Ichiban Hibachi Supreme Buffet INC. — Restaurant in Durham

I’ve gotten food poisoning from here 4 times. Most recently is right now. Don’t wanna gross you out too much but it’s been coming out both ends since early this morning. Along with just constant stomach pain and dizziness. You might ask if I had got food poisoning from here before why did I keep going back. The answer is: I had never had food poisoning before this place and I thought food poisoning ALWAYS started immediately, lasted for a week and would be so severe that it put you in the hospital. So when I would get sick starting the morning of the next day and it would only last for about 24 hours, and only presented as a severe stomach bug, I thought that that is what it was. After the third time of it happening the day after we go to this buffet for the third time, I figured it out. So I stopped going there for about a year. But my husband who has an iron stomach never got anything more than a little extra bathroom time. So he kept going there sometimes by himself sometimes with his friends. After about a year he convinced me to give them another try. I went with him and I didn’t get sick. so we went a couple more times and everything was fine. Until last night. Nothing seemed different last night compared to the three visits before. I ate all the same things, so I don’t know what it is that made me sick. There are many health code violations, Like the ice cream scooper that is left, sitting in dirty stagnant water and the food that has been left out so long that it’s visibly dried out and the live fish pond at the entrance that is so close to the ground that even my toddlers can easily access, with nothing to keep unknowing people from sticking their hands in (seriously, there’s 100 signs threatening people to not waste food, but I haven’t seen one sign telling people not to touch the fish pond water because fish ponds contain high levels of E. coli and other bacteria). but I always steer clear of those. I know I did not just have a very weak stomach. I was eating street vendor food in El Salvador for two weeks and never got sick. But I do have to stand up for them on one thing, most of the food is delicious. The sushi is terrible, worst I ever had (I only tried the sushi twice and those are both times I didn’t get sick. and I did not get the raw sushi because I will never trust a sketchy buffet that much) and the fried rice and lo mein are dry and completely flavorless. But everything else is really good when it’s not dried out. There’s a buffet similar to this in Raleigh next to the Sam’s Club on capital. I never got sick there during the (probably) more than 30 times I’ve been, and they’re just as sketchy and run down but the food there is nowhere near as delicious as this place that I’m reviewing right now. If this place wasn’t giving people food poisoning left and right, the owners would probably be very very...

ABSOLUTELY AWFUL Do your research and read the many reviews on Yelp first for an accurate representation of what you’re in for if you eat here. First time and last time for my husband and I at 8:00 on a Friday night, tonight. We were greeted by a hostess who was playing on her phone with another young man that worked there who was also on his phone. These two were busy giggling over something while other patrons’ young children were busy spitting into the koi fish pond less than one foot away from the hostess stand. This should have been our first major red flag but you can’t control someone else’s trifling parenting so we continued on though the host/hostess could have said something to someone to stop it. The place is big but for a Friday night there was hardly anyone in there, just a handful of people which is another red flag. With my drink order I noticed my cup had a chip and a crack in it, why is this cup still in rotation? They don’t offer any forks at the buffet tables, just spoons and knives, and you’re only handed one wrapped in a napkin so hold on to it. Almost all the hot food was lukewarm despite it sitting under heat lamps in steam tables and by the looks of the “hot food” they have been sitting there awhile. The hot food was tough and chewy but not in a good way, their sauces were very thin and runny especially for the General Tso’s chicken. The cold dishes such as the sushi were lukewarm, which means the cold dishes weren’t cold at all and in the food temperature danger zone — this means that consuming it could potentially make you sick. I attempted to grab some seaweed salad but after I did, my husband noticed that one of the “chefs” behind the sushi bar quickly grabbed it and ran to the back, never replacing it back on the bar. We took this to mean that the seaweed salad was too old to consume, so I did not eat it. There are several buffet rules posted all over the walls of the restaurant, which tells us that they have had issues with patrons before, another red flag. One of the women who worked there, I don’t know if she was a server, a busser, or what have you just that she was wearing a black baseball cap and a black apron, was sitting off to the side on a bar stool against the wall of the buffet tables taking a personal call — not a good look and very unprofessional. The decor was straight up bad, wall finishings and lacquer were worn off, scuffed or broken in places. I would have taken pictures but our server watched us like a hawk though she seemed nice but not worth complaining too. I think she understood why we never finished our plates and quickly left. Do yourself a favor and don’t come here. The fact that other adult patrons are allowed to kick off their sandals and lounge with their bare feet sticking out of the end of the booth was icing on the cake. We will never...

I don't know if it is bad luck or something.... but I didn't feel well after eating the first plate. The quality of the food wasn't very good, and a lot of it was very salty (I'm guessing buffets make their dishes extra salty so people will eat less....). Anyway, I didn't feel well because of the saltiness, and ended up throwing up, and it lasted for a long time (even after we walked out of the restaurant). They provided us with plastic gloves to reduce contact during covid, so I ended up throwing up in the glove. My friend went to tell the workers about it, as we were concerned that it might be a bad dish, but they completely ignored him. When we were given the bill, we spoke to the manager, and he agreed for me to not be charged as I hadn't eaten much before feeling unwell (didn't offer it though). I was really looking forward to going to this restaurant earlier, so it's kind of disappointing. Maybe it was bad luck with a particular dish, or that I'm just more sensitive to the food, I hadn't eaten anything so salty in a long time (I personally use very little oil and salt when I cook at home). My friend had no issues with the food. Another thing that was annoying was that there were so many children without any restaurant manners there. We were sat next to a big group of mothers and their kids, with some of them playing music out of a toy in the restaurant, and making other rackets. The restaurant waitresses really should have done something about their loud mechanical "baa baa black sheep have you any wool?" playing through the...