Pagoda Grill and Buffet

I tend to be a kinder and gentler Yelp reviewer, however, I can't deny I found myself disappointed during this first visit to Pagoda Grill and Buffet, a Chinese buffet located in the strip center at 38th and Moller in Indy's International Marketplace area. I'd offered a friend of mine a meal at his place of choice for Christmas. We usually get together on my side of town, however, this time around we chose something closer to him. Pagoda is in an older strip center, though it's fairly well maintained with accessible parking spots and an appropriate curb cut. The glass doorways here are a little heavy, though they were manageable. As you enter, there's dining to the right, a hosting area where you pay directly in the middle, some Chinese decor toward the front, and the remainder of the buffet and dining room behind the hosting area. They also have a party room all the way in the back. We arrived at about 5:30pm in the dinner hour. The crowd was pretty steady. There are several buffet tables with both traditional Chinese fare along with obvious American items like fried chicken, pizza, and other items. My friend and I found a table, though it was quite filthy with a big clump of food directly under it that wasn't cleaned up until we were done. After you pay, they give you your receipt and a server comes by to check your drinks and then brings the drinks. This server was efficient, though not particularly hospitable. That said, she did bring refills. The food ranged from downright cold to kind of warm. I think there were a couple items I'd consider to have been hot. I had one plate and started a second, however, by the second the coldness of the food made it very unappealing.Crab rangoons were decent. Chicken was tolerable. Fried rice was bland. Egg rolls were okay. It was all definitely very "meh" and nothing that I thought was memorable. The atmosphere was tolerable but far from appealing. I think the overall price was in the $40+ range including drinks for two people. Would I visit again? Not a chance. There are too many other better options. This is the area where I grew up and I was really hoping to find a place over here for those times when I am feeling nostalgic. While I've had worse meals, the average atmosphere, cold to warm food, dirty floor, and lack of welcome all add up to this being a one and done experience.

My friends and I had some time to kill while in Indianapolis and decided to go to a Chinese buffet. We were extremely disappointed with Pagoda. The food was cold, low quality, and just didn't taste very good. The staff was kind and the place was clean overall. That's where my two stars come from. I will not be coming back.

I really don't eat at buffets after the pandemic but my friend had a hankering for Chinese so we came here. The food was ok, nothing was hot and the two chicken dishes I tried, the meat tasted off. They do have good crab rangoons so that was something enjoyable. Not sure I'll be back anytime soon but we got a decent meal.

Paid $30 for two people, chicken was hard asf and they had no AC. Talk about one hell of an experience. Thank god for their cool claw machines...

They don't have their salmon on their buffet anymore they've cheap and a lot of the stuff they carry. The waitressing is OK the bathrooms are usually clean. They need to work on their food selection.

Actually got my order to go. Friendly efficient service and delicious food at a great price! What more could you ask for?

I came with my family and the food was cold and disgusting my mom got cucumber and it was with soggy and some were dry also Noodles were disappointing and disgusting and it was $86 for cold and dry food ,everything looks like it was from 3 days ago , the Dr Pepper was disgusted too.

Incredibly awful food. Total waste of money. If you never trust another review in your life, trust me on this. Really really bad.

Food is horrible and cost too much. Several meat entrées were over cooked and hard. There were plates of food waiting on the grill bar counter waiting to be cooked. I called ahead for prices and when I got there to pay for the buffet the girl charged me more. I told her the prices quoted over the phone were less. The girl said the prices went up... I should had left the restaurant, but I had other people with me I was taking out. Do not waste your time or money on this place...

The food was just horrible. I go to lots of restaurants, especially Chinese buffets and they are very different and better than here. They didnt have a variety of beef dishes, they had a lot of American that looked horrible too, and some of the food was cold and had been sitting for awhile. For the price they have to do better.