Sakura Buffet — Restaurant in Lake City

Me and some friends went here today to celebrate one of our companion's birthday. The food was exceptional for the price, but the service was downright awful. Unlike most buffets that I've ever been to, you do not pay at the door right when you enter the restaurant; the bills are brought to you at the end. This can cause great confusion, as it did in the case of our little get-together. We arrived with a group of ten people, and we promptly and coheretly explained that only nine out of the ten people would be eating any food, as one had recently eaten, but still wanted to be part of the occasion. The waitress counted twice how many people we had and also asked as many times how many were going to be eating. We also explained to her that we may be having more people show up, but we were not completely sure, at the time, if they would be in attendance. None of them came, so it stayed a constant number of ten people, with nine of us eating. When the checks were brought to us near the end of our stay, it took about five minutes to distribute the checks to the proper people, as each nine of those who ate were on a separate check, and the young lady did not have a very good grasp of the English language. When all bills were handed out, we still had one left over, so again we made it clear that the one young man was not eating. After hearing this, the waitress began to get very agitated, stating agrily, in broken English, that there was infact eleven people at the beginning of our stay, and that this eleventh person was no longer there. We attempted to explain numerous times that there was only ten people there the entire time, but she would hear none of it. I then pointed out that one of our friends had switched seats during the course of our meal, so that he could get out easier to get more food from the buffet, and that he was the person that she mistakenly thought was number eleven in our little posse. By this time, the waitress had become extremely upset, and stormed off to places unknow to us. When she returned, about seven minutes later, she stated that she had checked the security camera that was pointed right at our table, and there was eleven people that had been eating at our table. We again tried to explain the situation to her, but it was just like talking to a brick wall. We ended up chipping in and paying the eleven or twelve dollars for the extra bill, as we did not see the point in wasting more time on an argument, and ruining the mood of our time together. This is not the first instance of having issues with the staff that I have been made aware of. One of our mutual friends had warned our group about going to the restaurant, as he had been forced to pay double after leaving to go and get something from his car. I regret not heeding his wise warning, as they again repeated their sad customer service. I do not plan on eating at this restaurant ever again, unless I hear definite reports of them changing their sad treatment of their customers. As I mentioned before, the food was very good and I was in no way disappointed in that respect, but it was in no way worth the issues that we had to deal with in regards to the staff. I implore you, FIND ANOTHER PLACE TO EAT. Lake City offers many other options that are much more worthy of you business. Have a great day, and I hope this was...

Update 2024: may. Waitresses only see dollar signs. They drop the bill on your second round buffet plate before you barely started eating. Then constantly eye ball the checkbook as they pass by like circling wasps. Dont sit to the far left where the employees eat and take their breaks or they stare at you. I felt like i was in vietnam the way the waitresses all kept eyeballing the table and us once the check was dropped. People must dine and dash here.Even though theres cameras on you while you eat from both directions. The sushi looked like its sat out for a long time and tasted that way too. I didn't dare try the raw oysters especially with a warning label over it, but people said it was fine. Oh and get this! They scold and yell at people over diner items at the lunch buffet. So of you go in for a late lunch, they'll say you cant get anything that's basically all the hot fresh food items or youp will pay extra for dinner prices. Yet you were already there eating. Lastly, i felt pressured to over tip and some of the staff clearly don't like Americans. Otherwise the food was ok and the beer is cold. Edit: 2023 mid april. Reducing my stars. Very rude older waitress last time. If it happens again we won't go back. The manager at the desk was off in her own world didn't even acknowledge us entering or leaving. The waitress took forever to takeout dirty plates. Dropped the bill early then kept asking if we were finished yet. Even though the place was empty. The left side of the restaurant became the employee hang out area. It wasn't comfortable being eye balled often and like they didn't want to hear is talking. If this happens again we won't go back. Sushi was not as good as it used to be. The waitress I had to track down to ask for a beer with a cold glass. She didn't know what a cold glass was. Took 10 minutes. Every other employee gave us dirty looks like they hate Americans or something. I can see why the place was empty. There's a warning sign over the oysters eat at your own risk. That scary. Otherwise the typical Chinese cuisine was excellent. The roast looked dry and a week old. It tasted terrible. The beef for the beef with broccoli tasted strange and chewy. Like mystery meat. I spit it out. Otherwise what I picked to eat tasted good. The waitress didn't deserve a good too and she got very angry when she say we only gave 2 dollars and change for a group. Worst service ever. The lunch price wasn't bad.

Older review 2021-2022.This food was so good! Friendly staff, very nice inside. Included a sushi bar, great variety of Asian cuisine and some American items. We ordered plum wine and Japanese beer. Our waitress was super nice and just adorable. Great service gets a great a tip! Some people eating there should be more respectful to the rules and wear the gloves they provide to get your food, also don't stand up to talk by a table, or let your kids be loud and beat on chairs. Asside from that they had nice cold drinks. Clean buffet, fresh food. Definatly going back! We were so full! My complaint was the mall security old man followed us in then turned around and walked away....

If I could give this zero stars I would. I hoped that I would not agree with some of the reviews here, but sadly this was a terrible experience - and that is putting it mildly. It started immediately when we were seated in a section with 3 other groups. One guy was playing music out loud on his phone, one had loud kids playing with electronics with sound, and the third was a younger group with piercings and colored hair. We went and got our food and looked around to see the customers in the rest of the place it was clear that we were seated there intentionally by what they (insultingly) deemed our social class! As we were eating they seated another young couple in our section who later burped loud enough for the entire restaurant to hear, and then laughed!!

The waitresses were using the table across from us to sit around and play on their phones and chat instead of work. We weren't even finished eating when they brought us our check!! We had just sat down with our dessert when they seated another large party with kids in another section of the restaurant. We were in a corner booth and directly behind us between the booth and wall they stored the childrens high chairs. Several waitresses came over to the corner by our table (completely crowding our table as were eating) and proceeded to wipe down all the high chairs, waving dirty rags RIGHT NEXT TO OUR FOOD and laughing in another language. We were so frustrated that my fiance spoke loud enough for them to hear. As we got up to leave one girl sheepishly said thank you, and the other made what sounded like a snide comment in whatever language they were speaking. We said something to the guy at the register and he discounted our bill a few bucks, but it was clear he didn't know what to say. The food was alright for the price but most of it was stale and had been sitting for quite some time. There was a mystery meat that was labeled as roast beef under a heat lamp, but it was so dried out and pre-cut it looked like rotten beef jerky! Honestly, even if the food had been fantastic we were so apalled by how we were treated we would...