Teppanyaki Grill — Restaurant in Lanham

This is a great place to eat, given a couple of qualifications.

It's got some really wonderful dishes that make it worthwhile. Most of the stuff they serve is mediocre and not very good, but as it's a buffet, if you know what the few really good ones are, that makes no difference, and you'll get a fantastic deal.

You can take what you don't eat home, or get an extra plateful to go, or just get food to go for only $4 a pound ($6 for meat/fish). That's a great deal, and I usually get a plateful of stir-fry veggies to take home for another meal.

Also, even the mediocre food is a plus if you bring finicky friends or finicky kids: they have plenty of junk food (pizza, french fries, fried chicken nuggets), plus plenty of stuff for vegans and vegetarians, plus lots of normal chinese dishes from lo mein to beef & broccoli, Everybody will like something here.

The Hibachi stir fry is fantastic: you pick your own selection of veggies (and/or meats and eggs), and they have a good selection including baby corn ears, water chestnuts, and fresh mushrooms: they cook it in front of you, and add whatever sauces you want or lots of garlic if you wish. Worth it if this is all you get.

The sushi is good. Mostly California roll kinds of sushi, maybe a dozen varieties, with a couple of them vegan and several with cooked rather than raw fish. More than worth it just for the sushi alone.

The salad bar is way above average, better than any of the ones you see in the supermarket for $5 or $6 a pound, with more variety, except this is all you can eat or only $4 a pound to take home, so that's worth it if you only eat salad, or bring along friends on a diet who just want to eat salad.

Just order water. Soft drinks are expensive, though it's an all you can drink deal, but seriously, why the extra calories of sugar water to fill you when there's all the good food that comes with the package plan. I just get water and add lemon slices. Or maybe I'll order hot tea if I'm in the mood, but that's extra too.

And I skip the desserts. There are tons of them, none that interesting, but usually at least two varieties of chocolate cake, which will make kids happy.

And there are a few other really top-notch dishes, such as the string beans (always just perfectly crispy and not overcooked) or the small clams in the shell which is delicious, or the spinach and cheese dish which they hilariously always misspell as "Spanish Cheese" (they finally fixed the sign after I posted this review). The rest of the stuff is mostly mediocre, but just sample and find the few really good dishes they serve, and ignore the rest, and you'll love the place.

As for bad reviews and complaints about the service, all the waitress does is bring you water and take your used plates. It's a buffet, folks! On a rare occasion at peak hours you have to wait a minute or two in line because you pay at the start a one-price fits all, which is an amazing price, btw: $7.00 including tax with the dollar off value-pak monthly coupon in the mail, or $10.00 including tax with the coupon for $1.50 off after 3:30 for dinner or all Sunday. But if you go Sunday afternoon expect a big line to get in -- but that's because half the poor folks in that part of the county take their families there after church! They are doing a huge service to offer all this good food with tons of salad and veggies that poor families can afford instead of a greasy bucket of fried chicken at a fast food restaurant. It's the best cheap after-church family buffet in town.

So it gets five stars from me. No, it's not the place to impress your date with, but it is a great place to go alone, or with a big family or group of friends where everyone will find something they like, or to get a great carry...

I usually give places like these the benefit of the doubt since my favorite hole-in-the-wall doesn't actually present the best. I came in looking for a decent Chinese buffet but instead I was met with a disappointment.

The first thing that I noticed was that you paid for your meal upfront, which there is nothing wrong about that, but it tipped me off at the end. We were taken to our seat with plastic forks, which felt a bit cheap since you're usually presented with actual silver at most places.

I was really excited for the food but when I sat down to eat it, I noticed that everything was dry, rubbery, or just stale from being left out. The sushi was a hard pass. I put one in my mouth (a raw shrimp, avocado, crab type roll) and promptly spit it out because the avocado was just bad and it was repulsive the way the whole roll was dry and stale.

None of the food was consistent either. I quite like the butterfly fried shrimp but I noticed that each one was different: undercooked, overcooked, just right- nothing was consistent. It wasn't worth playing food roulette!

And I thought the place could redeem itself with hibachi but I got up to look and the meat, the steak/beef in particular, was brown and obviously not in it's prime. I get having less than desirable cuts of beef that aren't exactly fresh since my local buffet can be like that, but this was just straight up nasty. I began to notice that unlike my local buffet, there are no signs to discourage food waste either. I can tell by the way they prepare food that they simply don't care. I saw steamed crab just stacked and dying under the heat lamp. I get serving your customers in bulk, but I feel like there should be timed change out when food gets empty. You should prepare food by demand and actually have moments where there are empty pans because that means that customers actually like your food and are eating it. If you keep stacking your food and changing it out when it dies in the buffet area, there is something wrong.

My brother and I promptly left. We were in there for about 15-20 minutes. I hate being overly critical, especially as a visitor to the area, but this was just a very bad restaurant. Don't waste...

In short: They are worse than what the reviews say. This location has horrible customer service. I wouldn't eat here if the food was free.

Today, I called to inquire about reserving a space in the private area at the back. The person I spoke with was very rude I am actually shocked any person in business would speak this way to anyone.

I asked how long in advance we would need to make the reservation and if there were limits on party size to have the area available to us. He says "if you want to come, just come. We have other customers, not just you" I said I understand. I would just prefer that we can all be seated in the same area and not in different parts of the restaurant.

Already he seemed impatient and not wanting to provide any information but I really needed to know the process to plan accordingly for our large party size.

He was very snappy and I said " I just want more information because I don't understand the policy/proces but you don't seem willing to share." (he said I need to pay $50 but didn't explain further so I had to ask, pay $50 when? When will the balance need to be paid?etc.))

He snapped and said "because YOU GUYS are very rude and have so much drama" Taken aback, I asked what do you mean by you guys and he almost slipped up but said "you know exactly what I mean" "you guys are so rude, you are always so rude".

I said "I am not rude, I am asking standard questions about reservations. I don't know what "you guys" you are referring to but you're being very unkind to someone wanting to patronize your business"

He says "I DON'T NEED YOUR MONEY. I DONT NEED YOUR MONEY! You guys always come and be rude and have so much drama. I DONT NEED YOUR MONEY." He continues on a long rant about "you guys" and only after I told him I would record him and confirm that the bad reviews are true then he says "it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter".

I told him I am appalled at his rudeness....