Saturday Business Spotlight: Star Buffet in Lincoln reopens next week
[October 31, 2026]
Buffets are restaurants that boast a wide array of foods where people
can serve themselves as much as they can eat. Lincoln had only one
restaurant that was a dedicated all-you-can-eat buffet, that being the
Star Buffet. The Star Buffet closed its doors a little while back, but
it will soon be making a return.
LDN was able to sit down with Star Buffet owner Tom Xie to learn a bit
more about his story, what happened to the Star Buffet, and where it is
going when it reopens its doors this coming Tuesday, November 3rd.
Xie moved to the United States from China about 25 years ago. While he
did not live in Lincoln that entire time, he moved here about four years
ago and opened the Star Buffet. The restaurant did pretty well when it
first opened, but unfortunately, the amount of business it attracted did
not stay where Xie would have liked it to. The decision to close the
Star Buffet was rooted in a simple lack of business.
Xie then looked into opening a restaurant in Springfield. He worked on
this for some time, but admitted to LDN that it did not seem to be
working out. That being the case, Xie decided to take another shot at
making the Star Buffet work. He likes Lincoln, stating that “all our
kids go to school in Lincoln and they like their teachers a lot.” Xie
said he thinks that people in town like having a Chinese buffet and he
is dedicating himself to making the buffet better and fresher.
Xie shared that this “Star Buffet 2.0” will be opening its doors next
Tuesday, November 3rd. The hours will be limited to lunchtime from noon
to 2:00 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. The purpose of these limited hours is to
serve food that is fresher. This will be a soft opening and will run
from November 3rd to December 23rd. They will be looking for feedback
from their customers during this time, stating that their hours could
change after the soft opening depending on what they are hearing from
people.
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Pictured (from left to right) Tom Xie, Ivy Xie (daughter), Vivian
Xie (daughter)
Xie is also providing a discount for the first couple of weeks he is
back in business. From November 3rd through the 8th, all customers will
receive 20 percent off their orders. From the 10th to the 22nd, that
discount will be 10 percent. There will also be a 20 percent discount on
all to-go orders through November 29th.
When asked about his favorite items that he serves, Xie stated that he
loves the peanut butter chicken. He also shared that he is planning to
add some new items to the buffet as well.
The Star Buffet is located at 1109 Hickox Drive in Lincoln. They have a
website, but have
not yet updated it for the new hours as of the writing of this article.
[Matt Boutcher]
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