Central Buffet

This was my first visit to Central Buffet. With an average 3 star rating, I was not expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised at the smell when walking into the restaurant. Following the staff member to our table, I got to glimpse at the buffet and saw my favorite foods right away.
Our first trip was to the Habachi Bar. Selected my veggies and meat and watched the skilled chef go to work. He has a tip jar where it appeared like everyone was tipping a dollar per bowl. It was very good.
My next trip up, I hit all my favorite chickens. I took a sampling of the lemon chicken, honey chicken, borbon chicken, and sesame chicken. A little fried rice and a couple of egg rolls and I was set.
Enjoyed every bite! The food was great. The only negative was the final process of getting out of there. We waited 10 minutes to get our bill and ended up just walking to the register.
UPDATE: March 12, 2016
Since my first review, I have visited this restaurant five times. It has become a favorite place for my wife and I to go eat. She and I are on different ends of the spectrum when it comes to food. I love trying new things. She like chicken fingers, until we get to eat Chinese food, or more importantly, has a Habachi grill. She has the preparation of her bowl down to a fine science. Me? I hit the buffet tables… hard. I load plates up like these are my last meals.
I enjoy just about everything on the buffet table. In all honesty, I don’t touch the dessert table. Seen one too many young people putting their hands all over the food. I love the chicken-​on-​a-​stick. After loading up, I give my wife the glance, and she starts putting them on her plate as well. Now that’s awesome communication skills.
Just to the right of the Hibachi Grill, they have steak pieces. Walk away! It really is the toughest piece of meat I have tried to eat. Stick the Habachi Grill, stick with the buffet table, but keep that steak away from your mouth. Seriously, all the other food was awesome. They don’t need the steak.

This place is really hit-​or-​miss. When it’s busy, it’s so good. When it’s slow, it’s about like any other Chinese buffet. Big selection. The only good desert is ice cream. The rest are standard crappy Chinese buffet cakes.

I come all the way from Los Angeles to eat here! I’m not kidding. Best habachi ever. Great Buffet. Wait staff is nice and friendly and good prices. I eat here sometimes 2 times a week while I’m in town.

Large bars and excellent wait staff. The food is usually hot and the Hibachi Grill is very good!
Check out the photos below for a sample of what they have to offer.

Wife and I are rather particular about our Chinese food. Decided to try here because we were driving by. Everything was very good. The only prob would be the A/​C was set on 81, so it was rather sweltering in there. Other than that good place.

Nice amount of food for self serving patrons. Caters more to meat eaters than vegetarians. The cabbage had meat, so I had to pick at it to remove it since I am limiting my amounts of consumed meats. The food items were not labeled too well and the bathroom had a toilet that was continuously flushing (I personally would rather that over a clogged toilet that had stuff in it). There was a LOT of sushi to choose from at around 3:40 and they had tons of shrimp, which is something that my boyfriend likes (surprised he hasn’t developed a food allergy cause each time we go out to eat he puts a mountain of shrimp on his plate regardless of which restaurant we go to that serves shrimp). The waitress was on the ball and did her job well and filled our glasses when it was half filled (some more people need to take lessons from her. Thank you for doing your job). Come to think of it, the water was actually nice and did not have no chlorine taste to it, so a big ”Heck yeah” to that. The atmosphere was a little dated, but people did their jobs well and we both left full and satisfied with the meal and will return another day.

Great selection of delicious food! Definitely recommend. For a family of 4, we paid $ 50 on a Friday night. Didn’t get to try the hibachi grill but that’s for next time. Loved the sushi selection. The shrimp dish I had was my fave (sorry can’t think of the name) but the shrimp tasted so fresh that I had to go back for more. I promise to take pictures next time :)
my kids loved the potato skin, steak, ice cream etc. It was just an awesome experience and everyone was friendly! Have I mentioned that it’s highly recommended? Lol Bön a petit!

So many choices! Including fruit, steak, ribs, hibachi AND sushi as well as other Chinese foods! This is my favorite Chinese buffet. I stuff my face every time. I drive from Baton Rouge to eat here.

In my opinion most Chinese buffets are all the same and this one is no different. Last time I went I had a horrible experience. I’ll never go back. If I can remember correctly, I went between 3:00 — 4:00 that day. The food was not fresh. I believe it had been sitting out since 12:00 or so (for the lunchtime crowd). I saw some fries that were sitting out and I could tell by the looks of them that they weren’t fried long enough. They looked partially frozen. The person I was eating with couldn’t eat anything on their plate because after taking a few bites, they noticed the food wasn’t fresh. They even complained to the staff. My friend ended up eating fruit instead. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone.

Great buffet. Very large selection. Everything was well cooked and tasty. I would recommend it if you are a buffet type.

Yum!!! Only downfall is that I don’t live anywhere near here but really I’m thinking that’s a blessing in disguise! Well… also, they must be the only place like this in the area because I went on a Friday night with a bunch of family, and the wait (and the amount of people also waiting) was ridiculous!
However…it was well worth the wait. They had all the usual Chinese buffet options that were fresh no doubt due to the amount of people there gobbling it all up. Play they had lots of sushi options that were not just the ordinary choices and Hibachi, which was unfortunately totally crowded. I’m thinking they might want to consider opening a second location if they are getting this much business on a regular basis because this place was packed, and the inside was a pretty decent size.
I don’t go to Central much, but I was impressed with the little strip mall this was located in. We only walked along the back so didn’t get to see all the places, but I do know there was a nail place that also had several patrons. The strip was beautifully designed in bricks and had a fun courtyard in the middle that my husband and I both agreed would be a neat area for events like rehearsal dinners or smaller gatherings. Would love to say that I’d go back but likely just won’t make the drive from Baton Rouge, but… if you live in the area, I’d say to definitely go early enough and get a taste for yourself!

Love me some Hibachi Grill! They have a huge selection for a traditional Chinese buffet. They always have boiled shrimp available and Crab Legs for dinner and weekends. Also they have a nice sushi selection.
Over all it has everything you could want. However, the reason they get 3 stars… they need to be cleaner. The bathroom is always in need of TP, soap or paper towels. The place just needs a good cleaning.

Ok, here we go again with th typical «Chinese» Buffets. It starts out great when they first open and then does not even go on a slow downward spiral, it just drops off the map like a meteorite hit it.
It was great the first few months and is absolutely unfit to eat there now. The service is non-​existent, want a refill; better go find your server or do it yourself. When I want Chinese food I do not expect to find a whole cart devoted to french fries and other Amercian foods that have been sitting around coagulating like a bad science project. Cleanliness is an issue, when I can see 100 smudgings around that make a CSI unit confused; it alerts the bacteria monitor in me and scares the hell out me.

So I rarely go to buffets but when I want something quick and my appetite is big, sometimes I make a stop. I find that busy buffets are pretty good because the food doesn’t sit long. I also appreciate healthy options which is why I gave them 3 stars instead of two. They are clean which is also a plus.
I didn’t like their sushi, it wasn’t fresh or tolerable for even a buffet (shocker) except maybe the imitation crab stuff. Also many of the dishes were lukewarm instead of hot. I assume this is so they keep longer on the bar, but it was a turn off for sure.
I am more likely to just go to Sammy’s up the street next time and pay a little more for much better food.
*edit* Their wings were really good…

The grill was the only good thing about this place. The food on the bars is older and the desert is lacking

Poor customer service. Food is inconsistent. Either too spicy or too bland. I order spicy fried rice at least once a week here for the past couple of months. The lady took the wrong order and told me I should order «better» next time. Ironically, when the usual person takes the order, it’s correct. The last 3 time she took the order, it’s done wrong.

At first, this place was great. A refreshing new Chinese buffet in the Baton Rouge area… Good selection, food tasted delicious, and the fried rice was really good (I’m a sucker for good fried rice). My family and I live in Central so we eat here fairly regularly, at least once a month. I feel pretty confident in saying it’s slowly gone downhill from day one.
The smell outside is not very appealing at all. It smells like rotting pork and is so offsetting that it makes it difficult to enter the restaurant. The selection is still okay but the food is sub-​par. The oysters sit out for hours and are dry. The sushi is always room temperature and discolored (brown instead of green avocado, etc.). Plates are dirty, glasses are frequently gross, stickiness everywhere… We usually go on Thursday or Friday evenings and every time, it’s the same thing. On top of all of this, they have Pepsi products.
In short, I used to love this place. It used to be fantastic. Now, it’s worth it to pay $ 5−10+ more to go to Nagoya across the street.

I’m not a big Chinese buffet fan, but the sushi here is actually really good, usually fresh and a good variety. The hibachi is pretty good as well.