Reviews for Americas Buffet

11/24/2023 - MenuPix User

10/17/2014 - Kurt VR
Familiarity, as they say, breeds. Eating at a certain restaurant for 13 years you come to see, to borrow another phrase, the good, the bad and the ugly. On occasions, you even see the underbelly. My opinion of the food hasn't changed in the last few years.. It's still a steal but with another price increase in Aug 2014, it's become less of a steal. One could argue all day over pluses and minuses of the fact the buffet spread is virtually the same as it was in 2012 or 2010. What has changed, and changed for the worst, is the ambiance of the restaurant which has degenerated from "family" to openly unruly screaming, crying and obnoxious infants and children along with the "how dare you correct the behaviour of my child" parents. On any given weekend children scream endlessly, cry at the top of their lungs and run rampant among patrons' tables with zero parental supervision. Since when did this become McDonald's play land or Chuck E Cheese?
The owners, who are Chinese, ignore such misbehaviour and simply smile. Twice in the last year they have booked an evangelical Christain women's empowerment group during Saturday brunch to come, along with their amplifiers, set up, and get possessed by the "Holy Spirit," much to the total disbelief and dismay of their regular customers. The restaurant has two main dining areas, neither of which has any doors or partitions to isolate the noise. There was no attempt to either block or turn down the sound of the evangelicals' amplifier as it quickly filled the main dining area. When confronted by irritated customers the attitude of the evangelicals was, quite literally, "we paid for this place for 3 hours, so we can make as much noise as we wish.Ask the management for a refund and go elsewhere today." Forget the feelings of the restaurant's regular customers, as management did nothing. Anything for a few extra $$$, just don't PO the owners.
Employees at Americas Buffet have been and are also permitted to bring their children while they work. It saves their parents the cost of both a baby sitter and the kid's food but also means someone has to provide for the child's entertainment for the next 6-8 hours. Recently one female employee's son got bored and became overly aggressive with some of the restaurant's male staff, kicking them in the shins, nearly kicking their cajones, biting and hitting the employees w/ a wet towel. All was in full view of other patrons. If this were not bad enough the same female employee frequently arrives late and has almost always opened late on Saturday mornings, clearly and visibly delaying the opening until her son and she too are fed.
When this rather selfish and aggressive behaviour was pointed out to management, the employee was told to find another keeper for her son. End of story and they lived happily ever after?? No way. The following Saturday morning Erica, the "offended" female cashier, stole out of the restaurant 5-7 minutes before opening and proceeded to verbally attack the customer who had complained about her son's behaviour and habitual late openings. Since she wasn't inside the restaurant and it hadn't formally opened, she rationalised, she could say ANYTHING to the customer she wanted (with supposed impunity). When the customer returned her threats with derisive laughter, Erica became more irritated and became verbally abusive. From that point forward, every third or fourth word in her vocabulary was some variation of the well-known four letter Anglo-Saxon word for sex. Since when do restaurant employees like Erica approach and speak to customers this way?
A week later this incident was related in detail to one of the managers, some male relative of the owner. Presumably nothing was said or done about Erica's abusive verbiage. Her son no longer roams the restaurant but Erica still works there. This, however, is a sign of how little the owners/managers care about both their restaurant's image and the propriety of a truly trashy female employee.
If you patronise Americas Buffet, a set of ear plugs is well in order. Also, don't expect the people around you, especially those with small children, to show any respect for their fellow diners.
As said earlier, the food rates a reasonable 3 stars. For repeatedly condoning such people as the women's empowerment evangelicals, loud, unruly children and trash talking employees like Erica, Americas Buffet deserves a NEGATIVE six stars. Propriety means nothing here so "dine" at your own risk. Ear plugs are optional but strongly recommended.