Café Sierra - Los Angeles

555 Universal Hollywood Drive
Universal City, CA 91608
818.509.2030

"Let's go to Vegas!!" "What for?" "You know? Gamble, Drink, BUFFET!!" "BUFFET you say!!" No need to drive all the way to Las Vegas just for a buffet. There actually are better buffets than Hometown Buffet in Southern California.

Café Sierra is located in the Universal City Hilton, directly across the street from Universal Studios. Café Sierra's buffet is a traditional buffett but with an Asian twist to it. The seafood buffet is only available on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The cost of the buffet is $46 which is a tad bit more expensive than an actual Las Vegas buffet but miles closer.

Dim Sum station: har gow, shiu mai, cha sui bao. These items were all skipped to reserve room for the more expensive and less filling items.

Soup Station: A choice of either shark fin soup or a clam chowder. I didn't try the clam chowder, but the shark fin soup was a tasty version.

Pasta Station: Fully aware that pasta is a dish that can fill up the belly, I couldn't pass up the cook to order pasta station. Tell the cook what kind of pasta you would like, the sauce, and what items you would like in the pasta and away he goes.

Sushi Station: I was surprised to see a hand roll station that patrons could choose what veggies, fish, and roe you would like in there. I appreciated the fact that the hand rolls were made to order. Various nigiri and sashimi were available to choose from as well.

Buffet line: Various Chinese dishes such as crispy duck, honey walnut shrimp, jelly fish salad, etc....kalbi short ribs which weren't grilled but not bad. Carving Station: The selection of hand carved meats is similar to what you would find at a Las Vegas buffet. At Café Sierra, they have lamb, some kind of roast beef (which is that large piece of meat pictured on the left), beef ribs, and of course prime rib. I found that the lamb was a bit on the gamey side which is to be expected but a bit too gamey for my liking. The beef was a bit bland and on the dry side. Of the three, the prime rib was my favorite. The prime rib was cooked to a medium and actually wasn't bad for a buffet. One of my plates with an assortment of seafood. Shark fin soup was actually pretty tasty. Salmon and roe handroll and salmon sashimi were both good considering they came from a buffet. The spicy calamari was nicely seasoned and breaded. I didn't care too much for the snail, which was chewy, and baked scallop.

Pictured here is a lobster thermidor that is sliced in half and cooked with mushrooms, cream sauce, and bread crumbs. The lobster was actually better than I expected. My one complaint was that it was a tad too heavy on the cream sauce. But it was good enough for me to eat two of them.

Cold Seafoods: Large mound of endless and bottomless crab legs. This is the bounty that comes off of the Deadliest Catch. Also, in the cold seafood section is unpeeled shrimp and raw oysters.

Dessert Station: The buffet not only has a soft serve machine with various toppings but also has a ice cream fridge. I was surprised to see various flavors of mini Haagen Daaz, strawberry shortcake bars, and Nestlé Drumsticks which happens to be one of my favorite ice creams. I was overly excited when I saw this. They also have all kinds of cakes, fresh fruits, creme brulees, and flan. A white and milk chocolate fountain with various fruits and goodies to marinate with chocolate can also be found. The desserts we tried were all standard, but nothing outstanding.

If you are craving a buffett and you don't feel like driving to Las Vegas, this is the next closest thing to a Las Vegas buffet. I actually thought this buffet is better than most buffets that are found in Las Vegas but it can't beat the Wynn's.