Ruby Buffet

Sign says closed for renovations. No closed as of or reopen date listed, just says «soon»

I really dig the lunch buffet. Good selection & freshly prepared food including the sushi which is basic but done fairly well here considering some is available t the buffet & they will make it to order. So far it’s a great place to sit down & do lunch. Nice atmosphere and friendly staff also.

That baked salmon is NOT salmon. It’s like tilapia soaked and marinated in red food coloring overnight then is overcooked without any spices. Seriously. However, salmon in sushi is real. The sushi here is actually pretty good.
Note: I love buffets. This place is 3.5.
I came here today right when it opened so the food here was fresh*ER*.
I have a code with every buffet i go to. First place is always veggies and other healthier options then the rest of my plates are meats and junk food. First plate I got bok choy, some green and red peppers from the pepper steak dish, corn, string beans, mushrooms and salad.
The bok choy was good. Slightly crunchy and flavorful with strong hints of garlic.
The peppers I got from the pepper steak dish were good because they didn’t overcook them. It had a crunch to them which indicates the nutritional value is still there. Oh and it’s quite tasty!
Corn was WTF! It didn’t taste like corn at all and had this odd spongy texture. Probably because it was soaked in water. The oddest corn I’ve ever had.
The string beans and mushrooms are just like the kinds you have at all the other Chinese buffets, not bad.
The salad was half and half as in it was fresh and crunchy but tasted a bit sour. Italian dressing with strong flavors of sourness.
My next few plates I had 1 piece of General Tso Chicken, fried fish, fish in sauce, chicken on stick, mussels, shrimp, chicken wing, bourbon chicken lookalike and some other things.
General Tso Chicken was mostly batter. Like 80% batter and 20% meat. Bourbon chicken tasted like edible rocks marinated in nyquil. The shrimp and calamari barely had flavor.
Those were the bad, but here’s the good.
The fried fish was on point. There was just enough batter to cover the fish and add and extra layer of texture to the tender fish giving it a slight crunch. It was like 95% fish and 5% batter. The fried fish in sauce was delicious. Juicy, tender and flavorful.
I’ve had some other things there that weren’t bad and after having so much heavy foods, some fresh and cold watermelon hit the spot.
The cons and pros might have been ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ but I actually enjoyed this place. When going to a buffet, you have to have low expectations and it’s all about how you choose your foods. Without paying attention, you can easily pick up the worst foods. But if you choose to be careful, you can choose which pieces look better than the others and vice versa.
The décor is different. It’s a nice change of pace compared to the other Chinese buffets. Comfy seats and even comfier booths, good service.
Mind you this was for lunch, not dinner so the foods might not be as good. But at 10 bucks? This place is not that bad.

They don’t even deserve a full review, so I’m only hitting the main points:
CONS:
Food was cold, dry, hard, greasy
Fried tempura sushi was soggy
Sushi dehydrated — sitting out way to long
Salmon — greasy, salty and cooked too long.
PROS:
String beans (but how can u mess up string beans, c’mon)
water, iced tea, instant mashed potatoes (u know … The kind that came in the Hungry Man TV dinner)

I met one of my dear friends and her daughter in the area, so we decided to go here because of the crab leg sign! When I walked in it was very clean and the staff was very friendly and greeted us as soon as we walked in. We even got to pick our own table. The bathroom was ok (only went into the women’s) the paper towels were sitting on the counter. Now to the important part… The food was great and very flavorful. This is the first time I ate everything I put on my plate! The only downside for me was that there was not a big selection for the hibachi grill, as far as veggies, but the sauce variety was good. I really don’t have a complaint about this place at all! We ended up being asked if we were ready because they were closed but they didn’t kick us out! They allowed us to finish our conversation for another five minutes. We literally closed the place down! I will be going back!

I only go here for the crab legs and other seafood but they only bring out one tray at a time. If one person takes more than a few clusters, no more for anyone else. The other food is subpar. They should charge more and offer more crab legs or not have them at all. If you go for the crab legs be prepared to keep your eye on the tray like a hawk.

WHAT the heck happened in a year’s time? Oh Ruby, you let me down. I pulled for you when others trashed you and now… I join them. «The food sucked» would be the best place to start, but I feel it would come off as a weak attempt at an intro to my review. It was disappointing to say the least. I saw the cook come out and «stir» a few of the containers that held the… food. I’m sure he felt it was best to camouflage the, most likely, biological nightmare that was beginning between the overcooked dumplings and the scallop/​something or other stuffed clams… news at 10.
Anyway, we won’t go back. Which really sucks, because I liked it. Ugh.

Clean, efficient, steaming hot tables with tasty food, great hibachi grill and delicious well prepared suchi… all at a VERY good price. Worth the drive.

This is by far some of the worst food I have ever had. The seafood smelled like it was a week old. We paid $ 15 a person for a Buffett of food that had clearly been sitting out for the entire day. The food was below average. If you’re looking for a decent buffet, I highly suggest going some where else. I have given ruby several tries and will not anymore. This will definitely be my last visit. The deserve a visit from the health department. You would have to be highly intoxicated if you ever think you could handle eating here.

it was the worst Chinese buffet I’ve ever been.
no selection, and the food wasn’t fresh. Got food poisoning 15 minutes later (i never get food poisoning)
the staff were nice though.
waste of money

I love this Chinese buffet, I have been here many times and it is always good food and service !

This is my first time here. Lunch date with the aunt and mom. Came in seated us quickly. Waiter was taking beverage order before we could even sit down. Let’s find out if the food is great… I’m not impresed. Only thing good to me was the fried fish and the ice cream. Food not seasoned at all. This is one buffet I won’t returning too. Sorry. The people were pleasant but the food just not good.

When this place first opened last year I would have given it a 4 or 5 because the sushi was amazing. The pieces were big and they refilled the bar constantly. Apparently they realized that they weren’t making as much profit by having unlimited sushi. So the last few times I’ve been there, they only put out california style rolls and never refilled the bar. I used to be a regular loyal customer but I haven’t been back.
The cooked food however is still good, but I never went there for that. I went there for the sushi. So if you’re looking for a really good sushi buffet, try Chen Hibachi or Neko in Ellicott City. Unfortunately, Ruby has dropped the ball on the sushi.
I’ll give it 2 stars for the cooked food though, which is a cut above typical Chinese Buffet fare.

With all due respect, some reviewers on Unilocal fail to consider the type of venue and/​or price before giving out a review, as Kim T. correctly pointed out.
I have dined at Ruby Buffet on numerous occasions. It is one of the buffets that actually «cooks» their food, i.e. their food actually has flavors to them, unlike the many hibachi grill/​buffet places around the area. The décor is kinda wack for an Asian buffet, but I like it; it’s a clean environment and has a fresh change of scenery.
For appetizers, I really like their fried crab cheese wontons. The crust is quite thin and has a great cream cheese/​crab to wrapping ratio. They have a couple Chinese dim-​sum desserts; I like the sticky rice with red bean paste wrapped in [lotus?] leaf. The potsticker they have is the one with the thin wrapping and the filling has plenty of scallions/​vegetables along with the meat. I hate dumplings/​pot stickers with thick wrapping and all meat filing.
For the main dishes, their baked salmon is excellent. Unlike most salmon on a buffet, it is NOT just baked in butter and water. Instead, they bake it with soy sauce and with plenty of ginger and scallion on top. Not too overcooked, very well made.
They also have a couple good shrimp dishes. The shrimp in lobster sauce is not too past-​ey and have very large to jumbo shrimp. The Seafood Delight dish also has these big shrimp. Not a fan of spicy food, but they do have a spicy seafood dish that has squid/​cuttlefish, shrimp, and mussels in them. All these are available for the lunch buffet.
Not too big a fan of sushi in general, but their sushi selection is excellent. Besides the usual CA roll (all have fresh avocado when I went), Nigri sushi with raw fish are served during the lunch buffet as well. Didn’t have them, but they seem fresh.
I always hardly have time (and stomach!) for the hibachi grill, but I tried out some hibachi chicken and shrimp that were excellent.
I like their soft-​serve ice cream machine very much. Most buffets around the area now have the regular ice cream freezer that go by the scoop. Fruits are quite fresh.
For $ 8 bucks and 10 bucks ish with tax and drink, it is an excellent deal for lunch when compared to dishing out 8 – 10 bucks for a regular cheese steak at your local sub joint.
I’d definitely recommend Ruby Buffet to my family and friends.

I don’t know what others are reviewing nut Ruby’s is a beautiful restaurant and the food is delicious. The staff are friendly and always helpful and focused. I have been to Ruby’s on 8 occasions and I will continue to come back. The sushi is excellent and the seafood is wonderful.

I see that people have talked about more of the interior of the restaurant than the food, so my review will be more about the items i tried. I never went to the old version of the place, but it is pretty nice inside. and i agree it isnt exactly in towson. but anyways,
sushi– if you know what you like, you’ll be fine. there is a wide variety of it. I personally do not like wasabi so i stayed away from anything with that sauce.
crabs– no flavor! and the melted butter helped a little. they are not washed either which i realized when my hands were muddy. You have to go through a lot of the guts and it gets tiresome. it would be better if it was legs
wontons– very good, i kept coming back. good ratio of cheese and crab
oysters– it was my first time having them and they didnt taste like anything
general tso’s– stay away, wasnt good
stuffed crab on shell– good but i didnt like all the corn
duck-​way too fatty and oily.
they do have other things that i havent tried, my dad liked the noodles a lot. desserts were terrible but i dont think i have ever had a good dessert at a asian inspired buffet. i would go again and maybe try the stir fry and meat on sticks. It’s one of those places where you cant decide what you want to eat and you dont want to spend 100 for two at fogo de chao.

This place is now under new management. I had been to it before and it was «adequate». For all of the wonderful new decorations and cleanliness it is still just «adequate».
You can tell that it is in new hands the moment you walk in the big money modern doors. Granted those new owners seem to be the city chic cold well funded hands of a nefarious Hong Kong business man laundering money in a place that no one would ever look. I’m not accusing anyone of anything so (and this is to you Asian Tong Gang readers) don’t hunt me down and kill me).
Its barely Towson, at least what I think of as Towson. If you know that intersection (Taylor and Loch Raven) at all its just a little bit «off». The store next door is a barefoot shoes (or hoochie mama central warehouse… wow!)
The restaurant just looks like a set location for a Jet Li movie. Its polished and the colors are well balanced, it just looks like there is an office in the back where a scary, impeccably dressed Asian guy with an English accent is plotting something terrible involving «products» smuggled into the country by equally scary but less well dressed guys. I’m serious I half expected a well choreographed Kung Fu battle to break out at any minute. Yes, maybe I watch too many movies but once you go in there you will know exactly what I mean.
The sushi bar is the star here, not much variety but there are actually slivers of real fish on top of the rice (somewhat rare sight at most buffet stops). The salads that day were fresh and unique, even a simple seaweed salad-​crisp and sea salt goodness. There is a hibachi, pretty standard stuff, I didn’t have it but my son did and the pieces looked well cut and cooked quick hot and still slightly crispy.
The rest of the food, sadly is all very, very standard buffet items. There is not any imagination there and the items themselves seemed to be bored with their role in life. I’ve had better food from carry out. It was a filling meal but not really worth a special trip. If I am over there again and hungry I will stop in, but it won’t be a regular place… unless of course I want to see some Jet Li action up close.

I will admit I was excited to try a new buffet. Especially one so close to where I live. Found it in clipper magazine with $ 2 off dinner for up to 5 people. It said Grand Opening Under new management. That is either really good or really bad.
Advertised Hibachi, Japanese, Chinese, American and even Italian. Sounds too good to be true I thought. I went with two friends for dinner today.
Outside it looked nice, and I figured out after I got home this was previously owned and under an older name. Never been to it before the old management left so I had nothing to compare it to.
We went inside and we didn’t know what to make of the décor. A somewhat fancy dining room surrounded with décor from an old disco club. We’re talking beaded curtains, odd music, and flashing dance floor lights on the walls and ceiling.
The food looked pretty standard, at first glance it looked like a lot, and a bigger desert bar than other Chinese buffet locations.
After getting into the food it didn’t deliver that well, there were a few decent staples and a bit of variety, but one bite into a chicken wing it appeared a bit pink, some other dishes were hard, crunchy and overcooked. Probably because it was sitting there awhile.
The hibachi ingredient bar and sushi section seemed to be the highlights. It suffered in the promise of American and Italian food. One section of pasta and garlic bread was not enough to deliver and for American it was overdone roast beef and french fries.
As far as service refills were very quick, our glasses never emptied. But it did seem like our waiter was hovering over us the entire time and rushing us out even though the place was almost empty. Feels very uncomfortable from a customer’s perspective.
This place needs improvement. It charges 13:.50 for a buffet + drink combo. Lucky for us we brought the coupon, only cost us 11.50.
Live and learn I suppose, buffets are always hit or miss, it wasn’t an incredibly terrible experience, but it was indeed a miss.