Nha Trang seafood buffets: where to eat and what costs extra

Buffet restaurants are very popular in Nha Trang. You pay a fixed price for the food, choose dishes from the counters and go back for more. It is a convenient way to try something unfamiliar: you can take a small helping without committing to a whole dish.

The seafood buffets are particularly worth a look. Shrimp, squid, oysters, scallops and crab give you plenty to try in one meal. At some restaurants, you help yourself to cooked dishes or hand your chosen ingredients to a chef. At others, there is a grill on the table and you cook the seafood and meat yourself. Preparing food together can be part of the fun, though not everyone wants to cook when eating out.

Prices work differently too. Some tickets include beer and soft drinks; elsewhere you pay for them separately. The lobster in a promotional photograph may be an extra order. When choosing a buffet, it helps to look at both the food on offer and what your ticket actually covers.

What about food poisoning?

An attractive buffet is easy to trust: seafood on ice, chefs cooking in view and a clean dining room. These things matter, but the appearance of a restaurant cannot tell you how ingredients were stored before serving. Reviews do not give the whole picture either: feeling unwell after dinner does not necessarily mean the meal caused it.

Choosing thoroughly cooked seafood helps reduce the risk. You cannot detect harmful bacteria in a raw oyster by its appearance, smell or taste. Lemon, hot sauce and alcohol do not kill them. Cooking reduces the risk of infection, although it does not prevent every possible cause of seafood poisoning.

Pay attention to food temperatures at the counters: cold food should stay cold and hot food should stay hot. If a hot dish has cooled down, ask for a freshly cooked portion. Raw and cooked food need separate utensils. This matters especially at a tabletop grill: do not put a cooked shrimp back on the plate that held it raw.

If you are unsure how to cook an unfamiliar shellfish, ask a staff member for help. Children, pregnant people and anyone with a weakened immune system should avoid raw or undercooked seafood, even at an expensive restaurant.

I Like

At I Like, seafood and beer cost around 300,000 dong per person. There is a grill on the table: choose your ingredients, put them on the grate and cook them in small batches. It suits a group that enjoys preparing food together. If you would rather sit and chat, keeping an eye on dinner over the coals may soon feel like a chore.

The grill selection includes shrimp, squid, oysters, other shellfish and crab. Meat options include pork, chicken, duck and beef with enoki mushrooms. Guests also mention crocodile and frog. Try a little if you are curious, but do not make the trip solely for these unusual ingredients: the selection changes.

While the seafood cooks, you can have rice, noodles, soup or salad. There are desserts too. Guests, including first-time visitors to this type of restaurant, say the waiting staff help with grilling. That can be useful with a small child: cooking and feeding a toddler at the same time is awkward.

I Like has two branches: one in the north at 61 Đặng Tất, and one in the south at 1210 Lê Hồng Phong. They share prices and the same format, but service and replenishment can differ. For example, a guest at the southern branch in April 2026 was happy with how the food was replenished, but had to ask for shrimp separately. An empty tray does not necessarily mean an item has run out for the evening; ask a member of staff.

An adult ticket costs 302,400 dong including tax, with unlimited draught beer and soft drinks. That makes 604,800 dong for two, without having to count every extra glass. Dinner runs from 16:30 to 22:00.

Poseidon Gold Coast

At Poseidon Gold Coast, chefs work at a shared grill station. You choose your food and return to your table. It is a convenient option if you want seafood without cooking it yourself.

Guests at this branch describe crab, squid, snails and sashimi — thin slices of raw fish. The chain's menu includes oysters with spring onions or cheese, seafood with garlic and grilled shrimp. The choice varies by branch and season, so you may not find everything listed on the Poseidon website in one dining room.

If you are unsure how to crack a crab, ask the staff: guests say they have been helped with this. Opinions about the food itself vary. In a March 2026 review, for example, a Gold Coast visitor praised the shellfish selection but disliked the texture of the tuna and found that the snails on a warming counter had gone cold. One dinner cannot represent the whole kitchen, but trying a small helping before taking a large portion makes sense.

The counters can get crowded at lunch. One review also describes some stations stopping replenishment before dinner service ended. Allow enough time to choose your food, wait for it to be cooked and go back for more if you wish.

The chain lists adult tickets at 528,000 dong for weekday lunch, 598,000 for evenings and weekends, and 648,000 on public holidays and the days before them. Tax and drinks are extra. Treat these as a guide and ask for the price at Gold Coast on your chosen date when booking.

The restaurant is on the 5th floor of Gold Coast Mall, 1 Trần Hưng Đạo.

QooQoo

QooQoo is a Korean buffet chain with a broad selection of sushi, rolls, meat, hot dishes and desserts. It works well for a group with different tastes: one person can have seafood, another meat with a Korean sauce, and someone else rolls. Sushi and sashimi are prepared at the counter. Nha Trang guests also mention crab and shrimp.

Parents' reviews mention pizza, nuggets, fries and ice cream, as well as a play area. If you are counting on your child playing while you eat, ask whether it will be open. If your child only eats a few familiar dishes, ask about those too: the buffet selection can change.

QooQoo is particularly appealing if you enjoy sushi and want to try food from different cuisines in one meal. If crab and shrimp are your main interest, compare their availability here and at Poseidon for the day you plan to visit.

Weekday lunch is noticeably cheaper. Including 8% tax, an adult ticket costs 529,200 dong, compared with 648,000 in the evening and at weekends. For two people, the difference is 237,600 dong. Ask separately which drinks are included; the published price list does not make this clear.

QooQoo is on the 12th floor of Gold Coast Mall, 1 Trần Hưng Đạo. It opens from 11:00 to 22:00, with a weekday break from 16:00 to 17:00.

The Square at Novotel

At The Square, you can choose seafood and meat and ask a chef to cook them for you. Alongside the grill are sushi, sashimi, Vietnamese dishes and hot and cold starters. Desserts include pastries, fruit, ice cream and chè, a Vietnamese name for sweet dishes made with a variety of ingredients.

The choice suits both seafood lovers and companions who prefer something else. Dinner reviews praise the cooking to order and attentive service. Being in a hotel does not guarantee a quiet, empty dining room, though: it depends on the evening.

The lobster option is straightforward. A standard adult ticket costs 799,000 dong, while a ticket with one lobster is 1,299,000. The lobster therefore adds 500,000 dong. It is a single portion, not unlimited lobster servings. Both prices already include mandatory charges.

Novotel may also be closer in price to QooQoo and Poseidon than it first appears. A published advance-booking offer gives a 30% discount on adult admission and includes beer and soft drinks. If the restaurant confirms the offer for your date, a standard ticket comes to 559,300 dong, or 1,118,600 for two.

It is worth discussing this before you go. Without confirmation of the discount, budget for the regular 799,000 dong per adult.

The Square is in Novotel at 50 Trần Phú. The seafood buffet runs daily from 18:00 to 22:00.

Salt & Ember at InterContinental

Cookbook Cafe hosts the Salt & Ember buffet on Fridays and Saturdays. The dishes themselves are the attraction: grilled scallops and oysters, beef with red wine sauce and teriyaki chicken skewers. Shellfish toppings include spring onion oil or peanuts with crispy shallots.

At the wok station, you can order clams with garlic and chilli or mussels in a creamy white wine sauce. Oven dishes include lemon and thyme chicken and basa fish baked in a parcel with herbs. For dessert, there are thin pancakes with fruit and hot sweet dishes. If you enjoy exploring sauces and cooking styles, there is plenty to choose from.

Dinner reviews from 2026 praise the grill, sushi and service. But look carefully at the crab and lobster dishes on the menu: some cost extra. Lobster with garlic and herb butter or cheese sauce is 350,000 dong for half or 600,000 for a whole lobster. Crab with tamarind and chilli costs 700,000 dong for 300 g.

The buffet itself is 850,000 dong per person, plus a 5% service charge and tax. Two tickets and one whole lobster already total 2,300,000 dong before charges and drinks. Choose this dinner for the particular dishes that appeal to you. If you simply want shrimp and beer for a predictable price, other options may suit you better.

The restaurant is at 32–34 Trần Phú. Salt & Ember runs on Fridays and Saturdays from 18:00 to 21:00.

What to budget for two

Some restaurants include tax and drinks in their prices; others add them to the bill separately. Comparing ticket prices alone can therefore be misleading. Here are the known amounts and the extras to allow for.

Of these five, I Like offers the lowest and most straightforward bill. At QooQoo and Poseidon, choosing weekday lunch saves money. Ask Novotel about its offer in advance: if available, dinner with drinks costs substantially less than the regular rate.

Eating with children

Children's tickets are calculated differently. I Like uses height: children under 1.1 m eat free, while the 1.1–1.4 m bracket costs 162,000 dong including tax. Two adults and a child in that bracket pay 766,800 dong, drinks included. If your child is exactly on a height boundary, agree the price beforehand.

At Poseidon, children under 1 m eat free. From 1 m to under 1.3 m, admission is 258,000 dong before tax; from 1.3 m, the adult rate applies.

QooQoo uses age: children aged 3 and under eat free, ages 4–6 cost 248,400 dong including tax, and ages 7–12 cost 356,400.

First, though, consider what your child will actually eat. A huge seafood selection is unlikely to delight a child who only accepts a handful of familiar dishes. With a toddler who needs feeding, a table without a grill is easier. Older children may enjoy cooking alongside adults, under their supervision.

What to ask before you go

When booking, give the branch, date, number of adults and the children's ages or heights. Ask for the total including tax and drinks. If you are going for crab, oysters or another particular ingredient, ask whether it will be available that day and whether it is included in the ticket.

Also ask if there is a time limit at the table. A restaurant's opening hours do not mean that one ticket lets you stay until closing.

Before paying, you can ask to see the counters. This makes it easier to judge whether the food selection and dining room suit you. Start with small portions. You can go back for what you like, and there is no need to try everything.

For one favourite dish, an à la carte restaurant may be more convenient. Our guide to what to eat in Vietnam beyond pho has more ideas for exploring local food. If it is not beach weather, a buffet lunch also fits into one of these rainy-day itineraries in Nha Trang.

Prices and conditions were checked against available published information on 18 October 2026. Confirm offers and indicative prices with your chosen restaurant.