Downtown Buffet

This place was not good at all! For the price we expected better food. Most of the food was probably the first batch of the day, left out and not refreshed. The only thing that was decent was the soft serve ice cream machine.

The bad news is there’s slop for dinner. The good news is there’s plenty of it.

So we recently moved to Madera and wanted to go and explore the restaurants. As our first choice we had chosed Down town Buffet because some relatives had told us it was the best. So we went and gave it a try. As we enter we see a woman standing there with a face of like she didn’t care about her job. She asked us for our drinks and then took us to our table. The food was pretty good so no comment but while we eat all I saw was the employees walking around like if they had nothing to do. Our table was getting full of dirty plates no one topless turno of our table. One employee went outside to smoke while plates were stacking up not just my table but other tables were having the same problem. Our cups were empty and no employee came to serve us until we had to go and tell them to do their job. So the guy finally came and did his job and took our dirty plates but he also took one of my family members plate that he was still using away. So we decided to just ask for a check the bill was 84 $ for just 6 people. We will definitely not be back.

I was a regular here up until a few weeks back I had consecutive visits with absolutely horrible food. I think they changed owners and went cheaper on the meat quality. I loved the teriyaki beef before when it was tender. Now it’s like rubber chewing it forever. Yuk! Food warmers are broken, all food is lukewarm at best unless it just came out. You will also get the runs guaranteed, if you eat here. I even saw 2 roaches there my last visit! Disgusting! The staff is rude and lazy and the young busboys are a joke! They flirt with the skinny hostess while the customer’s tables are piled with dirty dishes! This place is going downhill quick! Don’t waste your money people! I give it 6 months and it will be out of business or shut down by Madera Co. Health Dept. (Hint Hint)

06−06−15
The food here was meh. The staff was unsatisfying. It was like they had tried to avoid any interaction with us at all. There were other families there, maybe they were busy? Or maybe they just liked leaving our cups empty and plate stacks to the side till we finally had to ask someone to clean it up? I don’t know. It was an alright experience. The place needs a little more work all around.

I usually go to Downtown buffet with my wife and family. It has a good selection of foods at a low price. I am a health conscious eater so I usually avoid the fried foods. I enjoy eating the broccoli chicken and the mushroom chicken.
Our server communicated and meet with our needs. It helps to be able to speak chinese because most of the staff speaks english as a second language. But if you take your time to communicate. I am sure you will get good service.
For $ 7.59 lunch buffet you really can’t beat the price.

Food was terrible. Chicken was dried out, wasabi was dried out, California rolls were warm, soup was not hot, hot and cold bars were filthy, no dipping saucers for soy sauce (had to use a soup bowl), utensils were dirty, plates were dirty, staff was less than friendly and I do not believe they understand everything you communicate to them. If you are looking for a restaurant with great colon cleansing power the next morning this is the place for you.

This buffet really sucks on Sundays and pretty much any other day out of the week. You usually have the big families come in with their uncontrolled children screaming and making a ton of noise. Its worse when they sit you in the back by the «fountain». The guy who cleans up the tables and has his cleaning cart there was incredibly frustrating because he or they are SO loud. I’m not kidding either. It looked like he was throwing the plates in the tub. The food is okay. It’s not the best. Most of the meat items are always overcooked and dry. Eat here if your very hungry and are limited to places to eat.

Food is ok. I’ve gone twice and have not been impressed. Yes, they have a wide selection of Chinese food and a decent salad bar. Also an adequate selection of sushi. Why the low rating?
The staff. Such an unfriendly bunch. First thing you see is a host that is cold and doesn’t smile. Same thing goes for the rest of the service staff.
I won’t be back.

Pros: .easy fast Chinese food… Con’s: rude staff. dirty restaurant… A case of the runs… All for $ 9.99 drink not included… Lol

I must admit, the attitude by the hostess (super skinny asian girl) was a turn off. But we were starving and passing through. The food was decent, salad bar very good. I really enjoyed the spicy chicken. The shrimp in shell good. Not all staff had «omg Why are you here» attitudes, one of the waitress/​bussers, was very nice. For a Buffett in the Armpit (shit hole) of Cali it was not too bad.

The food is not fresh and the service is horrible all the waiters have bad attitudes even after being polite with them, I will not be returning here again.

I hate that this piece of crap restaurant is on our Main Street. Can’t we bring back the fruit basket instead of this place with its old food and dirty silverware?
There hasn’t been one time where I have eaten here that it hasn’t made me feel ill. I would avoid it at all costs.

Go during the morning hours when the food is made recently. The selection is your typical chinese food buffet fare. Prices are kinda pricey but it will will you up.

Downtown Buffet That American Sounded Name That Turned Out As Chinese The food is just OK as the farm raise salmon was better then I expected because of Farm Raised. Nothing is special. Soft Ice Cream is on the cheap side and chocolate syrup is very thin with over sugar with so little chocolate taste. Service was good. The Dinner rate plus soda Total with Tax: $ 11.75 is pretty reasonable. If Asian people properly season their foods and get better quality ice cream etc. Their business increase in fairly small city. The parking in the rear behind the Chevron Gas Station.

Fabulous buffet. Hit the spot. Clean. Wide array of foods. Oriental in nature, delicious each plate I filled. Simple shrimp and shrimp with sauce. Crisp asparagus. Cheese wonton. Soups. Tender bits of steak. Chinese style broccoli and beef, lots of different dishes. Chicken skewers. Crab legs. Salmon. Did I mention oysters?
Hometown flavor for my husband: macaroni, 3 bean, and potato salads. Beautiful salad bar, crisp lettuces, fresh vegetables.
Full dessert bar, including different kinds of chocolate something’s, ambrosia, tapioca, jello, macaroons. One of the best little chocolate mocha tiramisu thingies I’ve ever tasted.
Fun to watch families eating, different nationalities: Chinese, Mexican, Gringo. Friendly patrons. Good service, lots of light, soft music.
Ate well, highly recommend, for families and travelers.

Normally at a buffet I can get my own drinks. I had to chase the lady down for a refill, I wasn’t too happy about that. The food was okay but there wasn’t much of a selection. same olé chinese food. They gave us one set of dinner utensils to eat everything with, including desert. They let our plates pile up on our table until they could see that we had no more room. I also noticed that some guests were treated better than others. I was with 3 young teenagers, our service wasn’t very good.
I wont be back!

I ate here and hours later I was sick. I had sushi and roast beast but they had no knifes. I was given a dirty butter knife and when I told the waiter he wiped it on his appron and handed it back. I did not use it.
I will never return to this place and miss the old Fruit Basket. It’s to bad that a good place like that had to go out of business for a dump like this.

Some friends and I were coming back home after a long camping road trip over the weekend. Dinnertime would put us in the vicinity of Madera. However, I didn’t really ~know~ of any places to eat in Madera, other than fast food places.
As we cruised along Yosemite Avenue, i kept my eyes peeled for possible restaurants. Near the intersection with Gateway Drive, i saw a sign that read“Downtown Buffet”.
Bingo.
The exterior was somewhat dingy, but we were game for trying it out.
Once inside, the décor was bright and clean. It looked nice, and so did the selection of foods in the buffet area. A waitress seated us quickly and took our drink order, and then we went in for our first pass through the all-​you-​can-​eat selections.
They had some good Chinese dishes like twice-​cooked green beans, pineapple shrimp, and mini-​stuffed crabs (3″ across the shell) that were tasty. They had a variety of soups. I had the hot ‘n sour soup, and it was nice.
Their Japanese selection was mostly some nigiri and maki sushi items that weren’t bad, but the rice was a little hard and probably could’ve used a little more rice vinegar and ginger. The fried tofu pockets with sushi rice, seaweed salad, and those little orange fish eggs was not bad, at all.
The American food table had some roast beef that one of my friends said was pretty good. Another friend said that the steamed crab legs were pretty good. She had a pile of crustacean shells to prove her enjoyment of them.
Although we were really hungry, none of us could eat more than 2 plates worth. I was unable to try the various salad, ribs, et cetera there.
if it were in Sacramento, I probably wouldn’t visit it again, since there are other, excellent buffets here.
In Madera, though, it’ was a welcome find for 4 weary traveleers wanting a good «on the road» dinner.