Makino Japanese Buffet — Restaurant in Knoxville

Makino is one of my favorite Asian restaurants in Knoxville! I did not realize that I had never rated it until enjoying my favorite— Sesame Balls filled with red bean paste— this evening.

What can I say about Sesame Balls? The picture on the left shows this hot, fresh, and crisp outside, glutinous sweet inside with a center of red bean paste yummy treat. I first ate sesame balls while studying in China, so it was surprising to me that a Japanese restaurant would make them at all, much less so fresh and wonderful that I might risk burning my mouth, unable to wait for them to cool!

Most of the staff can speak Mandarin with me, which might explain the excellent Chinese sesame balls.

BUT this review is not all about the most delicious Chinese sesame balls in Knoxville, Tennessee being produced in a Japanese restaurant.

The pictures (left to right) next show the shrimp tempura roll with avocado that my husband had this evening. It was apparently excellent. I did not get a bite before it was gone. He also had the tempura vegetables, which I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of before they were eaten!

The next picture is hubby’s favorite Salmon Nigiri. It is made fresh to order. Before 2020, the food at Makino was generally served buffet style, but even then, they would make fresh Salmon Nigiri for him every time.

Next is a picture of the delicious, very fresh seaweed salad, the perfect crunch in a beautifully balanced umami-sweet sauce with just a hint of smokiness. If you have never had it, it is worth trying. You may be hooked!

Last but not least is coconut shrimp. It is excellent! —perfectly crisp on the outside, with a light sweet finish.

The staff is friendly and efficient-my iced tea stayed magically filled without my noticing tonight, which I consider excellent attention to detail on our server’s part.

I...

Although I do miss some of the items on the buffet that I really enjoyed, like the sweet cucumber, I think I like the all-you-care-to-eat menu better. Here's why you might too:

Every dish is fresh and either hot or cold as it should be. Nothing I ate tasted was anything less fresh than right from the cooking pan it came from. I can pace myself and keep getting searing-hot items fresh each refill and this has really contributed to a better dining experience because everything tastes like it was intended to and hasn't just been kept warm. No one is unleashing their kids to do whatever at or to the buffet, no one is picking at, into, or over the food--your food is getting much less exposure to the public.

This is likely helping them to keep the prices low. With every other place taking advantage of the inflation and gouging prices, better food a little less fast than getting it yourself is helping at least me realize I'm full two plates ahead of when I would normally realize it. Though we've kept minimal leftovers on our plate, this is because we've planned ahead to be members of the clean plate club. If you abuse the system and are used to leaving 4 uneaten plates of food and increasing costs for all, they warn they will charge you for it, and I think they should.

Some people have said they've had to wait for a while to get their next plate, and thought I'd weigh in on my experience there: I've gone at off-peak times, after lunch rush and haven't had a problem. One thing, though, that I didn't like is that the original order paper came back covered in food smudges for re-use. Is there another solution to this like a laminated page with a dry erase marker or...

Update May 2025: this is the last review for this place, I'm not going to come back after the last visit. I live in TX now and have tried so many different AYCE places, Makino cannot use the buffet style of management to do AYCE, it's understaffed and table turnover rate is too slow. Each time I ordered the food, it took at least a good 25 mins before food coming out, I ended up sitting in the restaurant for 1.5 hr. If it's buffet style, I'd be in and out with 45 mins. The presentation of the sushi wasn't good at all, it seemed rushing out, Nigiri got too much rice, roll got too much rice too, yellow tail roll got a tiny piece of fish in it. Doing AYCE style rather than buffet style is definitely hurting reputation, food quality, and food serving time. Bring back buffet style is a better solution.

I was a frequent customer of Makino in 2019. I still really liked Makino even though I moved out of Knoxville. Makino has changed a lot since COVID started. From the good ole time buffet to now they're serving you at the table. I've been to Makino a couple times after the change, but it made me sad. I don't know whether it's the whole Knoxville problem or just Makino, there are not as many customers as there were. It used to be packed the whole day, and now it's not even halfway full. The Sushi Train in Nashville and Yoki Buffet in Murfreesboro are packed all day all week. The food quality is definitely going downhill. The fried foods are good, but not the sushi. The sushi is small, and doesn't taste as good as...