King Buffet

Love the place! So much food to choose from and for Americanized-Chinese it‘s just fine. We‘ve been there enough, they know us and welcome us with smiles. English isn‘t the greatest...but neither is my Chinese. A very good salad bar and dessert selection. It‘s a buffet - and their turnover is large. Good place to eat casually. And without great expense.

Amazing, as far as Americanized Chinese food goes.

I work at the theater right next to it. I eat there every so often. The food is super greasy and old

Love it! It‘s one of my favorite places to go.

Great place, and great taste with fair price!

I have never had to wait for a place to sit, the restaurant is usually pretty busy. It may not be the best place to eat Americanized Chinese, but the food is good and the service isn‘t bad. It‘s a buffet people.

this has got to be the dirtiest restaurant in ames.The servers yell at you when you come in(hey you,over here).they take your drinks and mix the glasses up with other peoples drinks.
When i got there,their was a tray of about 200 crab rangoons sittiing out at room temp,by the bathroom even.when i left , a little over an hour later,they were still sitting on the tray by the bathroom.speaking of bathrooms,i think the bathroom on trainspotting was cleaner.

Maybe it‘s because it was a slow night, but pretty much all the food was barely lukewarm and was dry--far from fresh--and most of the dishes were close to empty. I have yet to find a good Chinese place in Ames (Chinese Home Cooking is the best I‘ve had, and I still consider it average).

the best chinese restraunt according to me, yes, the servers are not the best with english, but, the service is very good, the food is delicous, and the overall is GREAT. Definatley recomended.

The food was of great variety and good quality.

Honestly, not worth the hype. We recently moved here from out of state, kept on hearing oh you must try king buffet. Well we did, food was okay, service was very poor. You had to pretty much get your own drink.

The servers seemed to have a hard time understanding english. I dont think we will be going back any time soon.

Plenty of food and a good variety. Quality is usually good, but it can get a little stale of you‘re there at a slow time. As long as the food is fresh, its a very good and the price is fair.

King Buffet has the best value for either lunch or dinner in the world. Particularly if you love seafood. Service is very friendly and everything is very clean.

Hi, How Many?

You can expect this as your customary greeting when you walk through the doors of the magificent establishment. Brimming with 2 Buffet lines of various mystery meat dishes, loaded to the brim with heart choking msg. If your not worried about falling over, with chest clinched in hand after your meal, the taste is worth the risk of your possible cardiac arrest.

All jokes aside, the staff is cordial and friendly, however limited in thier english speaking skills and the food does its job at a reasonable price. In most cases with Buffets, you may want to have a 2-wheeler on stand-by to assist you exit strategy.

King Buffet has never disappointed me in the 4 years I have lived in Ames. They have good food at a reasonable price, the staff are friendly and keep the place clean and pretty well stocked. Their crab ragoons are amazing and they actually keep the crab legs pretty well stocked, and I am comparing them to several Chinese buffets in Chicago. All in all a very nice place, especially when you consider that it is in a somewhat small town (compared to suburbs of Chicago) in the middle of Iowa.

I ate during the noon rush on saturday and my experience was this....

- Kind of short staffed, however, they were able to maintain drinks, cleanliness (for the most part) and fresh food.

-Environment was pretty nice..however, pretty unappetizing by their waitress station

-Immediate seating

- Good selection of food

--Overall... Meh. You aren‘t missing anything if you dont go to it. And if you do, you probably wont care either way if you come back or not.

Not sure why everyone is complaining about the service, it‘s a buffet, what else is there to expect, they clean up after you and give you your drinks, they do what they need to. The tables are always picked up after. As for the food, it‘s definitely not authentic but for American Chinese food it isn‘t horrible, it isn‘t the best either. It‘s a good buffet for Ames.

This place has gotten worse every time we‘ve gone. Service is terrible. The waitress never came to refill our drinks and we had to track down one to get our bill. The food was cold and some dishes looked as if they were a day old. Don‘t pay extra for the dinner buffet. They set out one tiny pan of crab legs which are gone in a minute or so and they refill it about every half hour. Also the food is so full of salt and msg I feel sick afterwards. Maybe that isn‘t unusual for Chinese buffet but this was the worst I‘ve had.

I‘ve eaten here quite a few times and have always had good, fresh, and delicious food. The server have always been pleasant and efficient. In fact, I‘m going back today (5/20/2009) and would highly recommend it.

Very good restaurant. I come almost every weekend, and the food is great. The waiters are awsome. I would deffintly recomened this place it is great

Food is okay, but the staff is rude! And for god sake do NOT use the bathrooms. I have to say the bathrooms here are the worst I have seen even compaired to some of the bars in town. I think the Ames Health Inspector needs to check them out again. The staff doesn‘t even try to be friendly they just yell "what you drink!" If you haven‘t eaten in a month by all means go get your fill.

Once again they have given me a reason NOT to go there again. I was leaving five minutes after I paid and the "waitress" yelled from across the room for all to hear if I had already paid. After that she started arguing with the other "waitress" and, even after I showed her my receipt, she didn‘t even apologize for the embarrassment . Do not visit this place, it‘s not worth the trip or the money. The food is almost acceptable, but the service is the worst I have ever had in my entire life.

The perfect place to eat if you‘re a fan of botulism, grease, cold nasty Chinese food and nonexistant service. The reason they spend so much on advertising is because their food is disgusting, their building is dirty and slovenly, I wouldn‘t let my dog eat there, let alone pay to eat there. Everything is covered in grease or salt, it looks as if it‘s been sitting on the buffet for hours not minutes and I would be scared for anyone who ate seafood there of catching some kind of horrible parasitic disease.

this place is horrible the waitresses take your plate when your not even done

I lived in Ames for a yr and in Story Co. for several yrs. I love Chinese buffets.I work construction and our family shows livestock so Ive been to buffets around the country. King has the Best General chicken and Mongolian beef around. The fried shrimp are great as well , I never did try the crab legs , speaking as a robust (fat) guy , its way too much effort for such a small amount of food. Ive never liked the Rangoon they have. All the rest of the food is pretty good. As far as the service , I moved and had not been there for at least 2 yrs when I went back to Southern IA. When I stopped in to get a Buffet to Go the waitress gave me a big smile and asked how I was doing, guess I wasn‘t treated like cattle . This is by far the best buffet in Ames , some people just like to hate and I really dont think anyone can make them happy.So , if you LIKE Chinese Buffets you will be mostly pleased here , if you dont like Chinese buffets go to a drive through or Applebees and pay more than Kings but at least as you‘re eating your bland food you wont have to whine about something you already didn‘t really like.

The food isn‘t really that great, so they could make up for that with customer service--but they don‘t. You are hearded in there like cattle. A waitress basically yells "how many" to you and you say and then you run behind her. I can take bad food with good service or good food with poor service, but this place has neither. All they have going for them is that is is in fact all you can eat.

I eat here couple times a month. I like their orange chicken.

If you are not a fan of seafood, then stay away. That‘s pretty much all they had to offer. Their other entrees were disgusting, and the crab rangoons were saturated in grease (more than normal). The service was also awful, but what do expect for a "you‘re in, you‘re out" sloppy buffet?

I have had the worst experience eating at this restaurant. The servers are rude and they do not take care of their customers very well. I am a server myself so I realize what happens when a restaurant becomes busy. There is really no excuse for bad service like the service I received when going there- and I‘ve been there more than three times. On one occassion I was splashed with water from dirty glasses thrown in a bin behind me. The servers also grab your glass along with other tables glasses and refill them at the same time. This is very unsanitary and I know as a server it would be difficult at times to be sure you give the correct glass back to the same customer-(along with the fact that the top of the glasses touch eachother). The servers are also very impolite and curt to their customers. They never smile or seem even remotely happy that you have come to their establishment. Personally, I say eat at another chinese restaurant.

The people who gave this place poor reviews are obviously basing their experience on the fact that they couldn‘t keep it in their stomachs... So if you can handle Chinese food without blowing chunks, go here. It‘s not busy at all on weekday afternoons, and the buffet is $7 for lunch M-Sat instead of $10 for dinner. It IS American Chinese food, so if you want authentic you should look somewhere else, but you‘ll be hard-pressed to find something within 25 miles.

I have eaten here a few times. It was only because I wanted crab legs, the rest of the menu really is not good. And as far as the crab legs go, they only put out so many per hr. Basically you have to fight for them and I won‘t be doing that anymore!! I felt like an animal!!

this has to be the best chinese ever! i dont care if its not authentic..it‘s delicious and has the best crab rangoons anyone could ask for.

I was forced there by my granddaughter this is the worst place I have ever eaten. After arriving back home I became very sick. I vomited for hours and could not eat all the next day. Now I cant stand to drive by the place makes my stomach churn...BEWARE!

It‘s a buffet what do you expect?!? It‘s good for what it is. Probably the best buffet in town...not the best Asian food though.

I don‘t care if I get food poisoning ten times from this place. It is the best Chinese buffet I‘ve ever been to. The service is speedy your drink is never emty and your table is always tidy. Also they have a great selection of food and rarely ever run low on anything.

I would give this place ZERO stars if that was an option. I got the worst case of food poisoning I have ever had when I ate there. Within 5 minutes of getting back to my house I became nauseated, and got a violent headache and then proceeded to spend the next 4 hours vomiting profusely. I called the restaurant the next day and was treated like I had stolen something over the phone. Needless to say I‘ll never return and always advise against going.

Being over from England recently our freinds took us to King Buffet.I have been to loads of places like this in England and have a few in my hometown of Reading but this being the USA I thought it would be something different .Now my wife and I enjoyed the food and I would have give it 3 stars at least but the service..The most miserable people we met in America during our stay and the only place we did not leave a tip.

swear to god ive had food poisioning like twice from this place....should of learned the first round i guess.

This Place has a monopoly on bad food. i have never experienced such a high price for something so awful. would not reccomend for taking a dog to a buffet. enough said

The service is harried, as the place is busy, WAY busy on a weekend eve. The atmosphere is spartan. The price is a bit high.

But all that said, fine Chinese dining is not easily found in Ames, Iowa. This is "American"-style Chinese, like Pizza Hut instead of Pizzaria Uno, or Carlos O‘Kelly‘s instead of authentic Mexican. And in that genre, the food is unusually good.

I have eaten at Chinese buffets from Des Moines to Mason City and half-a-dozen places far flung from major Oriental populations. This is one of the best such buffets. If you just want to chow on some tasty food, if you‘re not the type who is too stuck up to actually enjoy McDonald‘s or Pizza Hut, then the King Buffet will be very satisfying. If it‘s gourmet or no way...what the heck are you doing eating at a Chinese buffet anyway?

If you want appendicitis, a spleen removal or sure fire liver failure, eat here. Otherwise, I‘d take a skip on this 0 star F- restaurant. I mean, come on.

Rush, rush, rush without a smile.
It would make things better, if the girls smiled once in a while and if they only take half the amount of drinks into their hand so they dont have to touch the top where I put my mouth.

Great people and good food! Also lots of places to sit.

Simply a C, compared to any other Chinese Buffet I‘ve been to. Food selection is pretty good, it tastes so-so. If you want to do Chinese buffet, probably the best in Ames. That is not saying a whole lot tho...

This place is horrible. In the middle of my meal an employee handed me mustard packets and gestured me to refill the empty table holder. What a joke! Also, very expensive for luke warm food.

Service is terrible, way too expensive!!!!!!

Food is nasty.... Worst buffet I‘ve ever had. F-

Its not awful, but to be honest the food is rarely ever more than luke-warm. There is better Chinese food to be had and unless you‘re planning on pigging out, it is one of the more expensive places to go.

Best bang for the buck in ames. Great service for a buffet. I have never been anything but satisfied with the food. I go with an entire group of friends weekly. It is well worth the try. I would disregard the heavy critics, walk in and check it out for yourself. You will not be dissapointed.

pretty good.

It is fine if you just want a quick meal but it is nasty

check out the health code violations... you dont really wanna eat there. Unless of course if you like spending a whole day in the toilet the next day. Thats what happened to me.

I love this place! Much better if you get a little "elevated" before hand. ;-)

A good spot for a nasty quick fix of Chinese food when you know you need it bad. However, not a great place for that guy who always wants to tell you about what the food was like on his trip to Beijing back in 1986. They could keep more crab legs up on their night buffet though. Not for my sake. The people I roll with sit there and wait and wait and wait for them to put out more crab legs and then they pounce. It just slows down my personal experience and I find myself nursing a plate of Mongolian Beef just so I‘m not spent 30 minutes before they are. Stupid crab legs!!!

I think your resturaunt is very great. Your food is really good! My favorite thing to eat here is the..... o‘wait....everything!!haha. There is some stuff there that looks grose, but I am sure it is good stuff. I am just to afraid to try any of that stuff. But anywho, your restraunt is one of the best.

Big quantity of nasty bland food... someone said it right, quantity and a serious case of bad quality.

Screaming children, Lots of people, Too noisy to even bother talking, and a rip off since you could microwave better out of the Hy-Vee or Sam‘s Club freezer sections!

gross. so many health code violations, this place is nasty. expect to see a lot of white trash with piles of crab legs.

the service isnt very good but its not as important as the quality of food since its a buffet place. The selection is really good and delicious!

Expect quantity, not quality here. They have your standard chinese food plus a huge dessert bar which is almost worth going for alone. Sugared strawberries, fried sugar donuts, pudding and torte await you, plus all the other deep fried chinese goodies they have. 10$ buffet, comes with soda, always packed, expect a wait and the people who run the place treat you like cattle.