The Buffet At River Rock - Richmond

A sandwich board in the casino last week advertising Dungeness crab at The Buffet on Friday and Saturday brought us for dinner. We arrived early shortly after the opening at about 5:00 PM on Friday. Of course we made a bee line for the Dungeness crab. We discovered that the crabs were barely of legal size and many were missing as many as 3 legs. Why would The Buffet offer substandard crabs to their patrons? There was a good selection of delicacies to choose from but we found that the dessert buffet was not up to par. The staff was most cordial and as always "Johnny on the spot". Aida (our favorite staff member) always managed to make our repast more enjoyable.

First of all - there's plenty of adjacent free parking. It's also very accessible by skytrain or bus. None of us are gamblers but joining the casino, which is free, gives you a 20% cut as does being a senior. Our friends and we find it a great place to meet to visit as it is roomy and airy, with good views of the working Fraser River. They serve a good house blend coffee with the buffet and you can linger for lunch from 11:30 - 2:30. Staff are generally friendly and efficient. The buffet is self-serve except for the roast beef and serves a good variety from soups and breads, salads including slaws and fruits to Asian and Western choices. The entree presentation and taste are snot teller but Ok if you only go once a month ro so.

I am not a big fan of buffet but everything is always fresh. The skill required to prepare the food? My 11 year old son could match it. What I do enjoy is the little Asian corner. They always have some decent authentic bits and pieces of dim sum and other Asian style offerings. It's the first place I go.

We went to the buffet because my family wanted to eat BBQ. We couldn't find the BBQ and when we asked staff no one mentioned the BBQ items were on the balcony outside the main eating area. We noticed folks at the end of our meal and finally realized the BBQ items were out doors. We were already full on less than spectacular standard buffet items. My son in law tried the short ribs & pork and liked the meat but it was too late for us. Desserts were pretty good.

My husband and I were staying at the River Rock Hotel and thought we would go out for a nice meal. We choose the buffet in the hotel as we did not want to drive anywhere and the pictures on the brochure in our room made the food look wonderful. Wrong. There was a lot of variety but everything that either one of us tried was not very good. They did have crabs legs which I wrongly thought they could not get them wrong, but they were over cooked and the meat was tough. The beef that a chef was carving was very dry, the pasta was tasteless, and the Chinese food was not any better than a fast food chain in a mall! The desserts looked great, but even they had no taste.The price was VERY high even if the food had been worth it.The service was terrible at best. We felt like cattle that they were just trying to quickly push through.