Since my girlfriend’s parents were in town for the weekend to celebrate her birthday, we decided to get together and have dinner at Tsukiji Fish Market at the Hookipa Terrace in the Ala Moana Shopping Center.  I’ve heard some good and bad things about this buffet restaurant, but since it was new, we decided to give it a shot.

The cost of the dinner was $32 a head.  We were promptly seated since we had reservations.  After serving us water and tea, and asking if we wanted to have any other drinks (which are not included in the price of the buffet), they let us know it was OK for us to start getting our food.

The beginning of the line was a whole range of nigiri sushi.  It wasn’t that high quality, and looked more like something from fast food sushi places such as Kozo.  It made Genki Sushi look more appetizing.  I did enjoy the spicy tuna roll, and the unagi (eel) nigiri was decent, but the rest were very subpar.

We walked over to the next section that included more American foods like lilikoi BBQ ribs, fish, and chicken wings.  I didn’t really care for this section, so I went to the next section which was the crab legs.  This is where I was thoroughly disappointed.  The restaurant did not provide at crackers, and to top it off, they don’t even crack it for you.  In addition, the legs were really pointy and pokey, so it was hard to crack in half with your bare hands.  And when you finally worked hard enough to take out the meat, it was really dry and didn’t taste good at all.

The next section was a teppanyaki area, where they cook steak to your desire with bean sprouts.  This was pretty good, but there was no taste to the steak because they don’t add any type of seasoning or sauce.  The only sauce was shoyu that they had on the side.  Regardless, this was one of the better foods there.

The next section included more Japanese foods, like misoyaki butterfish (very tender) and chicken karrage (basically fried chicken, but it was suprisingly crispy and very tasty).  Those two were good enough to go back for seconds.

The next section consisted of tempura fried right in front of you and placed right under heat lamps.  There were the usual suspects of shrimp, potato, and vegetables.  They were surpisingly good as well, with the batter still hot and crispy.

The last station was a noodle section, where they offerred udon, ramen, and cold or warm soba.  I opted for the cold soba, which was very refreshing.

There was also a dessert section with a bunch of cakes that I never tried, but none of them looked good enough for me to pick up.  The highlight of the night was the shaved ice.  The shaved ice was very light and powdery, much like snow.  There were many flavors, including strawberry, banana, melon, and vanilla.  You can also top it off with azuki beans and condensed milk.  I mixed in strawberry, melon, and vanilla with the beans and condensed milk. By far, the best part of the night.  If I wasn’t so full, I would have one for seconds.

Personally, I would say take your buffet money elsewhere.  Some do enjoy this place though, so hold your judgement until you taste it for yourself.  As for me, I think I’m going to take my $32 and eat at Roy’s.

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Tags: Restaurant Review

               
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