Supreme feast: New Route 29 buffet delivers size, size, size
Write a letter to the editor
Get your meal cooked the Hibachi way!PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR
Dish recently had a chance to check out the spread at Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet, the all-you-can-eat Chinese-American restaurant that took over the Golden Corral space on 29 North in the fall. What a spread it is.
The owners claim it’s the biggest restaurant in Charlottesville. Indeed, we’re talking nearly 12,000 square feet of space transformed to look nothing like the old Golden Corral. It’s really just one big room right now with the massive buffet spread, grill, and sushi bar right in the middle under an elaborate crystal chandelier. And there are 250 items to choose from!
According to owner/manager Leon Chen, the six-year old restaurant group already has 38 restaurants in the Southeast and plans to open several more in the near future. And you can see why. The lunch buffet is only $6.99 for adults, $3.75 for kids 6 to 10, and $2.45 for kids 3 to 6. And dinner is only $9.99, $5.75, and $4.55. We’re talking an all-you-can-eat dinner for a family of four for under $30. Plus, there’s a $1 discount for seniors and college students.
Now, Dish isn’t saying that Hibachi Grill Supreme Buffet is on the cutting-edge of the local cuisine scene, but with economic times being what they are, the abundance before us at such a reasonable price was indeed a spectacle. And, of course, it all depends on what you choose at these giant buffets.
Choose wisely at Hibachi Grill Supreme Buffet, and you may be rewarded. Go light with some sushi and a salad, or feed the beast with ribs, steak, and General Tao’s chicken. There’s a grill area where you can select the raw materials for your meal and watch it being cooked for you, right next to a sushi chef at work. There’s a small raw bar with octopus and shell fish, there’s a fruit bar, salad bar, all the familiar Chinese dishes, spaghetti and meal balls, pizza, enchiladas, rib-eye steak, seafood selections, veggies galore, and a dessert and ice cream bar with a chocolate fountain.
Service is paramount at the place, too, and your empty plates and drinks won’t linger on the table for long. The folks are busy in there, hustling around to clear tables, refilling buffet items, grilling up dinners while flames shoot in the air. Of course, one of the challenges of eating at Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet, or any big buffet where you strap on the feed bag, is knowing when you’ve had enough. So be cautious, foodies.
Be cautious? That’s not enough of a warning. The food was awful. Couldn’t find one redeeming dish. A complete waste of calories.
Patronize Asian Fusion or China King instead.
So, in other words, this place is worse than Golden Corral?
I’m not sure if this one is part of the same Chains or not,But I’ve eaten at a Hibachi Grill up in Maryland, Sounds like the same. Food up there is good for Buffett fare and something for everyone. I’ll have to check out this place in the future.
Small Town, Small Minds must eat at one of the pretentious Downtown Mall eateries. The food here is fine, especially the food that is grilled to order. There is a nice variety of chicken and fish items, and a number of cold food items. It is the best value in C-ville.
I went and I thought you got what you paid for. The place was clean and the staff friendly, the food was plentiful but pedestrian.
how many different oversweet sauces can you put on battered and fried chicken pieces? trough style feeding at its finest. Glad i only paid the lunch price, as i would have felt robbed if i’d have paid for dinner. better sushi at any area grocery store. you can have that “value”, tom.
This reads like promotional copy for this place. Is this a new “advertorial” kind of feature?
And what’s up with the crewcut they gave to all of the trees on the property? Ugly.
We ate there a couple of months ago and felt that it was over hyped in terms of how they describe themselves. There wasn’t anything I tried that didn’t have a better version of it at some other buffet. (Our fave is East Garden on Pantops.) I actually didn’t mind Golden Corral, despite how the name blatantly, yet indirectly, referred to its patrons as cattle feeding at the trough. :D
So we ate at Supreme Buffet once, felt disappointed, and concluded we wouldn’t be going back. But by the looks of the near full parking lot and huge crowd inside when we were there I don’t think they’ll have anything to worry about in terms of business. Plenty of people will dig it, even if a few others don’t. Like several people have noted, it’s a good value and a huge spread of food, though none of it was exceptional or noteworthy imo.
@Tom — I don’t frequent the downtown mall. It’s an over-priced tourist trap with severe parking issues, and except for a very few places, the DTM food is overrated. Best deal is the Nook’s meatloaf sandwich, tasty and reasonably priced.
On our one visit to Hibachi Grill, the food was truly awful. We have no plans to return. As I said, Asian Fusion and China King do a much better job. They’ve had their ups and downs as any restaurant does, but nothing as disappointing as HG.
The food on the buffet was cold or luke warm at best, over-sauced, gummy, tasteless, etc. Get the real picture?
You folks need to get the message: Get on the bus or fall behind. This (All-you-can-eat) is the new way. Big people are the next step in evolution. We will crush the flacos…
@Big Boy: that’s hilarious. (ps. that means i’m in trouble)
I ate there too and thought it was disgusting. This from a fat man who eats chinese food about three times a week, every week. Less is more they say, I’ll stick to Asian Fusion, less selection, less grease, lot’s of friendly servers. Never liked the China King either, so maybe I’m a chinese food snob…
We went once — will never go again. Everyone had terrible stomach-aches afterward, and that was with trying to eat healthy. They “killed” the fresh meat and veggies on the hibachi. Became tough, tasteless, mush.
WORST food I’ve had in a LOOONG time.
It’s just Golden Corral food with an Americanized “Asian” twist. No. Golden Corral at least had good rolls and steak tips. Between five of us we couldn’t find one good dish.
No need to pay for the privilege of a stomach ache.
just what america needs…another place to grow their gut! unfortunately they don’t provide a treadmill at every table so the america’s porkers can work off some of their pork hanging over their belt.
Went just before christmas. It was slammed-jam packed. Have to agree the food was not spectacular but was just okay. I do not remember the server smiling even once. The chandelier was real pretty, though.
Is this a paid advertisement Dave? Just curious…
If the economy is so in the toilet here, then how come every-time I go to the Clifton Inn, or Fleurie, or Duner’s, Hamilton’s, the C&O, or the Downtown Grill, it is packed?
Maybe because FOOD and BEVERAGE is one of the last things people cut back on. When gas hits $5.00+ a gallon next year, I suspect these restaurants won’t be packed when you visit them.
?,
Fleurie, Clifton Inn, C&O…sounds like things are going good for you, and the folks who can afford to eat in those fine restaurants. Although, I doubt they are as packed as the Hibachi Grill! As for the economy, I’m no expert, but I do know that a lot of people are hurting out there. Paid advertisement? No, I’ve been to eat there a few times, even took my family there over the holidays and we had a fine time. Kids loved all the choices, getting it themselves, staff was friendly, and the kids loved the fountain and the little vending machines with toys.
Dave McNair
Tried it out about two weeks ago with a large group. The staff was friendly, but seemed to be a bit overwhelmed during a busy lunch time on the weekend.
The food selection was somewhat disappointing. It was nearly a 50/50 split between an americanized chinese buffet and just american buffet. Pizza, ribs, fried chicken, etc.
I still miss Hong Kong Buffet as it was my favorite in town for many years before closing. These days, I’ll stick to Asian Fusion were the staff has always been great during my visits and the selection is more my style. Price is similar to Hibachi Grill as well, maybe a buck more.
Just my devil’s advocate 2 cents, but I would think that if people are hurting economically, then eating out at *any* restaurant wouldn’t be economically feasible. Just because it’s all you can eat doesn’t mean you’re not still spending like $9-10 a person for dinner, per adult, plus tip. Say you have two adults, three kids. It’s $20 just for the adults, plus beverages, (and let’s face it, people who usually eat at buffets aren’t getting waters the way me and my boyfriend do, they get sodas and ice teas usually…) and maybe it’s free for the youngins, I don’t know. But that’s still at least $25. With $25 you could go to the grocery store and by the foundational ingredients to cook food that would result in multiple meals (and I’m not talking about microwave insta meals) instead of spending over $25 for a one time meal. But then again, as I’ve commented before, so many people nowadays are either too lazy to cook, or flat out don’t know how to.
Anyway just seems to me that when one is financially strapped you don’t go out eating at any restaurants, period. You cook your own meals.
Chinese food is not meant to be eaten buffet style. Food cooked to a perfect state in a wok is meant to be eaten immediately, not set out under french fry lights for who knows how long.
I can’t imagine eating Chinese food at a buffet style restaurant. I am not surprised that it is busy, look how many people eat at McDonalds.
Do they have Chairman Mao’s Moo Shoo too?
This darn place is why “A Patriot’s Place” can’t make a go of it! T- (doggy)Baggers are confused. Golden Corral was the place that they marched from, their “Selma”. and it now is so awesomely full of food! How can they be expected to leave there to eat at a former aRBY’S? Some choices are too difficult.
Great reviews! None of the so-called Chinese food is made locally anywhere, anyway. Those Chun Bo trucks just keep on moving from NYC throughout the East Coast every week.