Sakura Buffet — Restaurant in Salinas

This is the worst buffet you can find in Salinas, possibly worst of all time. I was visiting my brother and my dad in salinas and we decided to give this buffet a try since it was in their local plaza. First of all they are the only buffet in the entire town of salinas so of course there’s going to be a lot of business there. Second they have Insane prices. During Father’s Day it was about $30, or maybe who knows maybe they gave a discount to dads and everyone else had to pay the price. Anyways the food was terrible. Food was so bad it was rotting. It was run by staff who pretend they don’t even speak English which shows how lazy they are to do their job so whenever you ask them a question, it’s the worst customer service of all time they’ll be like “SORRY, NO ENGLISH” So your only 3 words are sorry no English? We possibly went at the worst time because everything was just leftovers at this point and they weren’t making anything new so the stuff was just sitting there. Families were just breathing and munching on the food. Everything was terrible. My dad was like “how was it” and we starting laughing. In the first place my dad was trying to defend the place since we spent so much money, but then eventually it sucked for him too so he decided to give the buffet a red flag, saying the Buffett sucks. We tried the muscle and I thought it was so bad It was going to give me food poisoning. At one point they had this Mongolian bbq thing where you get your own bowl and you pack it when shredded raw meat, then you give it to a cook who will grill it for you which is always a fun experience for us. Turns out there was no veggies in the bowl and they were just cooking noodles and meat. The meat was raw and was sitting there for god knows how long. The salmon, dessert and everything was terrible. So terrible I didn’t even finish anything. I thought if I could take a bite of the cupcake which is one of the desserts I would feel better but it turns out it sucked. Anyways the Mongolian bbq guy wasn’t even looking up, wasn’t answering questions and he wasn’t even checking if the bowl was making being picked up by the right person, so he would immediately pass the bowls aggressively in a rush. Since we can’t eat pork I had to ask the guy which one didn’t have pork. He was silent for 15 seconds and ignoring so I had to be serious with him by asking him seriously which one has pork and if it has pork I might get sick and I might have to sue you guys and I said I would sue because my stomach can’t digest pork well. He then understood and nodded to a bowl which he said didn’t have pork. Then he said “OH NOW I UNDERSTAND”Miraculously he understood that sentence in English. And guess what folks? He was wrong. It DID have pork since I felt like I ate something I never ate before. So yeah that was the drama...

My family and I have been coming to this establishment for the last 5-10 years if not longer and today’s experience has all but tarnished an otherwise amazing relationship we’ve had with this establishment.

I am the oldest of 5 children, and Sakura has been my family’s go to spot to celebrate birthdays, graduations, milestones, promotions and so much more (typically will have 1-5 parties here in a year).

Today, the 18th of August in the year 2024, I called the establishment to inquire about a reservation for a party of 29 people for my step dad’s birthday at the end of the month; Since not only did the Google listing say a reservation is required (see screenshots), but since we are already a big family, that typically has big parties in attendance (much like the 29 I was inquiring about today); I was used to calling in for a reservation at this establishment (as I’ve done this multiple times in the past ~ and we are always happy to even put deposits down because of how great Sakura was) to ensure my family, myself and our guests would be able to be seated together.

It took me by great surprise when the person I was talking to on the phone (I did not get her/their name as the service provided was appalling, disappointing, disgusting and just blatantly rude), cut me off not 1, not 2 but 3 times.

The words I got out were, “Hi I was wondering if I could make a reservation for-“, and was cut off with “It’s First Come First Serve.”, no matter my response, I was cut off another 3 times with this person saying the exact same thing.

I had ended our conversation with a bit of feedback, (as I myself am in sales/retail as a manager, and my wife has been a server for years). My ending to this conversation was “Okay, I completely understand but next time please do not cut me or anyone else off, as that was extremely rude. My family and I have been going to this restaurant for the last 5-10 years and have never been treated this way.” Their response, lacked any empathy towards the situation, and they said, “oh okay sorry”.

Never in all the years I’ve been coming here has this ever happened, but if this is the way this establishment is now treating their guests (even just inquiring) my family and I can take our business elsewhere.

As much as I love eating at local businesses to help support, this was just entirely out of left field. I don’t know that my family and I will be dining here much longer if at all moving forward. As disheartening as this may be for us, this type of service is just unacceptable and we won’t...

The only friendly person working for this place is the Hispanic cashier. My family and I only eat out for the same reason but lately even the owner or manager is rude. I asked her for a minute to share my bad experience with the hot noddle man next to the sushi lady and she grabbed her cell phone told me to wait because she had to place an order!!! Once she was done she wouldn’t even look me in the eye and said he said I had cut in line 🤣 not only did he have the time to go talk about me first and had all of us waiting but he also lied!!! Seems like every time I go in he wants the plate placed in a different area and makes me move it and so today I had it with him he needs to make up his mind, he insisted for a tip but dear lord nope that wasn’t going to happen!!! People get a tip when they are nice and give good service and he made my blood boil. Dear Sakura owner you need to change him to the back because other people standing next to me said the same thing about him. If it wasn’t for us he wouldn’t even have a job he needs to work on customer service or be moved. Years ago you had the most kid friendly man who would even ask how our day was going this one only pushes the stupid tip jar he has to get more money and customers don’t like that!!! It’s ok if the jar stays we see it it’s pretty BIG in my eyes. Although I know nothing is going to happen I felt it was time to share my bad experiences with that man. I do plan to return and have a different experience with someone else in...