Trapper's Sushi Co. — Restaurant in Tukwila

Good value for All-You-Can-Eat sushi buffet in Southcenter.

Pros: 😀 Delicious sushi, creative and lots of variety. 😀 Friendly and efficient service. 😀 Fun and casual atmosphere 😀 Good sushi buffet value at $35/person. 😀Generous portions 😀 Dinner buffet includes both lunch/dinner menu options.

Cons: 😟 Long-wait time for buffet 😟 Some ingredients/items may not be available due to stock and high demand.

🤓 Ken's Takeaway:

Went to Trapper's to try out their AYCE (All-You-Can-Eat) sushi dinner buffet which was $35/person (they also have a lunch buffet). When I arrived, there was already a long waiting list and my spot was saved. I hung out at the mall and the wait was about an hour and 15 minutes. Recommend to possibly call ahead of time to reserve a spot. The buffet was at the bar and not in the dining area.

When I arrived, I was seated at the bar by my server Jesse and he was very friendly and welcoming. He introduced me to sushi chef Hunter who was very attentive to my requests and menu orders. I asked him for his recommendations and he gave feedback on some of his favorites, including specialty rolls the "Trump" as well as "Miles". I was fascinated by the use of the blowtorch as he seared some of the sushi and let me take some pictures while he was preparing the rolls. I ended up ordering two appetizers (the Trappers Bites and Tempura Shrimp), two nigiris, and five rolls total.

Overall, I was very satisfied by the quality of the food and the portions were surprisingly generous! (I was amazed at the amount of pieces per specialty roll.) The different varieties were interesting and it was fun trying out the different ingredients that made up the specific rolls. I guess one of the only downsides was that they were out of some ingredients (scallop and mackerel nigiri), but that was understandable considering the demand and available stock (I was there around 7pm).

I think what was the best part of the whole experience was the value. I know $35/person might sound like a lot but if it was a standard dinner menu order, it would have cost more since some rolls started at around $12-15 each, depending on if it's special. So having a total of five rolls, two nigiri, and two appetizers was a fair amount of food for the price.

🤔 Would I come back?

Yes, I would! I think the overall quality and value that you get from the AYCE buffet is worth it, as long as you have a good appetite and craving for sushi. Don't try it out if you're not too hungry which would not make it worth the price. Also, plan ahead of time for possible long wait times and call in to see if you can save a spot.

The fun and low-key atmosphere was also very welcome and the attentiveness of the staff, both on the servers and sushi chef-side was commendable.

I had a great experience and am looking forward to coming back again for another round of AYCE and to try the other creative sushi rolls.

Special thanks to my server Jesse and sushi chef Hunter for making my experience a...

Food is great, everything else was pretty bad. They sold us on the $27.95 all you can eat. Turns out it was actually $40 when we got the bill!! Sat at the bar, took forever to get appetizers, turns out they forgot them. Dude apologized and went back to check kitchen. 10 minutes later he came back with one of our appetizers, the other was out of stock. Okay, all good, not a big deal.

You are really supposed to only order one thing at a time for the all-you-can-eat....okay, understandable. But they had pretty much ONE guy (Keegan, who was awesome BTW) making food for the entire restaurant. If there were other chefs, they weren't moving nearly as fast as Keegan. So we'd order and it'd take 5-15 minutes to actually get the food....for every plate. So it took about an hour to actually get enough food for a decent meal.....which was all we got because right before 9 they did a last call and that was it, no more food. I mean, it's closing time, so understandable, but c'mon! I just felt like we got ripped off! Bill came out to over $100 after tax and a small tip!

So if you plan on doing the "all you can eat", I'd recommend showing up at least 2 hours before close, awkwardly waiting around 10 minutes between each dish, possibly STILL not really getting "all you can eat", and then paying almost double the advertised amount!

Oh, and I forgot to mention it smelled like a gym locker room the whole time we were there. Not even joking. And NOT a clean one. Old, musty gym locker room. Maybe it was some patrons sitting near us? But I don't think so. I've never experienced a PERSON smelling like that, only an old locker room.

And then they try to "buy" good reviews by offering two free ice-cream mochis for reviews on Google specifically.

Yeah, I'd avoid this place at all costs.

The Trappers in Puyallup (Sunrise Village) is WAAAAAAAAY better!

PS: To be clear, Keegan was holding down the whole kitchen. Our waiter was nice, and the food was very good, just everything else was pretty...

It's great sitting at the sushi bar and seeing everything made fresh. The sushi chef working our section was friendly, funny, and always seemed to know when we were ready for more. He also managed to juggle table orders with ours incredibly well.

They were very accommodating for our 6 month old, sitting us at the end of the bar when we pointed out that she wasn't yet ready for a high chair and would need to stay in the stroller. All the servers who came by to pick up table orders were friendly without getting uncomfortably close to our daughter, which was wonderful.

The prices were a bit high, but I feel we got what we paid for. I docked one star for only two reasons: 1) The only way to partake in the all you can eat sushi is by eating at the bar. It makes sense for multiple reasons, but can be frustrating when you have short legs and have never found tall chairs comfortable.

2. We made it clear multiple times that one member of our group couldn't consume gluten or grain, including rice. She ordered sashimi and teriyaki chicken, and they included a serving of rice with the teriyaki even though the server knew she was the one ordering it. Thankfully it was well formed and she was able to avoid most if not all of it. We were also a little surprised that we had to ask the sushi chef for Tamari sauce (essentially the gluten free version of soy sauce). The server never suggested it. This is despite them having a gluten free menu.

By the way, if you want Tamari sauce during your visit, be sure to ask your server. We only asked our sushi chef because we realized we hadn't yet thought to ask, and he in turn had to ask our server to retrieve it from the kitchen.

All-in-all, a great experience for sushi. On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being grocery store sushi and 10 Mashiko's, I would give the cost a 6 and the quality a 7-7.5, but awareness of allergies and eating restrictions closer to a 4-5. We will certainly be returning again, but maybe not with those who might have eating...