New Empire Buffet

This nasty place finally closed! I hope the previous owners don’t open up another roach infested restaurant!

This place has finally closed and I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did. Last time I tried it… it was horrible… dirty and smelled bad. I couldn’t even eat what they had. I walked out and that was 2 years ago. I hope something really good replaces it. Livermore needs better restaurants!

I am eating here as we speak, everything is garbage and the waiter is a dipshit. Do not come here, enjoy a nice curve across the street at in n out

I just left this place after being in it for maybe 15 mins. I kid you not, it has got to be one of the worst places I’ve ever eaten. In fact, I didn’t even eat I watched my husband eat even if I knew he didn’t like it just the simple fact I knew he felt bad he wanted to go here. The sushi man & the dude who makes the Mongolian bbq was sitting in a booth then took forever to assist me. The front desk girl had to tell him repeatedly to help me. There was only 3 families there, if that! He went straight to the grill & started it up. Didn’t wash his hands. scratched his nose and not just the kind you slightly tickle but straight up 1 finger rub rub rub! Then he says come back I’ll make sushi for you. & I’m thinking ok cool freshly made. He basically rolled the rice in his hand & stuck crab in it then drizzled god knows what on it & that’s when I had enough. The salmon was brown? What? Even baked it’s pink… it wasn’t just steamed. it was drenched in water. Not just a puddle it was flooded. Most the food has been sitting there super cold even under the lamps. It’s just filthy &disgusting. the place needs a face lift & so does the Food. shame on me for even thinking to go there after reading horrible reviews! Jokes on me! LOL. Worst ! $ 13.07 I have ever spent. AND HOW THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE ME PAY FULL AMOUNT IF WE OBVIOUSLY LIKE IT… Ps…the girl there thinks I left because the sushi wasn’t right. she said oh our sushi lady isn’t here but ESSENTIALLY IT’S THE SAME THING… that’s like sayingggg… I used sanitizer after taking a deuce so ESSENTIALLY my hands are clean. Get out of here! LOL! Why are they even open? I don’t understand. I never really leave messed up reviews to the max, but damn how is a food inspector never make them close. Don’t go here! For real, for real!

Decided to eat here based on Google reviews and they couldn’t have been more wrong. Came in for Saturday lunch and should have left due to how empty they were. I don’t expect awe inspiring food at a buffet but this was barely palatable. I’m not going to mention everything the four of us had but can simply state we barely ate anything on our plates. Didn’t even think about trying anything else.
Even when I went to pay and was asked how it was. I started to stammer a little and the gal at the register finished my sentence with «Oh, not so good, huh?» to which I answered, «correct». but still paid the entire bill. I shouldn’t have paid a dime actually, but stupid me, I did pay.
Will never darken the doorstep of this place again. I hate leaving a bad review, but I can’t let other get fooled by Google reviews either. I wouldn’t give it one star I’d it wasn’t due 5o the pleasant wait staff.

I know what you’re probably thinking. «Dang, this dude goes around eating in buffets everyday.» But not exactly true. First, let me get off the topic (I do that a lot, haha) for a minute. Because most of the time, I am outside all day for my job and constantly in motion, driving all over the Bay Area, my partner and I have a chance to eat all over the place. He’s a big buffet fan because he feels that the restaurant shouldn’t pre determine what your portion size should be and how much you should eat. (Makes sense. At home, don’t you eat as much as you feel like at that time?) He also likes the choices and variety at buffets, and the low price. (Can’t argue with him on that.) So in addition to good, well prepared, reasonably priced food places, (that’s where my trademark «$ 5, ya’ll» comes from…) occasionally we do end up in a buffet, depending on how we feel that day and how much we want to eat and where we are. So now does that solve the buffet question? And more importantly, does that make us «buffet experts?“Now, the smaller part of the review is about this buffet. I gave a big intro as a chance for me to answer some of your previous questions about who we are and why we live this way… haha. Now about this place, there is not much to say. It’s kinda generic typical style Fukien owned buffet. It uses the «Empire» name but I’m not sure if it belongs to the «Empire» franchise, (You know, the ones in Richmond and other East Bay places,) Except for one notable exception that «defines» this place. (and that’s the Mongolian grill, hence the three stars instead of two,) it’s pretty average. But first about the other food choices it is a bit different than other buffets. The Thai chicken is pretty good, and so is the teriyaki chicken. They also have these big ass spicy, well seasoned, and tasty pork chops. Also fish and veggies, you know, the usual, all okay. Disappointed in the lack of fruit choices though. A minus for me. I lika dem fruit. But it’s the Mongolian grill that’s the star here. Grab a plate, fill it with meats, veggies, noodles and whatever, and take it over to the grill, add your garlic/​chili and choice of sauce (s), hand it to the nice, talkative lady, (who are you? Where are you from?) and marvel as she turns it around the circular grill with the long wooden Mongol rod. I tell you dude, two of these plates and you can forget about the other foods. You’re good. Happy camper. Money’s worth. Oh yeah, and before I forget, they have real «scoop it yourself» ice cream, (not soft serve.) Man, two bowls of cookies’n’ crème and you’re good to go. «Full, dumb, and happy. «(I give you permission to use it. I trademarked it!) And finally, Okay. Okay, I know, since you expect it, «Lunch! All for $ 11 ya’ll»…heehee…big pimpin’

Excellent! I don’t usually like buffets, but this place has a phenomenal assortment of great food. Yes, the place is dated, but the selection of dishes and quality of preparation make this one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the East Bay. I don’t understand why there are so many negative reviews. Each dish is individually prepared and is SO different from the last. I go hear at least once a week and highly recommend it.

I could not believe how bad it was. I did not like one thing, even the iced tea sucked! I went back to look at the sushi and asked the chef back there what kind of fish it was and he looked at it and said: «I don’t know, sorry». I slowly backed away and disregarded everything else. We left promptly after that, never to return. Just awful. Please do not take friends and family there if you care about them.

Omg. Totally gross.. Total waste of Money.. And I got a fortune cookie without a fortune. Lol WTF.

I’ve never had to write a Unilocal review about a restaurant, but after the traumatic experience I just endured at New Empire Buffet, I felt that it was my duty as a caring human being to forwarn others so that they won’t experience the same thing. I’ve been to this place dozens of times when I was a kid growing up in Livermore. The last time I visited the place was on my 15^th birthday. I’m 19 years old now and decided to try the place out for old times sake. I’ve never made a bigger mistake in life! I walked in at around 6:30 pm on a Friday and there was only one other party there. I served myself some fries, spring rolls, coconut shrimp, and crab ragoons. ALL THE FOOD WAS COLD! I also had to inspect my plate and sniff it because there was a foul odor around, I think it was the tattered, duct-​tape covered booths. Despite being cold, the coconut shrimp was actually pretty tasty at first until I bit into a peice and nearly vomited. It took me by surprise. It tasted like bad seafood that had been spoiled. I spit the food out onto my plate. I was done at that point but my brother wanted seconds so I joined him, my second plate consisted of chow mein, and salt and pepper shrimp, this food was also cold. The flavor of the food was mediocre at best. My brother also started complaining. When the waiter came over and asked how everything was, I politely explained to him what had happened and he seemed concerned. He said he would alert the manager then asked me if I tried the Mongolian beef which I hadn’t. After 5 minutes had passed the waiter returned and asked for me to talk to the manager and tell her what happened. As soon as I got to her she said, «$ 30.04» i then proceeded to tell her about my experience and she immediately shut me up and said I have to pay anyways. She asked what was cold and I started to list off the items I tried and she just laughed and told me that the food had just come out right before I got there and that it was steaming hot, she kept repeating, «food not cold!» I’m kind of used to not being taken seriously by adults much older than I am but I have NEVER been so disrespected in my entire life. She then proceeded to kick us out! My brother is 12 years old and will eat nearly anything, so he still hadn’t had his fill after our two plates each. I just thought whatever and left. What bothered me the most is that I was giving her valuable feedback as a customer so that they could improve. I really feel like someone is going to contact severe food poisoning any day now! I was very polite and didn’t have a bad attitude or a bad tone. I asked her if she was the owner and she said, «uh-​huh» she also said her name was Amy. Please please please, think twice before trying it out! There are plenty of good restaurants in Livermore, this is just not one of them. The subpar food is not worth your hard earned money or risking your health for.

I’ve been here many times over the last few months and the food has always been consistently good. My favorite part is the Mongolian BBQ station where you can choose exactly what veggies/​meat/​sauce you want in your noodles and they’ll cook it for you on the spot! The choices are quite extensive and I always end up with a huge plate (which I end up finishing of course cause it’s soo goood) My kids love their orange chicken and broccoli beef as well as the self serve ice cream. Price is reasonable, especially since they have crab legs and sushi!
I also love how this place isn’t deafeningly loud like a lot of other chinese buffets. From what I can tell, it’s a family owned business and the owners are always super nice and welcoming. They have a pretty big private room in the back I plan to book for daughter’s birthday!

I really like this place. Although I’m not a super big fan of buffets, this place has things that I really like eating. Definitely the Mongolian beef! I like getting noodles with broccoli, onions, bell peppers, and beef! You have to have the perfect sauce for this dish and the right amount of garlic to make it taste amazing! I like mine with a bit of each sauce with a great amount of garlic. I love how it’s freshly made! The other things I like is the crab cakes, broccoli and seaweed soup! Everything else is also really good; I usually get one of everything and just get really full from that. Overall, I really like this restaurant.

Let’s get real, this place should be called Old Empire Barf-​ay. I should have ran the other way upon entering this place. Not even sure why I tried it, it’s been a good 6 years since I decided it was awful, but it’s gotten even worse. You are greeted with a dirty restaurant smell upon entering, and then asked if you prefer a booth or table. Naturally, I said, ‘booth’. Every booth is covered in tape, and the floors were filthy. Keep in mind, I’ve eaten in plenty of places where the booths are covered with tape, and my chin sits on the table. Sometimes these are signs of good quality old school food.
We went for lunch, and there were a few tables of gluttonous eaters in there. They were there when we arrived, and still there when we left. The icecream was good… how can you screw that up. I really cringe trying to think of what the kitchen looks like. I’m disappointed that giving no stars isn’t an option.

The crab legs are good, so u don’t need to have butter with it. And the sweet and sour soup is the way to go no lie. And u get to creste your own Mongolian beef combo with noodles and different shit. Then they cook it in front of u. Pretty cool. Cept they got Pepsi not Coke…

Stay with the Mongolian BBQ and hot and sour soup and you will be A-​OK. The muzak is a little nauseating. I think I will make them a repeating CD of Chinese\asian music.

I’m from San Jose, where these type of buffets are plentiful. I’ve been to a lot of these Chinese/​Asian buffets and feel I’m very experienced to review them.
They have all been pretty standard affair. It’s hard to give any of these places above 3 stars. I tend to start all my reviews at a perfect rating then find reasons why I shoudl reduce it, but in this case, it starts at 3.
This place is located in a strip mall and although small looking on the outside, is fairly roomy inside. The buffet lines are uniformed and pretty compressed together compared to the ones I’ve been to before which are spread out more to make the actual place/​selections look more plentiful than it really is. Not a big deal.
What I always go to first is the sushi. The sushi station was scarce. The selections they had were covered in saran wrap making me wonder how fresh these were because I didn’t see a sushi chef around. Also the choices were super limited. See the picture I uploaded. They do have a Mongolian noodle station and they cook it for you. The rest of the food is the usual and typical affair that EVERY other one of these type of Asian/​Chinese buffets have. HOWEVER, one thing that stuck out was they had CRAB LEGS during lunch (NOT DINNER). it was the weekend though, so I’m not sure if that was the reason or if that is regular offering. I didn’t try it though, wasn’t enticing to me.
I don’t know what else to say but I still don’t know why many people go in these type of places expecting Las Vegas quality buffets. WHY? They obviously aren’t trying to be so why review them thinking of them like that. The fact is, this place is CHEAP. It is very affordable and there are plenty of choices. Yes it might not be the freshest, the highest quality, or as good as the other Asian/​Chinese buffets you’ve been to, but for what it is, they price it fair.
This place would’ve got 3 stars if their sushi choices weren’t such a disappointment. It can’t get any higher than 3 because there are much better Asian/​Chinese buffets in San Jose that actually deserve that (relatively) score, so it wouldn’t be right to give this place when its far from those in comparison.

Yikes! I ran in at lunch time without checking Unilocal because I was in the shopping center, and I was hugely disappointed in my lunch.
The sesame chicken was all dark meat, it was overly greasy, and the sauce was fair, at best. The spring roil and rice were also greasy and bland.
Service was brisk and unfriendly. The place was empty, but the gentleman taking my order acted like his pants were on fire– — he couldn’t be finished talking to me soon enough.
Overall, I was underwhelmed and will not be back.

The food is not always fresh, but when it is it can be pretty darn satisfying. The best time to go is before there lunch rush which is only about 5 – 10 tables but they know they will have somewhat of a crowd so they bring all there fresh food out. They have there own in house, I want to call him a stir fry cook I guess, which is cool and that is always fresh since its cooked with what you choose and put on your plate.
Have a pretty plain and simple sushi bar, and selection of food is decent. The only reason I give it Two stars is because of the fact that we had one bad visit where the food just was not up to par.
We do keep returning but hope we will return when the food is FRESH.!!

I guess this place is good for Livermore. Pretty cheap but the food matches. Is it me or does it seem like the Mongolian BBQ grill is set too low? I know the Mongolian BBQ meats are always frozen but a hard block of ice for all of them? The shrimp was just a grey opaque block of ice. Once it all hit the grill it was good.
Other foods were just okay. Nothing really bad here — just not the best. I would say this hits about the middle of the road for most chinese-​asian buffets. Won ton soup was surprisingly good. It will work but I am not dying to be back there unless I am right in the area.

So disappointing. We should have gone to Nation’s like we originally planned. Came here on a Friday night with the family, two adults and three kids.
My kids seriously ate — steamed rice, grapes, oranges, watermelon, french fries and ice cream. We should have known better, our kids are picky.
As for myself, I tried a lot of different things. The only thing that I liked was the Mongolian BBQ and that was because all I had was noodles with beef and soy sauce. So is that really what I paid $ 13.99 for? Noodles and beef? I could have gone to P.F. Changs and gotten lo mein I actually wanted.
Anyways, what’s up with the one star? Probably because this buffet came to $ 68.00 for the five of us after drinks. OMG, do you even understand that we go to Hometown Buffet for $ 45.00, max!!! I about choked when I saw the bill. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it definitely was not that much. Plus, it didn’t sit very well since it wasn’t good at all.
The hot and sour soup had a weird vegetable taste to it. The teriyaki chicken was not marinated in teriyaki sauce. Since they weren’t busy, the overturn of the food was very slow, therefore it did taste as if it had been sitting under the heat lamps for three hours.
None of us got sick… other than myself over the bill that I had to pay. Maybe we were picky because we just came back from Vegas, buffet capital. I don’t know, but we will not be coming back to this place.