Ryce Oriental Buffet

The food was fantastic the first time we went about two years ago. We went back again last year and everything tasted bland. Plus, they started no-​nos like leaving the ice cream scooper in a bucket of murky water.

Sadly, I believe this location is permanently closed– I have checked a few times since August 2013 and I haven’t seen any lights or notices :(:(:(:(

Went to have lunch on a Tuesday and they were closed? Not sure if this place is still open for business.

Whenever I missed the flavor of my hometown my husband and I will come here. Really authentic Chinese and Shanghai food.

I am sorry to report Ryce Chinese Buffet closed its doors on July 8. My girllfriend and I had only recently discovered it, ate there 3 times and it quickly became our favorite place to dine.

two completely different buffets. on weekdays, it is a not very special, very «americanized», not too many choices cheap buffet.
On the weekends, they try to bring out the big guns, having dimsum fish, stirfry, chinese desserts, pig ear, etc all these random authentic chinese food, but the quality isn’t that good (what do you expect, its a buffet). If you are just lookign for a bunch of authentic chinese food, and are ok with low quality, this is the place for you.

For a giant chinese buffet this place is pretty awesome.
Don’t go for the standard american-​chinese food! Try something new (or if your’e chinese, seek out your comfort foods!)
I found seaweed salad (the brown chinese kind with lots of garlic and not sweet at all), fermented rice with little mochi-​like balls (it’s porridge-​like and my dad used to make this for me from scratch), decently fresh soy milk (trust me, fresh soy milk tastes more green than the american store bought stuff!), and an assortment of random dimsum like stuff.
We came here on the weekend (i don’t know what this place is like on a weekday) and I rather enjoyed it.
My friends and I all left driving very cautiously — we didn’t want to slam on the brakes too hard just in case.

By far worst dining experience I’ve ever had!
Found LIVE roach in sliced carrots! Staff was extremely slow to remove the pan from the line. They only did it when they saw me take a picture of the roach squirming around with my cell phone.
The first two employees simply ignored my complaint when I physically pointed out the roach. The cook, oh my god, all he did was take the tongs and move the roach aside! Then he went back to cooking on the grill and ignored me.
Filed complaint with county health department with attached photo that I took from my cell.

Taken from notes from mid-​September 2012.
This is likely the worst restaurant experiences I have ever had. I understand a lot of people like this place because of its massive variety but I simply must tell this story so that people take it into consideration before eating here. This is not to be an alarmist, but its to demonstrate a few things that one should think is unacceptable in not only the restaurant biz but in terms of interpersonal relations in general.
I went to Ryce’s with an old girlfriend of mine. We sat down and waited several minutes for us to be able to order water (because paying two bucks or more for soda is freakin stupid), and so we just went and served ourselves at the buffet.
Most things were okay, but by that I mean painfully average to below average and/​or sub-​fast-​food quality and taste. The object seemed to be to get as much breading around everything as possible and/​or save as much of their old food as possible to refry it and put it back on the buffet line to save money. It was obvious to me that many of their items had either been sitting out for quite a long time or they were using old ingredients from days before in some of their chicken dishes and their egg rolls. They were offensively stale and had been marinating in grease under heat lamps for quite a while in addition to the fact they tasted like they were made from old ingredients in the first place. The sushi was offensively poor as well. You really shouldn’t expect much from buffet sushi, but both my table mate and I both thought the sushi had a CHEMICAL and METALLIC aftertaste to it. We both suspected that the sushi pan had not had all the sanitizer washed off of it or something and/​or it had been sitting in the pans so long that it was developing a metallic or stale taste to it. I don’t know the science behind this; I can only tell you how my senses responded. The white rice was also old and/​or undercooked.
I finally had had enough so I called the manager over to talk. I told him all of these things and he immediately started arguing with me and defending his food. Not only was I not offered something to make this better (as I was paying a significant amount of money to eat at their buffet) I was being TOLD I would pay full price because he thought he knew how much I had eaten when the fact was I had taken 3 trips to the buffet trying to find something worth eating that wasn’t lo mein or fruit from the salad bar. I had thrown away the contents of most of what I had taken because it was so offensive. The continued to argue with me (I believe there was somewhat of a language barrier too we were dealing with) and so I finally just paid and left because both him and his wife threatened to call the cops if I didn’t pay.
Some part of me thinks I got somewhat profiled. My table mate and I are wild looking people, and so the way he reacted so quickly and jumped to so many conclusions makes me believe he thought we wanted to pick a fight or something (or were looking for a way to get a hand out). But you never defend your food! You always make things right. Not because Im the customer or because the customer is always right but because food is a very personal thing and defending it without respect for the people who are eating it and warning you about its quality is simply unacceptable.
This is the only place I have visited in Saint Louis where I said to myself «I will never be back.» Ryce’s more than earned that it seems from this experience.

My boyfriend went on and on about how good this place is and here is what I will tell you.
You must apparently go at specific times of day. We were doing an early dinner around 4:00PM on a Sunday the day after Chinese New Year and the stuff had obviously been sitting out for a while.
The battered chickens (of all kinds) were tough and chewy.
They were out of white rice. The boyfriend said this was highly uncharacteristic of what he was used to.
We will try this place again at dinner time or for the lunch rush but $ 32.15 for two people for ‘tough’ food — I was highly displeased, but like I said — I am willing to give it a second opportunity at a different time.

Best Chinese buffet in the area.
They have nice selection of ding sang, dessert along with good regular buffet food. Just ignore these 1 star review by «Tom» «Jerry» what do they know about Chinese food…

Omg the food sucks. If you come here to dine bring your own microwave to reheat it. The buffet tasted like dog food. The workers seem bored. The seafood is definitely not fresh. They like to serve spoiled food. This would be acceptable if this was china. Damn, I wasted my money and went to McDonalds after eating 2 bites.

A family recommendation should have been a great experience but was soured by the food. My ex’s family loves me (and hates her) so I don’t think they were trying to poison my kids and me.
My eldest son is a Mongolian stir-​fry nut and he wasn’t thrilled. I tried the MSF myself and the mush that was served was one of the poorest examples of MSF I have ever had. I can honestly say it was the second worst thing I have ever had in my mouth (don’t ask!).
I was eager to try the dim sum as it is one of my favorites in Asian cuisine but what looked good was cold, hard, dried-​out and tasteless. Strike two!
The average buffet-​fare was nothing to write home about… or write here about. Bland, usually cold and for a Friday night, odd that it was sitting there too long.
Strike three came with the bill. $ 44 (not including tip) for myself and two kids. I’m use to the same meal coming out at $ 22-​$ 28 at better places.
Ryce, it seems, ain’t so nyce… at any pryce. I won’t be there twyce!
* I fully admit going back for dinner while I was in the neighborhood. When I noticed that at the peak of the dinner hour, there was no more than six people there, I just should have turned around and left. But, nooooo… I stayed and ate. Not to be indelicate, but I returned my dinner at the edge of the parking lot, if you know what I mean?
A review from last month says they are closed. One can only hope.

Yuck.

I went and experienced the suggested weekend lunchtime buffet a few weeks ago. There were many chinese specialties which I totally wasn’t expecting from a buffet. It was unfortunate that most of them weren’t all that good and were presented in a limp and somewhat destitute fashion. I don’t know… usually I feel joy and delight at the sight of dim sum plates with slightly mysterious contents, but it was just so glum and barren I couldn’t get into it. I did like the buns and other baked goods but extremely rich chinese baking has rapidly diminishing returns. One is delicious and filled with salty or sweet or savory surprises. Two or three lead to a leaden feeling and a desperate need for something to drink.
Maybe I would have enjoyed things more if I had an appetite that day for the vast amounts of shellfish and crab on display. People around me were consuming them with gusto. The best two dishes that I sampled were the sticky rice in lotus leaf with pork. that was a treat that I hadn’t had since I had been to a place with a chinatown, and a winter melon dish. I had forgotten how much I liked winter melon.
The americanized chinese food was workmanlike, nothing to write home about.

The secret to this Chinese Buffet:
1. Do NOT GO on a weekday. that’s when menu caters to adapted Amercian palate. You will be thorougly disappointed. The host saw me come in on a weekday night and knows I’m a weekend regular in past. She probably thinks I’m Chinese. Anyhow, I could understand a bit and she kept apologizing in Mandarin on the poor weekday offereings. They do this on purpose because the weekends are rockstar days… see below
2. Do GO on a Saturday at lunch when it just opens. Sunday may work too. The offerings of seafood, dim sum offerings, more of the exotic Chinese dishes is abundant as well as american dishes, desserts, Chinese pasteries. Most of the customers of Asian descent go on this day with families because they know the food quality at that time is at its best quality and value! 4 Star.

I saw the name «Ryce Buffet» and went in hoping that despite their grammatical error, hopefully they’d get the food right, haha.
My mom came to visit me in St. Louis from Chicago for a few days, and we were looking for a decent buffet to hit up. Yes, my mother and I love a good buffet. Honestly, word of mouth made me hesitate, as many people told me this place wasn’t very good, in words that weren’t as nice.
Even still, I wanted to taste for myself. So off my mother and I went, into the unknown. Much to my surprise, it was not half bad. The traditional American-​Chinese dishes were pretty good, and the variety/​selection is huge. Not only that, they also have a Mongolian BBQ stir-​fry, which was pretty good. And really you can’t say that a place’s Mongolian BBQ stir-​fry is bad because, well, you’re the one putting the ingredients and sauces in, haha. They also have some decent sushi.
Overall, I’d say Ryce Buffet is A-​OK! There is great variety, and most people don’t go to buffets expecting spectacular quality anyway. If you’re looking to get your fill on some decent-​to-​good Asian buffet, give Ryce Buffet a try.

Hmmm? What was that? You ask what would happen if Wal-​Mart and a Chinese buffet got together and had a baby? Oh, well then you would have the Ryce Oriental Buffet.
This place is gigantic!
Okay, the Ryce Oriental Buffet isn’t trying to fool anyone. They are very upfront with what they are peddling. They have a very large selection of your standard Chinese buffet foods. If you’ve had it at a buffet at one time, they probably have it here. They also have some American food like pizza, wings, and fries if that’s what you want.
They also have a stir-​fry station, sushi, and Dim Sum. But to be honest, the sushi ain’t great.
This is a great place to bring a bunch of coworkers or buddies on a Friday when you know the rest of the day is shot to hell. Throw out any illusions of eating healthy here, and loosen your belt because the Ryce Oriental Buffet is where you go to feel bad about yourself later.
And that is just awesome.

I understand this place didn’t use to have the best reputation, but I took one of those people here recently, and he agreed that things had definitely changed. I would agree it’s a good sign to see so many other Asians dining there. It’s comparable to the Emperor’s Palace giant buffet in Chesterfield, but I like this one better. I think the food here is fresher and turns over quicker. They have a sushi section, dim sum, Mongolian-​style bowls, and a huge selection of traditional Chinese food choices, such as sweet and sour chicken, as well as some more authentic (some might say more exotic) Chinese menu items.
If you get the Mongolian bowl and still plan to sample the rest of the buffet, be sparing with your bowl. They are quite filling!
My favorite food here is the peanut butter chicken! I know it sounds odd, but it’s so good with little bits of crushed peanuts mixed into the sauce. Mmmm. Salivating just thinking about it. Some killer honey chicken, broccoli beef, and green beans and zucchini.
There are non-​Asian choices, too, such as a mini salad bar, cocktail wieners in sauce, and pizza.
The difference between the lunch and dinner buffets have some substance. I can’t speak to weekday dinners but weekend dinners have great seafood choices, ice cream, dim sum. I like the dim sum, but I wish the labels over the dim sum were a little clearer with so many people coming through and moving the dim sum containers out of their normally labeled spots.
There are so many things on this buffet that if you just took little tastes of each one back to your table, you would still get stuffed before sampling everything.

Why would you come here for sushi? Intention fail.
Try the hot braised chicken, it’s delicious.