Crystal Lake Buffet

The hibachi cook did not speak English & would not have understood that the veggies were uncooked, raw, & not well done. He seemed confident like he knew what he was doing, but in reality he worked it like a rushed amateur. So I reported it to the front attendant as honest feedback. Before I left to get there, I did try calling to see if it was open because it was a long drive, but no one answered the 1st time & another time from a different line the receiver was picked up & hung up; but Google Maps said open so I went ahead. I lost my appetite at some point & found most prepared foods remarkably bland & boring with a slight touch of msg noticeably missing or overutilized, there was some weird flavor & taste apparent in all dishes. I saw some authentic non Indian Asians try to enjoy it & could tell from the dissatisfaction on all of our faces that this place felt like a mistake, not as good as Elgin's sister establishment - check my review & pix over there. I was quite sick the next day & had to question why I couldn't finish much this food being quite hungry. My waitress was using her dustbin & broom multiple times in same locations, it was quite loud & distracting observation, cleanliness is good if it can be contained, but usually dust flies near open food, but I didn't say anything. They simply have to sample their sister buffet in Elgin to ramp up quality, until then this is certainly not worth the effort, unfortunately, as I had to post to remind myself to wait to see if they 'pump it up.'

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 3

Worst experience ever, a good two hours before closing, and the cooks are refusing to bring out new food with 50% of the trays empty and or dried up.Then, there's some creepy guy, twenty five feet away.Just staring at us the whole time we were eating.
Half of the staff had there nose in their phones.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Came 2 1/2 hours before close.. there was old food or no food out. Nothing fresh or filled. We even requested to fill a few things and they said they wouldn’t.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 1

The food is very good here for the price. 15.99 for lunch. The make your own stir fry is delicious. Will return

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The Sweet Rolls were older than the Amazon river. A lot of the food was hard enough to be used as replacement ammo for the US Army. Squid was chewy too and not boiled correctly. Only thing to compensate was the staff who were patient, but they should at least check on the food more often.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 5

Overall appearance is great, but the food selection and quality was lower than expected, and the staff was essentially non-existent and the ones that were there were not friendly.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 1

Traveling all across America, I haven’t come across a better establishment.

This was the worst buffet experience I’ve ever had. If you’re willing to waste $20, go ahead, but even the fountain drinks tasted unpleasant. Frozen Chinese food from Aldi is genuinely better. I became sick almost immediately and had to go to the restroom before finishing my first plate. The food tasted cheap and low-quality, someone was cutting corners everywhere.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Standard buffet food

Food: 3

It's s buffet..no real service. Many choices including sushi, the regular buffet and mongolian grill. Also senior Tuesday.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

Came for a quiet dinner to this buffet and then they turn on a dj for karaoke. Why would they put a karaoke for a buffet??? Couldn't have a conversation with my family. Its a Chinese restaurant not a mexican restaurant

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 5

Service: 4

Haven't been here in years. Not sure I'd go back, but i love a good Chinese buffet. The food was just so so. The sushi nothing special. It used to be fab. It was an ok lunch. No hurry to return.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 3

Clean place. The food was fresh. They were bring out hot trays of food when I walked in!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great food. The sweet and sour chicken is excellent

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

Always fresh food. Great hibachi..