Empress of China II

First off, understand my 3 stars do not remotely refer to the food here, which isn’t as horrific as has been described, but is not even close to A-​OK. There is a lot to be desired at this buffet: paltry vegetable options, meat that’s been left sitting too long, lots of brown sauce on everything.
The shining light is the owner, Tony Nguyen, who (I kid you not) came to my table and serenaded me and my mom completely out of the blue, and actually sat down to talk. Tony is HILARIOUS. He’s friends with Queen Latifah – whipped out his cell phone to prove it – writes ballads in his spare time, cracks jokes like an Asian George Lopez, funds an orphanage in Vietnam and sings kinda like Tony Bennett. I will keep going to this spot because with Tony, every meal is unforgettable.

Please don’t pay attention to the reviews below, as they are 2 years old and the restaurant probably had a different cook then.
My wife & I ate there are were very happy with the food. The staff & owner were very nice and we will go back!

I’ve had better. Way better. I trust Chad’s reviews but I neglected to take the date into consideration. The quality that they had four years ago is not here any more. Popping in at 6PM, which should have been the peak of the dinner rush, there was only one other table with people eating. I should have taken that as a clue. But the buffet table looked okay (from a distance) and I opted to stick around.
Taking a plate, I selected a few sliced chicken and sliced beef items that were not too dry and overcooked. Too many vegetables that had been picked over, but if I looked underneath, there was some okay stuff. The plate was half-​full. For the second plate, I tried some others. Unsatisfying. About the only thing that helped was that there was hot mustard on the cold table.
Dessert saved them from one star. In the ice cream case was a sliced pecan pie. Very strange to have something like this at a Chinese buffet, but with some soft serve ice cream, it was the best thing I had.
Cheap buffet eats. The kids will probably really like it.

Holy mother of all abominations! This is the type of place that they mock in movies and TV shows. It’s so god-​awful, even thought it’s a buffet, I couldn’t even finish the first plate.
I used to live within walking distance from this place back between 99 and 00 and it was an AWESOME restaurant owned by, GASP!, Asians. The food was good and the place had a decent crown any time of the day.
Fast forward to late 2010 and it’s now owned by Hispanics. The place was nearly empty and the food was practically inedible. Everyone from the waiters, cooks and even the cashier/​manger/​owner were Hispanic.
After circling the buffet area several times wondering why certain ingredients in the food were still moving, I finally sat down with a very questionable, steaming pile of what looked like food.
The fried rice was a soy-​sauce-​soaked gelatinous mass, the eggrolls were burned, yet somehow, soggy and only had cabbage and the seafood dish had 44% broccoli, 5%carrots, 1% seafood and 50% some sticky, thick, brown syrupy blasphemy I did not dare touch.
I took 3 bites off my food and washed it down with an entire glass of water and walked out straight to a McDonald’s to purge my system from this swill.
I do not recommend this place to anyone.

Tucked into an unassuming strip mall, you’d be quite likely to pass this place by without even a second look. Heck — you may drive by without even realizing it’s there, or — worse — stopping at the larger cafeteria on the corner of the mall or the family-​style restaurant across the street. Either would be a huge mistake. Instead, head to the corner and find a nice surprise.
While the décor won’t win any awards, and the buffet isn’t large, what you will find is a well-​stocked selection of tasty entrees on the steam table, surprising desserts (including hand-​dipped butter pecan ice cream and pecan pie) and staff that is generally eager to please. The only downfall is the aforementioned location which can be tough to find, the smallness of the place and that they don’t generally pay much attention once you are there — so if you drink a lot (as I do), you may find your glass empty more than once. Still, the food is better than most any buffet — and a number of non-​buffets — in Charlotte.