Tin Tin Buffet

Reviews 5

DO

Doug Engle

From small town Kansas into this area for business/pleasure, this was my first sampling of Asian buffets in the Charlotte area, and Ive visited dozens of similar restaurants over the years from small town America to metropolitan cities, and this ranks in my top 3 favorite in terms of variety, flavor, and atmosphere. In the last couple months, I first visited Tin Tin on my birthday (November 8th) on a Friday evening, and for roughly $20 plus drink, I was not disappointed despite reading some negative reviews on both Google and TripAdvisor. Since returned a few evenings later on a weeknight, and enjoyed Sunday lunch there today (December 29th). This is the very first asian buffet Ive visited with more than soft drinks on the menu... including a variety of house red and white wines, which complements any fine meal for only $5 a glass. Food prices were comparable if you contrast the price of seafood at a non-buffet restaurant, at $20/plate for supper, and $11/plate for lunch. Cleanliness is above average, staff is constantly on the go, cleaning tables, bussing used plates, refreshing food and refilling drinks. Today I asked my waitress to find me an English-speaking waitress for a question I had on the best method to find the meat on a crawfish, and within 30-seconds and minimal effort, she found a coworker who answered my question with ease and professionalism. No shortage of plates or bowls to be found, the three times Ive been here, everything seemed organized. For Sunday lunch today, I was impressed with the strong variety of sushi, I found mackerel, snapper, eel, spider, salmon, crab, egg, tofu, california, spicy shrimp, spicy tuna, pork, and rainbow... I recall when I was here on Friday night for my birthday in November, there was also squid and octupus sushi. As far as other types of seafood or distinctly different animals on the lunch buffet, my favorites were the crawfish (large, juicy and easy to dissect), the "salty shrimp" (huge shrimp), ginger clam, shrimp lo mein, butter shrimp, tilapia, and steamed fish... the evening in November also had frog legs, snow crab, octupus, squid, and rock oysters that all seemed fresh and well-prepared... Soups... the lunch buffet today had the typical Hot and sour, or egg drop soup... but there was also a seafood soup with bits of crab... this isnt a soup, but I thought it fun that there was "fried banana"... for dessert, theres a variety of jellos, puddings, fruits and an ice-cream softserve machine... Other observation I had is that all three meals Ive had here, mid-day weeknight, weekend night, and todays lunch buffet... the place was packed full of people, but the greeter was quick to find me a place close to the food... Theres a friendly older Asian gentleman Ive seen every time Ive been there, working the register... I understand hes the owner of the establishment... Id think if I had a complaint, Id go straight to him... When I was finished with my meal, and requested my invoice, there was no wait time... ten seconds tops, even though I was in a full restaurant... and I noticed as I was walking away from my table to pay, the bussers were already cleaning up my table... Im thrilled, and will recommend to friends to visit, hope more will leave positive experiences... Ive noticed here on Tripadvisor I note so many reviews that are negative for various establishments... wonder what we can do to encourage folks to balance out with the positives... had I relied on the negative reviews on Google and TripAdvisor for Tin Tin alone, I might not have come, and would have missed out on a fantastic eating experience... I dont know if Id move to North Carolina from Kansas just for it, but I might... :-)

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CO

Corey H

For starters we came to the buffet with the intentions of receiving Crab Legs with the buffet to be told that they will cost $15 a pound. We decided to eat there regardless because we were already there. While being escorted I realized they sat me and my friend in the back of the restaurant behind the servers station. I found it awkward because it felt like we couldnt have a conversation without workers being right behind our head. But it didnt take long for my friend to notice they also escorted another African American couple to the back room where they escorted us. During our time there I watched them escort three more couples and a large family all into the back room and that was literally the only demographic occupying that space as paying customers. For some reason the rest of the seating areas in the restaurant were occupied primarily with every other demographic. But they did have one couple on the left side and one couple on the right side. To some this might seem like Im creating a scenario, but these were my observations and I didnt enjoy my experience due to the quality of the food, lack of seasoning, being over cooked or dry and the lack of crab legs included with the buffet.

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A

A Private User

The food at Tin Tin is very good for Charlotte standards, but the price is super expensive. The goal of the restaurant is to create turnover and collect maximum revenue. There is nothing wrong with that except you will feel rushed and pressured to leave as quickly as possible. As soon as the first person in your group gets the desert plate, you will find the bill on your table. They do not make any effort to be nice to repeat customers. There is no small talk, no attempts made by the hostess and manager at the front door despite the fact that we go there quite frequently. Recently, we had a medical emergency while dining there and were only half way done with our dinner. They detained us as the hostess was trying to verify with our waitress how many plates were eaten so far, how pathetic! From there we went straight to the hospital and they insisted that we pay for the full meal! I mean, come on! They obviously did not care if we’d never come back. Very cold hearted, chilling!

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KA

kannon wrisley

Way way way overpriced. Went with my fiancee and her little sister. Her little sister barely ate anything and none of us ate the crab legs as we arent a big fan. I go to a lot of buffets and know they range from about ten to fifteen or so a person so I was prepared for that. Def not prepared for 25 a person. For the food served that is ridiculous. I could have gone to a nice four star restaurant and paid that for three people. Didnt have a sign posted about the price either walking in or I def wouldnt have ate there. Should have just gone to cowfish or something like usual but decided to try something different. Its not Iike I dont have a little bit of positive to say though, the manager was super nice and checked on us and if you are into crab they had a TON of that. I just am not and dont think you should pay a premium just because there is some crab on the buffet. Should be a separate price or something.

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JO

Joshua Langford

Im a guy that use to love going to this place faithfully no matter the cost. Tin Tin was known for there crab leg buffet which the do not sell any more. I never cane for anything else except fo crab legs and i was very disappointed that they didnt have any. The food they had wasnt all that good I mostly drank water and thats saying a lot. When I use to go there I ate mountains on top of mountains of crab legs, i guess i cant do it anymore lol. I should have suspected something when i came and only seen a few cars. When I walked in I was there second customer and I came around 5:00pm, dinner starts at 4:30pm and around this time the place used to be loaded with people. Overall the food was ok but ill never go there again as long as theyre doing what theyre currently doing.

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