Bonanza Buffet

Went today for Dinner at 6pm and it was closed. not a soul in the parking lot. the sign says Closed for renos… not much sign of life there.
So at least until other confirmation its locked up and Closed.

Sad to see this place go down in flames. It’s like watching a train wreck, no, it’s more like watching it in slow motion right in front of your eyes. We used to love this place.
Just to add context and lack of bias, we’ve been eating there by choice for almost 5 years until last Mother’s Day brunch special at $ 24.99 per person.
Used to be that you could access their sushi station, they eliminated that. There used to be more entrée items, they cut those down. There used to be more vegetarian friendly items, they cut that down too. Basically we were getting less for the price they used to charge. Dessert area was still the same, as is the taco station and ice cream bar.
3 things happened all at the same time on our last visit that made us decide never to go back, sadly on a special day. It ruined the event.
1-​They charge more for special brunches, granted because they can, and touted Free Mimosas For Mom. When we asked for them for the Moms at our table the waitress said they don’t have them. No explanation beyond that. She did say sorry, though. I asked for the manager, he didn’t come after several minutes so I went up to the service counter where the manager operates the omelette station. I have spoken to him several times before, used to be to praise him for the good food. He was busy raising his voice at our server because her table was complaining about lack of Mimosa. He yelled at her something like «I’m sorry but someone left the champagne fridge unplugged and the juice spoiled. There’s nothing I can do about it now, there are no Mimosas!!!» He was yelling at his server who was raising our complaint to him, since we asked to speak to the manager about it. She looked more upset than I was as she pointed to me as the customer with the complaint. He turned to me, I was not rude or irate, and gave me the same speech in a slightly more toned-​down version. I was not happy, and I said that, then he said he’d see what he can do, after all that drama. Really bad to see someone get yelled at by their boss in the middle of a busy brunch service, and he was so sarcastic with her, poor lady, even a bit of that was used on me too. That left a bad taste in my mouth, so to speak. After sighing in apparent frustration with my complaint or maybe he was just losing his cookies, he came up with something for Mom and Mom-In-Law’s free mimosa. I think it was white wine and OJ, but whatever. I had to twist their arm to get what was advertised. Terrible.
2-​I went up to the bread and soup station, and the guy behind the counter was small-​talking with me. I asked him how he was doing, he started talking about how he’s not doing so good, I should not have asked but I did ask him ‘Oh? What’s up buddy?’ He went on to tell me how he was being threatened with deportation but he needed his boss to sign some papers to say he can stay and send it to immigration, and he doesn’t want to lose all he’s worked for here and they don’t want to sign the papers and help him… then he started to cry. Yes, cry. No tears fell, but his eyes were welling up while I grabbed by bread roll and soup from him. He was not making eye contact with me but staring in the general direction of the omelette station and his voice was cracking. I stayed, talked a bit more and tried to encourage him that it will work out, then left awkwardly to my table to recall the story to everyone. Yikes.
3-​We usually order a veggie Eggs Benedict for my daughter, it takes about 10 minutes. They initially said they can’t do it, then they said they would do it, so we asked for 2. It took 30 minutes, she got it after she was pretty much done eating, which defeated the purpose. We also had to wait a long time for our coffees and teas. Everyone had finished eating and we sat waiting for about 10 minutes. Overall it was sad and anti-​climactic.
Overall the food quality had gone down, less items are being offered since they changed their name from Pacific Buffet to Bonanza Buffet. Prices are still high considering what’s offered, selection was reduced and service was terrible all around. There is also a distinct wave of revulsion from the manager whenever I talk to him, and I talk to him every time I went there. It went from slightly frustrated-​feeling to outright burn-​out. He used to «joke» while operating the omelette station how ’25 years of experience to do this, sir’ when I commented on how well he made the omelettes. Last conversation was about him explaining to me, the complaining customer, how it’s not his fault etc etc. Rule #1 of management, it’s your fault even when it’s not, so fix it.
I may never return, especially for the price, I can do better. If they get new management and train their staff on etiquette and service, they’ll recover, but I fear that won’t happen. They’ll probably close before it gets to that point.

The Bonanza Buffet: An all-​you-​can-​eat reminder that limits can and must be broken. I am continually astonished at the sheer volume of food I can shovel into my gaping mouth before being forced to tap out.
I’ve been going on a buffet bender the last 4 weeks, and pound for pound this place is on the Mike Tyson level when it comes to knockout power. I’ve come here four times and have demolished my personal record every single time. I am currently wearing my 4-​plate record as if it were a family heirloom.
I’ve never left feeling anything short of regret but that has little to do with the quality of food and a tremendous amount to do with the fact I cannot control myself.
Waitstaff is always friendly, my glass is always full, and the food is mid quality.
My only complaint is that it’s called the bonanza buffet when it could just as easily be called buffet bonanza. In fact I thought it was buffet bonanza this entire time.
I will definitely be back to push my limits in an attempt to single-​handedly bankrupt this fine establishment.

Décor and staff are nice but I’m always disappointed with the food quality for the price. I keep saying I won’t be back but seem to end up here a couple times a year. The upside, they have mini donuts.

Décor, clean and kept up
Service, not terrible but not the greatest
Food, BAD, dry and tasteless, poor selection, have to ask for shrimp
Came for crab legs and you have to pay an extra 45 dollars for them! Unacceptable at a Buffett.
Will not be returning

Wow, steer clear if you have taste buds.
Well, it looks like a nice place. The décor inside is nice.
BUT THAT’S WHERE IT ENDS!!! Wooooo, take your seats, kids, this is gonna be quick and dirty, which is a lot like the service and food at Bonanza.
We sat down and our server came over and gave us our menus and told us there were no specials, just pointed to the drinks. What would we like? Umm, I don’t know, I will have to look. Let’s start with water, shall we? Oh, and she told us that buffet was $ 24 – 25, something like that.
Came back two minutes later with water. What would we like to drink now? Actually, we had a hard time deciding so we didn’t get anything, but we would hang on to the menu.
Then she gave us our BILL!!! Wait! I haven’t even eaten yet! She gave us our bill and walked away??? Whoa, that’s the first time that I’ve been billed before eating. What if I wanted to order off the menu? Well, I don’t think I even had that option. So, off to the buffet went.
The roast was cold. Everything was either flavour-​less or too salty, except for the perogies. They were good. And the soft-​serve ice cream. Yeah, that was ok.
Before ice cream, I tried out the made-​to-​order pasta plate. Ugh. Terrible. Wow, the sauce taste like they had just opened up a can of tomato sauce and dumped it in.
Yeah, this was really gross, and I agree with Dawn B. — I was tossing those 10% off coupons when were given them as we left.
Food — gross, service — terrible, décor — not bad.

First of all when you pull into the parking lot it looks like you are pulling into a dark alley. However, the inside is actually quite nice and very big. And then you get to the buffet…
There isn’t much of a selection it’s mostly just western food. I think that everything on my plate was cold and it almost felt like the «hot roast beef» came out of the fridge. I was not impressed and won’t be going back. Oh and by the way it costs almost 25 $ plate. Save money and go somewhere nice where you can actually get a hot meal!

Fruit was all dried up chow mein was hard and crispy on top food was not fresh at 4 PM looks like it was leftover food from their lunch hour very disappointed. used to be a very good restaurant whenever located in the north end of Edmonton don’t know what happened but is not the same place anymore.

Came for the sunday brunch with 25+ family members. Was fairly impressed. Only 20 bucks with a belgian waffle bar. Service was adequate. Food was pretty good for 20 bucks. Even had some prime rib. The decore inside will surprise you after seeing the outside. Very nice and current. Pretty happy overall. For a sunday brunch, 20 bucks, Im fairly certain this is in the top 3 buffets in the city.

Edmonton doesn’t have many really good buffets. However, for the price and what is offered here, it’s fairly decent. The quality of food is alright. The selection tries to be Canadian Chinese however it is a bit limited. If you’re looking for a cheap place and decent food, this isn’t too bad of a location.

Last year we came here, it was terrific, then it went DOWN… still we were hopeful and kept coming back, but tonight we visited and well… we WON’T be back. The food was not fresh, it was cold and the mushrooms I had to spit directly out as they were obviously bad.
I told the waitress, she gave the sad face, but didn’t adjust our bill for any of it. Whatever, I ate I pay but when the other manager offered a 10% coupon, I told her I would never be coming back… again sad face, but nothing was done. There is so much competition in the city for your food dollar, I’m not wasting my time here even once more.
Pass by this place!

Every time I come here, I throw those 10% off coupons in the garbage, and swear I will never be back. Yet for some reason, I find myself going back, and it gets worse every time.
The prices went UP and quality went DOWN. It is now $ 23 a person, plus $ 2.50 a pop, which is usually included in a buffet. The only thing I can say is good, are the ribs. Everything else is dried out, despite sitting in a bunch of oil. The desserts are all dried out on the outside, and the mini donuts taste like they were made a month ago. And don’t get me started on the oil soup they call ground beef for the taco station.

I came in here with a group of 20 for lunch and it was pretty much what I expected. I’m not a buffet guy myself so I wasn’t going to eat a whole lot anyway. I’ll start with our waitress. She was awesome. She filled our drinks at least three times in the 2 hours we were there and could have done it more if we asked. She was always around to help us. ⁵⁄₅ for her!
Atmosphere wise it was pretty nice looking but a bit dark. View sucks too, if you can get a window seat. ³⁄₅.
Now we get to the food. There wasn’t a whole lot I wanted but what I did pick was fairly tasty. I would later find out though, about three hours later, that whatever they put in their food made want to do the olé #2 like my tummy knew I was about to be face sucked by one of those Alien movie face huggers and it had to release everything before that happened. No food in the tummy and there’s nothing for the baby alien to eat. Get it. Well damn was it a monsterous #2. I swear I lost 15 lbs! Sorry for the description but you’ve all been there I’m sure. I probably won’t come back here but I didn’t hate it here either. Just the food had something in it that I don’t want to experience again. ²⁄₅

Golden Corral is the BEST all-​you-​can-​eat buffet in North America. Apparently, Golden Corral doesn’t have a presence in Edmonton (or maybe all of Canada), so Bonanza Buffet is all that’s available to me.
The food selection isn’t much of a bonanza; it’s actually quite limited. I thought I saw some spring rolls. But I got two plates of the same exact thing: a salad and chicken tenders. Those chicken tenders were bomb though. Nice and crispy. I wasn’t impressed with the desserts at all. The pastries were not homemade and there were only three different flavors of vanilla ice cream.
What Bonanza Buffet lacked in quantity of food selections was made up for with a spacious dining area and classy décor. I felt like I was eating at a 5-​star restaurant.
Would I eat here again? Absolutely!

Still the best I have found in Edmonton

For a buffet, this place is the best there is. There have been some very recent management changes, so if you haven’t been there in the last 6 months, i insist that you try it again!
The food seems really fresh, which is odd for a buffet. And they have a great selection — okay, the items on the actual buffet are pretty standard, but they’ve recently added a pasta & shrimp bar. You can have custom dishes made up right in front of you and they are absolutely phenomenal. I don’t eat shrimp myself, but my friends said that it was actually some of the best they’d ever had.
The service has also greatly improved — the staff check on your often, and always make sure to clear your dirty plates BEFORE you get up to head back to the buffet. And beverages are refilled in a timely manner.
Unfortunately, it is a little pricey (I think it’s around $ 23 a person) but it is ABSOLUTELY worth it.

We were celebrating a family birthday and decided to try this buffet place. We made a reservation for 10 and were seated in a semi private room. I found the lighting to be a bit dark but maybe that’s what they want so you can’t see your food very well, and there’s a tv in there for the sports fan to watch the game.
At first glance, the buffet area looked impressive with the layout and openness. I was hoping the food would be just as impressive. Once entering the line, there are a variety of salads to choose from. But they looked hardly touched, I mean who comes to a buffet to eat salad?
There was a variety of hot foods to choose from, including a few seafood dishes of calamari, mussels, shrimp, and steamed fish, ribs, chicken wings, lasagna, roast beef, and ham. The Asian selections were small; just rice, spring rolls and green onion cake. They also have a taco station where you can make your own but judging from the lettuce likely sitting out all day, it’s likely not one of the more popular food selections.
The ribs were saucy and tender, spring rolls were decent, ham was ok with the honey mustard sauce, mussels were good, and lasagna was alright with decent amount of beef. Everything else I tried was too mushy, chewy, or spicy. The dessert selection was poor and picked over. The only thing I tried was the apple crisp which was unimpressive.
For the price of $ 21/​person, there are better places to enjoy a good meal and definitely not as this buffet restaurant. They do hand out 10% cards when you leave but it’s still too much to pay for a meal here.

Extremely limited selection. Oh yeah, and bring your own napkins.
There wasn’t a big variety of food to choose from. This is coming from a guy that suffers from foody tunnel-​vision. I could live on steak, fries, burgers, and pizza. So if I’m complaining about a lack of variety, then something’s wrong.
I filled my plate with rice, ribs, wings, lasagna, french fries, roast beef, and… that was about it. Did I mention the limited selection? If the food was at least good, I would have forgiven the anemic menu. The lasagna was incredibly salty, the wings were dry, and the roast beef was so tough, I was wishing that I had a chainsaw with me.
During the meal we asked to have our drinks refilled. Not a difficult task. After 15 minutes went by we realized that the waiter had forgotten all about us. My wife got up to complain. I think she kicked his ass behind the scenes. She denies this.
Apparently you only get one napkin here. Some of the food served at the buffet such as wings and ribs can be pretty messy so this single napkin won’t cut it. They don’t have napkins anywhere else in the restaurant so we were having to steal some from unoccupied tables. We would have asked the waiter for more but we didn’t want to wait an hour.
At least we have dessert to look forward to right? Wrong. The ice-​cream machine broke when I was standing in line to use it. I had my bowl in my hand and everything. They have mini-​donuts there like the ones that you buy from the truck at Capital Ex. Only these ones crumble to dust when you touch them. They were no substitute for ice-​cream.
On the positive side, the buffet is spacious and user-​friendly. It is a long single aisle as opposed to multiple assembly lines placed way too close together like most buffets are. You won’t need protective head-​gear and a large stick like you do at Buffet Royale.
Skip this place. There is more variety and better service from a vending machine.

I went to this place the other day, and i was soo far from pleased. I have been to a couple buffets in Edmonton and none are really that great, but this was just awful.
The décor and lay out of the place is pretty nice, but that’s about it.
I thought the food was so gross, and nothing is labeled so you don’t really know what anything is for the most part and then having to pay 20 bucks for something that was disgusting wasn’t too great.
I definitely would not recommend this place to anyone.

I’m not one for buffet restaurants. Most of the one’s I’ve been to in Edmonton or other parts of the world seem to cater more to quantity rather than quality. So when my father told me that he had been to the Pacific Buffet, and that it was pretty good, I didn’t get all that excited about it. Still, I like to try new places and sometimes a buffet is good place to go when I’m in one of my indecisive moods.
I headed down to the Pacific Buffet on a Friday night around 6:30pm and expected, like most buffet restaurants around this time, to be packed. Much to my surprise there was no line up and I was able to walk right in. Much to my surprise the atmosphere was pretty nicely laid out. Tables were not stacked on top of each other there were clear paths to allow people to move around comfortably.
When I visit a buffet I like to go for a stroll before I start filling up my plate. I like to see the different cuisine that is being offered. I guess it’s sort of my way of developing a game plan as to where I’m going to start and what I’d like to try. With a name like, Pacific Buffet, I expected there to be a lot of Asian food or some really delicious seafood, but I found the bulk of the food was mostly North American fare. Not that I’m complaining though as I found the selection of dishes seemed far tastier than other buffets!
The buffet featured some typical salad choices which wasn’t really that exciting. They also served up some tasty ribs, chicken, mashed potatoes, and a really good prime rib. There were also some Asian selections of fried rice, ginger beef, and spring rolls. The surprisingly tasty dishes I found was the mini beef wellingtons which were really quite delicious. I also enjoyed the deep-​fried calamari with the tsaziki dip. I don’t know how but somehow I completely missed the sushi bar where they make the sushi fresh right in front of you.
The wait staff was also very helpful and polite. A lot of the time I barely even noticed our waitress was even there, but she was attentive enough to check in and make sure my week was going well.
Overall the experience was quite pleasant and the atmosphere was very comfortable. Not a bad place to take the parents for a nice evening out or when a group of friends is hungry and cant decide on where they want to go!