Todai Sushi
Categories: Sushi Bars, Japanese, Buffets [Edit]
Neighborhood: Manhattan/Murray Hill6 E 32nd St
New York, NY 10032 (212) 725-1333
- Nearest Transit:
33rd St-Park Ave (6)
28th St-Broadway (R, W)
34th St-6th Ave (B, D, F, V, N, Q, R, W)
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: No
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
66 Reviews for Todai Sushi
Todai make Texas many year ago.
They catch crab in backyard.
Pointy crab, pinchy, agressives.
Little claws that make
Ow! and Ow!
Delicious taste.
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California Todai's are pathetic compared to the one in NY. The selection was not only greater but also better. Highlights included fried soft shell crab, freshly shucked oysters and clams, steak like you'd get at Benihana, Toro (fatty tuna) sashimi and Chilean Sea Bass which in itself was worth the trip.
Like other Todai's the sushi is very carb-heavy with crap you wouldn't typically want in sushi so be smart and avoid these buffet landmines out to get your appetite. Very happy with the quality at the hot food section. They don't give a shit about your birthday in NY so don't be expecting a bday meal on the house.
Wow. This place sucks! I didn't realize sushi was that hard to make. Slice some fresh raw fish and place on top of warm japanese rice that's been mixed with a vinegar/sugar solution. Wipe some wasabi in between, if you like.
This place doesn't put wasabi (probably due to the non-asian noses not being able to handling it) in the sushi. And the tasteless sushi rice is very cold and hard. The variety is not there and the hot foods are not very good. It gets two stars because it does have redeeming qualities like friendly waitstaff and a nice and clean looking space. For food, go elsewhere on 32nd Street. The big korean restaurants on the other side of Fifth Avenue towards Broadway (known as Korea Town) all have sushi and it's way better.
It was much better when Minado's was here a few years ago. Go to Minado in either Long Island or Little Neck, NJ.
A must go with friends !
Rolls are good and hot food is okay ! but no one is disappointed because you know what you pay for and you get the best of it !
Been here for dinner a few times, and thoroughtly enjoyed it each time. Sure, the sushi is average, but average is what you'd expect at this price, if not worse.
The rest of the stuff is very well done. Best to sample all kinds of things, and not expect a fantastic sushi feast. Just strap on the feedbag and pick up whatever tickles your fancy.
I personally love todai but only dinner time . I don't really know what they have for lunch but the dinner selection are great. They are kinda pricey for a buffet dinner but the food was good. The interior was so so and by 10pm they clean up pretty quickly. They look like they throw out left over food and they replace fresh "food" everyday. Maybe I think the operation hour is pretty wacky it from 6- 10 pm. I wish they open longer !!!! Great sushi !!!
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Bring your appetite! I went to this place 8 times this year; I mean, the food isn't too bad ---- i like the freshness of the hot food and the salads. The sushi was "ok" --- just "ok". Too bad i didn't have an appetite everytime I came here. Then again, I am not usually big on buffet =D
*note: udon. it's gooooooood. green tea/red bean ice cream. it's real goooooooooood.
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It was alright. I ate probably.. $50 worth of food. Haha, but there was a roach which made lose my apetite, but we didn't complain until the very end. Eh, but whatever... it was just okay.
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I don't generally brag about going to all-you-can-eat buffets. Frankly, I just don't believe that there should be any recognition or applause for the unrestrained gorging and consumption of generally disgusting and mediocre food.
All-you-can-eat buffets sum up all that is wrong with America today. Except that Todai...KICKS ASS. Sushi is good Mmmmkay? All-you-can-eat Sushi is even better Mmmhmm!?! Sprinkle other hot meaty filled tables...and I'm down to get the friction on.
Truth be told, I never review these places because buffets embarrass me except that I was inspired by my frugal-friend Dfens Dan http://www.yelp.com/us... and his tale of triumph over beef and navigation of race relations.
I've been here a few times with this this curly topped vegetarian I know, who consistently puts $75-$100 worth of sushi away in record time all for the low price of $15 at Lunch and $25 for dinner.
I don't get quite that much bang for my buck, but before going to an All-you-can-eat buffet, rituals must be observed:
1. It starts with a clensing fast ,starting no less than 6 hours before the appointed hour of clandestiny with Todai, hai.
2. You must enter the Portal of Portly Pleasure on an empty stomach.
3. There are a few things to avoid: Soup, Alaskan Crab Legs (unless you come prepared-they offer few tools for proper annihilation), and most of the desserts (Chill, there's a Pinkberry a few doors down).
Take your time, unless you get there near closing. But, that would be a dumb amateur move. So, remember to check the times before hand. Most importantly, take a photo with the Todai guy on your way out. He won't yell if you touch his naughty bits...so Dan tells me.
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Price is on the steep side so try to go on weekends. The selection is fairly extensive and I was impressed.
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This place was originally Minado, another "All You Can Eat" buffet place that had raw oysters offered for lunch as well as king grab legs.
Now, such luxuries are gone as the new establishment has relegated them to the dinner hours.
Todai offers assorted sushi; maki, gundam, and nigiri as well as salads and hot Japanese dishes which oddly enough, all pretty much taste the same. The sushi is more rice with a sliver of fish on top and the rice isn't even seasoned correctly (or seasoned at all) yet the offerings will satiate any sushi craving for the time being.
The hot foods range from beef/chicken/salmon teriyaki to vegetable tempura to assorted baked seafoods with a few Korean and Chinese dishes thrown in (lo mein, fried rice, sweet and sour chicken,etc...) but over all, they aren't too bad. The desserts are typically Asian, not overly sweet and assorted fruits are offered as an alternative to the cream filled morsels.
Be mindful of how much you load up on your plate! Even though Americans are known to be heavier and more obese than people from any other country, your eyes may be bigger than your stomach and you WILL be charged a %fee for any food left untouched on your plate! They even have a card on the table to forwarn you. There is a two (2) hour time limit at the tables since Todai has limited operating hours.
Todai is a chain of AYCE Restaurants originally from South California and now all over the United States and in HK, China, and Korea. There are several more chains opening in Korea and Malaysia.
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Relax kids, it's a buffet. And as buffets go, this one's not bad - in fact, it's kind of good (but don't tell the food snobs).
I would agree that you wouldn't go for the sushi. not worth it - it looks okay, tastes okay, is not inventive in any way, and won't be as good as your neighborhood sushi standby.
BUT the hot dishes and cold salad items are better than decent - try the short ribs, grilled calamari, and most of the tofu items are delish. again, its a buffet - so of course the stuffs been sitting out - but there is so much to choose from that it's worth going back a few times.
good for: families, large parties, a place to catch up with a friend where you'll be able to hear each other speak.
bad for: a date or going anywhere afterwards - YOU WILL SMELL LIKE FOOD WHEN YOU LEAVE!
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It smells funktastical as you walk in here; a strange mix of fishy fish and steamy B.O. but if you can get over that, prepare yourself to battle the buffet trough.
The sheer nature of the trough's size plus all the hungry gorgers creates a bit of a traffic jam as you try and make your to each station.
For about $15 [during lunch], you can try all sorts of small-portioned sushi and maki rolls.
They have various hot dishes like lo-mein, grilled porgy and mini crab cakes.
Cold dishes include soba noodle salad, edamame salad, and tuna tartare.
There's a little hibachi grill that serves meat on skewers, similar to tataki.
Desserts include tiny, baby-sized cakes and fresh fruit salad.
The food isn't anything spectacular but it is good for occasionally stuffing your face silly.
My roommate introduced me to todai last year. It was a good thing he came with me cause if not i wouldn't have known what half the food was :(
Aside from that the food is good they have both hot food and sushi and maki rolls. They also have desserts like crepes and cookies and ice cream. I think they offer other things via a menu but i never bothered with it. Its a good place for dinner even though they open kinda late 6pm. The service is OK, it is a buffet after all. I go at least once a month anything more then that would be overkill for me. One thing to keep in mind is that it is a buffet so get ready for some people who don't know how to wait on line. Wish they had some order with that its annoying trying to get a Philly roll while the person in front of you is deciding on which roll to get and taking up a good amount of space. Just beware if your not used to raw food be careful there have been 2 occasions that i have left with a not so good feeling in the stomach. Overall good place to eat, the food is good. I recommend to everyone who likes sushi.
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i'm a big fan of this place but you have to be in the mood (read: very hungry and in the mood for rice). if it wasn't for todai, i would have no idea what most sushi tastes like, but this place gives you an opportunity to try one piece of each and tends to have a very wide selection at dinnertime. personally i love the ebi sushi here because it's SO expensive at sushi restaurants but i can eat my weight in it here. food isn't amazing quality, but if you want to try new things with no strings attached, this is it.
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This place was so much better when it was Minado's. I came to Todai for lunch and sadly, I was disappointed. The rolls all tasted about the same, just some had rice inside the roll and some outside. After that time, I never wanted to come back here again--at least not for lunch.
Chain sushi, bleh.
This is one of the last places I would go to get sushi, but it was on my company's dime, so who was I to say no? For around $25 (plus a little extra for Sapporos), I ate a crap-load of mediocre sushi. At 7pm, nothing was all that fresh. Yeah, there was a few tasty morsels, but they weren't all that common. Being there only for the sushi, I didn't bother to try any of the "seafood" or other dishes (rice, noodles, crepes, etc.)... I figure that even if the buffet sushi is mediocre, it's probably still a little more interesting than whatever else they're serving, and I've got the stomach to handle it.
Next time, when I'm paying, I'll dig up a small sushi joint that makes the food when you order, and just for you. Buffet sushi just doesn't make sense.
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This is the premiere Japanese buffet in all of Manhattan! The restaurant itself is a monstrous 2 story establishment capable of catering to as little as a pair to as many as a party of 100.
The Restaurant... There's only one thing that needs to be know. The restaurant boasts a 100 foot long sushi bar that caters to all types of people (sushi eaters, non sushi eaters, vegetarians, carnivores, etc...). One look into the virtual abyss of multiple options available for a consumer will leave any patron both humbled and hungry.
Food choices at Todai can range any from Nigiri pieces (i.e.: Tuna, Salmon, Squid, Egg, Surf Clam, etc...), Sushi Rolls (California, Spicy Tuna, Dragon, Rainbow, Eel, Futomaki, etc...), Sashimi (mainly Tuna, Salmon, Yellow Tail, & Stripped Bass), Salads (Raw Beef wrapped in Cucumber, Tofu, Asparagus, Seaweed), and cooked entrees (Chicken Teriyaki, Shrimp Wrapped in White Fish, Sirloin Steak, Shumai, Grilled Chicken & Pork Skewers, Fried Rice, and Salmon), and of course dessert (Red Bean & Green Tea Ice Cream. Tiramisu, Cheesecake, Creme Tarts, and Fresh Fruit). The preceding list denotes the variety on display and emphasizes the multitude of cuisine choices available for any patron wishing to dine at this establishment.
Although the food choices are vast and superb, the execution and quality is subpar, as is expected with Buffet restaurants. Despite the lack of quality of the sushi grade fish, the experience itself is still worth nothing as the various special maki as well as cooked entrees are available to any diners delight. Diners will find the Shumai and Raw Beef wrapped around Cucumber to be the most preferred of dishes at a diners disposal.
The overally atmosphere of the restaurant is lively and buzzing! Patrons are fun, happy, and of course, full during the course of their meal.
Simply put, Todai is a place where you can lay back, enjoy consumption gluttony, and not have to worry about the possibility of snobby judgmental labels that are deemed at other notable establishments. Of course, remember to come hungry, you want to get your money's worth!
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It's a cute and fun experience. Yes, cute. And they overtly condemn you from wasting rice with a placard at each table. And they threaten to add 35% onto your bill if you eat the fish and leave the rice from the sushi. I LOL'd.
If you want to eat until you can no longer breathe and are in serious pain, this is a good place to go. If you want to ha ve a bunch of different rolls without any serious attention to quality or presentation, also a good place to go. If you are a glutton, this may be heaven.
The rolls and hot food are pretty much good, shumai are very good, overall, it's good food. Just in disgusting quantities. The booze is pretty cheap though, go for the bokbunja (rapsberry wine) and you'll be a happy camper.
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I tried Todai Sushi for an affordable $26 dinner the other night. Upon entering the restaurant, I was shocked at the massive size of the salad bar and dining room. However, the quality of the food was severely lacking. There is a wide range of hot dishes, including terriyaki, tempura, etc.; sushi rolls and sashimi; yakitori; salads; fruits; and desserts. The sushi tasted like something you would find in a supermarket, but I still found it better than the hot entrees, which also tasted more like Japanese fast food. The fruit was not very fresh, but the dessert pastries, like Green Tea Cake layered with Red Bean cream, were tasty.
Todai is decent by buffet standards and definitely gives you a bang for your buck, but it is not amazing by any means.
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Todai is good when your really hungry! Huge buffet of Asian specialty dishes. Large arrays of seafood dishes, sushi roll, raw sushi and some basic American items for those who shall pass on the Asian fare. Huge dessert table
For around $28 a person not including drinks for an all you can eat sushi buffet, you cant beat it.
This is a chain. Their are other locations around the world. I've also been to the one in Vegas!
Join their mailing list. When its your birthday you get a free meal on that day! Yay!
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I like the service, I've been here a few times, formerly a Minado but it's now renamed but seems to have the same setting and food. Not ideal for sushi but I go for the other sea food, the clams and mussels are great, some food may be a little too greasy but not bad overall. No parking of course but the lunch special of 15/17 per person isn't bad. Came here with guys from work to pig out since I'm now 2 long blocks from it. They don't seem to run out of room! Remember to not eat 5-8 hours before you go. After a dinner, walk a block and do karaoke with the gang.
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Definitely a great place for lunch. The price was fair. And there was a great variety of food! Which of course is pretty much the most important part of a buffet. There were plates that I didn't know existed and they were great. However, given the name of the restaurant, I was rather displeased with the variety of sushi.
I've only been here once for lunch which I think is cheaper than the dinner rate. This was a very long time ago, it was called Minado back then but I guess the only thing that has changed since then is its name.
I thought the lunch rates were quite fair for the amount of food in the buffet. The buffet had alot variety, so if you want to try everything, go hungry. The desserts were rather tasty as well, they also had alot of different fruit which I guess you need to go at the right time when they put more out to get it fresh.
Since it's a buffet, I guess its value is measured by how much you ate. I thought the price was fair since we ate all that we could've. I thought it was rather nice lunch and I wouldn't mind going some time again.
My cousin organized a lunch here for our entire family. This is a really big restaurant and we had a private room in the back. The service was great. They were constantly on their feet taking away our plates, refilling our drinks, and ordering our cocktails. My cousins and I would randomly shout out our drink orders. "A heineken, iced tea, gingerale, another heineken, coke, heineken." They never messed up our order and our drinks came in a hot second. The buffet - mediocre. The food was okay. The beef and bbq sticks - those are a diff story. SO GOOOOOD! There was a huge selection which was perfect for our party bc everyone eats diff things and the babies and kids are picky eaters. So the 1 year old just ate cookies, grapes, and jell-o the whole time. I enjoyed massive servings of edamame. The place was about 90% packed so apparently people like it. Would i come here on any other regular night? No. The quality wasn't that great. For a party where i have to feed 100 people - sure! why not
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Been to plenty of sushi places in NYC. This location simply is not fresh. Perhaps it was the day that was visited. Even though they were continually bringing out "fresh" sushi from the kitchen, it did not compare to the Todai in Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii. Go there instead! More sushi (and fresher) selection, desserts, heated entrees, etc. No need to say more.
PROS:
Wide sushi selection, not "melt in your mouth", but fresh quality.. just too many things to try and its all pretty good. Yakatori was surprisingly good... soba noodle bar also great...bake clams...most new yorkers I take here have never had 'sushi buffet' so its worth going for the novelty alone. The deep fried selections are the best things to get here. Decent selection of cold sake with good prices. Come here for the raw bar.. they have extremely fresh oysters with great marionette sauce, i usually eat at least a dozen... they have raw clams too... awesome.
CONS:
snow crab legs subpar... if you're from the west coast and ate at those Todais then you'll hate this place as it is 1/3rd the size...you can only grab 3 oysters at a time... dessert buffet is small compared to westcoast Todais.
OVERALL:
I just don't get the negative reviews... this is a buffet!!... and the sushi is great when you consider this is a buffet... plus the sushi is very fresh... i think people that don't like Todai think they're sophisticated foodies and think as foodies they can't possibly recommend a buffet. "what will people think of me if I like buffet food?"... I mean, just take it for what it is and you'll be happy.
For people that just like to mac i say... with all the options avil, how can you not find something that you like... usually by my 4th trip to the buffet, i've already found favorites and just chow down on those... by then my sake buzz blindsides me like a hammer so everything starts tasting good... when i'm with people and can't decide where to go... I always suggest Todai and it always ends up being a good idea.. and i've eaten here 4 times already.
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Gorging on all-you-can-eat sushi has become a favorite family pastime on random holidays. President's Day, Groundhog Day and April Fool's Day rolls around and inevitably we find ourselves looking for something to mark the occasion. Todai All You Can Eat Sushi & Seafood Buffet (recently known as Minado) offers an impressive sushi spread just right for a small celebration. And if you're not a raw fish fan, you can probably get your money's worth by sticking with the hibachi and yakitori. Todai Insider Tip: arrive hungry and go at lunchtime to save ten bucks and not sacrifice on selection.
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It's worse than Minado. Fish wasn't the freshest. Price was even higher! I miss Minado!! We ended up paying $40 each for ourselves and the birthday boy. They are definitely underpaying their slaves, er, I mean, workers.
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The secret is going there early enough in the day or on the weekend when the fish is fresh - it's fairly hit or miss, but if you go on a good day, it's splendid.
The rest of the food is fairly typical buffet fare, but there's a lot of variety. I really like that they have so many desert options in such small servings - makes you feel less guilty about it!!
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This place rules! I am a self-confessed Todai lover and this location along with Las Vegas are the best. They have a teppanyaki station I rarely see and lots of good hot dishes. Last time I went with my buddies, I kept saying I wasn't going to eat more, but kept standing up and getting a little bit at a time. What can I say, take your time and enjoy the place!!
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This is just like Minado back in Boston, except, Todai loses a star for the B quality sushi. Some things (like the tuna sashimi) were obviously not the freshest possible. Atmosphere wasn't stellar, but it's a buffet, so it was to be expected.
However, service was spot-on (attentive and not overbearing).
All in all, for $18, it's a great deal for a sushi buffet in NYC.
do not eat the sushi! i repeat do not eat the sushi.
get stuff from the rest of the buffet line. the grill, the crabs, crab legs, dumplings, scallop fritters, oysters, clams. all great stuff. but the sushi was horrible. cmon there are a million places to get good sushi. you shoudl know what it tastes like now. and todai prob knows it too. like i said try all the other yummy stuff. it was an interesting experience. i did get a huge peice of mochi stuck to the bottom of my shoe when i was being seated. and there was a small asian child who had about 5 helpings of chocholate chip cookies. but thats whats soo cool about this place. you can eat what you want. and there was no warning or scoldings about uneaten food. but you really shouldnt put stuff on your plate you dont intend on eating or at least trying to eat.
This isn't the kind of place you'd go for to get decent sushi. It's better suited for everything else they have to offer. Friday night is lobster night but it tastes like stuffed crabs and there's a guy who hovers over the lobster tray to make sure that it's one per visit to the buffet bar. But on the plus side, it has beautiful decor.
if i'm in the mood to have japanese buffet, this is always the place to go!!! not for the finicky, though!
Alright peeps, my first yelp in 3 months. (haw haw i said peeps =3)
Todai = All you can eat seafood and sushi
So OBVIOUSLY that automatically gets a 5 right there. However let's make a breakdown of its traits here...
Todai's service is superb, everyone's nice except the occasional waiter on a bad day, there are free refills, 1/3 of the buffet table is sushi, everything's clean, and the bathroom is awesome~
So everything is awesome but let's get down to the food. Sushi is decent, especially for a buffet. However the food i like best here, is the hot food, but my problem is the iron clad rule where you're not suppose to fill up on common food at a buffet. =[ (ie. fried rice, noodles) A little fact as well. It's so much cheaper on a weekday lunch compared to evenings or weekends. SO much cheaper! Nonetheless I would always go back, on a weekday that is.
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Gotta love the FREE refills, but it just isn't enough to give them another star. The quality of the food isn't all that great...sure theres a high turnover rate, but everything is premade and lacks the "love" when preparing sushi. Especially sushi! I'd expect the sushi to be the best instead of it swimming in some bacterial frat party. Most of the other items are pretty much the same item, just created in a different order.
Overall I originally gave it 2 stars, but I added the third for the ALL YOU CAN EAT. As a runner, I need all the carbs I can eat, so having a meal like this is definitely recommended to all my running buddies. Just don't blame me for any food poisoning related illnesses. :)
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Todai is an all you can eat sushi buffet. I don't think it is an improvement on its predecessor, Minado. I enjoyed the 2 Minados in NJ very much. This Todai seems to have lessened the quality items with more carb-laden filler stuff, and is far slower in doling out the sushi, especially things like uni and ikura. It isn't gourmet, but it isn't bad at all, and if you have people in from out of town who want an experience they probably don't have back home, this is a good place. The atmosphere is pleasant, the rest rooms are clean, and the service is very good. It's a very good value for the money, but it certainly isn't in the same league as a fine sushi restaurant.
Managing expectations is the key to success in all areas. If people know they aren't going to Nobu, everyone should have a good time.
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Don't eat here. Take the $25 that you would have spent on dinner and buy $25 worth of street meat. Or $20 worth of street meat and 5 cans of soda. Either way, you will end up with the same feeling at the end of the night: bloated but afraid to fart for fear of sharting. That's right, I said it- sharting.
The "sushi" here is not sushi. I could come up with a closer approximation to sushi by removing the breading from a Gorton's Fisherman fish stick and slapping that shit on a rice ball that I just regurgitated. I guarantee you that the "fish" is frozen, not fresh- there's virtually no other way to make yellowtail and salmon taste the SAME- and by SAME I mean bland, generic fish flavor that is neither yellowtail nor salmon.
I will admit that it's modern, clean and the employees are very nice and helpful. Leave a good tip if you go.
Caveat: If you have ever been to Old Country Buffet and have thought to yourself, "Damn, that's some good prime rib!" then maybe you'll like this place.
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