Hibachi Sushi Buffet

This buffet has recently opened a few weeks ago, I have been afraid of all you can eat buffets (especially Asian) because usually is low quality, greasy, under or over cooked food, but after Old Country Buffet closed some time ago, I was looking forward for the opening of the Hibachi Sushi Buffet in the same location on Cicero and 31st St. I picked a Saturday evening to make sure there were enough people for the food to rotate and be as fresh as possible, but my first impression was that the building looked the same as the predecessor.

Bathroom, floor, walls, and furniture were clean, not exceptionally clean, but normal clean and I was curios to take a look at the kitchen. On the food, big selection of items, I try a little bit about half of the items and did not bother with salads, fruits and row vegetables; I just checked them that they were freshly cut and not frozen or canned.

Sushi bar was OK, I counted about 20 different types and most were in smaller pieces than normal, customers were not paying to much attention to the selection, I think because the Latino area, sushi is not very popular. Sashimi was also OK and less appealing to people because of the raw fish; the eel was a very chewy, white tuna and pink salmon were OK. There were most of the traditional rolls (California, salmon and avocado roll, etc.). The ginger was fresh and juicy, but the wasabi was dry (acquired taste only) and not spicy enough. The seaweed salad was great but people were not paying attention to it also.

They also had small crab legs), frog legs, boiled and breaded shrimp about size 31-40 and not too small, tilapia with butter, cat fish, spiced jalapeño squid, and the typical Chinese plates (sesame chicken, kung po shrimp, beef and broccoli, mushroom, sweet & sour chicken, fried chicken tender, clams, fried rice, lo mein, rice noodles. The roast beef was not appealing and did not bother to try it, also did not tried the soup and I did not see people interested on getting a bowl, I will try it next time. The buffalo wings were not really spicy and very greasy, and egg rolls were mostly filled with cabbage. They also had pizza, pasta, and other items that I was not interested.

On the Mongolian side, they had shrimp and beef, but not chicken and talking to the cook, he said that they run out of some of the items. Also, I notice that they were using butter to cook and none of the oil-based sauces used for the rich Mongolian flavor, the cook just added water to the grill to cook and then the butter, giving a total different flavor than the authentic Mongolian food. The cook promised to do it more authentic next time I go for dinner.

For dessert were some sweet rolls, some decent pastries, and your typical fortune cookies. I did not touch the ice cream. Coffee was OK, the oolong tea cheap little packets, and the regular fountain drinks. At one time they run out of glasses for the soft drinks.

The service was decent; they were taking empty plates often to make room for the incoming plates. I notice that a waitress had a child about 8 years old helping her picking dirty plates, possibly her son and he had stains on his sweater, not something that you want to see while you are eating.

They also have catering and sell food by the pound; I did not see any other price for lunch or brunch. There was about 40% of the restaurant's capacity and there were no lines waiting for food. They were restocking food trays fast enough to be able to try all different dishes. Don't know about children prices/menu because I do not have any, but there were plenty of teenagers with families (most of them texting or facebook).

In general, it was an OK all you can eat experience for food, service, ambiance for the price of $12 plus tax (gratuity extra) per person. I do not expect great service or gourmet Chinese/Japanese for this price. I did not get sick so that is a plus and if they continue with the same service as I experience, I think they will be OK and possibly do a good dent to the other local restaurants on quality, price and service (as a past restaurant owner, I know what I'm talking about).

Good eats are memorable.

I was there last night after seeing this place remodoled for ever. When I walked it I was like!? It looks practically the same and it took them this long to open! Now the food was TERRIBLE. There was not much selection and some of the food trays were emplty.. what am I suppose to tell them they are out? The place was practically empty which was a bad sign to begin with. The food was dry and tasteless. I live a few blocks away and I rather drive down to 74th & Cicero for a good buffett. I give it a big thumbs DOWN.