this isn't the old country buffet

I have very few buffet memories. Most of them consist of some sort of elementary school event at a Souplantation, my mom vehemently opposing this idea and openly expressing her hatred for anything involving the word buffet. Until rather recently, I shared this sentiment. A whole lot of people running around chaotically to stuff their faces? No thanks. Unlimited salad bar, pasta and pizza? Again, no thanks.

That was all until recently, when the idea of a sushi and seafood buffet was presented to me. If you're a buffet skeptic (hi mom), you may be thinking, "don't do it--you'll get sick!" I would encourage the choice to be reputable at the very least. Good thing that's exactly what Todai is.

The restaurant is huge but perfectly pleasant to be in. Even better, the masses were well-behaved. Friday at lunchtime, there was just a few minute wait and the place didn't feel overcrowded. The waitress was very friendly and no one was giving anyone a hard time or enforcing any scary buffet rules, although there were signs that warned of a 35% wasted food fee.




Round 1: Plate 1, cold food
Sushi galore! Nigiri, rolls, sashimi salad, raw clams and oysters, silken tofu, various salads... The sushi was surprisingly good. All of the fish I tasted was of perfectly acceptable quality and considering this was buffet sushi, the fish slices were small but not completely overwhelmed by a huge hunk of rice. Notice the giant oyster which I did eat (somewhat skeptically). Again, surprisingly good.

Round 2: Plate 2, hot food
Fried tofu, more salads, soft shell crabs, noodles, yakitori, soup... I was much more interested in the cold food since I am a sushi lover but also because the hot foods were heavy on the wheat and meat. The yakitori looked good but was running low by the time I got to it and I couldn't tell the difference between the pork and chicken.

Not-so-Round 3: Dessert.
There are no dessert pictures because I didn't have it. This was disappointing. All I wanted was some green tea ice cream, maybe some mochi. Almost anything would have sufficed. There was some fruit, a few cute little cake pastry things, and some strawberry mousse. I'm curious about the different choices that might be available during dinner.