Qin Guan Buffet

Qin Guan your buffet lacks one key ingredient «Flavor!»
Bland and flavorless this buffet is one of the worst I’ve been to. I travel for work and I eat at many restaurants and have a good base to compare to.

My carry out choices were salmon, green beans, and whatever other vegetables I could pick out of the various combo choices. All of it was very oily and heavy on the salt. I’m guessing there was MSG added. The salad bar looked fresh. I did not have any sushi or dessert. I recommend having your choices freshly stir fried at the stir fry section and request no MSG or salt unless you like those additions.

This place is the best Chinese buffet i have ever had. I recommend this place if you want great sushi made right in front of you and if you love hibachi bars, they cook whatever you want in front of you. I absolutely love this place.

Aw, herro everybody! When the Great Wall (may the misery of the world be upon them for the rest of their days) shut it’s doors down for having cats in the freezer, Qin Guan was there to pick up slack, in a totally PETA form. The place has some great food that certainly rivals their predecessors, (not hurting the kitty cats is also high on my list). The food is always hot and fresh, the staff is friendly, and its always clean. Kinda weird how you have to pay for your meal and tip the server before your’e even sat, but its a small price to pay for not having Garfield on my plate. The sushi isn’t too bad, not top quality, but its better than none.

Decent Chinese buffet in an area where that’s really hard to get. Dishes don’t rotate really at all, so it’s basically the same stuff all the time. But they keep up with the food, so it’s generally got and fresh. The stir fries are good, and the sushi is, surprisingly enough, edible.

One of the best hibachi buffets I have ate at. The sushi is fresh and tasty. Will come back for sure.

I enjoy the food here very much, the most authentic Chinese food you can get in Southern IL

Really good buffet. The food was warm and delicious. I recommend the cook station. I personally love a good Chinese restaurant and I usually judge pretty hard but Qin Guang earned the prize. I plan on returning again and again.

Seriously when you think Chinese buffet you think ick. But this is actually really good. There’s a sushi bar where they make it fresh right in front of you. Really great sesame chicken, and the second best crab Rangoon in town!

The food is very good and fresh. We love the breaded shrimp, black pepper chicken, korean chicken, mongolian pork, and pepper squid. Make sure to try the warm apple pie and the dessert section!

Great food selection and presented nicely. Kid friendly. Sushi bar is amazing. Hibachi grill offered. High price but worth it.

Yum! The food on the buffet was fresh, nicely laid out and tasty. Having the fresh oysters is add bonus for me. Oh and the black pepper squid was awesome too.
Too bad it’s so far from my home but will try to stop whenever we pass thru.

The sushi is made fresh, the buffet is well-​organized, and the prices are reasonable. This place is a Carbondale gem.

I should lead off by saying I haven’t had an abnormally bad experience here, because I haven’t. It’s just too expensive for the quality of food you get. While there is an extensive array of food, I’ve found it to be lukewarm mostly, and lacking any sort of «wow» factor.
If you get it to go for lunch, be prepared to pay by the pound. They also charge .75c per piece of sushi to go… Just not my style. I’d rather order one dish from New Kahala, where it’s piping hot and cheap.

My husband and I like going here, though it is a bit pricy. However, it seems well worth the cost. The sushi is tasty, and our favorite dish is the black pepper chicken.

New to Carbondale and looove Chinese food, heard this place was pretty good, so disappointing! I gave it 2 stars because it’s pretty clean and had a great variety. But a great variety means nothing when the food is all cold. It was gross. The place was pretty busy when my family and I went and it was still cold. I honestly don’t think the buffet food was properly heated. But quite honestly the food wouldn’t have been a whole lot better if it was heated to how it was supposed to be. The fortune cookies were even pretty gross. Won’t ever go back here, I’ll just keep hunting for good priced, great tasting Chinese food around the area.

Qin Guan brings out a very patriotic, starved side of myself I never knew. America = all-​you-​can-​eat buffets
The sushi is quite good for a buffet, and at dinner time they pull out things like salmon nigiri, ebi nigiri, and eel rolls. Not shabby! But really, all the rolls are freshly made and the fish is decent.
What else can be said that hasn’t been said already? Yes, it costs more than Golden Corral, but you can leave this place without the nausea and heart palpitations. The hibachi grill is delicious and has lots of vegetables for vegetarians out there (read: no tofu in sight, but there’s enough variety that you will find plenty to eat).
Pro tip: go at 3:45 for the lunch price, stay until they freshen up all the trays and put out the dinner seafood. Yum.
Also, try the radioactive-​green mousse thing in the dessert section. It is a mint mousse that is light, refreshing, and delicious.

How can Qin Guang offer such high quality food for such a low price? Even at peak hours — last night, for instance, Sunday at dinnertime — an adult price is just $ 12. Add a buck or two for tip and you’re still getting the best deal in town. Not because you couldn’t pay less for a burger or fried chicken, but because this is EXCELLENT QUALITY food. As already mentioned, metal chafing dishes have no place here: the ceramic platters are not only much classier but have to be replenished much more often than the covered metal keep-​it-​warm dishes would, so the food is much fresher. So fresh that the fried things (crab rangoon, be still my heart!) are crunchy. Crunchy, I tells ya! For a buffet, that is remarkable.
There are also plenty of vegetables among the dishes, a rarity much appreciated by this Unilocaler and her hubby. Abundant broccoli tucked among the dishes, and it’s beautifully al dente. Again, for a buffet this is practically unheard of.
Long story short, this is the perfect option for me and my husband: fresh and tasty food, lots of veg, great price, relaxed ambience, and I can get a sushi fix while he enjoys the hibachi. A real gem in Carbondale.

So Richard B and Mrs B were traveling through the forests and swamps as part of our recent road trip through the swamps and forests of deepest southern Illinois. In order to not be identified as Yankee tourists, I wore a baseball cap, and my wife wore water moccasins as footwear. (Actually I also wore pants and a shirt.)
We came upon the Qin Guang as a reasonable stop for dinner, and decided to pig out there. Since I had no coupons nor two-​fers, I did experience a small panic attack paying full price; although my pain was alleviated somewhat by a senior citizen’s discount.
Like many Chinese style buffets, Qin Guang offered a choice of many different appetizers, entrees, desserts, etc.; although they did not carry any authentic Chinese foods. They also offered some sushi items and had a stir fry station for those who wished to create their own culinary works of art.
I was pretty famished from a full day of traveling and hiking, so I pigged out more than I should have. I experienced a mild case of indigestion for having filled and imbibed about six plates of food. My senior citizen bride also ate like there was no tomorrow.
Gourmet food it is not, but it is a nice family-​oriented place that caters to residents of the southern Illinois metropolis (no, not the «Superman» town of Metropolis IL).
Not a bad place to visit. A bit pricey for a buffet, but we were on vacation and we had a nice meal.

Southern Illinois finally has a good Chinese food option that isn’t overly expensive. Up until now, Hunan was the only decent Chinese food in Carbondale, but was quite expensive. Now for those who want your typical Sweet and Sour Chicken with the «red sauce», you are in luck.
Qin Guang not only has great food, but they also have fresh food as well. It is a buffet style meal, but the place rotates the food regularly. Unlike the big silver pans that many traditional Chinese buffets use, this place uses smaller plates that hold less food, thus requiring them to rotate the food more. Every time I went up to the buffet the food was fresh.
Overall the food was great. One main dish was just as good as another. On the other hand, the cappuccino cake was amazing. Therefore, just pick what looks good and, more than likely, it will taste good.
There were only two problems. First, the service was very slow. Plates started piling up on our table and drinks were rarely refilled. Second, there was no Wonton Soup, which is odd for a Chinese restaurant. Other than that, this place was clean, sanitary and had amazing food. I will return!