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"This place is the BEST teriyaki ever! My mom actually took me here for lunch one day and was a regular spot for us until I relocated from…" read more »
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I had dined at Todai in Portland and it was a 3 star experience for me there. However, I was feeling particularly piggy and after looking round at their lunch selection, decided that the $15.95 for the lunch buffet was too good a price to miss. Another bonus was that they were showing the USA playing Spain in the Confederation Cup semifinal (soccer)
The main draw for me was the sushi. There was a nice range of nigiri sushi, normal maki rolls and a few special rolls. They had the usual Todai funny habit of not having any wasabi in their nigiri sushi, which causes the fish to promptly fall off the rice. However, the cuts of fish are very generous in size and tasted fresh. The special rolls were nice and the turnover meant that the sushi was being continuously replenished and not standing on the counter for awhile.
The hot food was average with some passable agedashi tofu though the tempura was nicer.
I love the mini sized desserts as I was able to sample bite sizes of more dishes.
The weekday lunchtime Todai experience was good, espeically if you're feeling hungry
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This place had closed down a couple of weeks ago. Go figure because they were far from being "The Mother of All Seafood Buffet". Their Seattle location is still open. You can expect to pay $26 plus change per person and on the weekends, $28+ change per person.
I would seriously not go here for good sushi, but rather go here if you want to be a stuffed up pig, full of stale and bellow average food. Yuck. Go to a real authentic sushi restaurant instead.
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Blergh... another lunch outing with the coworkers. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone here because I'd heard it wasn't that great. And it isn't! At least I can accurately review it, anyway :)
So they've got like 3 different sections of food - there's salads and sushi/rolls, hot deep-fried stuff, and a dessert section.
I thought this place would be comparable to the Eating Factory in Bellevue (not sure if that's still open) that I'd gone to a few years ago, but it did not live up to my (admittedly low) expectations. The udon was pretty good, because they make it there in front of you. Same goes for the crepes. But pretty much everything else is very mediocre. I didn't try any raw sushi (SCARY!) but I did have a couple of different rolls, which were unremarkable. The had lots of different salad including some pretty good kimchi (kimchi is hard to screw up...) and there were some vaguely tasty deep-fried items that all sort of tasted the same. There was some bbq pork ribs which were mostly bone so I gave up after trying to bite them a couple of times.
Yeah ... definitely not going back. There are so many better places in Redmond Town Center. If you want cheap sushi, go over to Bella Botega and eat at SushiLand. At least their food is pretty good for the price! (Not the best, but definitely worth the cost...)
I think I would have been less disappointed if I hadn't paid so much for lunch here - it was like $25 just for me! I guess it's worth it if you eat a lot, but when the food is that disappointing, I'm not exactly going to see how much I can cram down my gullet.
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Was disappointed on Saturday to find them closed. We have had several good meals here, admittedly it's been a while (I had gastric-bypass last year; buffets are no longer a good deal for me), but I was in the mood for seafood. Just checked the web site; they have a message up there that due to business reasons outside of their control, they had to close this location. Bummer. Not going all the way into Seattle just for crablegs.
Todai at Redmond is OUT OF BUSINESS.
I went there today and the address was vacant. Exterior and interior signs were removed. Apparently they have been out of business for a while, yet their website has not been update to reflect the fact. That's outright cheating on customers.
Totally disappointed, I called their number and heard a crappy recorded announcement telling me to call the Todai in Seattle. The women answering the phone told me that they have "business problems".
All you can eat Crab legs. Winner.
Imagine:
8 plates, 2 starving girls, 1 table.
Now imagine:
Barbarians.
Yes. This painted picture is about just for the sight seen a few weeks ago at Todais. My roommate and I came here super hungry after working up an appetite from shopping, our form of cardio. The servers were on top of it and never let our glasses go empty. Plates of empty crab legs were collected quite a few times and extra napkins put in place for our busy little hands. Quite the show.
With dinner and beverages tallying up to per person cost of about $35 with tip, I would say I was more than satisfied with my experience. Worth the trip to Redmond and quite the event if you're with good company.
The Sushi was good, tempura was ok and other assorted fried items were tasty. I more or less focused on my crab shell crackin' skills. Good eats and great times! Especially the observation of the one or two brows raised at how much my petite roomate and I could put away. Take that "all you can eat".
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I go there strictly to fill my place with crab legs.... and prawns.... YUMMY yes spendy but worth it for me.
Last time I went I was concerned that I may get sick because my prawns weren't cooked all the way. I asked the managers advice wether he thought it was cooked or not then he checked and signaled to me not to eat them.... but I never got sick after eating about 2, before he told me to stop.... :P
Still will go back for me crab legs!
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This particular Todai...should be called TO DIE.
I have eaten at about 5 different Todai's up and down the West Coast, this by far has to be the worst one ever.
When the Redmond place first opened, there was fresh fish and fresh food, now it taste like everything is a week old.
If you want cheap no hassle sushi, this place is the place to go. You get what you pay for though. Don't expect anything gourmet.
I took my partner a few years ago and he was immediately sick after eating some Tuna.
I wish Corporate would have some quality control to whip this place into shape.
On the bright side, the warm hot food isle is pretty good and so are the crepes.
I'd recommend going to the downtown Todai location, you have to pay for parking, but the food is better.
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It's an Asian all-you-can eat buffet. It's a little pricey but I think one should be weary of a cheap buffet.
I wouldn't go here for a fine meal. But I would go here for a large family get-together. It's loud and open. My family can spread themselves out and get comfortable. We can get seconds like we're at a family pot luck. It's a good time.
Their sushi is substandard... so I just lower my standards and stuff my face.
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I added one star strictly because it's a buffet, so you get to try a lot of things without breaking the bank.
The sushi quality here is good, but not great. Sure, you get the variety, but you lose the intimacy of a nice sushi restaurant, not to mention the presentation that you get with sushi chefs. Somehow, picking individual pieces of maki up with giant metal tongs just makes the experience feel too Americanized for my tastes.
Yet, still, this is a favorite place to go with one of my friends, and I rarely turn it down. It's just not what I think of when I think of great sushi.
Specific recommendations:
* Watch out for the bite size desserts, they're often still frozen.
* The tempura is OK, but I'm disappointed by the veggie selection. Mostly carrots and potatoes... nothing like fried starch!!!
* The dim sum is a new-ish addition to the cooked food line-up, but 80-90% of what they put out are desserty, so I usually skip it (unless they have the shrimp tsu-mai, mmm!)
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Better than the Todai's in Pacific Place.
Great selection of sushi, fresh fruits and vegetables. Especially appealing if you come right when the restaurant opens!
The just-a-little-bit-sweet Sukiyuki is delicious. The rest of the hot foods are fair-to-middling. Sugar cookies at dessert bar are excellent, almost as good as grandma's! They are really good about making sure your beverage glass is never empty, be it soda, ice tea or water.
Take note that they close down lunch relatively early (2:00pm) on weekends. I guess that is so they have to get ready for dinner. Can somebody tell me what exactly is the difference is between their lunch and dinner selections?
The only red flag, and maybe it is just a yellow flag, is that the restrooms are...how do I put this politely? How about...well-used?
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Todai in Redmond.... yeah.
The first few times were with family and I was young, and it seemed good.
As I got a bit older and experienced more good food, this place wasn't so good. The last time I went was on my boyfriends birthday several years ago because his dinner would be free (not sure if they do the birthday thing anymore).
The food was decent and the sushi tasted like it's been sitting for quite a while (the place was really slow that night).
When our waitress asked us how the food was, we told her that. After that she was basically very quiet and mostly ignored us. A friend of mine was working there that night and said the waitress almost cried and called us "jerks" for saying the food tasted old when she asked us hot it was. (Awesome...) Someone more like a manager came out later and told us the fish they get is frozen and said he'd make sure they switch out the sushi so it's fresher.
Main point? We were not impressed and are not going back.
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I wouldn't normally just come to Todai and eat lunch but this place is fun for a birthday celebration. Just be aware of the $25 per person charge.
I think the sushi is plentiful and pretty good. There is a huge variety and I have never had anything awful there. If anything I think it's a good place to try new things. I guess you just have to remember it's a sushi buffet, not a restaurant so it's not going to be the same. The hot food is give and take, sometimes it looks shady so I skip past it but the little baby short ribs = YUM!
The dessert bar is my favorite, I might go there for that alone sometime. They had a new chocolate fondue fountain with strawberries, marshmallows and bananas. YAY! And of course the creme brulee and mini bars of any dessert you could possibly think of.
Really the only negative thing I can think of is the wait staff seems to target your plates when you leave the table. I went to get a fork and they cleared my plate. I mean it didn't help my stupid family didn't say anything but still, I have heard people say that before. It just seems like a waste of food to me because I just had to go back and get some more.
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I really enjoy the variety here. I've only been for dinner twice, but I really liked it. They have a little bit of everything--the dessert bar is fun, too. Lots to choose from.
Really the only con I have encountered is the price--Dinner is too expensive. I realize that at dinner they have expensive things like crab legs and so on, but come on. It shouldn't cost $70 bucks for my husband and me to eat--psh.
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It's okay... nothing too fancy. Just to be sure to bring your appetite.
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Only go here for the sushi and when it's your birthday. The left side of the restaurant is nasty. The sushi and desserts are worth it. No, it's not the best sushi in the world but hey, it's not disgusting and its better than the crappy ones you get at Rice n' Roll. They have a variety of sushi and their sashimi is very fresh. I do admit that this place is too pricey for its food, which is why you should take advantage of their birthday program and bring a few friends. And I have mixed feelings about the service. The waitresses always seem to be friendly; but TWICE, they didn't bring water when we presented a birthday voucher. When we went there without a voucher the water or tea was always there. But when we appeared WITH a voucher, no water. Straws were there, but no water.
Overall, if you want to pig out on a variety of sushi on your birthday, go
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This place is bad. The sushi is awfull. I wasn't expecting it to be fantastic because it is a sushi buffet. But instead of being happy with the average sushi I allways get at these kinds of places I am instead "treated" to something very much below par. Sushi even worst than you can get in gas stations. The one redeeming feature is that it is all you can eat. But who would want to eat a lot of sushi this bad! Then to make matters worse you get the bill at you learn that you have fallen for a bait and switch. They say things like "All you can eat" and "buffet" and I am thinking $7 or $9 tops. The bill is nearly $14. I could have gone to a really good sushi resturant with a few friends got the same variety and much better sushi for that price.
Rip-off avoid this place at all cost.
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Okay, I know this place is gross...but I was forced to go with a group, and it's still gross! The only thing that is pretty good is the seaweed salad and the tiny creme brulees..but that is about it. The hot food is horrible: there is more tempura batter than the veggie/shrimp itself, the kalbi is just chewy piece of lard, the noodles are okay, and the sushi is somewhat edible--most of it is has that nasty tough stringy stuff that is hard to swallow--you know what I'm talking about!
And the ultimate question is: how do you feel when you walk out of Todai? satisfied? Hells no! Sick to my stomach and ripped off.
Todai USED to be pretty good--back in the day when it was the grand opening!! Since then, it's gone downhill... :(
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As with just about any place, there is good and bad about this place. I for one like this place; prices are a little high, but it's all you can eat seafood.
Their sushi sucks; if you are a sushi snob, don't go here for the sushi. It's better than kiku's, but if you are paying (what is it like $25 for all you can eat?), just for the sushi, you my friend are getting ripped off.
Sometimes they have lobster claws, and all you can eat snow crab legs...bingo. That's what I go here for. I sit there for hours chomping down on some yummy seafood. Maybe I'll hit up some of the other hot seafood for clams, mussels, etc. Those are all good too. And if you go there on your birthday, it's a free meal - even better.
Desserts are really good, and come in little tiny servings so you can try several different ones without filling up too much. And if you like said dessert, you can always go back for more.
Sushi snobs, stay away. But if you like seafood...it's def good.
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The very nature of this restaurant screams, "Kill me!!" Mediocre sushi, half-palatable hot food and subpar desserts. Yet I continue to go there with pleasure, excitement and feigned disgust (for the sake of my girlfriend). I love to cruise the galleys of steaming steel pans of edible substances that will cause me indigestion. Then after I'm completely stuffed liked like a caviar sturgeon, I punish myself further with those tiny but delictible morsels of cheesecake.
I can't think of a better place to fill plate full of raw fish and seafood. The food maybe Japanese but the concept is all American gluttony.
Don't miss the seafood salad and try to suppress the what-the-hell-is-that look.
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One of my favorites in Redmond Town Center. I like the place and the service.
My favorite is the crab, I go there mainly because the Crab, the udon (I customize it) and the rolls.
Besides is an all you can eat buffet, Todai offers good quality for a reasonable price. I always ask for the carterpillar roll and the rainbow roll which are good, the crab is warm and tasty and the udon is superior.
Good value for the bucks ...
This place was the craze when it started, now its all the same. Redmond is definitely better than the one in downtown Seattle. The selection does get kind of boring after you been there a few times, no innovation and the same sushi over and over again get lame. This would be a fun place if you have a group of friends since everyone can pig as they wish. However going here just to for lunch or dinner seem overly priced for the same ole boring buffet.
The service is super, always quick with the plate change. The crepe and ramen is pretty cool. However nothing really stands out. I'm not sure if there's much they can do about it either.
Been here done that, won't be back. My first 1 star review!
I've been here for lunch several times, I guess it was the newest "thang" we just had to do, so I went. Lunch is cheaper than dinner, dinner they serve more seafood and "lobster"?
The last time I went for lunch I got sick and almost lost it in the restroom, I think it was from the "mussels" they were serving. Sushi is not sushi when made with white goo that was suppose to resemble rice, soggy chewy Nori is not the way things are suppose to be!! Arrrgh! Selection was nice but when it tastes, yucky, whats the use?
All you can it eat, can be done correctly, here it is not. I wish they'd stop trying to pass this off as Japanese food, it's insulting.
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Gross. Seriously, Gross.
I'm from Austin, Texas, there isn't a plethora of sushi places, but most are decent, and we have a couple of exceptional places. This place makes sushi in a way that you have never seen.
Anything that had crab was weirdly shredded and held together with some sort of weird white gooey substance. There was quite a variety, it wasn't all sushi, and that's why it got atleast a star, but even that, every single thing that I had was disappointing. Any roll that had fish was gross because the fish was NOT fresh, and that really goes for any piece of fish this place had.
The Udon noodles were in fact NOT udon noodles, and were greasy and salty. The gyoza was cooked straight out of a frozen bag, but I will say that their gyoza sauce was good. i had a few other things because I wanted so badly to find something good to eat in this place, but . . .
Anyways, this place is unlimited eating till you fall over for 13.95 a person, but. . . .it's gross and disappointing.
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Todai is an excercise in putting the widest variety of Japanese spread you could imagine in front of you as an all-you-can-eat buffet. That being said, it IS dominated by seafood. There is a "cold" counter that sprawls across half the restaurant in a large circle, which serves fare such as salads, sushi, tempura, and other raw and cold fish delicacies. Not far away is the "hot" counter, serving food like squid, chicken teriyaki, fried rice, an assortment of seasoned fish swimming in sauce, and even a teppanyaki order table. My only complaint is that the food is the same every time you go, so if you visit too often you may tire of it.
The service is friendly, but make sure to bring some extra cash if you're going on a weekend night, this restaurant doesn't come cheap.
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I love Todai! I have been a big fan since going to the Todai in Las Vegas.. with my hubby MJ four years ago, so I was excited to hear my family was taking me to the one in Redmond. The seafood selection is fresh, the variety is great.. the desserts are excellent! They even have a crepes too! Yum! It's an All-You-Can-Eat-Buffet... Nuff' said! The waitstaff are quite attentive as well.. I will be coming back!
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Reading some of the reviews here, I expected to see open sewage as I walked into this restaurant, but I was pleasantly surprised (by the lack of open sewage).
The biggest problem I had with Todai was the cost. The food was simply OK, so the $25+ price (per person) was way out of line with the quality of the food.
What I basically paid for was quantity of food, and since I wasn't ready to eat a bale of sushi, I felt cheated by the end of the meal.
If the price was $10 cheaper, I would probably have given this place another star.
But the price was simply too much.
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I went here on my birthday a couple of years ago. Even though the meal was free, I wouldn't call it a good deal. The revolving-sushi concept was okay, but all the sushi seemed to be really damn old. All the raw fish was dried out visibly around the edges. My friend and I ate there anyway (it's free, right?), which turned out to be a mistake. Spent the next three hours in the f*ing bathroom.
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i'm not a sushi connaisseur and try to avoid eating anything that looks too raw.
I've been to both todai's once (redmond and downtown seattle).
My first visit at the seattle location was a really good experience. I think it's because we showed up 20 minutes before closing time and were told we had to chow down and get out. We were a little shocked yes, but we had fun with it and ate like maniacs (as you can typically find in buffets). Although too full by the end I really liked my experience -- & started recommending Todai to people left right and center.
A few months later, after having built the expectations so high, I went to the Redmond location for a special occasion and I was very disapointed. The sushi was anything but good. It was dry and crusty. I called people back and told them they didn't "need" to go to Todai's and that it wasn't that great after all. & the crepes?? Are you kidding me? I didn't like those at all -- but I guess somewhere someone made the effort to include a crepe bar.
Not worth the price. I'd rather have a limited supply of quality sushi. & then go somewhere for some quality dessert.
THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE SUSHI PLACES EVER. Me and my friends come here whenever it's somebodys birthday because the birthday person eats for FREE! It's buffet style, but it's not gross like a buffet is. The sushi is well prepared and fresh, better then a lot of sushi places i've been too. The service isn't too bad, even though it's a buffet, they clear your plate pretty fast and are definately on top of what people want to drink, so that's a plus! I reccomment this place if you are really hungry and want to eat a lot of good sushi!
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I reallly enjoy going to this place. The staff is friendly and the food is pretty good. We only go on birthdays to get a free voucher for a future visit and on those future visits to use the vouchers. Hey we are cheap so what?haha Anyways the sushi is pretty good, the only problem is when its busy they dont churn out the sushi fast enough. sometimes you sit at your table with your neck stretched to see if the guys put some more out because you have been waiting for 10 minutes. The hot food line has lots of goodies and the soup station wih made to order udon and ramen is great. A good place to go on birthdays and special occasions or when your really freakin craving loads of yummy little tires.
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lol I guess us Austinites are a little snobby with our sushi huh!
Todai is a national buffet chain--their primary vision probably is not "let's make awesome, delicious food because we love to make the food and we love to make people happy" -- more like "let's make money by making crappy sushi while advertising an all-you-can-eat buffet!"
It's no surprise that you would be disappointed by the sushi; fresh, high quality ingredients cost a lot! Why eat and be disappointed by the low-quality sushi when you already know it's never going to be as good as an actual sushi bar joint? How many JAPANESE (let alone oriental) chefs do you see in the sushi area at Todai or other sushi buffets?
I'm a sushi appreciator too, and I agree the sushi isn't great. For this review, I looked more to the lunch-time cooked stuffs, cold salads, and desserts.
The gyozas were light and the sauce was a little spicy but good. Sukiyaki made me just damned happy. Terriyaki chicken wasn't bad, but a little salty. I tried like every dish and nothing else stuck out as terrible or really good. The variety is not bad and it's all very filling.
Cold salads were interesting. I forget all the names, but the mayonaisse-based ones were quite good (I think it's just because I like mayo a lot).
The sushi, meh. Didn't look fresh and seemed to be cheap. All the "chefs" were of hispanic origins...Luckily you cannot mess up Tamago :)
I always like the desserts at Todai; the delights are so cute and yummy! My favorite here was the Apple Delight. Actual apple slices in a little bite-sized cake--Borat voice: I liiiiiike!
It's not a place you go to eat sushi, and at $14 for lunch ($25 for dinner I think), yea it's a little pricey. But it's filling, and you can pick and choose from tons of dishes that will make your taste buds and tummy happy.
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Nice clean place, good food, instead of Japanese Chefs, it is Spanish helpers and instead of Konichiwa, good afternoon, it is Hola Amigo!
While I'm sure they've improved (to stay in business) I stopped going there after they were closed for health code violations. Granted I only went a few times, but my recollection was that it was expensive, ok food and loud anime decor.
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I'm from Austin, Texas, so I suppose you could write my off my review, barring that, this was the worst sushi I have ever eaten. I gave it two stars because it was cheap compared to the amount of food one could eat.
The inside is large, with a sushi bar in the middle, and then other Japanese dishes on the side. I tried the gyoza, tofu salad, yakisoba, and every roll and nigiri I could find.
I would guess it's tough for a restaurant like this to put more money into their food quality: their prices are fixed so they can't raise prices, and I would think they do a lot of business because of how close they are to Microsoft. I somewhat understand the quality, but I still had to force the food down my throat.
The service was great, though.
Would I go again? If Todai were the last sushi place in Redmon.
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So/So. Food wasn't bad, but nothing "stood out" either. It was waaay too pricey for what it offered.
What kills me about places like this is how stingy they can be. Come now. Is it too much to ask for you to put out more than 2 pieces of shrimp tempura per person in line? Salmon sushi, put out more salmon sushi!! The platter has been empty for like 15 minutes dude??!!! Todai re-defines "all you can eat" to "all we will allow you to eat or else you get tired of standing around watching our ten workers slowly dole out food." But...for the ever vigilante, the quality is ok for the price.
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I came here for my last birthday, and wasn't too impressed.
The sushi - warm and not the best tasting.
The selections of salads they have is pretty good, and I liked several of them.
The desserts are good, and they come in small portions so you can try everything if you like.
Other foods - passable at best. What sticks in my mind is the crab legs - they were mushy and covered in some slimy coating. After fussing around trying to pry one open and getting my hands all greasy, I gave up. I saw others doing the same.
If you're looking for good sushi, there are definitely better choices on the east side. Ditto goes for the seafood and everything else offered. Nothing I tried at Todai's stood out as being great.
P.S.
Here is how the birthday deal works:
Come with 3 other adults, and a birthday person eats free.
Come with less than 3 adults, and the birthday person receives a buy-one-get-one voucher, good for 3 months.
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uhm gross. why do people like this place so much - i don't get it.
okay so the sushi is tolerable (to an extent). but the hot food? most of it looks nasty and/or dry. the noodles alone look like they've been sitting underneath the lamp all day (no argument there) and the fried rice is overly cooked in some parts and not cooked enough in others.
the only thing i like and actually ENJOY eating there is the ramen and some of the dessert. they always offer many different kinds of cakes and they let you make your own crepe *which is cool*.
i'd never go for the $25 dinner and would have to be CONVINCED and dragged to go for the $14 lunch.
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They had to roll me out the door. There was too much good stuff to choose from and I wanted it all! Go on your birthday and you get a free buffet and at $26.00 on the weekends that is truly a nice gift. The fresh crepes were made right in front of my eyes and were a nice ending for enough food to last me a couple days.
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Fall Lunch Specials!
Bellevue, WA
Frequent Lunch Card, Lunch…
Woodinville, WA
Neighborhood: Northgate
Category: Sushi Bars
Redmond, WA
Category: Thai
Redmond, WA
Category: Restaurants
Redmond, WA
Category: Sushi Bars
Bellevue, WA
Category: Sushi Bars
