Hibachi buffet

The buffet was absolutely terrible. The service was just as bad as the food. The young lady at the desk refused to let me talk to the manager. I would never ever recommend this to my worst enemy.

The buffet offers a plentiful, and I believe, well attended selection of hot, well prepared Chinese fare. It’s been good now for several years, with the new ownership. I always load up on General Tso’s Chicken, spring rolls, and the fresh green beans. The sushi bar is pretty average. There are plenty of shrimp on ice and, king crab in the evening. The wok-​grill satisfies for custom stir-​fry. There is salad buffet of mostly cut up fruit, as I recall. Desserts are mediocre, but there is ice cream. Table service is adequate. Beer is 2−4−1 after 4:00pm. I consider the buffet’s pricing a good value.
Cleanliness in bathrooms and throughout is good. It’s a little dark, so I sit up front near the windows.
Traditional American appetites will not be disappointed. There is always a pork or beef roast for you to carve, roast chicken, baked fish, roast potatoes, so-​so looking pizza, and a few sides.
Takeout-​by-​the-​pound is a welcome change for carry out. I like to fill a dinner container with whatever I want and eat at home.

Stereotypically lackluster buffet. Run-​down film noir atmosphere. No one thing is absolutely awful, but the cumulative effect of taking one bland, grainy, lukewarm bite of bleh after another will induce in sensitive diners a dangerous state of existential indifference. I mean, what’s it all for? When the overworked, clinically depressed Mexican hibachi guy tells you you’ll have to wait five minutes while he ices the sushi pans, you might be tempted to skip the hibachi and load up on buffet. But it doesn’t matter-it’s all just north of bad. There’s no escape. If you flee gluey lo mein the color of Nick Nolte’s skin, you’ll run straight into the flavorless sushi bar where salmon shaved so thin you can read through it sits atop oblong rice bullets you’ll be tempted to hide under your napkin so they don’t hog gastronomic real estate. But you might as well eat them, because nothing else is better. The oysters look good, but they’re just okay. Same with the crab legs. Has the Hibachi Buffet been attacked by a flavor removal machine? Are they operating under a curse? I hope not. The staff is mostly friendly enough, but somewhere deep inside they know there’s something better they should be doing. An obsessive person could eat him or herself to death trying to end the meal on a high note. The best thing I had at this place was a slice of dry, demoralized cheese pizza that knew it wasn’t good enough to be in a dedicated pizza place. Would it have believed me if I told it it actually *was* a tiny bit better than the pans of weakly steaming Asian mediocrity around it? Would it be flattered to be anthropomorphized on social media?
I don’t know. All I know is that not all dreary strip mall facades hide glorious authentic eateries. Sometimes they just lead to dreary food.

This place use to be owned by someone else and it was terrible! Now there are new owners and this place is great! All done over inside, and the food is fantastic! I was afraid to try it because of the way it was before… well now they will be seeing me and my family and friends a lot! Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.

Ok restaurant… I didn’t like that the crab legs are chilled… I didn’t like that they didn’t have my favorites which are coconut shrimp, fried blue crabs and stuffed seafood shells — the ones they did have seemed as if they had been sitting there forever… The hibachi however was to die for!!! I would return but only for the hibachi… My boo got down on the hibachi! Had her favorite steak– she had to have eaten about 3! Thas my boo tho ;)

This is the type of place you go to after a funeral. Environment was dreadful. But the food was ok. The price was good. I liked how there was no wait or lines to get to the food for a Saturday. But it was overall… meh.

K Hibachi needs to change their labels above their food pans. I went after the white fish but the placard on the cover over the fish said «Salmon.» It had some flavor but it was NOT salmon. I liked the idea of tomato shrimp salad, as the placard stated, only to discover there was only tomato and chopped onion in this «tomato shrimp» salad. Again, fooled by the label above the salad.
Buffalo wings were fried beyond recognition and no wing sauce to be found. More like overly fried wings. Oops, again fooled by the label that said «Buffalo Wings.»
The food was edible but I left feeling this restaurant is trying to cut corners on ingredients to increase profits. I would much rather pay a few bucks more for the better ingredients (that were indicated on the labels but missing from the dishes) instead of saving a few bucks on the bill and experiencing missing, or lower quality stuff in the dishes
.
That being said, I did leave with a full belly and my wallet didn’t take much of a hit. Wait staff was friendly and prompt and refilled my soda without me asking. My wife mentioned that the sushi was okay.

As Asian buffets go, this place is average. Started with the sushi which were typical — very very thin slice of fish on top of lots of rice. The rolls were slightly better. The hot and sour soup — very important indicator for me — was better than some — decent mix of hot and sour and mix of vegetables plus the broth texture was just about right. The rest of the food was typical — had mostly the chicken and broccoli as it had just come out of the kitchen. The fried rice as pretty bland. For dessert, the cantaloupe was not ripe but the jello was pretty good. The service was efficient — no problems with drink refills and the pates were cleared by the time I came back from another round of food. For $ 11, it was OK.

Come here for the crawfish, shrimp, and frog legs. Frog legs are usually fried nice and crispy with a little bit of salt. Everything else is typical Asian buffet quality though.

Hungry after grocery shopping next door… Bad decisions when you’re hungry and on limited time. I blame the hubby for making us come here lol. The signage out front says «K Hibachi Buffet» but I’m not sure if it’s really supposed to say that or if some letters fell off of the sign?
Looks like any typical Asian buffet place inside. They were pretty busy actually. I took this as a good sign that the food would be ok… quickly changed my mind though after looking at the offerings. The general chicken, honey chicken, etc all looked watery and soggy. The other meat and buffet options were so-​so. We got some hibachi stir fried noodles which was also flavorless and the sauce was too thin, watered down. Umm… let’s see. I think the best things I liked were the bok choy and the green beans. Dessert and fruits did not look appetizing. Hubby and son ate some of the offerings there. You know how you leave stuff in the fridge for a while and it retains that refrigerator taste? Yeah, that’s what they said it tasted like.
Service was ok. Someone was by to clear plates regularly. Not a huge fan of buffets, but this one was no bueno.

Good tasting food, all looked fresh. Not such a clean place however. Still to me the best tasting buffet in st. pete area.

I ate there on 17 Jun 2014 — as it was just around the corner from the Public Library.
The food was excellent!
If you are looking for an oriental restaurant — whose food dazzles your taste buds — because they douse everything with MSG (which is a carcinogin) you will be disappointed. All they serve is just good honest food.
The hot & sour soup is fantastic!!!

We had mixed feelings about eating here since reviews seem to be split. We arrived on a Friday night, around 7pm or so. It was pretty busy actually, so it appears many people like the place.
In typical buffet fashion, you find yourself fighting for position at times and trying not to intentionally trip the inconsiderate fool who cuts right in front of you as if they were going to run out of food… and the Sun was about to go Supernova and destroy the Earth.
There are 2 ways to go about this… the buffet and/​or the Hot Grill/​Hibachi.
I started with the buffet, sampling Krab Rangoon, and I meant to use the «K», dumplings, Mandarin Pork, General Tso’s Chicken. The KRAB Rangoon is very much the essence of fake Krab, too much fake Krab flavor. The dumplings fared better, not too bad actually. The Mandarin Pork was from a flavor standpoint good, but the quality of meat was poor. It was very much the cheap cuts, fatty, gristle. The General Tso’s chicken was ok, just not great. Now we all agreed that due to the amount of people grazing, they were keeping the selections coming out and were pretty fresh overall.
The Hot Grill. NOW we’re in to the much better area. This is the place you pile all the raw ingredients you want on to a plate, meat, veggies, noodles, and then a guy cooks them up for you, NICE AND HOT AND FRESH! They give you 6 sauce options. And this was much much better. I think, if I went back, I would probably just stick to this and the dumplings.
There is a massive fruit and salad world as well as a Sushi bar
Service was ok, we had nice older lady taking care of our drinks, I won’t quibble too much, I think she was slammed with a lot of tables, trying to get drink orders for parties and smaller tables like ours. I honestly don’t get uppity about little things, I don’t sit there with a stop watch timing the poor gal and she hosed if she doesn’t get my drink refilled fast enough-​no, I’m not about that garbage. But we got refills and all was well.
The staff were very friendly. No complaints. No, I did not visit the bathroom, which, as you know, is a very very good indicator of how clean the rest of the place is-​if you walk in and it looks like an extension of the buffet… that’s not buffet… and you need to leave… rapidly. So, I believe this place to be clean and safe from everything I else I saw.
The atmosphere was plain, I guess. Nothing fancy, or contemporary. It felt like those buffet joints I remember as kid that fed all the senior citizens, like cattle. You know, you’re kinda standing there going is there a salisbury steak combo?
Oh, and this is deathly important-​THEY DON’T SERVE COKE. It’s Pepsi. And when I said I wanted a Coke, she never said anything. There was almost a cage match after that…
For $ 12, would I go back? Meh… not sure.

Chinese buffets are boring and forgettable to me. This place is no different. The food seems to all taste the same ‘boring and room temp) Opt for Thai elsewhere.

There are not a ton of vegetarian options here. No tofu dishes, most veggies dishes have some kind of meat or meat sauce, no spring rolls, etc. However, they did have veggie sushi and you can do the hibachi buffet if having your food cooked on a surface where meat has been cooked or is being cooked currently doesn’t gross you out. Lunch is pretty cheap, around $ 8. Service is good and they clear plates quickly. My friends who eat meat LOVE this place. I enjoyed myself, but wish there had been a few more options for me.

Selection is decent, but the food is just ok. The place is old and run down. The bathroom is dirty.
I wasn’t very happy with this place and won’t return again.

OUR MOST FAVORITE BUFFET !!! We both really love this place and go here often. We have been going here for years, since before the name change when it was Kings.
Food is always perfectly cooked. Chicken, beef, and pork are always tender. The amount of meat to the amount of batter is always perfect. I am mystified by anyone who says the food is flavorless. The selection here is vast, and we have found the flavors tasty, having a authentic seasoning and essence in all the dishes. Literally, there is not a single dish that we do not enjoy.
Service here is always excellent, plates are cleared promptly. Check is delivered on a timely manner, never making you feel rushed.
My wife and I, have nothing to say but good about this particular restaurant. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!! 5 *****

Did lunch here today. Quite impressed with their service. You wait to be seated, then the gracious host asks if you want a table or booth. Friendly waitresses reloading glasses of water and removing used dishes immediately.
Fried chicken strips were a bit tough to cut with a fork, General Tso’s Chicken was better. Delicious fish, it said salmon on the sign but had a different taste. Also tried a fried fish with breaded covering, not sure what fish, that was over-​fried a bit but still tasted OK. Their vegetable fried rice, plus potatoes, were quite good, as well as egg roll and crab Rangoon. Tasty tapioca pudding. Several more items and salad bar that I did not try.
Beautifully decorated walls and ceiling, with illuminated artwork. Seating sections partitioned by short decorative walls. A soothing piano music played continuously.
A good deal at 7.49

Ate 3 plates of crab and a little nibbling on chineese throughout. The crab didn’t run out. Sushi was good. New name though. 5÷9÷12 General Tao was mushy tho.

We came here for crab legs. We imagined great heaping trays of fresh, steaming goodness waiting to scratch and cut our fingers as we harvested the sweet, meaty insides. What we got, instead, were cold, sad, mushy little claws and legs served on ice. When we said we wanted hot crab legs they were nice enough to put a few of them in the microwave. This really enhanced the delicate fishy taste and released the meat from the last little bit of firmness to which they desperately clung.
The rest of the buffet’s selections were old, vile, and not fit for consumption. There was kitchen staff busily stirring the food that was there but I can’t say I saw anyone bring out anything fresh. the breading on the General Tso’s Chicken had long ago separated from the chicken and was swimming in the sauce. That’s the best I can remember of the food, the rest is now a repressed blur of awfulness.
I would give King Buffet 5 stars if I were rating the strength and duration of the stomach cramps I had afterwards.