By: Serena Yiu
Upon arriving inside East Buffet (4201 Main Street, Flushing, NY), we were greeted by an Asian lady dressed in business casual at the door. She asked us if we were there for either buffet or regular dining. When we told her “buffet,” she directed us upstairs and we made a left into main dining area. We were seated promptly and were approached by a waitress to take our drink orders. I ordered a Sprite with lemon and my boyfriend ordered an Orange soda. We got our drinks within 3 minutes (she forgot the lemon I asked for) and afterwards, we went up to get our food.
Being an occasional East Buffet customer, one of the first aspects I noticed was that they didn’t have lobster with scallion and ginger at the buffet anymore. I was disappointed because the lobster was always one of the highlights whenever I dined at this buffet. However, their other selections remained constant, which included the following: Stir fry crab with ginger and scallion, Baked scallops in cheese sauce, Shark’s fin soup with seafood, Sushi, Peking duck, Sweet and sour fish, Vegetables, Steamed crab legs, etc. It was later discovered that the lobster was taken out of the buffet in order to reduce costs, but we can still order one (cooked any style) for $3 extra. We decided to order one (cooked with ginger and scallion) and we really got what we paid for because the lobster barely made 1 1/4 lb!
The quality of the food is fresh and clean. There’s a good selection for the seafood and meat lovers. Vegetarians also get a good choice of rice, noodles, sushi, and vegetables. Their dessert area is also very good. They offer soft serve ice cream (same texture as the ice cream trucks!), red bean desserts, cheesecakes, jello, black jelly, fresh fruit, tong shui, etc.
One of the negatives I noticed about this restaurant is that not all the wait staff could understand/speak English. As mentioned earlier, our waitress forgot my lemon, so I asked her again when I sat down. She nodded, but apparently, again, forgot. I asked another waiter for it, and he rudely responded with “WHAT?!” (I think an “Excuse Me?” or “Sorry?” would have been more appropriate). I repeated it again, and he shook his head, not understanding. I spoke to him in Cantonese and he replied back to me in Mandarin. Eventually, I understood that he said that I could get them myself at the far end of the buffet. (I didn’t see them earlier when I went to get my food.)
The bill came out to approximately $65 (for buffet, the extra lobster, drinks, tax, and tip). The tip is added onto your bill, and in our case, the tax was about $8, which I thought was a bit ambitious considering the service we received. The regular buffet was $24.99 per person, which I think was lowered from before due to the lack of lobster. All in all, the food was good, but I don’t think it was worth the price. I think a justified price would be $50 total. 
Serena Yiu is a Contributor