Mai Tai Restaurant — Restaurant in Jacksonville

My Boyfriend, Michael, His Service Dog, Dorothy, & Me have ate here on four different occasions. ( Yesterday afternoon was occasion number 4 )

We got there at five pm. We walked in, & when our host person saw that we had Dorothy ( The aforementioned Service Dog )with us, & asked very nicely if we wanted a booth, or a table. ( We always get asked that at other places, though not as nicely as Mai Tai's Staff has! )

Most of the times, we chose a booth, though because we wanted to give Dorothy something different, we chose a table.

We asked for a table that seated four in a corner.

The person said no problem. Right this way. Then led us to our table.

There was a elderly couple already seated near the front, & four elderly men seated in a booth in the middle of the restaurant.

The smiling cook staff were just finishing placing the food in their designated areas.

The area had fantastic smells, & great lighting!

The person very nicely asked us if we would like a water bowl for Dorothy. ( There's only a few restaurants that ask us that though they will tell us how pretty they think she is. )

We ordered our drinks, then we went on to select from the buffet.

I decided to be very descriptive about the food so, if you're​ not looking to read all of the description, please scroll to the bottom. Thank you.

My boyfriend, Michael, & Dorothy started at the sushi, selecting different kinds that I didn't recognize, though he did pick two spicy tuna rolls.

He likes that type of food. Then some diced Chicken, & some other kind of meat at the hibachi.

He placed that down on the table, then went to the actual buffet side. Selected his choices, then returned to his seat.

He said his sushi was fantastic! The hibachi bowl was full of a mix of white rice, diced chicken, & the other things he had chose.

On his buffet plate he had cooked potatoes, bang bang shrimp, & general Tai's chicken, & some salad with Italian dressing.

He said it was delicious!

I had decided to try a few new things. So I tried the Fried Calamari, the Shrimp, &Chicken egg fu Young, Chicken, & pork Pot Stickers, & the Fried Crab Pandon's!

It was Fantastic!!! Then I got some of the usual dishes that I get.

Spring roll, egg roll, Fried Wontons, Fried Shrimp, & Boneless BBQ.

Dessert I had a little bit of the following: Banana Pudding: Sugar free, with sliced bananas in it. ( Really good! ) 1 Lemon Frosted yellow cake square. ( Which was fair. ) 2 Carrot Cake squares with Cream Cheese Frosting.( Those were good! ) 4 squares of Orange Sugar free Jello. ( really good! )

Usually they have Red, Orange, & Green Jello that's Sugar free, though it's so good!!! I figured they may have ran out.

I don't usually like sugar free desserts at restaurants, though they really make them deliciously!!!!

Where we were seated, & all of the other surfaces looked clean.

I didn't use the facilities on this visit, though I have at the other times, & it was clean every time.

My boyfriend used the facilities, and because I have read the comments about the restroom, I was curious.

Since I know that he's a neat freak like me, & he's told me when other places were clean or not, I decided to ask him if it was clean.

When he sat down, I asked him. He said it was clean, & smelled like lemon.

( For the bottom scrollers ) Fantastic Food! Clean Restaurant! Great Staff! Five Stars! Will definitely come back here!!!!! Michael,...

UPDATE: Friday November 11, 2022 I went there for dinner for the first time since they reopened after Covid. I had to "prepay" $17.xx with soda for this horrible experience. The food was horrible!!! Everything was either dry, bland, over cooked or left over from a previous time period. The only thing I semi enjoyed was the ice cream. I was even reluctant to eat the ice cream when I looked at the nasty water the serving scoops were sitting in. I was so disappointed that I didn't even bother to go to the desert bar. I think this will be my last time to go to the Mai Tai. I just can't imagine it getting any worse than it is now. With food that bad, I can see why you have to pay "before" you eat.

I have gone to the Mai Tai, on and off, since 1992. Back in the 90's, the Mai Tai was the only local oriental style buffet to eat at. So, there wasn't much choice but to eat here if you wanted oriental style buffet. As other oriental buffets opened, I went to the Mai Tai less. I continue to go to the Mai Tai about once or twice a year, to give it another try with the hopes that it's gotten better. And it is always the same rather bland ordinary tasting food. It's not bad food. It just isn't anything great either. Compared to what I'm used to, the sushi is a joke! It's made with too much rice! And it falls apart too easily! Are they not using the right rice maybe? Too many times the chicken and shrimp have been dried out and/or cold. Their hours are weird. I suspect their location is the main thing they have going for them. Their location is very convenient to traffic on highway 17 and the very busy Henderson Drive. The interior of the restaurant has not changed since I first went there in 1992 except for the addition of the hibachi grill area. If you want a lot of rather bland ordinary food fast, close to the main highways, then eat here. But if you want good flavor, food that has distinct flavors from one another, and "real" sushi, I can't recommend this place. Again, the food is not bad. It's just...

It's a shame that I left my phone in the car, otherwise I would have been able to photograph the pile of plates that were left at the table for the duration of our dining experience. That alone is not why I'm leaving one star. If it were possible I would give negative stars. Let me begin by stating that Mai Tai has been my favorite restaurant ever since the '80s. I went to this establishment on Father's Day of 2022 and the greeter could have used some fine tuning on her customer service skills. I'm understanding of the fact that it is a holiday so I extended her a bit of grace. I was not happy about the fact that they make you pay up front now. I suppose that's because they know that the food is disgusting and that the selections are limited. People were literally circling the bar trying to find something that they wouldn't mind eating. I literally watched people walk around the bar as many as three times until they finally settled on something. There is a wait and there is a 15% service fee charged on parties of seven or more. Even if there are children, this fee is charged individually for the children... Even if the kids eat free. Times are hard right?! I paid in excess of $70 to feed my family of four at an establishment where the food was lackluster at best and the service just absolutely sucked. I have better words but this word is most suitable for the situation. This is no longer my favorite restaurant and I did not want to believe the reviews, but seeing is believing. The next time I will save my money and go into the kitchen and boil some hot dogs. I will not be going back until I have heard that they have closed their doors and restructured this establishment to the fine cuisine that it once was. This place is just trash now. The tastiest thing on the menu was...