Green Olive Buffet

This is probably one of my least favorite buffets in the dmv area right after Blue Pearl. To be honest, I wouldn’t come here if I had the choice, but sometimes in Asian families, you gotta do what you gotta do.
When you get here, the parking is usually spacious but be careful because of the amount of reckless Asian drivers here. My parents and I almost got hit a few times just looking for a parking space. The buffet looks somewhat old and worn down. They could work on their cleanliness, and overall cleaning up around so everything doesn’t look and feel so grimy.
The buffet has enough food to keep you full but the quality is ²⁄₅. When I eat here, I feel like I am eating leftovers, and it gives me kind of a gross feeling. I’ll be honest about 25% of the food is decent but the rest I feel like isn’t cooked very well. They have all the basic Chinese food like General Tso’s chicken, crab Rangoon, lo mein, hot and sour chicken, etc.
They do have a raw oyster bar with other fresh seafood but then again it is not very appealing, at least to me. The oyster can be good on certain days and then not so good the next so it varies. They have a «sushi bar» where they serve really simple California rolls, and a few pieces of tuna and salmon here and there. Of course the proportions of the rolls are off, I mean they do not specialize in sushi so that is understandable. The sushi bar is a good balance to all the other greasy foods here.
They have a made to order line in which I the chef prepares whatever you choose for ingredients in Mongolian style, but I never wait in line for this. I don’t think it’s really worth it. My mom is the type that will wait for everything and then ends up being disappointed. Even though they serve «Phở» I really don’t recommend it because I’m pretty sure they don’t even use the correct soup base to even consider it «Phở.»
What else can I say in this already lengthy review? Soups do not taste right, salad bar was a disappointment, desserts are dry and crumbly, fruits are always gone when you get there, service is alright not great.
The only reason I see people coming to this place is due to the seafood option. People camp out for the crawfish and right as a new batch is served, they savagely grab platefuls leaving none left for the rest and everyone else. I guess they just want the best bang for their buck.
To everyone, if you want to try this place out, feel free to do so but at your own discretion. For me, I don’t think I will be abusing my taste buds any longer.

The sushi bar quality really depends on the time you arrive. Otherwise you get what you expect from a 15 $ Chinese buffet. Seating area is a little cramped though.

This place is a bit dirty, on a scale of 1 — 10: 10 being Blue Pearl ratchet (why in the world is that place still open), this place is about a 6. The tables are a bit sticky, the food looks kind of sketch sometimes, but I prefer this place over all the other Asian buffets in the area. For that, I give this place 4 stars.
Pretty good food, good selection of food compared to competitors, every time I’ve been there I’ve had great servers, and no stomach aches. so no problem.

I’m giving it 4 stars mainly because of the selection of food. There are so much to choose from and they have pretty good seafood for being a buffet that is under $ 20. The décor and the building itself it’s kinda run down tho. Still love coming here for oysters and crawfish!

We ate here yesterday for lunch. I think my husband has visited several times with his mother who lives in Alexandria. But, the food here (although plentiful and a good selection) leaves a lot to be desired. Everything I got from the buffet was not hot. I bit into a dumpling and it was cold so I didn’t finish eating. I got Egg Drop Soup and it was merely warm. Even the rice in the rice steamer was not the proper temperature (and the lid was closed).
I don’t know why the Health Department doesn’t go in here and check the temperature of the food. Surely this place would not pass an inspection.
On top of that upon returning back to my mother-in-law’s house, my son had GI upset and did for the rest of the day. I know there are better restaurants in Alexandria and if I go over that way again, I’ll make sure we don’t return to The Green Olive. Yuck!

Mold!!! From the moment you open the door its the first thing you see the mold is every where. Poor service from the serveres all the way to the owners.

This is the restaurant your mother warned you about. Think sleazy Chuck E Cheese meets Cicis kitchyness meets your local shady dive bar. If you didn’t know any better, you would think you were in Podunk, Kentucky instead of just outside the nations capital. The egg drop soup was greasy, the «fresh» seafood was anything but, the rest of the food was tasteless horse feed, and to top it off… banana and avocado sushi (which is as bad as it sounds). Little kids were running through the joint chasing each other with the bones of ribs that their slovenly parents had just finished, the waitress brought me hot tea when I asked for iced, and when I requested her to remedy the problem, she simply brought me s glass of ice to put my hot tea in. And to top it off, the banana pudding looked like someone had vomited after eating a bowl of cherries topped with Cool Whip.
In short, I will not be back.

This is the best buffet to go to if you want to eat unlimited amounts of raw oysters/​clams, crabs, and other seafood. I honestly come here all for the raw oysters because they are so good and this place isn’t cheap about it like other buffets where you have to literally camp for the person who brings it out and race for it before other people take it all. As for the food, I don’t really eat it since I eat Chinese food everyday at home and it’s not that great.

Beware!!! !!!
Let me say, I have been to the Green Olive many times. I have had my suspicions about this place over the last few visits. Today was the tipping point, the food is gross. Everything tastes funny, even the water.
Most of the food seems to be reheated leftovers from the night before. Very few things are fresh, if you opened at 11 and I came at 11:15, fried stuff is not supposed to be chewy.
Worst of all, the little guy who cooks the habachi is a jerk. He is rude and cannot cook, he seems to think otherwise. The only way I got him to wash is hands is to tell him I work for the health department.
Oh and they intentionally turn down the steam tables to prolong the longevity of the food. This puts customers at risk, all hot food should be held at least 135 f. They are going to kill someone… Beware

Okay, let me start by saying that I hate buffets. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been to once since I always avoid them. However; my mom wanted to come here yesterday for their Father’s Day special and my sister and I agreed to go. For $ 18.99 they offer their full buffet, which included snow crab legs and a bunch of other shellfish options. One good thing was although the line was basically out the door, the wait went by extremely quick.
Typical buffet with mediocre food. It actually looked good, but all tasted bleh. The snow crab legs were extremely salty and just not fresh. The blue crabs were tiny and also not fresh. I would much rather take my $ 19 elsewhere and get quality food.
Everything just seemed unsanitary and the «service» was nonexistence. If you asked someone for napkins, they basically acted as if you asked for the most bizarre and ridiculous thing.
This place reminded me why I hate buffets so much. Never again.

Sooo after going a few more times I’ve come to the conclusion that it isn’t as good as it used to be. Place was kinda smelly, food was cold. I was tricked by the phở I guess because now I’ve become a phở snob and know good phở this just doesn’t cut it. It used to be the one thing I could depend on here but this time it had a rather fishy taste. I left very disappointed. Cream cheese rangoons were still good although cold. Probably will not be coming back.

For 3 years, I always drove by this place and thought that I would have to try it just out of curiosity… because the exterior looks a little run down, but the parking lot is usually more than half full.
I recently moved my office about a block down the road and finally tried it out. Didn’t know it was a buffet, or that it had a yakisoba grill. I actually tried out the grill my second time around just because the selection of food was a little overwhelming.
Buffet selection will have something for everyone. Growing up in the Philippines, I can pretty much eat whatever’s available. Food ranges from a variety if Asian dishes to traditional American cuisine, the fried octopus is something that’s on my plate any time I would re-​up. Other than that, I could have 3 separate full plates with different, not too bad, selections.
The grill:
Not bad, but the cook back there doesn’t listen too well… to other people, I never asked him anything but other folks looked pretty peeved when he got their special orders wrong.
There’s a sign warning you not to pile on too much food or they will charge you extra for wasted food… being that it was an over all buffet, I couldn’t finish more than half of my yakisoba plate, but didn’t notice any extra charges on my bill. After reading previous reviews, I wouldn’t expect to get so lucky next time though.
To wrap it up, they have a full bar so I’d definitely eat here again for a decent and affordable (gluttonous) meal.

The key (ingredient) to this buffet is to come for lunch, $ 10. My salad was fresh and tasted great. Lots of options. Everything except a couple things are hot and fresh. The grill station is really cool. Fresh raw meats, shrimp, noodles, sprouts, veggies, raw whole eggs are available and he cooks it fresh right in front of you. Then there is are different sauces available. Note: make sure you put sauces on AFTER, or he will yell at you, «NO!». Ahhhh. Hahaha Don’t mess up his grill! The buffet is large and the desserts are not very good. Banana wafer dessert with whipped cream and espresso mousse were delectable. The place over all is not as bad as people are saying. Its clean, they have relaxing music. The staff is nice and i saw at least three of them eating from the buffet on their break. Yes that’s right! To me that speaks volumes for cleanliness in the kitchen. I’m not raving about this place and might not be back but who knows. I’d rather have Olive Garden anyday but thats another story. Or review. Hehehe. Check out my pics! Ps– Full bar and drink menu. Beers and wines if you want to get buzzed and hike up your bill. Some people were sitting at the bar getting drunk.

This was much better than a lot of Chinese buffets out there. The outside and parking lot is a little run down bc the building structure has been there like forever and has changed ownership/​restaurant over the years. Like I said, compared to other Chinese buffets, this one was cleaner and the food was good and fresher than others.
The guy behind the grill that makes the Phở to order and Mongolia-​style grill seems to have an attitude and not friendly at all, but there’s so much other yummy food on the buffet that I just skipped over having to deal with him and the Phở.
I think this is a relatively new ownership; hence the food quality and selections are great, but like many other Chinese buffets, they go downhill as time goes by.
So, you should hit this place while it’s good!

Well I mean its a simple buffet. I enjoy coming here because the food is always rotated and there’s so much to choose from. This last visit was great because ALL of the food was hot and FRESH! OMG! Can we say delicious. I had about 4 plates of food and needed to take this elderly woman’s cane to help myself back to my car. I’ll be back green olive. I’ll. Be. Back.

I went their for lunch because I worked nearby $ 8.99 for lunch. There was so much food. I didn’t expect to see cocktail shrimp, steamed crawfish and sushi for that price at lunch but It was a nice surprise. There is large selection of food. My family used to go to Blue pearl in Springfield for the longest time until their food quality and food selection changed. I found my new spot.

My family use to frequent this buffet often as a kid. The food is still good as back then. The bathrooms are decent. The price is a little higher, but still reasonable. The exterior of the restaurant has a run down a lot, which is something they need to fix. Great food still. Four stars.

It’s not a great place, nor is it that awful. My family enjoys coming here since it will cater to everyone’s palate. Ha, meaning when we are all indecisive on choosing a restaurant, this is our go to place to have dinner.
Service is surprisingly wonderful! Friendly and quick.
I usually go for the sushi bar first and I’m so-​so about it. There’s one type of sushi they make that has a bit of banana in it, but other than that the selection is slightly above average and taste is acceptable. I haven’t tried going for their phở or hibachi dishes, since you have to wait in line and that I don’t care for those type of flavors when I’m there.
I love the fries, the crab ragoons (sp??), fried chicken, and some of the sushi. Their fruit bar and seafood section are a hit or miss. Dessert isn’t awesome… Too dry and bland. The soup here is alright but nothing that will wow you. And their ice cream selection is pretty OK… Just strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla — made me think of my elementary school years.
Every time I come here it’s packed and loud. Glad the business is going but I wish they upped the quality.

My boyfriend has been daring me to eat at this place with him for two years due to the external rundown look. But whenever I double-​dog dare him to go he has chickened out. This last time we psyched ourselves up to go and finally did it!
It’s right down the road so we had no time to turn back and once inside we were a bit surprised by the décor. It’s definitely dated but not nearly as bad as the outside of the building made us think.
There was a sign as soon as we entered however telling us what items weren’t on the menu that evening (it seemed like the expensive stuff) and this almost turned us away. But we trudged on and examined the very large buffet. There was fruit, sushi, ice cream, steak, Chinese, soups, seafood, BBQ — honestly the buffet was all over the place.
I noticed that any food I tried was one of three things: overly sauced, underseasoned, or the wrong texture.
The ceiling and seats were dirty and falling apart and the selection while large was just a mediocre mess.
At $ 15 each I don’t have the will to return but I’m glad I experienced it.

Well, I rarely go to these all-​you-​can-​eat deals as they’re just not my thing; I never get my money’s worth and if I do, I end up putting myself in such a food coma that I should be forced to open a dictionary and familiarize myself with such words as regret, gluttony, and fool.
However, this time things at the Green Olive started off on a different note. First, at just $ 13.95, I knew that I could get my money’s worth. I also thought that I could capitalize on their sushi selection and keep things a little lighter than your usual mac-​n-​cheese and heavier items. Next, the variety of choices reminded me of some of those legendary buffets in Vegas, so I was pretty certain that I wouldn’t feel cheated if I had to leave a fallen food behind (leave no side dish behind I always say).
Let me just say that the biggest surprise of this whole outing was the food, for it was pretty fantastic! With such selections as coconut shrimp, sushi, mash potatoes, fried rice, bourbon chicken, marinated octopus, crawfish, and prime rib, I was pretty much having a United Nations of food on my plate (Ok, I confess 3 plates. oh, the shame of it all.lol. That’s ok, I once had lunch with Sargent Slaughter and he crushed out 6 plates at the buffet so it could be worse). As I have said, the food here is pretty amazing for a buffet and if I were just rating it by the food and table service, I would have to go 5 stars. However, as all you young foodies out there know, a rating isn’t just about the food, for atmosphere, clientele, and management also play a big role in your view of the place.
So once again, I have to take some stars off for my favorite dining pet peeve. Wait for it, unruly children that are allowed to run free range over the restaurant without the parents or restaurant management intervening. My God people Chuckee Cheese is just down the street! To be fair, I should have know that this place would attract families like an African watering hole attracts a pride of lions ready to feast on the unsuspecting impala or gazelle. You see, at $ 13.95 Mom and Dad can secretly feed little Johnny and Suzie Q off their plates so that the family of five could dine for less than $ 30…and oh they do, gentle foodie, they do.
I had gotten there early on a Friday and pretty much had the place all to myself when a toddler bomb went off and I was overrun by screaming, rambunctious kids that treated this place more like am inflatable Bouncy Castle than a restaurant. And did the management or staff intervene, no. Yes, Junior was permitted to run up and down the isle screaming and stuffing coconut shrimp up his nose (a morsel that I am fairly certain came from my plate while I was away from my table) while his sister cried because her parents had given her a plate of noodles rather than rice. Surrounded by infants and toddlers and clueless parents, I was soon treated to an odor that one usually encounters in a mens room and not from the booth directly behind you. «Why, is that urine I smell? Thanks, Suzie Q, for making my day extra special.»
So, now you might be saying to yourself, «that jerk doesn’t like kids.» However, unlike Michelle Pfeiffer’s character in Scarface who said of kids,“I like them fine as long as there is a nurse,” I like kids, but I’m not too fond of parents who seem to have a real sense of entitlement these days. Let’s face it, letting your child run wild in public is just plain rude. And when this happens, it really is the management’s job to protect the rights of its other patrons, You know, the ones who are politely gorging themselves on a never ending supply crawfish.
But aside for the kid clueless parent factor this place is still pretty good. I mean even with the kids and the urine I’m still giving it 3 stars. In fact, I might even return one day, but only this time I will seat myself my back to the wall like an Old West poker player to minimize a possible kid ambush.
P. S. If for some reason you have been offended by my comments about unruly children and clueless parents, please don’t be. We both know that those comments are reserved for the 70% of parents that seem to embrace such bad behavior. No, I’m fairly certain that you’re one of the good ones and that none of this applies to you or your progeny.