Royal Buffet and Grill

Saw mixed reviews but I can tell you first hand that this place is solid. I am an elite yelper and have eaten my way through Philadelphia and then some. Keep in mind that you are visiting a buffet and not the Ritz and you'll keep things in perspective. I called first to ask a question. The person who answered the phone was very nice, knowledgeable, and professional.Parking lot is slammed. We had to park ALL the way in the back. We went as a group of 9 for at 3 on a Sunday. They sat us fairly quickly, event though it was packed. They had a special room for large parties. Usually, I ask to sit close to buffet at places like this BUT every seat was close to the buffet. Upon entering, the place smelled really clean. 0 smell of fish. 0. They were too busy for anything to NOT be fresh. I was resistant to going because I am entirely plant based and didn't think I'd find anything I could eat. My friend friend was celebrating his bday, so I kinda had to go. I was glad I did. I found sooo much to eat. They special made me sushi and I gorged myself on the other items like like corn on the cob, some dim some items, sweet sticky rice, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and a few other items. Items were fresh, seasoned properly, and not dried out. I just kept seeing more I wanted to eat but my eyes were bigger than my belly. Even when we were leaving, I kept seeing more I wanted to try but we had already been there for 2 hours. I was so full when I waddled out of there. Pricing $40 for an adult at dinner. Dinner is served all day on weekends. $21 for an adult at lunch. Senior discount, prices differ by height for children. Dinner starts at 3 during the week. Unsure if menu differs for lunch or dinner. If you are gonna chow down at dinner on crab legs, shellfish, sushi, and lobster (yep it's also all you can eat) then you'll get your moneys worth.There's a 2 hour time limit. Make it count! Now about the lobster. . . It's supposed to just be a lobster tail everyone was given the entire lobster. I guess they didn't have time to lop off the head? There wasn't any lobster utensils. You also had to wait in line for about 10-20 minutes but you get a lobster. They do run out and you have to wait for more to be brought out. But hey, it's a buffet. Over 200 different items, includes Chinese, Japanese, and American food. Other than the above mentioned items, you'll see things like an entire dim sum table, every kind of seafood imaginable (such as escargot, and whole crabs), a whole sushi station, sashimi, hearty salads, a whole section of fresh fruit (mango, watermelon, etc), boba tea, cakes, apple pie, popsicles, and ice cream. Kids items included food like pizza and french fries.

This was, without a doubt, the most infuriating dining experience I've ever had. If I could give this place negative stars, I absolutely would. We came here to celebrate a birthday, but instead, the entire night was ruined by the most appalling service imaginable.From the start, it was a complete disaster. We had to beg multiple staff members over and over just to get our drinks, which didn't even arrive until AFTER we got our check! Yes, you read that right--they handed us the bill before we even got our first drink! And as if that wasn't bad enough, the waiter had the audacity to STARE at us the entire time, practically hovering over us, just waiting for us to sign the check. The moment my friend barely finished signing--before the pen even hit the table--this guy SNATCHED the check away in such a rush, it was beyond disrespectful.And let's not forget the absurdity of trying to get straws for our drinks. We had to keep asking repeatedly, only to end up using BOBA straws they had out for our sodas because they couldn't be bothered to bring us regular ones. To top it all off, when we tried to express our very justified frustration, instead of apologizing, they had the nerve to tell my friend to "calm down." Are you kidding me? We were trying to enjoy a special birthday dinner, and these clowns ruined it with their horrendous service and attitude.This place is an absolute joke. If you value your time, money, and dignity, DO NOT come here. It was supposed to be a memorable birthday celebration, and instead, it turned into a nightmare. I wouldn't step foot in this place again if it was the last buffet on Earth. AVOID THIS DUMP AT ALL COSTS!

The missus and I visited Royal Buffet and Grill on a Sunday for their dinner service. I was excited to visit after seeing them featured on a social media post. The missus had some reservations after looking at the ratings they've gotten. We decided to try it and away we went.There was plenty of parking available in the parking lot. We were intimidated by a substantial line of guests waiting outside the door. We took our place at the back of the line and realized that it was moving at a moderate pace. It probably took about 20 minutes for us to be seated. Our server took our drink order (club soda and Pepsi) and we made our way to the food. We started with the lobster, steamed clams, corn, dim sum, beef skewer and shrimp skewer. Royal buffet provides a plastic fork on the table. I asked for a nutcracker and the server brought one over. I located steak knives next to the steak later on. We blessed our food and got to work on the lobsters. The whole lobster was a decent size. The nutcracker worked great with the claws. I removed the tail from the body and I would have loved to have a metal fork. I was taught how to remove the tail meat by inserting the fork deep into the tail and pulling out the meat in one smooth motion. Without having a metal fork I just cracked the shell and picked it apart. I observed the green waste or tomalley. Then I observed an orange waxy substance that was along the top of the tail just under a layer of meat. The wife and I had never seen this before and we quickly looked it up. We found out it was roe and some people say it's delicious. The missus lost all interest in her lobster at this point. I removed the roe and began eating my tail. The tail was decent, it tasted fine but it was a little chewy. The steamed clams were fine. I enjoyed the corn and I was surprised how tender the beef skewer was. The shrimp skewer was okay along with the dim sum. My second trip up I went for lamp chops, rope sausage, crab cakes, string beans, and seasoned peel and eat shrimp. I enjoyed the lamb chops the most out of all I sampled. They had a pleasant sauce and were very tasty. The crab cakes were super rich and tasted liked they were soaked in butter. The string beans were fresh and not overcooked. I enjoyed the peel and eat shrimp. The seasoning on the outside was tasty and the shrimp was cooked well. The Italian sausage was fine. The missus ate some mussels and made it through a couple of stone crabs. The venue is huge and it was pretty busy the day of our visit. The staff were friendly and efficient keeping our table clean and refilling our drinks. We had high hopes of returning with our sons, but once we arrived back home a couple of trips to the bathroom quickly squashed that idea.

Don't be deterred by the negative reviews, many of which might be fake, orchestrated by their competitor in NJ. Royal Buffet and Grill is all you can ever want for a buffet. There's everything from meat, seafood, sushi, dim sum, roasted duck, dessert and soda. Neither my husband nor I ate everything; in fact, both of us only tried a small percentage of the food provided, but we still left feeling satisfied. Overall, it's of good value. For dinner and weekend, you probably walk out paying $50 per person including tax and tips, which isn't too high considering the inflation. One thing I hope the owner can address is the slippery floor. Although I'm wearing a pair of TEVA sandals, I still find the floor quite slippery, which is definitely a safety concern.

I wish there are half star then I would give 2.5 stars. The restaurant interior design looks very nice and grand, but when we come to a buffet, cleanliness is important, so are the food selections and quality. In my opinion, this buffet is a bit on the low end of average. Sushi and sashimi selections were not that much. The hot food has a vase variety but they all just taste bland. It is true with some previous reviews that their food aren't even hot. The only thing that I find slightly enjoyable is their steam bun, which is a problem if I'm paying this much to come eat their reheated steamed bun where I can buy a pack and steam them myself at home. Another thumbs up is probably their drink selections. That I gotta say was good they have them all offered to the customer. Service I think was not too bad. They were nice, but many times they were more chatting with each other than paying attention to the customers. Bottomline, I came here for lunch with my family but I wouldn't choose to go back and try their dinner. The price I pay is same as the other buffet which serves better food selections and quality. They need to improve and upgrade themselves.

Overall, what you expect from a buffet...it's a hit or miss with items. Pros: Drink selection for dine in was good as in their bubble tea actually tasted okay, canned teas/soy milk/white gourd drink, and remune soda. Also, there are plenty of seafood dishes - all the shrimp items I had were good. Some other seafood items were pretty good as well. Sushi and sashimi selection was okay. Cons: Some of the meat items (kalbi, pork chops, skewers) were dry and overcooked or poorly seasoned. The dimsum items was not good. The lo mein and fried rice was lacking flavor. Desserts were not good - watermelon was going but still cut and served - i ended up not eating the 2 pieces I took, and cakes didn't taste good. They're newly open, but their ice cream display case was already broken or damaged. Some of the ice cream bars we got had at one point melted and refrozen or had freezer burn. So we also didn't eat those. I have no comment about the service as its a buffet, and they bus the tables as you had empty plates.Overall, 3 out of 5 stars.

Great new Chinese buffet in Philadelphia, this one is much larger, cleaner, and much more food options than any other buffet in the area. Not to mention the ambiance is much more modern. The price is a little high but at least it includes fountain drinks as well.Some of the food are cooked badly but there are more good food than bad. If you love seafood, this is the place for you. Meat options are plenty, but not many "expensive" options that are good.Service could use some work, we never got our sodas refilled and had to flag down a waiter/waitress for everything.Overall, would come back again if we ever wanted to stuff our faces.

"Royal Disappointment." My mom dragged me here because some guy on the internet swore it was good. Well, his days as a food critic are numbered because he clearly doesn't know his palate from a paper plate!The food was mediocre at best and priced like it was flown in from a royal palace. We forked over $79 for two, and that's with a senior discount! The only pro? The staff is super nice. They clear the tables quick and even though it's super busy , you will be seated fairly fast. The place was clean and the seating was nice, but I'd rather picnic at Popeyes across the parking lot than pay for lukewarm, bland food again.It's really crowded because the place is new. That will fade after a while.PS Thank God for Pepto tablets.

I do feel that the prices for dinner is a bit steep for the food option. Services is pretty good overall. Salmon sashimi does feel pretty fresh. Ambiance is nice as well. The skewers does feel overcooked, especially the squid ones which tasted rubbery.

The buffet just opened, so it was super busy, but they had an array of food, Chinese , sushi, seafood, options for the kids . Food was delicious. Will be back.