I'm really not sure what I was expecting. Â My boyfriend told me, "Pick anywhere you wanna go and we'll try it out!" Â Since we're new to the area, I had no idea where to go, but I've seen the giant Teppanyaki sign every time I drive by, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
First off, the hostess was pretty dull and when we told her it's our first time and we had no idea what they even really offered, she said "some American food and, of course, Chinese food." Â This confused me because "teppanyaki" is a style of JAPANESE cuisine cooked on a grill, but ya know...Asian=Chinese, amirite?? Â I was expecting something like hibachi, but no. Â I mean, there WAS a grill there, if that counts for anything. Â I should have read the review here first, telling me not to take the name literally.
Most of the food I tried wasn't bad. Â My boyfriend and I were fans of the pepper chicken. Â I even felt brave enough to try some seafood, which was a mistake. Â Having just moved from the coast, where seafood doesn't get any fresher, I'm not sure why I set myself up for disappointment. Â Trying to chew through some tough baby octopus just ended up in me wasting the portion and then feeling sad that they all died in vain.
If you're not too picky about your food or service and not easily offended by white people telling you that all Asian food= Chinese food, then give them a try. Â Coming from an Asian, I won't bother coming back, but hey...everyone has different tastes.
Don't take the name too literally (this is the Midwest, after all), and be prepared to see a few "foreigners" in a restaurant that serves (Americanized) Asian food. Â And why would you leave your food unattended at a buffet in the first place?
But anyway, this is a fair-sized buffet for this area, with a wide variety of both Asian and non-threatening American food. Â There's even a selection of decent sushi. Â We've been twice so far, and both times the food was kept refreshed and refilled. Â I was interested to see both the usual fried rice (the bright yellow commercial kind) and "hibachi" rice, which looked more like real, homemade fried rice side by side at one table.
I have to ding them for not having fresh mustard (they only have the kind in the packets) and for serving a Lipton tea bag in a pot of hot water as the only tea option. Â But other than that, the food is excellent.
Chinese buffet but they have pizza, Mexican and a wide variety of things. Â They even have steak and Mongolian/Teppanyaki grill, but everytime I have tried the steak it was so tough it wasn't worth getting.
The other "problem" is that their food must have a fair amount of MSG. Â It sure affects the gastrointestinal tract that way.
So, if you want to fill up on mediocre chinese food, this is the place to go. Â I would rather go to any of the take outs, order what I want, have it piping hot and order it without MSG
For what it is, there is none better. A superb buffet with more choice than any Chinese buffet I have ever seen. The grill is pretty good quality. Definitely the most surprising is the quality and variety of sushi. All of it for like 8 bucks. If you JUST want sushi, go to Domo, otherwise this will be the Chinese restaurant of choice for almost everyone.
Review Source:Teppanyaki... NOT !!!
I moved back to Muncie recently and I was so excited to see the Teppanyaki Grill sign while driving past. Â Domo is cool, but having a SECOND teppan joint in town ? Â Woohoo !
Unloaded my boxes and headed right over... boy was I pissed. Â :-) Â My mistake though, so the joke's on me and I don't hold it against them.
Teppanyaki BUFFET is exactly what one would expect from a decent grazing pasture of this type. Â Clean, tons of choices on the food bars with some cook-to-order options thrown in for fun, all for around ten bucks. Â They certainly have the clean part down. Â Although I'm not a buffet fan, I do enjoy them once in a while.
Problem was, there was something odd and a bit unpleasant with nearly everything I tried. Â To be clear, nothing was horrible. Â But everything I tried was strangely chewy, or extremely salty, too old, drowning in a bizarre liquid, food was utterly hidden by bland cheese, taste and smell were royally mismatched... different in every case but always something.
The happy, if shocking, exception was the sushi lineup. Â It was clearly buffet sushi, but it was surprisingly good ! Â I found pretty decent tuna maki, salmon nagiri, Seattle rolls, even an okay caterpillar roll. Â The California rolls kind of sucked (imitation crab, yuck), but I was too busy eating the others to care.
OVERALL: Â Underwhelming with several weird-tasting selections, but a valiant effort for a mega-buffet. Â Good enough for me to give it another try and hopefully warrant revising my rating and review upwards.
Ate here for my birthday - I'd planned on Fogo de Chao but things changed. Â Same dumb bullshit as all the other places, with slightly more sushi and rather than Mongolian grill, it's teppanyaki. Â There was a baby octopus salad that I'd not seen elsewhere. Â Still, don't be fooled - bigger isn't always better. Â I'd rather eat take out from any of the other little places in town or dine in at Szechuan.
Review Source:Food: 5/5 This place is awesome! So many choices on the buffet (I think the commercials said over 150 items served daily?) there's like 8 different hot bars, 2 cold bars, ice cream and deserts, a grill for cooking noodles with your own choice of meats and vegatables, not as good as red suns mongolian grill, but they tried, and a sushi bar, and this is all a buffet!
Overview: Best Chinese/Japanese Bar in town. (They serve some American and Mexican on the bar to but mostly Asian foods)
Service: 5/5 They're always at your table
Atmosphere: 5/5 The place is huge (It is in the old ryans place so of course it's huge) but it's nicely decorated, with a fountain in the "lobby" area I guess? But it's sure sweet.
Side Note: Don't be expecting too much from a small town buffet, it's not prime cuisine, its just good Asian buffet food
Edit: If you go to get the noodles on the grill, make sure you watch your food, I noticed a lot of foreigners and kids going up to the bar and taking other peoples plates of food while the people who originally made it went to go get some other food off the other bars.