Gourmet Buffet

Reviews 4

RI

Richard Thwaites

PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING: RISK OF FOOD BORNE ILLNESS I am urgently publishing this review to warn others off of the Gourmet Buffet. I have become ill at this establishment. The condition of this buffet restaurant is clearly below public health standards and is a public health risk. The first thing on Monday morning I will be contacting the Oakland County Health Division to report this establishment. I visited Gourmet Buffet on a Friday night at about 8:15 in the evening. It closes at 10 PM. The place was nearly empty. The physical condition of the restaurant should have warned me off as would the Y E L P reviews had I looked at them beforehand. This is obviously a family-run business. It is large inside and full of tacky Chinese décor. Amidst the colored overhead lighting were burned out recessed lights making for many darkly lit areas of the dining room. Seats were warn out with holes. Some springs were visible They offer an all-you-can-eat buffet with sushi, hibachi and salad bar. I was met by buffet steamers which had condensed steam on the protective glass above which was in turn dripping into the food. The condensate was so thick I couldnt see the food under the glass without squatting down. The selection was limited and what I sampled tasted like it had been rewarmed so many times that it was dissolving. What I did try was tasteless. Fried food was soggy and cold. Noodles were so soft so as to be pasty. The sushi bar was completely empty with the exception of a few remnants. The soup bowls were stained brown. The salad bar was also devoid of food with the exception of a few pieces of kiwi, orange wedges and a banana Jello concoction with rancid bananas. They featured crab legs t which appeared only once in the 45 minutes that I sat there, They were swimming in a cloudy liquid that I am afraid to guess the contents. At one point as I wandered around wondering what I could eat without getting sick, the kitchen door opened to reveal a mess like I have only seen in a night market kitchen in Asia. Filth everywhere. The waitress stations were filled with dishes and napkins with trash including discarded food all around. In one corner of the restaurant, sat an elderly Asian woman with a child and another Asian woman and they were peeling green beans on the eating surface of the dining room table. Next to them, in the dining room, was an open storage area with trash cans and an obviously broken ice cream freezer. The operating ice cream freezer was filthy and its storage bins for raw ice cream mix were uncovered and catching dust from the restaurant. Service was unfriendly and inattentive. The Gourmet Buffet is a poster child restaurant for Restaurant Impossible or Kitchen Disasters multiplied by 100. I can honestly say that I have never in my life seen a place in such condition: not in the USA and not abroad. I will make it my objective to have this restaurant shuttered until they can come up to a standard that doesnt endanger the public health. The people who run this place should be prohibited from operating another eating establishment. STAY AWAY OR FACE A RISK OF FOOD BORNE ILLNESS

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Heather Martell

Worst food ever,glad Im alive and not in the hospital with food poisoning. Food was old and cold,service was so bad. I tried so hard to like it since it was 14.99 a person. Wish I would of walked back out after I seen the atmosphere was dirty. To top it all off I got ice cream cuz I was still hungry cuz I couldnt eat real food. The ice cream from soft serve was spoiled and my husband almost threw up,he spit it in a napkin. I told the server she didnt care I received no discount at all. She didnt even bother to tell any management about the ice cream. I told a family with children when we were leaving dont feed your kids the ice cream cuz I felt bad for them. Also I gave the server my money and $3 tip which she didnt deserve. She counted the money at my table to see if she got a tip who does that. if it wasnt for my husband I would of walked out and not payed but he was embarrassed to cause a scene.we shouldnt have to pay cuz we couldnt barely eat and the server had to know she kept taking full plates of food. I hate wasting food but I didnt want to throw up cuz it was old and cold and who knows what else.so mad my husband had to suffer through that as his birthday dinner. You have to shut this place down it is in humane what you are feeding people especially with that kind of price.you would think all these bad reviews you would do something. I just wish I read reviews first. I never have left a review for any restaurant but people need to know cuz this is dangerous to our health! Never ever would I come back not even for a million dollars how sad! Wish I could leave no stars so so so gross,what are you people thinking!

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Bill Davis

They need to have "0" stars available. Like the majority commenting, would really recommend avoiding this place. Thought I would try under their guise of new ownership. Walked in, waited, no one came to seat me, sat myself. Went to the buffet bar, although the signs indicate new ownership, the food is still the very same, in the very same locations so I would guess the same people, new name. New owners, yea right. The dark side is still the same, food is beyond words...at least of which can be written here. I mean it is just awful. It looks OK, but its really that bad. Waitress came by and took my soy sauce from the table as I was eating. I put my hands up like, OK, now what, yet she never asked me if I wanted something to drink. Two minutes later some one came by and asked. I received my water as requested, but for the rest of the meal no one ever came by my table again. Not once. No refill, no take my dirty plates, nothing. It is no wonder this place was not even 25% full. I am done with this place. Until this location becomes something else, I would heed the recommendations of others, stay away, and save yourself/yourselves $$$ P.S. Avoid the dessert if you do go. The cheesecake tasted like it was 2 weeks old and been back and forth from the cooler in that much time. No apologies, ZERO stars.

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Erin Y

I used to love this place! I always looked forward to eating here. Now though, its so overpriced and the quality has really gone down hill. My friend and I ate here around 8pm on a Friday. It was very steady and I assumed that meant that the food would be fresher and served more often. I was wrong. Some of the food tasted old, like it had been sitting there for a few hours. And when they did run out of things, the waitress said "No refills" Popular dishes like general tsos and bourbon chicken had run out and they had no intentions of refilling them. It was basically, "Pick from whatever is left because the cooks arent cooking tonight." 15$ a person for dinner is only worth it if you can 1) eat at least 3 plates and a dessert or 2) if you eat mostly crab and other expensive dishes. To add to that, before I had even finished my food, the waitress took my plate from me. I guess I paused too long? Maybe you have to continuously eat? We left and I tipped what I normally tip at a buffet, 10%. Im a waitress myself and I wouldnt expect 20%+ if all the waitress did was bring me a drink and take a plate. But this waitress gave me a nasty look the entire time we were walking to the door.