168 Sushi Japanese Buffet — Restaurant in Ottawa

i’ve never written a bad review before. posting because of how disappointed i am in my last experience. i’ve been here maybe 5 or 6 times in the last few years. i went about three weeks ago and it was amazing. food was fast and pretty good, cozy atmosphere, service wasn’t great but nothing to be concerned about. my partner and i were excited to go back because of our previous experience and boy were we disappointed. i checked the website and also called about what time they closed. we went on a wednesday night and they had told us 10PM we thought perfect, we went after work and arrived at 8:40. i asked the man at the front if it was okay if we sat and he said not to worry, as long as we remembered that last call is at 9:20. we both thought that would be perfect and as soon as we sat we ordered everything we got before to not waste time. now the two of us can eat A LOT without leaving a single trace of leftovers or waste so the amount we were ordering wasn’t an issue. at 9:00 a server came to tell us it was last call. we were both kind of confused since it wasn’t 9:20 like mentioned earlier before but we shrugged it off and ordered some dumplings, sashimi and another three pieces of sushi. mind you at this point we’re one HOUR before close. as soon as we sent our order a woman (who i’m going to assume is the manager or owner) came and told us it was last call and we both politely said we were done ordering and it had been sent. we gave her the ipad and she snatched it out of my hand. we got our food maybe 5 minutes later and ate everything fast. at 9:20 we were almost done and still actively eating as the same woman as before walks up to our table and just looks at us up and down and says “you’re still eating?” we kinda both just laughed nervously and said “yes?” and she rolled her eyes and walked up to a staff member and obviously started talking rudely about us in her native language. i was so shocked and then super uncomfortable. we were maybe 10 minutes away from being done our food and she comes back up to us and says that they’re closed. i checked my watch and it wasn’t even 9:30 yet. she asked us if we wanted to take the food to go and i was shocked because i had no idea that was an option. i was more than open to it then my partner asks “do we have to pay for takeout?” and she tells us “yes because you have food leftover”. i was so confused because we were activity eating it and she was the one offering for us to get it for takeout. i told her it’s not even 9:30 and that we should be okay to finish our food in the next 10 minutes, because it didn’t make sense to pay for takeout when it’s not necessary. she then very rudely said we need to do the takeout even though they were 40 minutes away from being closed. my partner and i were both pretty uncomfortable so we agreed to pay the 10 dollars extra. mind you we had a bit of food left, they came and gave us two MINI take out boxes that could fit maybe 4 sushi rolls each in it. so we were forced to stop eating our food, get takeout, and not even be allowed to take it all?? i paid and and tipped 15% despite the rude customer service and i told her to have a good night and she rolled her eyes. all the staff was SO rude as we were going. listen i’ve worked customer service my whole life, hell i’ve worked at mandarin which is also an all you can eat place. i know what it’s like to wanna go home and being tired at work. but that dosent grant you permission to be disrespectful to your customers and kick them out 40 MINUTES before close. i respect service workers so much as i am one too and i always stay very friendly and respectful but the woman who was apart of that whole ordeal should be very ashamed and retrained because that is an awful and embarrassing manner to represent yourself in a business. i really enjoyed my last visit it’s a shame that this experience really followed what other people have said about the service here. will not be returning and definitely would...

Would give negative stars if I could.

When I used to come here, I would always enjoy the food, the environment and was always greeted by staff with warm welcomes and kindness. It wasn’t until the past summer (June 2024) when I brought my family during lunch time to celebrate my sisters high school graduation.

To get to the point, my brother is limited verbal communicating autism. He gets excited and expressive and stims by singing or humming. He can adjust his volume with a simple reminder from anyone to use an indoor voice. Anyways, after ordering we were waiting for a bit and my brother was getting restless. Obviously after sitting for almost 4 hours at a graduation I would be restless and hungry too. So he was singing at an appropriate level but also throwing a bit of a fit. Obviously struggling to calm him down, one of the servers who isn’t even serving us comes up close and sushes us. We smiled, nodded and brushed it off. Literally not even 15 seconds later this guy does it again. Keep in mind, there are two other groups dining in there, bigger than my table of 7 and louder. Again, brushed it off and smiled. After waiting almost 50 minutes for our food we went in for another order because we didn’t get as much as we wanted. Some other guy took our iPad and started clearing our table and some plates full of food. This wasn’t even prime lunch time. Every other table still had their food. Then right after, the same guy who sushed us kept grilling us. Every time I would look around, his eyes were just death staring us. He would circle back each time the robot would came around us, particularly keeping an eye out on my brother. I’m not sure what for but it was demeaning.

It was an uncomfortable and annoying experience to say the least. It sucks cause 168 was always an enjoyable place for my friends and I. Usually out go to dinner lace to catch up at. When I wanted to speak to a manager there was no one there.

There are positives to this situation. Our actual server was an angel and apologized for the disrespect and refunded us one less meal. She was lovely and even kind enough to apologize on the rest of the staffs behalf because no one else did. All of them expect for her treated us kindly and understood...

Nice ambience and creative fruit rolls, but overall the food is average, some dishes bland, service is inconsistent, and prices feel high for what you get. Would I return? Probably not.

Service: Mixed experience. One server was very friendly and attentive, while another seemed rushed and even placed dishes on the table a bit abruptly. Ordering is done through a tablet, which sounds convenient, but every time you submit an order it says “Sit tight, your server is coming”—and the wait can feel long. Ordering can be frustrating if you want to add something right after sending an order, because when the screen displays “Sit tight,” you can’t make changes or add items unless you cancel the current order. Food also came out a bit slow, but to be fair, it was busy, so that’s understandable.

Food: The menu looks big, but the variety feels limited. Rolls have about 25 options, yet many are repetitive with only minor ingredient changes and not much creativity. Sushi and rolls are packed with rice, which feels like a way to fill you up quickly. Octopus sashimi is limited to 2 pieces per person (not mentioned upfront, only shown on the tablet after trying to order more). The octopus was sliced thin, lacked crunch, and didn’t feel fresh. Other sashimi was okay and tasted fresh. Tempura was disappointing—the batter was thick and oily. The rest of the food lacked flavor, and some dishes were even bland.

On the positive side, the fruit rolls are creative and refreshing, the sweet and sour chicken was pretty good, and there’s a decent selection of fruits and ice cream for dessert.

Ambience: The decorations are nice, and booth seating gives privacy for families and couples. However, the place can get loud and feel a bit chaotic when it’s busy.

Price & Value: Lunch is about $27.95 per adult, and dinner ranges from $37.95–$40.95 (kids and seniors slightly less). For the quality and experience, it feels a bit overpriced.

Overall: If you’re looking for quantity over quality, this might work, but don’t expect standout flavors or creativity. The ambience is pleasant in design, but the noise and overall experience don’t quite...