Silicon Valley Asian Buffet Restaurants (Moved)

Unless you don't live in the Bay Area, it is impossible to miss those new Asian buffet restaurants sprawling everywhere. They are mostly operated by Chinese owners, with a few by Koreans. The new ones are almost exclusively hybrids, mixing all East Asian - some even have American - dishes and tastes.

The interesting trend is that there are almost no pure-breed Japanese buffets - the mother of all Asian buffets - except the giant chain of Todai. Maybe Todai is so good that other simply conceded.

I've gathered some writeups from friends who like to try all buffets. I DID NOT write these since I don't eat at buffets all that much, but I just find these entertaining to read.

NOTE: Indians are Asians too, but there are too many Indian buffets around and I will probably cover them separately later.

1. California Buffet In Sunnyvale

Yahoo Local link

My favorite original the oldest buffet in town with high quality KoreanBuffet. Good Korean ribs, some Chinese dishes, squid, sushi, fresh udonnoodles, excellent seaweed soup, crab and the best kim chee and all ofthe standard Korean appetizers. Maybe limited menu for lunch.

2. Octagon Lunch Buffet In Santa Clara

Yahoo Local link

A new comer but with good quality Korean food with excellent Seaweed Soup and they have squid as well. Ribs are not as good as Korea Housebut everything else is high quality. Not as crowded, cheaper and greatservice.

3. Korea House Lunch Buffet In Santa Clara

Yahoo Local link

This one is also an original classic buffet and it gets very busy atlunch. Get there at 11AM to avoid the crowd but you will only get onechance so get all the food you can on the first run. Good Korean ribs,fried chicken, sweet and sour, one selection of generic sushi, overall good Korea food and very popular.

4. Super Buffet In San Jose & Santa Clara

Yahoo Local link

As a new comer, I like Super Buffet as far as Chinese food goes, clean environment, good food, wide selection. Menu may vary at lunch. Most of the people I talk to like Super Buffet.

5. Crazy Buffet In San Jose & Sunnyvale

Yahoo Local listing for the new Sunnyvale site

Crazy Buffet and Super are about the same level in my book. Crazy has a-lot of shrimp dishes, smaller selection if I recall and environment may not be as clean. But hey, we don't go to these restaurants expecting 5 stars. =)

6. Coriya Hot Pot City In Milpitas, San Francisco and Richmond

Yahoo Local listing for the Milpitas site

I don't mean to rank Hot Pot City low, but if you are just hungry and want huge quantities of food, on a cold day Hot Pot City has my vote. Boil up your food in the Hot Pot or BBQ, make sure you take a showerafterwards. Dinner is better because they have wider selection andmarinated lamb for those of you that are interested Yang Ro Chuan(Chuar) Lamb Skewer for dinner not very good Chuar but hey it's Chuar. Marinated beef is good and chicken if you are willing to wait. Go after 10PM and get a discount (and leftover).

7. Uncle Sam's In Fremont

Yahoo Local link

Uncle Sam's has huge quantities of Chinese food and that's all I have tosay about that! Lots of food at a decent price.

8. Happy Buffet In Milpitas

Yahoo Local link

I liked Happy Buffet at its' grand opening but I went back this weekendand was disappointed. The lobster was old, the fish was not good, thesnow crab was bland. Only good thing was the Cantonese style cookedcrab (pepper salt) everything was average or below average. The vanilla ice cream was even broken. But they spent a lot of money renovating so it's clean there. You will even see the guy who used to work at CrazyBuffet at the front desk.

9. China China, Santa Clara

Yahoo Local link

THUMBS DOWNIf your friends like poorly made Chinese food this is the buffet to take them to. Does not compare to any of the buffets listed above if you like authentic food. That sums this one up.

10. Palace B-B-Que, Santa Clara

Yahoo Local link

I highly recommend this place to the real Korean BBQ fans. See separate review.