Ginza Japanese Buffet & Hibachi

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Mediocre at best Japanese buffet in Aventura. We were thinking buffet/Japanese steak house or buffet/Mongolian BBQ. We were wrong.


What we had:




Not the best ever. The nigiri and sashimi were pretty good--standouts of the meal for sure. You might want to veer clear I'd the pepper-encrusted salmon nigiri (in the picture, it's on the far left right above the sushi gap) it blew the crap out of my palette.

The maki rolls were a bit "spicy" (read: mayo-laden and not at all spicy) and fatty.

The Chinese dishes were uninspired and greasy at best; downright gross at worst.

The raw seafood was mostly tasteless with icky shrimp.

The fried snacks were not great--the rangoons and calamari were a special level of 'dear god what have I put in my mouth?'. Of note: the exception to all this greasy, weird-tasting mess were the sesame balls with red bean paste, which are always a favorite of mine.

My DH was excited to have ice cream for dessert. Aside from his favorite cookie flavor, they had a rum something, green tea and red bean. I had another sesame ball and fresh fruit for dessert.


Décor:

Tourist Japanese.


Service:

Buffet-style in kimonos.


Overall impressions:

Ummm.... no. We were hoping for Japanese steakhouse-style Hibachi; we knew better than to even get a quarter hope up for Mongolian BBQ--SoFla seems to have never heard of the goodness that is picking a bowl of your desired ingredients, adding sauces and spices to taste, and handing the whole shebang over to the Hibachi cook who expertly cooks your selection and scoops it into a bowl for your happy consumption.

What is up with Japanese buffets serving Chinese food? Japan has a rich and varied culinary tradition. I think people are ready. Let's just do away with insipid, gloppy fake Chinese food geared toward fat Americans. Actual Japanese food FTW!


Rating:

2.25 out of 5 salamanders

If you wind up here, stick to the sashimi and dessert.




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