Cafe Sierra at Hilton Universal City

First time I ate here a few years back, I thought it was pretty good. But every time I came back after that, I wasn't too impressed with the food. The best thing here is probably the deserts. They have chocolate fountain with fruits next to it. Also ice-cream (haagen dazs) little cups in the freezer, regular soft-serve ice cream, cakes, puddings, etc. There are a lot of food like lobsters, crabs, oysters, prime ribs, asian food (shark fin soup, dim sum, Korean BBQ, sushi stations), steak, and BBQ stuff. If you are throwing a party, this place is not bad since there are many different types of food and everyone can have whatever they want. I threw a party here last time and there were way too many people. If you want throw a quiet and private party, don't do it here. I came here too many times within the past couple of years, it will be a while until I go back to this place. more

I'm always excited staying in hotels, but I'm more looking forward to eating buffets with my husband. We see to it that we do that every time we check in a hotel. When we saw the buffet here, we were quite impressed. It's a lot. The presentation was great too. We didn't know where to start actually. Since I'm more of a seafood girl and my husband is more of a steak guy, we went our separate ways. I got shrimps, lobsters, crabs and the works. I was so afraid I'll have stomach ache. They were all good. I'm not sure of the oysters though. It seems not that fresh but I'm really not good at knowing that. My husband enjoyed his steak but it could be more tender. We ended with desserts. It was okay, nothing special. But as a whole, we got our money's worth. more

We stayed at the Hilton in Universal City this past weekend, and after reading the (overall) ""rave reviews"" about their prime rib & seafood buffet, we were excited to try it. My wife and I are lovers of prime rib & crab, and she's also very much into oysters, muscles and things like that. We met my son and his family there (we had all gone to Universal Studios together) and were really looking forward to a fantastic meal, but we were all extremely disappointed, and none of us are really all that hard to please when it comes right down to it. On the PLUS side of our dining experience, all of the food was very nicely presented and there was a nice variety. The service was EXCELLENT, and their desserts were fantastic. On the more REALISTIC (aka: NEGATIVE) side however, all I can honestly say is ""Buyer Beware."" It's way over-rated and not even close to the $44 per person price tag. A more realistic price for the buffet would be in the range of $14 - $24. There was nothing memorable about their prime rib. It tasted good, but was more on the ""dry & chewy"" side in the opinion of all of us. My wife and daughter-in-law both agreed that the muscles & oysters were NOT fresh, and all of us agreed that their Alaskan king crab legs had ZERO TASTE to them. If we had all be blindfolded, the only way that we would have known it was crab would have been by the texture. It was as though the crab was either very, very old, or was kept in ice water for a few months which would have completely removed all of the flavor from the legs. The lobster thermador was nothing to get over excited about either. I'd have to rate it as ""just okay,"" and nothing more than that. I also tried their Yorkshire pudding. For anyone who has eaten Yorkshire pudding before, they know that the outer crust should be slightly firm and the inside should be fairly moist and soft on the inside. My experience was that the inside and outside was burnt to a crisp and was similar to that of eating a thick and hard ruffled potato chip! The rest of the food was ""just okay,"" and nothing more. I'm truly not sure WHY it's rated as ""the best buffet in LA by some other reviewers! But trust me when I tell you that the buffet as a whole leaves much to be desired! more

I got major food poisoning from this place. I spent the last 2 days in my bed vomiting and with major diareha. I would never go back to this place ever again Cons: I got major food poisoning more

GREAT FOOD SERVICE WAS GREAT. I ENJOYED THE SEAFOOD AND THE LEG OF LAMB. THE FRUIT WAS FRESH AND THE PLACE IS VERY CLEAN more

This buffet is the best. The food is so fresh and so delicious. The meats are tender and melt in your mouth. The seafood and the sauces are the best in the world. The desserts are to die for. The variety is phenomenal. They have the largest variety of food with a lot of different ethnic food such as chinese and sushi. more

We smelled the oysters before seeing them. The salad station had nothing but supermarket salad bar stuff and a couple of aging pasta/mayo combinations. ""Asian"" specialties were tasteless dots of mystery meat or fish in sweet-sour sauces. Seafood? Rubbery shrimp and stringy snowcrab legs, both fresh from too long in the deep-freeze. The roast beef and lamb were grey, greasy and overdone, the ham watery. Gangs of toddlers rioted at the ice cream sundae station, the dessert section was a mess. The best thing was the freshly-squeezed orange juice , but when I tried to fill a regular-sized glass at the squeezing machine, a waiter literally yanked it from my hand and gave me a teeny glass instead.. There was nothing to recommend. Yes, it's all you want, but they want you to work for it, I guess. I wish this alert waiter had intervened with the couple who were eating directly from the chafing dishes. The sushi station and omelet station provided average fare. Scrambled eggs sat in a pool of water, and the ""eggs benedict"" sat on English Muffins so saturated with condensation, water squeezed out like a sponge. The smoked salmon and cream cheese were fine, but the bagels were like stone. A request for butter resulted in our waiter telling us to go to the waffle station and pour some of their melted butter into a cup. And the complimentary champagne...yikes. Free? They should pay people to drink it. And finally, throughout the meal, a shrill, frighteningly intense woman kept barging up to our table trying to hawk photos. We kept looking for the hidden cameras...and for the health authorities to arrest the oysters! Stay away from this place. Patrons are treated like rubes, the food ranged from a high of OK to a low of ""Whoof, that stinks."" Want a great brunch in the Valley? Go to Delmonico's in Encino. It's a different world. Pros: Nothing heavy fell on us Cons: Everything else more

This is by far my favorite buffet in LA or in Vegas. The quality of the food and selection is so worth the price. Their Sunday brunch is very impressive. I loved the Crab Legs, Pasta Station, Oysters, Mussels...all the seafood you can eat. I always leave there stuff! Pros: Great Selection, Parking, good service more

As in all buffets, there is plenty to eat here! The seafood buffet is impressive. Lots of fresh seafood. Crab, lobster, oysters.....all very fresh. The prime rib was excellent. The sushi needs help, but it was nice to see that you could get a fresh, personalized hand roll made to order. The dessert bar is impressive in looks, but needs help in the taste department. Most desserts looked as if they were previously frozen. The best item on the entire menu was the creamed corn! (believe that?) It was simply delicious, but don't go there just for that...$50 is alot to pay for creamed corn. It's a good experience, but no need to go there on a regular basis. The service is ""average"" because they don't need to do much ""serving"" at a buffet. Pros: Nice atmosphere, Good parking, Fresh seafood Cons: Dessert bar more

Normally, one would associate a world-class buffet to be somewhere in Las Vegas... but not to fear! We have one in Los Angeles as well! Not only is it excellent, but considering the price, it isn't such a bad price (around $50ish per person). My former company has their Christmas parties there, and they would always brag to me how good it is. This last Christmas, i had the privilege of eating there and i left there stuffed~! Their lobster, king crab legs, prime rib are the main attractions. They have other foods as well, both of Western and Asian fare and all are of great quality and taste. The desserts are also to die for! And it is a semi-formal affair, so the place itself is quite classy altogether. Treat yourself (and your party) to the best buffet experience in LA Pros: Huge Selection, Good Quality, Classy Ambiance more

Asian-centric buffet but with a host of other foods-almost too good to be true! Duck, Lobster Thermidor, oysters, roast beef, sushi, sashimi, seafood, mounds and mounds of other food items. We went hungry (be advised that you should too) and were planning on going out dancing at another location afterwards. After stuffing ourselves with very good quality buffet (we usually avoid buffets), we just retired to our rooms-satiated and feeling very, very content! Pros: High quality buffet more

My wife and I decided to go to brunch at this restaurant. The reviews said it was extraordinary. To put it shortly, it was not. There were lots of items to get, but most were not being replenished as often as they should. The food was poor to okay. This brunch was not worth the $27.95 cost. The buffet looks great at first, but the taste is not there. We would gladly paid more for better tasting food. If you are in this area, there are better brunches at even lower prices at El Torito Grille, or Marie Calendars in Sherman Oaks. I would also recommend Bob's Big Boy in nearby Toluca Lake. Pros: Good Parking, ClosetoThemepark Cons: Poor Tasting Food, Bad Value more

Before we ate here, I thought the buffet at the Turtle Bay Hilton in Hawaii was great. But the food at the Cafe Sierra was almost ""too good"" to eat. We came to LA to visit Universal Studios, but the whole time we were there we kept looking forward to our next meal at the restaurant. The prime rib, stuffed lobster tails and desserts were absolutely incredible. If you are ever in the area you have to eat there at least once. Pros: great food, nice ambience, royal treatment more