Little Buddha — Restaurant in Town of Clarkstown

Firing the enthusiasm of dining out, the family gathered to travel up two hours and twenty-eight minutes to eat at Little Buddha where we occasionally have family dinner as a way to spend time together. It holds memories of celebrations to birthdays, meal specials, anniversaries and so on.

You’re in for a treat! Going from drinking at a bar and watching sports games on the big screen to being entertained by your food being cooked in front of you; Little Buddha is a restaurant situated in the heart of the Palisades Mall surrounded by many beloved diners near and other engaging locations that provide sources of entertainment. It is the most favored and treasured restaurant for people who find pleasure in cuisines or trying something new.

As you make an entrance to the opening of the restaurant you are welcomed by a beautiful setting, an enjoyable fusion of unique ancestry stones and artifacts. The wait staff were friendly and efficient, doing daily checkups and informing when the tables will be ready. Wait time is quick and efficient, they’re already in preparation for you and/or the group to an opening table. There’s reasonable prices so be prepared; because of their foresight for situations that do occur for that reason, there are benches by and outside of the restaurant.

From muted colors to a pop of colors on lanterns on standby, the decor was simple yet inviting. The floor titles complement the different shades of gray and beige brown bricks. With overhead lights hitting the hibachi stove, it directs your attention to captivate your gaze on fresh food being cooked. Despite the atmosphere being calm and warm, it was bustling with energy from diners happily chatting and laughing. There were tables that could hold two groups of ten from the front and back.

The menu offers a wide variety of mouth-watering starters. It ranges from the traditional Japanese noodles to seafood courses, soup, and meat. There isn’t a signature dish, every dish is unique and brings out a different taste from one another. I had the Filet Mignon Carpaccio. The filet mignon was sliced and seared with hot oil, topped with scallion ginger, garlic, and house soy sauce. It was exquisite.

However, the main course consisted of the famous Thai coconut curry with Hibachi salmon cooked in a sauce that had a kick to it followed by fried ice cream for dessert. It had a warm crunchy and a cold, creamy interior. The combination of the textures and temperatures can be quite delicious. The service accompanied the high quality of the cooking. You get a smile from the waitresses and cooks, servers being knowledgeable in their menu, informed and are on top of things if someone didn’t get their meal.

Despite the high price from certain food items on the menu, I had a pleasant dining experience with food of the most taste bud exploding flavors. They were so attentive and detail-oriented, making it a truly one of a kind experience. It was a 5/5 impression — the restaurant had a modern but authentic touch to it. It is a great local spot to...

My family and I loved coming here, however, our experience on Thursday, 10/24/24 ruined that. Our hibachi chef, who we’ve had before but unfortunately don’t know his name, has always been great with my family. We have multiple young kids and an adult in our family who are autistic and this chef ALWAYS knows how to make them smile while being polite despite their disability. The one waitress who was there (around 8PM, to be fair, she was the only waitress there and there were two hibachi tables full of people, ours included), aside from taking our order and collecting our bill, she only came back twice- once because I flagged her down and the second time to bring ice cream for my nephew for his birthday. When we ordered, she was annoyed that some of the kids didn’t order hibachi. When she got to my father, she rolled her eyes and said “ok so no hibachi why are you sitting here?” despite him not having ordered yet. She didn’t come back the entire meal. The only time she came back was when she saw my dad give the hibachi chef a tip directly. She didn’t even ask us how everything was or if we needed anything, she just stood there until we asked for a refill. She started to get annoyed with us because she was getting confused by our drink orders despite holding a pen and pad where she could have written it down. Later, my nephew got up to go to the bathroom where she came out of nowhere and stopped him, told him “HEY. SIT DOWN”. I looked her in the eyes and said “Well that was rude.” and she just rolled her eyes and turned on the birthday music.

the manager who always greets us on our way out because we go there often asked if everything was okay when I told him the waitress was rude. I did see him immediately go over to the waitress to talk so at least there’s that. the hibachi chef, again, was amazing and deserves all three of these stars for himself. the other two, to make it five stars, unfortunately were stomped on by...

As a family of four, we decided to try Little Buddha at the Palisades Center for a lunch outing. The ambiance was quite nice and it seemed like a promising experience initially. We ordered the Hibachi lunch, which appeared to be a popular choice.

Our waitress asked us twice about any potential food allergies we might have. This seemed a bit unusual at the time but we didn't think too much of it. The food, especially my chicken Hibachi, tasted genuinely good. However, it was the post-meal effects that have led me to pen this review.

Approximately an hour after the meal, all of us - myself, my child and the grandparents - felt an unusual fatigue. I was so exhausted I needed a two-hour nap, which is very uncharacteristic of me, especially in the middle of the day. My child developed a severe headache and also needed a nap. The grandparents too, developed a headache and required a a post-lunch nap.

Connecting the dots, I can't help but surmise that the food was loaded with MSG, hence the repeated questions about allergies. The food did taste very good but the aftermath was akin to a hangover, which is the last thing you expect from a lunch outing.

While I acknowledge the good taste and efforts of the restaurant, I cannot ignore the uncomfortable and troubling aftermath we experienced. It's important to consider the overall well-being of the customers and I believe Little Buddha could take some more measures in this regard.

As much as I'd like to recommend the place for its taste, I'm compelled to caution prospective visitors about our experience. Unfortunately, given this experience, we don't plan on returning. We truly hope that Little Buddha takes note and works on rectifying these issues by giving fair notice if they plan to load up the...