Miyako Japanese Buffet — Restaurant in Pompano Beach

WARNING: In short, if you don’t mind leftovers, room temperature unfrozen fish, warm oysters and cold crab, this place may be it. No food goes to waste here, literally. So, when we discovered a recent health department inspection due to patron's food poisoning, we got very concerned.

MONDAYS: Leftover heaven and all the leftovers you can eat from the weekend. Tuna has been re-frozen so many times, it lost its natural color. If you are first through the door for dinner service at 5pm, expect lunch leftovers.

SUSHI RICE: Tasteless, mushy and way too overcooked with overpowering vinegar flavor. It is not difficult to fix but like many other buffets, they put too much rice in sushi to get you full quick.

RAW FISH: Sushi served has all characteristics of unfrozen fish, especially sashimi; and, as it's being served at the room temperature to thaw, it is melting on the tray by shedding its water content and way passed its 2 hours room temperature limit. Trays are not replaced with dry clean trays. Due to this fact yellowtail, escolar and salmon may taste funky.

YELLOWTAIL SASHIMI: Inconsistent, lifeless and tastes borderline spoiled. Indication of improper storage which may be unsafe to serve. Depending on the day of the week you never know what you are going to get with yellowtail, which is disappointing as this is the restaurant's most prized sashimi item. We found several bones in yellowtail sashimi and it doesn't look like yellowtail sashimi being freshly cut.

OYSTERS: Unfortunately, the oysters, due to its popularity, are going quick as customers form a line; so, oysters don’t spend enough time on the bed of ice and thus are served warm. The servers stack the oyster one on top of another so dirty shells contaminate the oysters below them and you get sand in your mouth.

SUSHI ROLLS: Special rolls are very dry, tasteless and unhealthy with unknown ingredients like seafood dynamite, another code word for leftovers.

SPICY TUNA ROLL: Uneatable – restaurant is using leftover spoiled tuna to conceal tuna flavor with jalapeno peppers.

EEL SUSHI: Served cold. They put so much sweet eel sauce on top, you can't taste eel's flavor. Some servings of eel have bones in them which may indicate a lower grade of eel. Why not serve eel sauce on the side and let the customer decide? If you cannot enjoy exclusive items like oysters, eel and yellowtail for dinner, there is no reason to pay extra but instead have lunch for less.

CRAB: Served cold, salty and absolutely tasteless.

CUCUMBER: Chef does not remove skin from cucumbers, nor the seeds, making rolls and salads made with cucumber taste very bitter.

SASHIMI SALAD: Borderline spoiled marinated fish.

SEWER ODORS: At the restaurant’s entrance, we noticed floor high speed fan blowing to air out the stink. Any whiff of garbage, stale grease, or sewage odor may be direct result of restaurant's blocked floor drains, dishwasher drains and the grease trap or they may not clean and sanitize the place properly. Equipment failure like freezer may cause the food to spoil resulting in similar odors.

CUSTOMER SERVICE: Management pretends to misunderstand customer concerns or simply ignore them. The restaurant does not keep up with empty food trays as they running out of food. Chef and servers, preparing sushi, behind the counter, get very snappy with staff and customers who remind them to refill empty sushi trays once out of food. Management answering customer phone calls provide no meaningful response. Instead, being defensive, they are very abrupt on the phone with customers. This seafood restaurant has no bib. Greeters are seating people too close to each other.

DELIVERY: Negative stars. Sushi delivery uses all leftover sushi/sashimi buffet for the day. For example, leftover sushi are chopped, combination of leftover sashimi from trays then gathered and used for delivery purposes, specifically in rolls. Yellowtail and scallion roll stank to high heavens. We stopped ordering delivery as family agreed this presented a...

I’ve been coming to Miyako for many years especially when I used to live in South Florida. This place gets crazy busy especially on the weekends and even very early. If you have a large party, you can call ahead and make a reservation. They even have back rooms to have parties. They offer a lunch menu and they also have takeout that they weigh by the pound. You pay one price and can go up as many times as you like. They just frown upon wasting food, so take what you want, but make sure you don’t waste it. I make it a point every time I visit my family we come here. I mostly only come here on the weekends. That’s when they serve everything. There is a large assortment of fresh sushi of all kinds being made right in front of the buffet on one side by 4 sushi chefs, and sashimi on the other side along with one of my favorites, an entire steamed salmon you help yourself to. Several types of fresh salads like seaweed, cold calamari salad, quail eggs, raw oysters, mussels, shrimp cocktail, snow crab legs along with several sauces. Then you go to the actual salad bar. Tossed green salad, fresh steamed asparagus,seafood salad, pickles, and green olives, and sliced red beets, steamed edamame,peaches,oranges, leeches,pineapple, and honeydew melon . On the other side is the dessert bar with mini desserts. 2 kinds of cheesecakes, coconut pudding, jiggly jello, Panna cotta with mango pearls, crème brûlée, flan, mini cannoli’s, an assortment of cakes including chocolate cake, and coconut macaroons. At the end is a chocolate fountain with marshmallows and fresh fruit for dipping. ( kids love this.) Across from there is an assortment of Hot Chinese style soups, and toppings, mini eggrolls, fried chicken, lobster in ginger sauce, chicken n broccoli, fresh string beans, duck with a brown sauce, pork lo mein, bbq Chinese spareribs, shrimp shumai , pork dumplings ,fried rice, shrimp in a coconut sauce, Manila clams with garlic butter, french fries, steamed red potatoes, corn on the cob, and a roast that you slice yourself. Down away from that is a Hibachi Bar with two chefs you pick your protein and your vegetables and they will cook it up for you. The ambience is simple with tables and booths and several dining rooms. If you’re celebrating a birthday, the staff will come over and they will play happy birthday over the loudspeaker and bring a dessert with a candle in it The staff is always very friendly and very accommodating. I always love to get their hot green tea. There is so much food it is overwhelming. Even the pickiest eaters can find something here. You can wear anything you want. They also serve alcohol and make drinks. I’m not big on buffets, but this place is definitely worth coming to . You will definitely...

My group of 20 guests dined here on a Fri for lunch, and it got crowded at 1230pm. We arrived at noon, and there was ample room for our party of 20. We got asked multiple times how many people were in our party, as our group trickled in over an hour timespan. This was annoying since we kept having to ask for water refills and more cups of water (despite us telling her 20 people, she only gave us 15 cups), although our 2 servers kept walking past us like they were lost or they'd stop to ask how many in the group again (5 times total!). The food is the same consistent quality as it was 10 years ago! It's been at least that long since I returned, and I loved it (the others go at least once every year). The unique buffet dessert options were my favorite! I always have room for dessert, and it's a must for me to try at least one (I tried 7!). I love the Panna cotta and puddings! The sushi is fresh with many options. The hot foods and cold food bar looked clean and well-seasoned. Looked clean, but I'd watch a female employee scoot foods from the countertop back into the hot food trays at the buffet (gross!). I'd wait until new trays came out, and she'd stir the old and new tray together (so I recommend sticking with the sushi). She'd take her time knowing I was waiting for her to put down the fresh tray of hot foods (4 times, 4 different trays of food...it just happened to my timing when i wanted to get certain dishes, but it was time to refill). The fruits were fresh. The complimentary unique candies on the way in/out are delightful, too.

As far as atmosphere, the seating can get really cramped. I don't see how it's wheelchair accessible when it gets more than 1/2 full. It was a tight squeeze to walk in between tables and other diners for me, and I'm 5 ft tall 130lbs. There isn't much clearance to walk around big folks at the buffet. I'm glad we went during lunch.

I had my 20 month old, who she fell asleep before we got here. So, she slept next to my other kids on the bench, while they were eating. I made her a soup bowl size of food (egg drop soup with mushrooms and 1 wonton dumpling). 3 times, the server either asked to take it away, or I had to stop her from taking it. It wasn't a lot of food. I even put the food by my baby/toddler, with nothing around it but a clean spoon and clean napkin. Maybe the server needed to eat lunch, too, at this point?

For sushi buffets, I come for sushi, sashimi, and desserts. So, I give the restaurant 5 stars, as it met and surpassed my other good sushi buffet experiences. Otherwise, 3 stars overall for atmosphere, cleanliness,...