Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet — Restaurant in Brookside

This place has fallen off unfortunately. Used to be semi-decent as far as buffets like this go, but I don't know if it's just me having higher standards or different tastes, but the food is just bad now. There's a few Chinese takeout places I enjoy that are pretty reliably good, with a good variety of flavor and consistent freshness, so I know these dishes can be good, but this place is truly disappointing. Service is fine, prompt and friendly. And, it's a buffet, the ambience is what it is.

But the food...big side-eye. Why is everything either super sweet or super bland? I wanted some fresh veg as a kind of palate cleanser and the tomatoes and cucumbers were like they'd soaked in sugar water. Even the jus of the carving station roast beef had a sweetness to it. Occasionally, the oyster mushrooms and pepper shrimp are good, and the chicken and broccoli is fine, when it's hot and fresh. But so many other dishes are just syrup-fests: Pineapple chicken, ribs, sesame chicken, teriyaki chicken, even the General Tsos. Just slathered in syrup, so much so you can't even tell they're different dishes. The "garlic eggplant?" Not even an afterthought of garlic, but boy has it got sugar. Just, why?

And then there's the blandness. All the baked fish, whether turbot, salmon, or whitefish, is absolutely flavorless. Where's the salt, garlic, anything? A soy-ginger glaze isn't hard. Dill cream is like 3-ingredients-easy. Or maybe just some butter and salt??

The sushi is a waste of fish, I'm sad to say, because the rice is dry and I doubt has any vinegar in it, and it all tastes a day old. The soups are basically water with noodles. Even the things like mac and cheese and chicken nuggets taste like they've never met a salt shaker and have been reheated. Usually the chilled shrimp and the garlic mussels are decent, but lately they taste like, just, nothing.

Look, I get it--it's a buffet and they have to please a vast number of people so they can't afford to be risky or too over the top with flavors. And I also get that we're not talking Michelin stars here. But these dishes can still be good, can play their role in an establishment like this. There's no reason that simple seasonings are missing, no reason that sugar is the main flavor in like half the offerings here. They could...

This "restaurant" deserves a negative rating. The servers are not attentive to refilling drinks. They will talk about you to other employees in their own language while looking at you. I had a plate of food in front of me and the server took it without asking if I was finished. She put trash and dirty napkins on it. I said "excuse me, but I was not finished with my plate." She actually tried to give it back to me to continue eating with the trash and dirty napkins. That is the MOST disgusting thing I have ever experienced in a restaurant. If they are willing to give back a plate with trash...I really wonder if they recycle the food. The food on the buffet was cold, which is why I opted for the Hibachi part. I had three kids with me and they only ate one plate each because the food was not good.

The server gave me a box and told me I could take food home. I said thank you, but it was from the Hibachi grill. They closed the Hibachi part and told me to take food from the buffet. I told them I did not want that food as that is not what I was eating when my plate was taken. I waited for about 15 minutes for the server to come back to the table. She was solely waiting for me to pay. Finally, I got up and went to her and said that the experience was unacceptable.

The one female identified herself as the manager when I asked to speak to one. The most she would do was give me 20% off of my meal. I asked if she was okay with her employees trying to give their customers a plate back with trash for them to eat...she SMILED!!! I told her I would never return there. She also told me that she is the owner. I told her it was still unacceptable and that I should not have to pay my meal with that experience (I was still willing to pay full price for the other meals). She ended up doing 50% off of mine only. I did not tip for the horrible service, which is not something I agree with. I normally tip very generously. However, this really was the worst experience I have ever had in any restaurant and after reading some other reviews, it looks like they have had health department violations before. No wonder, they truly believe in eating trash and germ-filled plates. I would not recommend this...

A group of 10 of us went out to eat here and 7 out of 10 ended up with food poisoning all from different households. (This is the only place we had went to that was in common). We called to just inform the restaurant that this had happened because we didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. A quick defense was put up. They told me that we need to get a lawyer to sue their insurance company, no one apologize for what we went through. I felt like No one tried to remediate the situation and I felt they just pretty much shoved us off. We just called to inform them, but now seeing nothing will get down to investigate this we just might take them up on this offer. It’s a good thing we all have doctors notes that it was indeed food poisoning. This is crazy.

Update: Some minutes after I posted this review I was ONLY THEN called by the restaurant they offered a 50% of the bill refund for everyone who was affected. I was greeted with warm and friendly smiles UNTIL I told them what I was there for. The mood QUICKLY changed. I don’t speak the language but it sounded like an argument happened between 2 of the staff when she went to go get someone to give us the refund. Then the attitude it seemed we gotten during the whole process was really aggressive. I don’t know if it was the color of our skin or the fact we actually showed up for the refund but It felt like she was treating us like we were beneath her. Not to mention they did not even refund the whole 50% of the entire bill like they mentioned over the phone and they gave a refund of SOME not all who were affected, even though I had documentation of all the ones that were sick. When I brought it up she said I changed the amount of people which I didn’t. And her voice in my opinion was increasing getting louder and argumentative. The person who I brought with me who was also one of the ones who were sick from that incident was also feeling the same negative energy that was giving off. We were just overall happy to leave out of that place. I WILL NEVER GO BACK!!!!!

(I want to mention I NEVER asked for a refund they offered it sometime after my post, I just wanted to inform them of the food poisoning so no one else...