Chow Tyme Grill & Buffet

Reviews 4

RO

Roger Williams

We have eaten here many times in the past during busy times of the day and had favorable experiences. The food was always decent and the sushi was freshly made. We were starving Monday night and looked them up and saw that they closed at 10pm and it was only 8pm, so we thought we would go and get our grub on. Bad, Bad decision. There was not much food, and what was out, was scrunched up into little piles in the steam table to keep it warm. It didnt help, because everything was cold by the time you got to the table. There was a large asian group from a local day spa there and we were sat in the small room along with all of them. The rest of the restaurant was empty. They were eating the only thing that was getting replenished on the bar, which was crab legs and crawfish. Of course there is a sign stating something like only take what you are going to eat of the crab legs in respect of others, yet I went up there twice and both times there was one measly crab leg floating in the water and just claws and leg pieces in the crawfish spot. Every one in the small room aside from my family was walking by with overflowing plates of crab legs. My wife even pointed out that the servers were bring out piled up plates of crab to the group in the room. We gave up trying to time it just right to get some, so I figured I would load up on sushi. The sushi chef was behind the counter and there was still a fair amount of sushi out, so I jumped in. Bad decision, the sushi was obviously old and had a tangy sour acidic taste to it, which is what you get when fish is left out too long. We decided to cut our losses and just leave, so we made it clear to the servers that we were done, so we would get our check. Our server soon brought us our check and upon opening it, I was kind of shocked at the amount. They actually charged like it was busy and they were actually putting out fresh food constantly. Oh, I know, they had to get everyones crab legs paid for. In haste I threw the money for the bill in the check folder, $54.00 and we walked out. We were quickly chased down, because I shorted the waiter .52 cents and he demanded it. I gave him a $1 and should have asked for change for the insult. Bottom line, this place is one of the more decent buffets around, just dont go there when they are any where near closing. Only go here during lunch or dinner rush, or you will regret it.

CO

Cory W

Would rather give no stars. I hate to be that guy, but this place is just garbage. I have been a loyal customer of chow tyme for about a year now and have only just noticed how horrible it really is. I have been blinded by the msg into thinking this was a great buffet... regrettably, this is not so. Tonight my wife and I had decided to go out to eat after cooking our own meals for a couple of weeks, in hopes of a nice change of scenery. We started our "meal" by entering the ominous doorway into the restaurant only to be greeted by an empty podium. After awkwardly staring at two Asian woman, (who were content with just staring back at us ) another woman who spoke my version of English came up to help us to our seats. We sat down, ordered our drinks, and proceeded to the buffet area to get our "chow tyme" on. Unfortunately it must have been half-past "chow tyme" as we had come up to what was what I could only describe as "leavings" of what could have been a mediocre buffet display. We had hoped that the book tasted better than the cover... yet again, not the case. We went to our seats and ate a plate worth of cold, mashed, chicken-like breaded meat and rice. After this plate we were quite disgusted and just wanted to leave. The waiter, sure enough, came out of the shadows and gave us our bill... no words exchanged. Thank you, just made no tip the easiest decision of the night. Anyways, the bill came out to around $28 for my wife and I to eat about two scoops of abortion, (this verbage used because I literally feel like I lost a part of my soul eating this mush). Instead of complaining inside, we just paid and left immediately, all the while the previously mentioned lurkers were lurking towards our table to find my bill with a big fat $0 for the tip. Hehehe. I later called the restaurant in order to give a reasonable complaint about my evening and hopefully give some resolve to future patrons. To my dissatisfaction, and little surprise, the manager spoke about 10 words of english. I had told her about my experience and she proceeded to tell me I was the only complaint of the night, so everything must be fine, and dismissed me, saying "thank you, come again." Im not that dude that complains about petty stuff like this, but dude... cmon now. Stay away if you dont want to end up puking whatever you eat. 0 stars.

CH

Christopher Atkinson

This is the best Chinese buffet in the sleepy little town of Pensacola. It is such a good a good Chinese buffet, that it is always in the running for the local Best of the Bay award for best Chinese restaurant. It even won one year. Thats very impressive, in my eyes. This place has everything you need at a decent enough quality for the price. Its sushi bar has a ton of varieties, and the fried pieces arent just mushy like at some other places. The hibachi bar has a wonderful array of options to add to your meal, including little slices of sausage, which is something I have never seen anywhere else. I gladly added them to my shrimp fried rice I made. All of the meats are very different from each other in taste, and the fried rice is good, albeit the giant chunks of onion in it. It has the pizza and french fries options for the picky eaters in your family. It even has a pretty comprehensive salad bar section that would give Sonnys salad bar a run for its money, but Ive never used it, because, duh. They have a lot of ok desserts. Nothing mind blowing, but they do have ice cream cones so I can make a treat for the drive home. Thats really what I look for at a Chinese buffet. So, some things to try. The grilled pork is the best meat item there, hands down. The peanut chicken tastes really peanut-y, and I love it. The cream cheese rangoons things are addictive. Things to skip. Eggrolls, always. Their coconut shrimp leaves something to be desired. If you come any weeknight, skip the crab legs. Theyre just not good. Overall, this place is the place to go to if you want a Chinese buffet that you will not be disappointed in. I promise. Trust me.

CH

Charisha Wilemon

Unfortunately our experience was not good at all. After seeing a cockroach on the counter top where the food was my sister (btw VERY pregnant and easily grossed out) told the manager how disgusted she was and would no longer continue eating due to the bug so close to the food. The manager immediately went on the defense and went and grabbed her Ecolab folder showing where they had had a recent extermination and insisted we would still be paying full price since we had already eaten. No apologies at all. After arguing with my sister she eventually gave her 10% off the bill. And to top it off she left a kids plate off the ticket that was paid for and had a server run outside insisting the bill was not paid for. (Her fault she did not prepare a proper ticket the 1st time) so I (who BTW never even got to eat since I arrived shortly after the other 3 in our party) went in and paid $7 for the childs plate so we could JUST LEAVE. I understand things, such as a cockroach, are normally not foreseeable but the manager handled the situation COMPLETELY WRONG and should have sincerely apologized for the cockroach instead responding the way she did.