Best Rhode Island Buffets: Ranked and Reviewed

Review

Coming in at the top is Warwick’s Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet, perhaps tied with Royal Buffet (see below).

In summary, Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet in Warwick offers one of the most complete buffets in Rhode Island and is substantially better in every respect than its East Providence location. The Warwick location has a seafood lean without compromising the typical Chinese-American buffet experience. The prices are low, the selection is massive, the service is very attentive, and, notably, there is a huge selection of sushi—the largest around—as well as a full-sized salad bar, tons of seafood, including crab and whole baby octopus, and unique desserts not seen elsewhere. Unfortunately, the experience is held back by employees beginning cleanup and food consolidation well before closing and, most importantly, customers being asked to leave before the posted closing time.

I can’t emphasize enough how many standouts there are here. Literally, around a dozen different sushi rolls, a salad bar with every topping you can think of, a hibachi with everything you need, and a dessert selection consisting of full-sized cakes in addition to unique offerings not seen anywhere else! Lastly, they had hot foods typical of any Chinese-American buffet, but without compromise and with a seafood lean. This included crab, baby octopus, and an emphasis on shrimp, with every dish you can imagine, and your typical seafoods like mussels, clams, oysters, and fish.

Unfortunately, arrive well before close. To get to the point, customers are asked to leave about 30 minutes before close—we were even escorted out! That aside, however, the service is very, very attentive, and the atmosphere is mostly good aside from an occasional loud child or family.

You can visit my full review here.

Review

Coming in right after, if not on the same level as Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet, 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. It has everything, basically, though the service, especially before closing, can be questionable. 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? Salad bar? 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 (especially in the dessert selection)!

The quality of the food–and I feel like I’m repeating myself–is that of a mostly bog-standard buffet, maybe slightly higher. It’s regularly replenished, kept hot, and replaced as needed. The quality is fine, and it’s tasty and well-seasoned; 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 dubious, 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 and the potential for getting kicked out early, 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–above average, 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 willing to make casual conversation. And most of all—a personal favorite: an entire station of different dim-sum steamed in bamboo baskets!

Of course, this comes at a cost, literally. Not only is it a little pricey, but some of the offerings at their buffet stations 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 and limited 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 very 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 smaller selection 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 or something with more variety, consider Royal Buffet or another option on this list.

You can visit my full review here.

Review

Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet’s East Providence location is essentially Royal Buffet, but smaller, with slightly worse service and substantially worse atmosphere, as well as specific, frustrating problems detailed in the primary review that left us saying “we’ll never come back again.”

When it comes to food, Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet is a traditional Chinese-American buffet. It has a decent selection that’s satisfying, and notably, it has a good selection of sushi rolls and desserts, though it feels limiting at times around the hot food areas. 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.

The first few annoyances: a few critical items were never replenished, such as the ginger for the sushi and certain hard-serve ice creams, including the serving spoons themselves (which apparently “broke”) right in the middle of dinner! But right at closing time, those items were seen quickly refilled for the following day. Also, the hibachi station was unmanned for extended periods—what gives?

Sure, the overall dessert selection was excellent, and the sushi roll offerings were expansive (both rivaled, if not surpassed, Royal Buffet in this regard), but not addressing those key issues brought it down more than it should have. Additionally, the salad bar was just okay, missing a few standard toppings, which may be more disappointing to salad lovers than to the typical buffet-goer—basically, it’s still servicable.

The service, and more so the atmosphere, were horrendous, and are the key reasons this buffet ranks so low. Honestly, if they addressed what’s about to be described, this buffet could easily be higher up.

Staff started breaking down stations well before close, although some food was left out even until close, which was admirable, to be fair. However, the worst part of the buffet experience was the noise: extremely noisy, rowdy, unchecked families; and overwhelmed employees who stopped table service completely 30-45 minutes before closing to attend to cleaning in an equally loud manner, including dragging metal chairs across the floor. Were you expecting refills and for your dirty dishes to be cleared from your table? That isn’t happening anymore. What was especially annoying was that, while employees cleaned under tables, they barricaded us in the corner with chairs for some time.

And hey, why is this place so dark? I can’t see anything, not even the food in front of me, and I hear way, way too much—ugh, I just don’t want to be here! It’s way too overstimulating and genuinely miserable.

As noted above, at the very least, their hibachi was good, assuming someone was there to take your order; the sushi roll variety was surprisingly excellent; the dessert selection was great; and the hard serve, especially, was tasty. However, the salad bar was mostly average.

Essentially, just go anywhere else and avoid the literal headache until this spot actually becomes a pleasant place to eat.

You can visit my full review here.