Best Rhode Island Buffets: Ranked and Reviewed

Review

Coming in at the top is Royal Buffet.

Put simply, Royal Buffet is the type of place you go to where you want all of the experience of a Chinese American buffet without compromise at some of the lowest prices. That’s more or less everything you need to know; otherwise, keep reading!

While other similar buffets may be missing items or are simply smaller, Royal Buffet doesn’t miss. Is your local Chinese American buffet missing a few dishes, perhaps your favorite teriyaki or those sugary dessert sheet cakes? Royal Buffet has it. What about the imitation crab? The extensive hibachi with all of the ingredients? They have all of that here, too. Essentially, it has all the staples of a typical Chinese American buffet, and they also rotate a few dishes each week!

The quality of the food–and I feel like I’m repeating myself–is that of a bog-standard buffet. It’s regularly replenished, kept hot, and replaced as needed. The quality is fine; just don’t expect anything premium or over-the-top. Royal Buffet is simply a place to enjoy good food and likely feel bad after you have eaten too many of their crab rangoons or spent a little too much time picking through their rows of desserts.

Surely, then, this comes at a price. Nope!

Royal Buffet is one of the cheapest buffets in Rhode Island at the time of this writing. In fact, it’s been one of the cheapest for years. With such a huge selection, it really makes you wonder: How do they even turn a profit? And surely, there must be downsides!

The downsides are apparent, but let’s be clear — the positives still greatly outweigh them. So, what are these downsides? The service. Complaint after complaint, no matter where you look online, and for good reason! Simply put, the service and atmosphere are questionable, to say the least.

Long story short, get there 2-3 hours before they close to avoid the headache. A full hour to an hour and a half before their posted closing time, they immediately start breaking down stations, putting away food, and loudly and aggressively cleaning every table near you. It’s as if they are trying to get you to leave. Not only that, if you managed to stick around 30 minutes before their doors apparently shut, for whatever reason, you will be firmly asked to leave. And don’t forget a good tip because, as per many online reviews, they will hound you for it!

Needless to say, you will start to feel rushed if you arrive even just a little “late,” which dampens the overall experience and atmosphere.

Overall, despite its shortcomings, Royal Buffet is one of the best, if not the best, buffets to visit. The price for the quality and offerings cannot be matched anywhere else. If you can just deal with the subpar service, Royal Buffet is an easy 10 out of 10 stars.

You can visit my full review here.

Review

Seafood! Fish! Sushi! Crab! And… lobster?! How is this not first place?!

Yup, Ichiraku is a seafood-based buffet with undertones of a Chinese-American buffet influence. It has a few of those bog-standard foods, but you inevitably gravitate towards the many other offerings. Ichiraku is unique—it’s in its own category of buffet, a seafood-based one.

It’s pricier than some other standard buffets and for good reason. Their seafood is wonderful! The lobster—yes, lobster—they offer is buttery and extra chunky. The sushi station is vast, and the many, many variations of fish, crab, squid, and other fishy dishes cannot be rivaled! Everything seems to be of good quality and full of flavor, no matter what you end up going for.

Ichiraku doesn’t stop there either. They offer tableside tea service, a fridge full of Asian-based drinks, a freezer full of premium ice cream that rivals an ice cream truck, all in a good atmosphere with friendly service.

Of course, this comes at a cost, literally. Not only is it a little pricey, but some of their stations’ offerings also lack. The salad bar? Can you even call it that? A few pieces of spinach and very basic sides—boring! The same can be said for their hibachi area, which is disappointingly small to say the least.

Essentially, if you want seafood, give Ichiraku a try. At its price, it mostly makes up for it. However, if you’re looking for something more of a traditional Chinese American-inspired buffet, this likely won’t suit your needs. Instead, if I wanted that type of food fare, I’d visit Royal Buffet.

You can visit my full review here.

Review

Imagine your typical Chinese American buffet. Now, cut it down several times, then make everything by hand—this is the basis of Hong Kong Buffet. Hong Kong Buffet is simply a small Chinese-American buffet with a homemade feel.

Of course, this all comes with its own positives and negatives. Speaking of the pros, the food feels and tastes exceptionally fresh and is made with care. For example, their General Tsos: instead of being extra deep-fried and saucy, feature fresher-tasting, leaner chicken and a lighter sauce. This also comes with the caveat that much of their food doesn’t have the super-punchy, well-seasoned, fatty taste you often find at other buffets. Essentially, it’s what you’re up for—food with a homemade vibe, or do you simply not care and want all the flavor of a more traditional buffet?

There’s also the important issue: their selection is severely limited across all stations. In fact, it’s perhaps the smallest one in the state. The salad bar is a joke, only having a few bits of spinach and less than a handful of toppings. Similarly, the dessert station only presents a few options at most. The hibachi? Doesn’t even exist. But hey, if you go on the weekends, there’s a tiny, dull-looking prime rib station at an additional price! At the very least, their sushi bar was mostly average, with a slightly higher-quality feel. Still, that doesn’t make up for everything else.

In terms of service, it’s also mixed. They let people stay after closing, but they aren’t always attentive during actual service. Basically, expect to request refills and to ask to have your table cleared at least a few times while you’re there. Going back to a pro: the overall atmosphere is exceptionally quiet, clean, and feels upper-scale.

Hong Kong Buffet is a mixed bag. If you want an upscale, more intimate atmosphere with limited tableside attention, and you’re willing to eat homemade but less flavorful food from an exceptionally limited selection, this is a place to visit. Yeah, that’s a lot of caveats! Overall, it’s not a bad buffet by any means. I would just suggest that if you want a more traditional Chinese-American buffet, consider Royal Buffet or elsewhere.

You can visit my full review here.

Review

This is essentially Royal Buffet, but smaller, with slightly worse service and atmosphere, and notable caveats which are detailed in the primary review.

When it comes to food, Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet is a traditional Chinese-American buffet. It has a decent selection that’s satisfying, though it feels limiting at times, especially compared to other places. If I had to compare this to others on the list, it’s smaller than Royal Buffet and much larger than the severely limited Hong Kong Buffet.

Service and atmosphere were poor. Critical items were not replenished, such as the ginger for the sushi, and certain hard-serve ice creams—yes, they have hard serve, a huge plus—though no toppings or cones, what a miss! Tangent aside, the experience was frustrating.

They started breaking down stations well before close, although some food was left out even then, and, most critically, the atmosphere was horrendous. Extremely noisy, rowdy families; rushed employees who stopped table service 30-45 minutes before to attend to restaurant cleanup—very loudly, too, by the way—don’t expect refills or dish cleanup anymore, either! And hey, why is this place so dark? I can’t see anything, but I hear way, way too much—ugh, I just don’t want to be here!

At the very least, their hibachi was good, assuming someone was there to take your order (yeah, it was unmanned for large portions of dinner); the sushi roll variety was excellent, and the salad and dessert bars were average, featuring a reasonable selection of toppings for the salad and specifically for dessert, a good amount of sheet cakes, as well as a reasonable offering of other basic buffet dessert staples like macarons, fruits, and puddings.

Essentially, just go to Royal Buffet and avoid the literal headache.

You can visit my full review here.