Hachi Sushi (Downtown) — Restaurant in Regina

In the heat of post pandemic and as a local, I'm always trying my best to support local businesses like hachi sushi. 2 years ago, this place was the Bomb amongst all you can Eat Asian buffet in Regina. But everything has changed for the worst to this place.

1.There used to be a very friendly staff there that smiles and greets you once you open their door. Now, a seemingly confused staffs with poor command of the English language will stop you and will ask you if you are there for buffet or ala carte.

Their sushi rolls were the best before! The proportion of rice and meat and veggies are almost equal. Even the sauce is plenty! But now, it's poorly prepared. I mean, I almost lock my jaw for eating a sushi roll that just looks like a slab of rice. Uneven portions and it's very squishy and easily breaks when you try to put some soy sauce on it.

The special orders in their IPad, takes forever to come. It's not precise and there is a lot of inconsistencies that is missing from the Hachi Sushi I know 2 years ago. I'm a big fan of chicken feet, right from the start before I even start getting some food on their conveyor belt, I will order in the iPad my favorite chicken feet. Yup. I waited. I waited 1 hour and 15mins for it. Until the time it came, I'm already full in my stomach and don't have the appetite to enjoy my chicken feet.

I understand that in running a business, there is wear and tear, the covers of their small conveyor plates are broken. So it's no question why I am seeing a lot of fruit fly and fly infestations going on. This matter is a health concern for people who eats there and missed to see them critters.

The tempura. To be specific is the shrimp tempura. It comes crispy on the outside but be very observant. The shrimp inside is either undercooked or is gamey. Also! The tempura sauce! Haha! I think you can drink it. It almost taste like water! There's so little to no flavour on it!

The edamame, I do not know personally how to.prepare this kind of food but come on, it's one of the few foods that we like to request once we get a seat. And it comes very long. And when it comes,.it's drowning in salt and does it usually served wet?

The staffs I know are trying their best to do their job and be pleasant to the people that dines in. But the woman in the cashier is not doing a great job running the show. 2 years ago, even then pops are unlimited, now you can only get a maximum of 2 cans. I do not know where you get your tap water because that water taste like very suspicious.

I don't recall that they have crab legs since. But for the price of their buffet right now, they should include that at least..also, when you get there, look at under your table, there's a lot of left over foods and cutleries there. I don't think they clean spaces very well. Maybe when all customers are gone.

I should have listened to my wife the last time we ate there, we were very disappointed. We should've get our money's worth in Quan Ngon instead. At least we know that our food is served hot & fresh and not that pricey!

So upon paying with a family of 4, I have numbers rolling in my head since it's just lunch buffet, I'm supposed to pay around 60-70 dollars but to my shock, i was told by the angry cashier lady that I need to pay for service charge (also known as tip) which by the way is 13% of the total amount of the buffet experience. I asked her, is this normal here now? And she did not bother answer that. She tried to sway my attention and said "you want some fortune cookies?.. anyways, 13%+11%taxes, instead of paying around 60$, I ended up paying 94$ for a lunch buffet. I should have a refund. I don't think it's right for her to decide how much tip I will give.

I miss the Hachi Sushi management before. Totally different from this one Now. If there is a zero star, it would be my rating here now. I suggest this all you can Eat buffet to no one. I will give this place 2 months maximum if they dont make any good changes, just like the I like sushi on North, this...

I’ve been a loyal customer of Hachi Sushi for over 4 years. Their sushi quality is always fantastic and tastes delicious. So, it’s with sincere regret that I find myself looking for a new sushi restaurant to frequent, as I refuse to pay more for under half of what the original portions were 6 months ago. When I order inarizushi, it shouldn’t come with a small round ball of rice that fills about 20% of the pocket, leaving it floppy and with more empty space than rice while having a $2 price increase. Nigiri should not be a small round ball with the chosen seafood wrapped almost all the way around it while also having a $2 price increase. If I wanted sashimi, I would order sashimi. I understand that times are hard for everyone, including local business owners and I would have gladly accepted a price increase on all dishes if the portion sizes stayed the same. I would gladly pay more to support you if your quantity and quality remained consistent with the raise in prices. That unfortunately is not the case here. Their takoyaki is one of my regular items but this time there was so little eel sauce that they were dry. The same goes for the red dragon roll. Almost no eel sauce. I’ve read previous recent reviews regarding the quality dropping significantly and the responses being that it was new employees not knowing how to cook. That’s up to you as the owner and manager to make sure they know how to, especially in an industry where people’s safety is at hand like the food industry. I won’t be coming back, not after what I’ve personally experienced or read in reviews. I gave you three stars as a thank you for the great years and I wish you luck and prosperity in the future.

Edited - Previous rating was corrected from 3 stars to one star to reflect owner’s response. Not having enough rice and blaming it on new employee incompetence is an easy way to not take accountability for the substantial drop in food quality. I am more than aware how long rice takes to cook in a steamer as I’m sure everyone competent is, but allowing that to affect the quality of the meals you’re outputting is abhorrently poor restaurant management. You are a sushi restaurant. It’s in your name. Sushi is a rice dish. If you don’t have enough rice for the current order, you need to notify the client who ordered it and inform them that the order is going to take more time because cutting corners and skimping out on their meal while charging full price is a greedy cash grab. Why anything substandard is allowed to leave the kitchen is questionable enough to warrant the change in rating, but the fact that the owner tries to justify this as appropriate restaurant behaviour is absolutely wild. You have a duty as a restaurant owner to not wasting your cliental’s money by overcharging for half the meal because you were “low on rice”. You increased your prices and instead of contacting the person who ordered it to let them know the kitchen is low on rice and needs more time to prepare it, you WILLINGLY charged your client full price for half the standard meal portion. This is an absolutely disgusting way to treat your clients and if you’re willing to let something like this go, it makes me wonder what other corners are being cut to increase efficiency over quality and care.

Don’t waste your time or money eating here. Owner will gaslight you instead of correcting the problem...

I have been to Hachi Sushi many times. This review is from the culmination of many visits.

The Restaurant: Designed around a central conveyor belt with a kitchen in the back, and a few tables along the walls. There is a cool seating area that faces the conveyor belt that allows for a quick meal. The rest is very basic. The kitchen sort of spills into the dining area, the bathroom is not great.

The Food: Very hit and miss. Sometimes the rice is on point and sometimes it falls apart and is not great. Sometimes there are lots of raw options and sometimes there aren’t. Sometimes there are things like chicken and beef rolls… The Ipad menu options are alright also, very standard incorporating some dim sum and rice dishes.

The Service: Well if you get the buffet, which I always do you serve yourself mostly so not bad!

Over All: Unfortunately due to the sporadic and inconsistent experiences I've had there it gets a two star. Today was a bad day, they barely had any rolls out for lunch, and people were standing at the kitchen entrance grabbing plates as they came down the line, leaving those seated at the conveyor belt waiting. People reaching over the divider to grab plates off the belt, knocking them over etc. God help us if there is ever a real food shortage…

I would recommend this place for lunch, hopefully you can land on a good day. I would not go for dinner here. Dinner is better and more quality at Lets Sushi in the north end, they have a better selection, better service, and more seating. Its a few dollars more but well worth it. I feel like Hachi was more consistent in the beginning and is starting to lose the quality it once had. Very...