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Uncle Willy's
Category: Restaurants Buffets Buffets [Edit]
6411 Nelson AveBurnaby, BC V5H 4H3
Neighbourhood: Metrotown
(604) 431-0399
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
11 reviews for Uncle Willy's
11 reviews in English
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Review from Buzz B.
Vancouver, BC
3/30/2012
My honest opinion is that you get what you pay for here. It's not going to be a lavish Vegas-style buffet for $15 but what you do get is a decent variety of hearty food items: salad bar, diner food, roast beef, fried chicken, fountain pop, etc. Desert section is a little lacking but the soft-served ice cream machine more than makes up for that. In a city where the living standard is continuously increasing, $15 dollars for an all-you-can-eat meal really isn't too shabby.
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Review from Isabelle G.
Vancouver, BC
5/1/2012
Like many others, I to remember Uncle Willy's from my Childhood. The Sunday buffet dinners. I went there and was disappointed at what it had become. The food was greasy, bland for $15 all you can eat....it still sucked. I do love their dessert section which was the only redeemable part of the meal.
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Review from Roland I.
Surrey, BC
11/27/2011
In a nutshell, I'm just gonna keep this short and to the point cuz I don't wanna spend too much time on this. There wasn't really anything to bash on. Overall, the restaurant as a buffet was poor. Simple as that.
The quality of the food wasn't that good. Soup was cold, fried chicken was tasteless, ground beef for the tacos was way too salty (and I like salty stuff btw), and there wasn't a good variety of food. Some places will have burgers, beef, chicken, pork - made two or three different ways. Over there they only had fried chicken and buffalo wings. The second the fried chicken came out...ppl were on it like a fat kid on cake and it was all gone in seconds.
Just pass on this place, but if you've got good friends and good company around you to make up for the poor food and if this was the ONLY thing open within a hr. drive radius and you're just looking for filler food to put in your stomach, then i'd probably hit up this place. Otherwise, just keep driving...
One other thing I forgot, finding parking sucks, keep driving. -
Review from Al R.
New Westminster, BC
12/27/2010 1 Check-in Here
I'll keep this one short (well...short for me, lol), as there's no need to repeat what most have already said about this restaurant.
I've rated Uncle Willy's at two stars here, but only just barely so. I'd give it 1 1/2 stars if I could.
Once upon a time, a few of the Uncle Willy's locations were 'not bad'. This particular location was once one of those. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. Now it's just so-so at best. It seems that you either have to go to a casino restaurant or else drive South of the 49 parallel if you want a half decent buffet experience these days, because Uncle Willy's just doesn't provide it.
On the plus side, you can eat a bunch. On the down side, you're looking at $15 per head (late 2010 as I type this), which is more than the Uncle Willy's experience is worth. Were it something closer to $10, I would probably give it another star, but only just barely.
The selection is rather poor, but they do have the typical roast ham or beef at the end of the buffet rack, and the roast chicken pieces are half decent (not the fried chicken though).
The deserts are typical low grade 'jellied this and that' fare, and leave MUCH to be desired. They do have an apple-rhubarb cobbler, which isn't bad, especially if you have it with a bit of soft serve (which at Uncle Willy's is nearly flavorless) on the side. The pear cobbler is way too sweet, but that's just my take on it.
I'm confident that it would not be inaccurate to say that the ONLY reason this Uncle Willy's is still in operation is because it is situated WITHIN Metrotown Center's footprint, right at the extreme Easternmost edge of the property; most of the customers are probably people who are at the shopping center for other purposes, and they're hungry, happen to see the Uncle Willy's sign, and for whatever reason just don't want to go to Metrotown's food court to eat. I ONLY go here when I'm in a hurry, am very tired, and just plain can't be bothered to make the effort to go a bit farther abroad, and ONLY when happen to be in the Metrotown area. Otherwise I avoid this restaurant.
Were this restaurant situated just a few blocks away from where it is currently located (ie: where it would have to compete with real restaurants), I'm sure it would have folded more than ten years ago.
Having said all of that, if this IS the kind of thing that floats your boat (God forbid!), feel free to check out Apple Betty's, if you're in the Abbotsford area. They are pretty much a carbon copy of Uncle Willy's, except that they have a bit wider selection to choose from at the buffet (minus the soft serve, and with a separate 'Chinese' food buffet on the side).
Yeah, if you're tired and just happen to be in the 'hood, or if you just don't care what the food you eat tastes like, maybe pay old Uncle Willy a visit. Otherwise, there's better stuff to be had; FAR BETTER!
(Useless trivia note: My former boss at an excavating company where I used to work was one of the co-founders of the Uncle Willy's restaurant chain, and sold off his interest in the chain many years ago. His business partner was my other boss's (ie: the co-founder's son's 'uncle') 'Uncle' Willy, when he was a kid. Yeah, like I said: pretty useless information. ;-)
Eat hearty now! -
Review from Johnson C.
Vancouver, BC
12/14/2009
They say you should never meet your childhood heroes... however, I doubt many heroes can be called 'ghetto-licious'.
Being part of a traditional first-generation Chinese family, Uncle Willy's was probably my first exposure to buffets and Western food (outside of fast food) in general. To my young self, this place was heaven. Self serve pop and soft-serve ice cream? Forget Disneyland - I begged my parents to bring me to see my cool-ass uncle named Willy. Over the years, my glutton teen friends and I would come here on occasion to gorge on food (after all, quantity was everything as a teen).
Fast forward to 2009 and my friend, in a genius nod to nostalgia, decided to hold his birthday dinner at Uncle Willy's. Tongue-in-cheek and remembering some dope fried/rotisserie chicken, I was genuinely excited to come back to the last-standing Uncle Willy's in the GVRD (they used to be everywhere).
Coming here at 7PM on a Saturday, it was $14.99 + tax for the weekend dinner price for 90 minutes of gorging (cheaper if you come on a weekday, during lunch or if you're a senior). Okay - more expensive than I thought/remembered, but maybe they stepped up their game to compete with challengers to the throne.
Walking in was like taking a trip back in time, same bland restaurant lit with the same ominous neon glow. Surprisingly, it was pretty packed and with a diverse mix of people (I expected to see nothing but seniors). Okay, this is looking up - the food has got to be good and fresh (due to turnover), right? Wrong - people are dolts.
Being a buffet pro, I skipped over/minimized intake of all the many starch-heavy offerings like pasta, pizza, bread, potato salad, fries & perogies. Out of the little bit I had, it was passable but bland - this is a buffet after all.
Roast beef was dry on the first run (didn't go for the ham) - on my second pass, I got a cut so rare that it was bloody - not bad and I'm surprised they served it so rare (I love rare).
The main attraction, fried chicken, was soggy and looked it was was sitting there for a long time. Being lightly battered and homestyle, it would probably be great (as I remembered) if it was relatively fresh (not sure if people didn't go for it or they made too much).
Some unidentifiable piece of fish I ate reeked and made me gag. I got what I thought was chicken soup (being yellow) under the buffets lights, got back to my table it turned out to be gritty green pea soup! Nasty surprises.
For the dinner price, I was expecting some seafood like shrimp or prime rib, but I didn't see anything of occasion. The monstrous ribs weren't bad being saucy, tender and fatty. The star selection was the rotisserie chicken - fresh, flavourful and moist. Rotisserie was in full operation as it looked to be popular item with high turnover. A Vegas-style buffet, this is not.
Also, there is no waiters to fetch you drinks, you save on tips and you do get some much-needed exercise as you get up to refill your watered-down pop. The busboys come frequently to take away your used dishes. The dessert bar was pretty meh. But there is a soft-serve ice cream machine - but it's just chocolate/butterscotch fudge for toppings. I think I would have given this place another full star if they had nuts/sprinkles for the soft serve toppings.
Feeling a little ripped-off, I stuffed myself. Let me tell you, packing your craw with substandard food is a fool's revenge.
I gave Uncle Willy's a slightly higher rating than the other reviews, as I think the bar for Western buffet restaurants is very low. For the price, I much rather go to any of the numerous Indian buffets or AYCE sushi joints in town for gorge-fest. If Asian food isn't your bag, drive past the border and go to the Tulalip Casino buffet or Old Country Buffet in Bellingham - while neither are great, it's much better than Uncle Willy's. I can see why this place is still open - being the only Western-style buffet restaurant in town. And I can see why people still come here - especially if you're a senior (discounts!) or have kids in tow and want a quick, filling meal - just avoid weekend nights as lunch seems to be the time to go.
Come here if you want to skip back to Vancouver 15-20 years ago. If Uncle Willy's was part of a fond memory, do yourself a favour and leave it there. While your uncle Willy was the man back in the day, he never grew out of the 80s.Listed in: Shots Fired
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Review from Joyce D.
Burnaby, BC
9/5/2009
Uncle Willy's gives buffets a bad name. Indistinguishable food, flavourless, odorless, colourless; I've seen better food served in a pig's trough.
Save your last 10 bucks and don't eat here. I am surprised this place is still around.
We are talking instant potatoes and low-grade meat. As long as you don't mind that I guess, but really who would even pay a few dollars for it. You can get a better meal at McDonalds. I kidd you not.
Cheap food, cheap surroundings, totally disinterested staff, it runs the gamete of everything on a really low class level.
In a work Yuk! -
Review from Truman W.
Vancouver, BC
Yikes!
Like a few other Yelpers, I went here under the influence of nostalgia, yet this meal felt like an automobile accident unfolding in slow motion before my very eyes.
Where to begin...
- First off, any place where the front of the house staff, management included, wear Crocs is already a warning flag, in my view. (I emphasise 'front of the house staff' as I know some chefs do dig the Crocs - lookin' at you, Mr. Batali)
- If asked to characterise this meal experience with a single phrase or thought, it would have to be 'impending doom,' where every bite felt like it may lead to dismay, disappointment, or an upset stomach
- Contending with the noisy crowds queueing up for food felt like a bit of a free for all, with line-jumpers galore, and even spunky old ladies darting in-and-out around you to secure their portions. I wouldn't have even been altogether surprised if someone had yanked something off of my plate for their own.
- I don't want to say that this place attracts the type of people who don't wash their hands after doing their business in the bathroom, but two trips to the rest rooms yielded my unfortunately witnessing two such incidents, and the statistics would seem to speak for themselves...
- Two words: jello cabbage. Three letters: W-T-F. This delightful sample of culinary creativity gone horribly awry was found in their salad section. I have two theories of how this came about. 1. That they had a surplus of jello tubs and cabbage about to spoil out back, and they needed urgently to use them both. 2. That some poor trainee in the kitchen had accidentally spilt cabbage into the green jello and wasn't about to waste it. I was suppressing the urge to take a photo of the pre-made label for this dish, as you would have to see it to believe it.
- In terms of food, for a buffet, the selection was actually surprisingly limited. They dedicated a lot of hot table real estate to gravy, curious sauces I dared not try, and various salad toppings. They even had a dedicated tub of butter set out! Any Ontarian veterans of Mandarin Buffet out there? This place makes Mandarin seem edible by contrast.
- The fried chicken was actually quite miserable and bland, despite my happy childhood memories to the contrary, as was the mystery meat (I suspect chicken, but I could be wrong) in tomato sauce, but the ribs were passable, as is the roasted chicken. Note that I'm referring only to four dishes, as there were only four dishes that I had dared attempt to try, save for the soft serve ice cream, which, for the record, thankfully, was not accented with cabbage.
- At $15+ a pop for a weekend dinner, there are certainly far better deals to be had almost anywhere else in the city: fast food, slow food, canned food, no food...
If Willy were my uncle, he'd have won himself a permanent disinvitation from all family gatherings involving the sense of taste.
Uncle Willy's. Sober persons with functioning palates need not apply. -
Review from Eric B.
Victoria, BC
2/15/2010
When the two urinals were in use I decided to use a stall but stopped when I spotted shit on the toilet seat. The washrooms were probably the filthiest I've been in since I was last in China.
The food is probably cooked in conditions similar to the washroom.
Pros: Only $10 for lunch.
Cons: For only $10 for lunch you might actually decide it's cheap enough to forgo common sense (which is to not eat here). -
Review from Chris C.
6/20/2009
NOTE: I only went here for lunch. Dinner could be different.
Pros: Cheap; near Metrotown, old diner feel, self-serve soft ice cream
Cons: Bland, cramped tables
I've walked by this place a thousand times while growing up, but never went inside. They charge $8.99+tax on weekdays for lunch buffet on weekends. After reading reviews on other sites, I thought it wouldn't be that bad. A bunch of fried comfort food, right?
I was wrong.
Now, I have pretty low standards. I'm fine with a McDonalds value menu burger, but this restaurant actually managed to do worse than my expectations.
First, the food: I don't think the word bland would be inappropriate here. They had the requisite salad and bread to fill you up, and a lot of vegetables in their food as well for this same purpose. The food was otherwise unimaginative and unflavored. The dill fish tasted like water. The "Chinese" sweet&sour pork tasted like it was boiled. The shepard's pie was a pile of potatoes. There is redeeming value in the fried chicken, which is unlike typical restaurants' because it was not completely covered in batter. It tasted like something that would be home made, but I couldn't handle more than a couple of pieces. The drinks were typical watered down soft drinks. The dessert looked boring, but they did have self-serve soft vanilla ice cream.
I sat in one of the tables they had in the centre of the restaurant. I'm not a big guy, but it was definitely cramped as though they tried to fit as many people as possible. Whenever the bus boy came with a cart to take away dishes I usually had to wait for him to go by, because with people sitting in the way it was not convenient to slip past the tables the chairs to my own table. It wasn't that busy when I went, but I couldn't imagine the chaos if they had a full restaurant.
Uncle Willy's displays itself as a nostalgic diner referring to a "real buffet" and offers senior discounts. Unfortunately, the food is bland. For about $10, you can get better tasting food at the Metrotown food court less than 5 minutes away. -
Review from Lisa T.
Vancouver, BC
1/19/2012
I'm very surprised with the negative ratings of this place, so I felt compelled to defend Uncle Willy's. My family and I have been coming here for the past few years, maybe 4-5 times a year, as we live in Richmond. We think the value is really good, considering that I can easily spend over $10 for food and drinks at a fast food joint. Sure there are some hits and misses...it's not easy to run an outfit this size. I always enjoy the fried chicken, the butter chicken and the roast beef. Oh yes, the chow mein is good and so is the spring rolls that they have once in a while. I hear the ham roast is good too, but I don't like pork. Don't expect Fairmont buffet gourmet quality at this price! Unlimited drinks and dessert too. I also like their cream puffs and my dad really enjoys the icecream. My mom always enjoys the salads, she always says it is fresh...no surprise given their high turnover. Yes, it can get messy...that's because some of their patrons and especially the little kids are very messy (where are table manners nowadays?), but I see the bus boys trying their best to keep on cleaning which is not easy when it is very busy. Oh well, this is just our experience. I just wish there is an Uncle Willy's closer to where we live.
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Review from David L.
12/13/2009
I've been here a few times. My friends and relatives made me go here because 15-20 years ago, Uncle Willy's was the only buffet restaurant around in the Lower Mainland. Truly digusting food to the maximum. Everything is bland... bland... bland... and bland.... I heard from Fraser Health restaurant inspection authority that this Uncle Willy's has a rat infestation problem in the kitchen year after year. This restaurant buffet is so bad that I would only recommend it to people that you hate.
