- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Buddha Lounge
- Hours:
Mon-Wed 12 pm - 11 pm
Thu-Sat 12 pm - 1 am
Sun 3 pm - 11 pm
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Music:
- DJ
- Best Nights:
- Fri, Thu, Sat
- Happy Hour:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- Outdoor Area/ Patio Only
- Coat Check:
- Yes
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Good For Dancing:
- No
- Ambience:
- Trendy
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
24 reviews for Buddha Lounge
Review Highlights
-
"I had the Chilean Sea Bass, which was delicious." In 2 reviews -
"Bar is a nice size, a really nice selection of liquor." In 3 reviews -
"The specialty rolls are great." In 3 reviews
Loading...
24 reviews in English
-
Review from Bill l.
Staten Island, NY
2/12/2012
This place is a bit pricey, however, it it full of upscale atmosphere & ambiance, that is lacking in oh so many other Staten Island eating experiences.
The food is very good & the fish quite fresh. We had an Omakasa that while $100.00 was wonderfully done when I left myself in the fine chief's hands, & that kept on coming. If you are a little older, you might wish to visit here a little earlier in the evening, even more so on the weekend. After all, the place is geared on a weekend, into the night, more to the young jet set crowd.
Some very nice special maki rolls & a few hot entrees that are also worth trying if you are not a full sushi lover. -
Review from Aneta Z.
Staten Island, NY
2/10/2012
I came here for a holiday dinner with a group of girls from my job in December 2011. Getting into the place is weird, you have to walk into a lobby and wait for an elevator to take u up to the place. Typical cheesy "faux-Japanese " decor. Lighting is dark enough to hide some of the interior design and the ambiance is actually pretty OK. Annoying waitresses watching your every move. They seemed irritable and like they couldn't wait to get rid us.
We complained that it was incredibly hot the whole time, they did nothing and even suggested that we were making it up. OK. Ten sweating people are "making it up"....
Over priced drinks....$13 for a freaking "champagne w/ one strawberry" ?? I opted for some cheap white wine.
However, the food was great. At least my dish was. The Veggie Pad Thai was amazing. The portion was good, and it took me a little while to eat which is good. Delish.
Another girl at my table ordered the tuna sashimi salad thingy....and had to send it back because the tuna was rubbery, slimy and tasted wrong. They had no problem switching her order and took it off the bill.
On my way out I noticed some drunk staten island wannabe cougar broad by the lounge area and I thought to myself : this is why I don't come to places like this. -
Review from Steven T.
Staten Island, NY
3/12/2012 1 Check-in Here
It was very pricey, which is fine if you get good quality and are seated in the main room or a booth. We were seated on the top floor, which is not as nice as the lower floor. Food and sushi were lower than fast food sushi.
-
Review from Nina L.
7/29/2011 1 Check-in Here
I have to say I didn't expect much of Buddha lounge seeing as they are located above a Sleepy's and a Dunkin' Donuts. Yes I know people have said that, but this restaurant would be even lovelier if it stood alone elsewhere or was located in a more cultured environment so to speak.
Everything I ate was anywhere from good to great. Spicy crunchy Kani salad topped with avocados and the gyoza appetizer were some of the best I've had (and yes I live between Manhattan and Staten Island so I frequent upscale establishments that aren't in this borough). My spicy combo entree was good, the yellowtail and salmon seemed a bit fresher than the tuna. The person I was with has the chicken entree off the early bird dinner special. It wasn't a very Japanese option, but she did say it was good. The dinner special came with ice cream, which was very artfully served.
The service was lackluster, the restaurant itself was pretty. Overall my feeling is that the Buddha Lounge falls into the top competitors for good quality sushi on the island. It is definitely not the cheapest of those in the running but if you are on the South Shore in the middle of nowhere it might be one of the best food options you've got. -
Review from Samantha L.
Elizabeth, NJ
5/17/2011
I just want to preface this review by saying i'm a fan of cheap food that is awsome. I like divey places with out of this word food and I like a good deal. So I may be a little harsh on this place just because of that.
The food is good, not great, not anything that's better than another Japanese restaurant. Obviously the food here is way over priced any you're basically paying for the ambiance of the place. I got the chicken teriyaki here and was not impressed. The portions were small and it was like $20 for the plate, which just pissed me off even more.
The decor is beautiful, very NYC-ish. If you want to bring someone on a date in SI, i would suggest bringing them here. -
Review from Antoinette A.
Staten Island, NY
7/3/2011 1 Check-in Here
*based on nightlife experience only*
For Staten Island this place is very appealing-eclectic flair-dark sexy mood setting atmosphere.
For the ladies-the lychee martinis are delicious and addicting.
The crowd tends to be a little older on the weekends.
Don't miss high heel Thursday's. -
Review from Ali R.
Staten Island, NY
7/5/2011
Nice trendy place for Staten Island... Cute for drinks with the girls or a date night because it's the NYC trendy vibe without having to leave the island.
Food was good. Drinks were good. Nice ambiance. Decent prices. And very nice staff. (we had a pregnant one in our group and the waitress was super friendly, understanding, and patient) -
Review from Jessi D.
Staten Island, NY
Always have a good meal here. Whether its sushi, sashimi, mango or pineapple (chicken, shrimp, beef) the food is extremely good. Have a glass of plum wine or plum sake for a smooth compliment to the Asian fusion theme. It's city like drink $$$ so expect to open the wallet. Service was courteous, fast, and knowledgable of menu and specials. Very good restaurant.
-
Review from SAMANTHA D.
Staten Island, NY
7/13/2011
Good sushi and drinks but a bit overpriced. Great atmosphere. The molten lava cake is the best.
-
Review from Peter D.
2/22/2010
I've been to Buddha Lounge like 4 or 5 times and I still can't make up my mind as to how I feel about this place.
If you're not with a large group I recommend dining at the sushi bar. The sushi is good. However, the lack of food coloring makes it hard to distinguish different pieces from one another. The specialty rolls are great. The menu also includes non Japanese entrees such as steak and lamb chops.
My problem with the Buddha Lounge is the layout of the bar area. It's triangle shaped and therefore does not accommodate that many people. Also, there is elevated booth seating in the bar area so if you've had one to many, it's easy to trip.
There is an outdoor area which is nice in the summer because it extends the bar. It's kind of useless in the winter.
Guido/Guidette level : High -
Review from dee b.
Staten Island, NY
8/19/2011 1 photo
The food is good, but way overpriced. Had the 18 pp early bird, and if you have a big appetite expect to still be hungry. If you order the fried rice off the special you really don't get much rice,, maybe almost 2 cups molded on the plate. The ice cream in the early bird dinner is just a small scoop. I guess if you are on a diet and don't mind spending extra money this is a good place to come. The restaurant is decorated beautifully though...so I assume you really pay extra for the atomosphere. Very trendy.
-
Review from Gina N.
Staten Island, NY
5/26/2010
First, you have to get lost to find it. It is on the 3rd floor and you have to take an elevator up. You should really look for the Sleepy's sign, its the most prominent. The Sleepy's entrance and the Buddha lounge entrance are the same.
Now for the the place. It doesn't look like Staten Island at all. It really looks and feels like a NYC lounge. Dim lighting, small booths and tables and two outdoor areas to drink and smoke cigars. Its actually really impressive.
Bar is a nice size, a really nice selection of liquor. I have only ordered mixed drinks there. So Sapphire & Tonic cost $11 which seemed like a lot for SI. The bartender was really generous with the pour though.
Food. Its a tasting menu, small plates. So everything, from apps to entrees seems to be btwn $11 - $20. I had the spare ribs as well, which fell off the bone in a kind of spicy glaze. Also, the bayou roll which is great. I have had the spicy platter, which seems like a really good deal for rolls. Pork chop is also excellent, I have had that on other trips. And the fillet Mignon is also amazing.
Now the down side. Its pricey for Staten Island. The place is amazing, food is good, but the drinks aren't cheap. Maybe if you aren't like me and you don't order two rounds of mixed drinks and a bottle of Saki, the price won't be so bad.
But don't get me wrong, I am going back again.
The night life scene is supposed to be great with a DJ. But I heard last call is at 1 am. -
Review from Lisa M.
Staten Island, NY
9/22/2011
I've been a regular here since they opened. In the past three weeks I've eaten here 3 times and all three times I've had to send back the yellow tail or the sea bass. They are masking the fact that is is not fresh with some sort of disinfectant! Yuck! When we called the waitress over, said she'd tell her boss, the manager came to the table and questioned us? Ridiculous! The sushi was replaced with something else- but should have been done without hesitation. The sushi chef should taste anything that is in question, especially after a complaint.
Contrary to other reviewers their prices are good, especially their lunch and early dinner specials, portions are very decent. This is after all sushi!
I hope they read this review and clean up their act or they'll be gone soon! -
Review from Sam A.
Staten Island, NY
6/17/2010
Buddha is an upscale type of place that should be experienced as a date or just a couple of friends for some excellent food and drinks. I've been there three times and haven't been disappointed with one thing. It is not really a family place unless your kids are old enough to relax in a seat and order from the menu. I have a two year old myself and if he's with me, I'll be dining in Applebees. The staff is attentive and knows not to hound you. Things I've had (all awesome) Apps: Spare ribs, Soft Shell Crab, Dumplings Sushi: Great Quality, I've had several specialty rolls Dinners: Teriaki Chicken and Chilean Sea Bass (was so good had to have it again)... Dessert: Fresh berries in sauce, Chocolate cake (awesome!!!)
This is an upscale type of place that is gourmet like so go to the ATM before going and enjoy :) ... Great date place (Sit across from the bar instead of the main room) -
Review from Kyle W.
Brooklyn, NY
8/9/2011
I've been to Buddha Lounge several times now and I've been very happy with my experience. Great food and great decor.
They have a really great bar stocked with great specialty drinks. I really like the buddha bomb and the threesome. You can't go wrong with the sashimi or special rolls.
This place is pretty good when you go with a group of friends. They also have good music playing on weekends. -
Review from Jonny J.
Staten Island, NY
2/22/2010
I am updating my previous review. I have been here probably around a dozen times in the past year and its a pretty nice place. Its modern and clean and the food has consistently been overall pretty good. The service isn't that great.
I enjoy coming here in the summer months for the outdoor all you can eat bbq and drinks they offer. -
Review from Michael L.
Staten Island, NY
Pretty good restaurant. The decor was nice. It had the dark "Nobu" feel. I had the Chilean Sea Bass, which was delicious. I'm still partial to "Nori", in New Dorp, for the best Japanese restaurant on Staten
Island. Definitely a great place for the Sushi Bar and drinks, though! -
Review from Awad S.
Brooklyn, NY
3/29/2011
Cannot recommend Buddha Lounge enough. The food was excellent, the wait staff very attentive to all needs, and the drinks were fantastic. The owner even stopped by and had a chat with us, making sure everything was going smoothly. The ambiance is really nice. My only regret was that it was too cold to check out the outdoor patio.
-
Review from Thomas S.
New York, NY
8/9/2010
For the local crowd Buddha is a jump to the dimmer, chiller lounges of Manhattan. This jump includes the modern and classy feel including the lighting, table service, menu and pricing.
For a Japanese lounge the menu is full of sushi, rolls and fusion picks but significantly trimmed down from the directory of typical sushi spots of local. You're left with a simpler, cleaner choice of food typical of upscale lounges.
Table service is well worth the menu prices with swift, courteous and attentive wait staff topping off your drinks without question. For those not familiar with this sort of attention it can become both awkward and thrilling (but by no means a distraction).
Simple dishes such as Pad Thai are thrown curveballs with swift modifications to give it a unique experience.
It's clear the spot is new and relatively unknown - a bustling Saturday afternoon yielded an empty dining room - likely due to lack of knowledge the spot exists or too upscale for the local shopping crowd.
The spot promotes the nightly roof lounge which seems to be a majority of its business. -
Review from Victoria M.
Brooklyn, NY
2/3/2011 1 Check-in Here
The ambiance is really nice. I went to the Buddha Lounge for a dessert and cocktail date, and we were very pleased. This is a nice place if you are looking to chill out with friends or on a date. I would come back here next time hopefully try the food.
-
Review from Jenny R.
Staten Island, NY
2/15/2010
Ok. At first glance it seems odd having a somewhat fancy sushi place upstairs from Sleepys and Dunkin Donuts in a strip mall, but when you come off the elevator onto the 3rd floor, you enter another world. The place is gorgeous. Its like being in the middle of Manhattan. Fancy recessed lighting, intricate details and heavy gothic type curtains surround the room. There are very roomy booths, and nice tables with beautiful chairs. The menu seems impressive at first glance being rather large, but after further inspection, you see there arent that many entrees or sushi rolls. There are a few basic rolls from $5 and up, and then several "specialty" rolls from $12- 17. Not too much to choose from. The menu is heavy on hot and cold appetizers, but there are only about 5 entrees. One is lamb, one seabass, one surf and turf and 2 others I dont remember and they were pricey. ($27 and up). You couldnt possibly take a family with kids there and 1) find something for the kids to eat or 2) afford to feed everyone. It seems with so many appetizers, perhaps they want to be a drink/appetizer type of lounge and not a full restaurant?
What this is, is alot of smoke and mirrors. More (with the over the top decor) turns out to be less. I wanted to order alot of different items from the menu to get an accurate feel of the place. I started out with roasted butternut squash soup because miso seemed so boring. The soup was ok but KILLED with curry. Couldnt finish more than half of it. My bf got shrimp shumai dumplings. They were small and few, but good. Then we got an eel cucumber roll, a spicy yellowtail roll and tuna, salmon and fluke sashimi. I tried to order 3 other pieces of sushi, but they were OUT OF red snapper, striped bass, and crab sticks. I understand its the day after Valentines day, but come on. I had to change my order 3x... The sushi was eh. Common buffet grade sushi. I ate some of the sashimi plain to get a real taste of it, and it had no flavor. The fish they use is obviously cheap and low quality. Fish on that level then makes the rolls eh as well. I am a sushi addict, and have had sushi almost everywhere on the island and some places in Manhattan and NJ so I think I have a pretty good palette on which to judge. My main dish was pineapple fried rice with "prawns". Now this was good, however, there were only 3 prawns (actually shrimp. I've never seen prawns this small), and very little pineapple. It tasted like regular fried rice. You would never know there was pineapple in there. Soup had too much curry, rice had too few shrimp and pineapples. Now the entire time you are in there, all you can smell is amazing coffee and muffins from Dunkin' Donuts downstairs. It smelled SO GOOD we put away the dessert menu and went downstairs and got lattes and a muffin @ DD. Lol! No one will ever wind up getting dessert @ Buddha. The desserts were very limited and not interesting. Didn't see any red bean ice cream. It's usually a sushi place staple. Now some people will brag about this place because its pretty and go there for drinks and appetizers, but Im not one of those people. I am a FOODIE!! I don't care how pretty the place is, or how many bells and whistles its offering if the food sucks. Its a RESTAURANT. It should have GOOD FOOD!!! I most likely will not return because I like to eat, and I know a good value when I see (or dont see) one. I am also desperately spoiled by the amazing Mitoushi on Richmond Ave. (please see my review). The owner there is a sweetheart and he has several restaurants, so he buys high quality sushi in bulk, and serves it at very reasonable prices. I have never had such high quality fish anywhere else. You can eat the sashimi or sushi plain with nothing on it, and the flavor on the fish will knock you out. I shall never stray again... -
Review from NAT A.
New York, NY
5/10/2011
Considering it's in a shopping plaza, it's not bad..you take an elevator up and the ambience is very cute, the outdoor space is a bit unattractive since your view is a parking lot, but they did their best to make the terrace pleasant. The rock shrimp is tasty and the drinks are strong, I'm a fan of the lychee martinis with extra lychees on the side. The prices are fair and the staff is very friendly, especially at the bar :)
-
Review from Afrim K.
Staten Island, NY
3/18/2011
Food was average. I was mostly pissed off about the fact that they didn't honor the free wine of glass advertised on here if you mention yelp. We we seated on a lonely upstairs room all by our selves. When we walked out we noticed the nicer main lounge area and wondered why they didn't sit us there. Bathroom upstairs was dirty with urine all over the floor. There was absolutely no excuse for this as the place wasn't even busy.
-
Review from Paul I.
Staten Island, NY
3/7/2010
Where do I begin? I am so disappointed with this place. My friends and I went last night and all I can say is I feel cheated out of my Saturday night experience. I look forward to Saturday night all week, it is my guilt free eating day. After eating light small portions all week, I look forward to eating like royalty on a Saturday night. Well last night I ate like a pauper and paid like royalty. To say the portions are small is an understatement. Part of my crowd last night were thin women who looked at their plate as if to say, "Where is it?" We all left hungry and ended up at a local diner. After spending over $60.00 in a restaurant, you should not have to go to a diner afterwards!! Those who know me or my reviews, know that I am a sucker for a hot, trendy atmosphere, but even though the atmosphere of this place is one of the best on Staten Island, it is not enough to save this place. There are too many nice restaurants on Staten Island as of late that not only has a hot atmosphere but also has the food to go along with it.
Now for the service. Again where was it? It seemed like we waited an eternity for our drinks although once they arrived, they were awesome. Our appetizers were served separately, this is unacceptable for such an upscale place. Angelina in Tottenville would fire her staff if they tried such a thing and then proceed to offer something on the house to the table. We experienced none of this professionalism. Not even an apology, just a polite "your appetizer should be ready soon." Well so should the warm weather, but I'm not holding my breath!! Then the main course finally arrives and I wanted to ask, where is the rest of it? Once again we were all served separately. One of my friends started eating as soon as she was served because she was so hungry and her food was ice cold. How long was it sitting in the kitchen before it was served to the table? Again unacceptable!! I have gone to diners who can handle a big table better than this place. And again I will say, "Where was the food?" They give you these big places that are empty. A little portion of food is in the middle of the plate, it looks like it was prepared for the family pet!! Oh and by the way, I asked for my stake "beyond well done." I told the waitress I want it burnt with flames coming out of it. Now maybe it's me, but I thought that this was pretty descriptive. But I guess not because when I received this little thing it was still breathing, it looked like it needed a sanitary pad!!
Again the drinks were good and it has a nice balcony so my advice is go after dinner for a nice night cap when the warm weather finally gets here. I don't recommend you go now because the bar area is too small. I was there briefly because 2 of my friends were there and I couldn't wait to go back to my table. The room has far too many people in it which makes it hard to navigate your way through.
