Kobe Sushi Buffet — Restaurant in Modesto

We have dined at this place on numerous occasions and honestly, our experience here have been hit and miss.

There have been days we have come here and enjoyed our meal, from the sushi to the buffet style plates in the rear of the restaurant.  On other occasions, the sushi as well as the buffet fare wasn't up to our expectations.

Having a sushi restaurant in the central valley isn't unusual but you would think they would be more common near "touristy areas."

We were told that this particular restaurant was "buffet style," which was all the encouragement we needed.  Especially since, my son and I can put a lot of sushi away!

The exterior of the establishment is plain and sits in a big lot and the location itself is off the main thorough fare

Upon entering, you immediately notice a center island (bar) with stools all the way around the classic "sushi boat" (conveyor belt of small wooden boats floating in water with small plates of sushi).

There are numerous tables all around this "sushi bar" and in order to get seating here, it's typically recommended you arrive when the place opens.

Seating at the bar is usually the first to go, especially during the weekend and at dinner service where they offer several more selections of sushi's that's not afforded during the noon service.

Along the rear of the sushi bar is an assortment of other Asian dishes from Chow Mein noodles, Fried Rice, Egg Rolls, to desserts.

Once seated, you are greeted by your server who will take your order for beverages or other items from a menu that you can order.  They will also take "specific sushi orders" but it costs extra.

For us, we typically stick with whatever "sushi floats" in front of us!  We've come to this restaurant on numerous times over the years and a lot of their traditional sushi, i.e., squid, salmon, tuna, and other delectables have been eliminated from their afternoon fare but like I said, can be ordered for an additional fee.

In its place are "cooked" items which take away from the "traditional form of sushi, which has "raw" ingredients.  They served a "crab sushi" which of course is artificially flavored fish that tastes like crab.  Cucumber roll, tempura roll, etc.

Bottom line is that for $9.95 + Tax for lunch (Mon-Sat 11:00am-3:30pm) and $16.95 + Tax for dinner (5:00pm-9:00pm) it's still worth the price.  Their open 11:00am-9:00pm on Sundays.

• They offer discounts for Senior Citizen, Law Enforcement, Military, and Fire...

I really wanted to like this place.

Dinners are 16.95 Lunches are 11.95 Sunday buffet is 14.95 All Day

Let me first say, there was a lot of food for the price. Even crab! We had the Dinner Buffet.

I'm always down for some good seafood. I'm also really down for some Chinese Dim Sum! All of which are on this buffet.

If you're not picky about tastes and take it for what it is, a decently priced asian buffet, this place is not bad.

What made this experience, just average for me is their sushi! Great that the sushi comes on little boats floating on water. Love that!

But, this was some of the most terrible sushi I've ever tasted. The rice was not sushi rice. Not seasoned. Some pieces were overly mushy, while other pieces of rice was HARD as pebbles! Bland and not flavorful sushi rice. If you go to a authentic sushi spot where you "pay" the price for quality sushi, you'll understand what I mean by 'sushi rice.'

I pulled sushi off of the 'boats' and also ordered off of their limited sushi menu. Made 'fresh.' The tempura flakes were NOT crunchy. Tasted OLD and like STALE fried bits. Oily. Nasty. They sprinkle these tempura flakes all over most of their 'specialty' sushi items. So bad. We tried 7 out of the 8 'specialty' sushi.

The salmon skin hand rolls came with flimsy, oily, fish skins. Not crisp and fresh. Seemed like the salmon skins were made in bulk, sat out, then just assembled in a messy hand roll.

Shrimp Tempura used in the sushi was also OLD, OILY, and STALE tasting. They do upcharge if you don't eat all the sushi. Rightfully so, SOOOO beware and order sushi with caution. Go SLOW and be sure you like the flavor before you order too much.

Also the 'imitation' crab lacked flavor as well and it is in most of their 'specialty' sushi, too. Blah!

Overall, I can't say it was a 4 star DINNER experience, as it's rated on Google Maps. Maybe for lunch at a $11.95 price, it might be worth the cost, but honestly I would pay more for higher quality sushi. Will do that the next time.

On the plus side, we had great, quick service. The host that sat us was a bright...

The place is beyond amazing. I've been to every sushi restaurant in town, and this is one of my favorites.

There's a bit of a learning curve to Kobe- there's a lot they don't tell you. Like during the dinner buffet, you can place special orders for sushi rolls for free. Or that you can take some home when you're done. Or that you can also partake of the Chinese style buffet at the back for no extra cost.

PROS: Kobe Sushi boasts a sushi bar that contains a bunch of little boats on an artificial river, each of which has three different plates, with usually two pieces of a unique sushi roll or nigiri on each plate. It allows you to experiment and see what you like and what you're not so fond of. You can ask what something is called, and if you like it enough, you might order a full plate of that. Or you might just do what I usually do, and just sit at the sushi bar and take stuff off the boats as they pass by for most of the meal.

CONS: As I said, there's a lot they don't tell you, so people new to the restaurant are often overwhelmed and have no idea what they're allowed to do. The more you come, the more you learn you can do there. Also, as with every sushi restaurant, they close down between their Lunch and Dinner times. There are no special orders during Lunch, either. If you come at the end of the Lunch time, or the end of the Dinner time, you might end up getting a roll or two that's been on the boats for most of the day, and it may not taste as fresh as if you come an hour after they open. I've never gotten sick at this place, though, and I can't stay away from it.

All in all, I highly recommend Kobe Sushi for their presentation and the ability to have multiple different types of sushi, all for the same 10 or 15 bucks, and the little candy they give you at the end is quite literally the icing...