Asihi Hibachi & Buffet — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

UPDATE: This restaurant is under new ownership and excellent. All new staff. The restaurant is now clean. The broken front door is fixed. The wait staff is in traditional chinese clothing for unoforms. They are very attentive and kind. I did not see the past staff who were horrible. The food is fresh and steaming hot. I will definitely return, and glad I gave them one more chance. I told myself as I walked in that I would never return if it was like in the past. Totally different atmosphere. I originally gave this restaurant a 1 star. Way to go new owners and new staff for taking a horrible restaurant and making it shine!

Past review: I have enjoyed going to this restaurant in the past. The food is good. I have never been treated so rudely by a server than tonight at this restaurant. The server brought my bill at the end. I went to the front and paid my bill to the man whom may be owner, and tipped the server 20% on my debit card. After paying, I went to the restroom. I came out and the server told me in the lobby I needed to give my bill to the man up front. I told her I had already paid my bill. She would not let me leave and started talking to the owner in Chinese. It took about a minute of them talking in their language before he said I could go. The owner knew I had paid my tab, as I was in front of him less than 5 minutes before when he was running my debit card. This happened in front of customers in the lobby. No apology or anything from the owner or the server. This incident was very embarrassing. I am a real estate broker and do not look homeless, I've never walked on a tab in any restaurant, nor have I ever given reason for this server to accuse me. Again, she was tipped 20% tonight before this happened. Very unprofessional. I also tipped the Hibachi chef cash. I am always nice, and never demanding. This was very strange, and I have never had ANY restaurant do this. I eat out most every day. Beware that you too may be falsely accused of theft in this establishment. They just ran off a good customer who 20% tips on a buffet every time and tips the sushi/hibachi chef. There are too many great choices for Chinese buffets and food in general. I...

Well we arrived to eat dinner around 6:30PM. As I was walking through the parking lot I notice there weren't that many cars so I hesitated to go in thinking they must've gone down hill with food so I stopped a group of people that had just left getting in their car. I asked them if the food was good because I noticed very few cars. They said it was really good and they had all you can eat crab legs. I said "they have all you can eat crab legs? They said yes they just got them. I said cool! I was so excited and happy about that. So I go in with a friend and asked them if they have crab legs tonight and if it's all you can eat. The guy says yes. I walked through the food bar and sat down. I walked up to the bar with my plate and couldn't find any crab legs so I asked where they were? The server even said they had crab. The food service bar people said We dont have crab legs, who told you we have crab legs? I said the customers outside said they got some and the man up front said so too. The lady proceeded to walk up to the owner/hostess and told me 2 people went up to the bar and ate all they had and that they ran out of crab legs. So they have all you can eat crab legs for everyone that comes in but 2 people ate them all?Ridiculous! They are not putting out the food for customers that pay for crab legs? I was charged $35 for crab legs that I didn't get because they ran out that was apparently enough for 2 guests? People this is a very bad place to go and I think they need to be reported for lying to people and not honoring what they...

The classic Chinese buffet seems to have gone the way of the dodo lately. And Covid has all but killed it off altogether. Recent searches narrowed it down to a few choices in town. Yelp has been so helpful in eliminating a few spots off the list. So a combination of Yelp, and word of mouth, I chose to try Asihi first. Everyone I spoke with has always prefaced their recommendation with “Now this was pre-covid” so I entered with a grain of salt.

The entry point was welcoming and the decor seems nice. I was greeted and seated with friendliness.

The first disappointment came when I saw the sushi offerings. They were very few and far between. I entered the restaurant at 730P and figured it was a good time for dinner. So that may have been a reason why the sushi was not plentiful but further disappointments followed.

The General Tso’s chicken was not at the proper temperature. It felt a little on the cold side. The other offerings were very oily and the white rice was definitely not fresh, it was getting a bit hard and again, not up to the right temperature.

I also had a fleeting thought when after I paid, I used the men’s room and left and thought about the many people using the serving utensils and then I used them. I am not a germaphobe by any means but the thought did cross my mind when considering buffets in the future.

Verdict, I did eat two plates, the desserts were good, and they even had those yellow sugar cookies which I like, but the food could have...