Orem’s King Buffet offers exciting plethora of Asian choices
A buffet plate featuring a whole crawdad (or crayfish) from King Buffet in Orem is pictured.
A buffet plate featuring chicken and broccoli, baked salmon, orange chicken, tempura fried sushi, a spring roll, cream cheese wontons and low mein is pictured at King Buffet in Orem.
A bowl of egg drop soup and a buffet plate featuring salmon sushi, green beans, beef and broccoli, a beef roll, a Chinese donut and more from King Buffet in Orem.
A Mongolian grill plate featuring noodles, shrimp and steak from King Buffet in Orem.
A buffet plate featuring chocolate soft-serve ice cream, a chocolate-covered strawberry, a Chinese donut and mochi ball from King Buffet in Orem.
The sushi station from King Buffet in Orem.
The Mongolian grill station from King Buffet in Orem.
A buffet plate featuring salmon nigiri, California roll, fried shrimp and more from King Buffet in Orem.
A portion of the buffet from King Buffet in Orem.
A cup of ice cream and chunks of fruit drizzled in chocolate from the chocolate fountain from King Buffet in Orem.
The storefront of King Buffet in Orem.
If you want to feel like you’re being pampered on a cruise for a couple hours, King Buffet in Orem, Taylorsville and Salt Lake City is the place to go.
Touted as the largest Chinese buffet in Utah, King Buffet had the potential to disappoint with food geared toward quantity over quality. But I and my fellow diners were pleasantly surprised to find that quality was not lacking in many options the buffet offered.
On our visit to the Orem location, we first noticed the size of the restaurant — King Buffet is highly spacious in both dining and buffet areas (which would be very accommodating for big Utah families and other large groups).
I was wise in bringing a few extra people with me to get additional feedback on the food, because there was no way that I would have been able to sample the plethora of options offered in the buffet, Mongolian grill, sushi bar and dessert bar.
Everyone in our group agreed that the best parts of our dinner were the Mongolian grill and the chocolate fountain. Similar to many cruise dining setups, diners pick out their favorite raw veggies, meats, rice or noodles, and sauces, and wait as a chef on the other side cooks everything up. The ingredient options were numerous and all high-quality. For the price of our meal, we were pleasantly surprised to see the restaurant offered unlimited fresh shrimp and steak in addition to other meats. The vegetarian in our group was also happy with the large amount of fresh veggies offered.
It may seem like I’m jumping to dessert prematurely, but it was too fun to wait to mention it. A big fountain ripples with melted chocolate on the dessert counter, sitting next to a platter of freshly cut fruit to skewer and dip in. There’s also a soft ice cream machine (again, cruise atmosphere, anyone?), and we loved that when fountain chocolate was spooned onto a bowl of ice cream, it hardened like a magic shell. Other notable dessert options were the Chinese donut balls and the Chinese sesame balls with sweet red bean paste.
Additional notable and fun foods we encountered included: whole crawdads (which I was too skittish to eat, but which my fellow diners said was delicious), egg drop soup, fried octopus, salmon and a whole buffet counter dedicated to food reminiscent of Flaming Wok/mall Chinese food.
There was also a buffet section dedicated to food for the more picky diners and kids, including mac and cheese, pizza, wings and more. (We tried the mac and cheese, and you should too. Trust me.)
There were so, so many additional dishes we tried that ranged from decent to delicious that would be too lengthy to list.
Now, in a buffet that offers literally hundreds of options for a relatively low dining price, a few lower quality or not-so-appealing items here and there are to be expected. Our group agreed that the tempura fried sushi tasted cold and old (though we went on a pretty slow weeknight, so perhaps on busier nights things wouldn’t have been left out for so long).
Additionally, the beef and broccoli and the breaded shrimp were underwhelming, and some of the fish in the buffet area tasted overcooked. And while many individual fried items were tasty, I’d suggest avoiding loading up too much on the oily stuff before your stomach starts feeling a tad gross.
The service was noticeably on top of things the whole night and very polite. We never had finished buffet plates sitting on our table for more than a minute, and our drinks never hit bottom. Everything appeared clean and orderly, especially for a buffet restaurant.
In addition to the food and size, the atmosphere also reminded us of a cruise ship, with bright colors and patterns and decorations — tacky but fun.
After squeezing the last round of chocolate-covered ice cream into the non-existent room left in our stomachs, we left stuffed and satisfied, all agreeing that we’d be back soon for another round.
KING BUFFET
Where: 123 S. State St., Orem
Hours: Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Prices: Lunch: adults $8.85, children (4-10 years old) $4.95. Dinner: adults $12.95, children $7.75. Saturday, Sunday and holidays are dinner prices all day. 3-year-olds $1.99. Kids under 3 free. Buffet-to-go options also available.
Info: (801) 960-9669, kingbuffetutah.com