!!! It’s been one of my favorite places to eat ever since they opened. Usually this would be a good review but after what happened on Sunday this is not the case. I was going in for my second helping when I slipped as I was trying not to fall I hit myself on the elbow and ended up on my left knee. I was confused when I was able to get up. I noticed on the floor that I slipped on a grape. Weird because I was no were near the dessert isle. I had to walk over to someone from their staff. Because no one came to ask if I was ok. Advices them to check the floors periodically and put a wet sign on the floor. The manager came over to see what happened but only said to me «did you drop good on the floor? To which I said «no !. He said I’m sorry and walked away. He never came by again to ask if I was ok or nothing. I’m very disappointed by the staff. I understand that it was a busy night but needless to say I don’t think he would reacted like that if it had been someone he knew. I hope no one has this experience. I’m really sore right now and have trouble walking. I wish I would of never gone.

This place usually has a lot of people in the evening time, but there will always be a table for your party. The staff here don’t know English that well so when I asked for something they kept trying to shoo me away and I felt that was kind of off. There is a reasonable amount of food here and it’s a great deal.

At first glance from outside the store you kind of expect a typical buffet. Once you walk inside you see a great selection of food which is nice. However the service is quite horrid and the quality of the food is borderline mediocre. Some of their items aren’t tasty like their chicken on the stick. I couldn’t even chew it and it tasted like cardboard. However their chow mein is better than the one I had in Berkeley. My other half has recommended for me to try their coconut shrimp which I’ve never eaten before in my life. That choice was the best because it was actually delicious and didn’t taste like cardboard. Finally the price was pretty good for the amount of food that we ate however it wasn’t good for the quality of food we had. They can try a little harder next time.

The smell was awful. It smelled like nasty peed on carpet and seafood. The wallpaper was peeling and the whole establishment wasn’t kept up well. The bathroom is AWFUL. The food was cold and not at all appetizing. I’m scared to see the condition of the kitchen. Chef Ramsay probably would have shut it down! I’m sorry…$ 15.00 for a buffet is thievery for this place. Don’t come here.

The service sucks indeed but the food isn’t bad at all especially if you come after 4 or 5 PM because thats when they start serving really nice crab meat, fish, oysters and so on, and you will be charged a little more for that too. I come to that place just because of that anyway and i get my plate and serve myself with all the seafood that i can eat. Also, this is not a restaurant but a buffet, so get up and serve yourself. I don’t like the chicken nuggets, pizza or fries there because it tastes weird and why would you want to eat that at the buffet anyway??? Go to fast food place instead, duh. Ok, back to a buffet, they have fruits, vegetables, sweets, soups, other type of meat like beef, pork, chicken. They have rice, pasta different salads, boiled eggs, tiny octopussies (clears throat) pardon my language, octopuses. ;) Just go there and try it out, it won’t kill you.

Like any other chinese buffet, I only come here because there walnut shrimp. Family loves it, staff is welcoming. They just need to renovate the building one time, theyd be aite.

My personal experience with this place gets worse and worse. The overall food quality and selection are going straight down to hell. But ironically, the only thing that has been steadily increasing is their pricing. 2 dinners on any weekday nights can be easily charged around $ 40.

Ok so I have come to the Buffet a couple of times. My overall impression is that the food is ok. There selection is not huge but it is not small either. Yet the quality and taste of the food leaves lots to be desired.
Last time I went there with my boss and I got a little from each selection. The food was decent but nothing special. It is as if the food is there to fill people up but not so that they can savor the taste.
Overall the place was nice. The ambience was quiet, and clean. The carpet needs a little work but like I said, it is an ok Buffett. What I liked the best was the selection of desserts.
I would say you are not missing anything special when you come here. Just know that.

My first NEGATIVE review!!! Horrible service and the food was barely edible. As we were paying Katie was extremely rude. She complained about us leaving a tip on our credit card and said she would be taking the $ 0.25 fee they incur from the waiter. After that she turned to her phone and ignored us. We had a large group and will not be returning. Save your money and your time.

2 star since the food was good, service sucks!
I was standing at the bbq stand area waiting for someone to come cook my noodles for me and the worker seen me but walk to the back for about 6 or so mins, so I went to one of the waitress and they said yes but no one came. Finally the guy came and cool after waiting almost 10 mins.
To make it worse, our waitress didn’t refill our drinks after walking by us 2x until I said something. By the time we got our drinks, we were already done.

Come early for fresh food. After 1, you’re on your own.
Nobody expects great food at a Chinese buffet in San Pablo, right? And for your own safety avoid their sushi bar.
But they did have a few items that were fresh, tasty and nice-​looking, including honey prawns (no walnuts though LOL), dry-​fried green beans and kung pao chicken.

I love their sea bass fish and other seafood (steamed crab, fried prawns, oysters, clams, squid & etc.) and that’s my point if going there so often. The taste is actually delicious and unbeatable comparing to their price. The clam chowder also tasted surprisingly good! For the fresh salad corner, I always get the squid salad and the beetroot. Yum!
One thing that I’m not quite satisfied is the sushi. Their sashimi rolls have never been as fresh. I never gone that Japanese corner since the first few times I tried. Besides that, I enjoy this place very much! All I can eat for only $ 12.95!
I’m glad I live not so far from the place now. ;)