Todai

GOOD RIDDANCE !!!
i got a «free» meal certificate for my birthday for this joke of a now out of business restaurant. i presented it when i went to pay and was told it required four paying additional diners at my table for the free birthday meal there was no mention of this on the coupon there is no mention on the website or any where that this was the case.
i requested they get the manager. the manager was not there so i called the corporate phone number they were no help. i paid for the meal then told everyone i know not to eat there and made sure to tell people in line to eat there about the bait and switch. all in all the food wasn’t terrible but i felt ripped off by a dishonest policy
so now they are out of business GOOD RIDDANCE !!

GOOD! F*U*C*K THIS PLACE!
You guys deserved to close! How dare you be so rude to customers, First of All. SECOND OF ALL, I DON’T KNOW HOW THEY DO IT IN YOUR COUNTRY BUT IN AMERICA, THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. At first this was a great place to eat, everything was fresh. Over time it has gotten absolutely disgusting and not to mention the workers got nasty as well.
Karma is a big fat b*i*t*c*h. thats all I have to say. Thank the lord this place closed down.

Loved this place, sad that it is now closed. They had really good shellfish, of course it wasn’t the best seafood, but for the price I think this was very good.

I am so glad this place is closed!!! Been there a few times, and they were the rudest people i have ever seen… i mean the owners /​employees at the cash register. you would go there and have diner, not to mention it wasn’t cheap if you were to go there at night, and they were not even ”ABLE” to say Thank You, hope you enjoyed your meal or HOW was your meal!!! I once told them my 2 cents and I am so glad to hear that they are now closed. i guess i wasn’t the only thinking that they were conducting poor business, and also on top of that cutting down on their selections, wich means not putting food out as they should of !
;)

Sushi buffett, it almost sounds as exciting as a Cubs pennant for a winning season. But it’s time for reality…
Well i’m gonna tell ya. I walked into Todai, this is one big place. It definitely is a buffet. But you get up to them lines, with a big plate, and you get a little excited, because you know you gonna have something you didn’t have Joe’s Bar last night. But you get there, and it all looks kinda the same. and tiny​.so tiny you can’t see the shrimp.
But ya go back to your table, and you pop one of them sushi-​nuggets in your mouth. You get a whole lotta rice. Some sauce, and feel around for it, a little fish or veggie in there.
Now you put enough of these, you gonna be okay. You gonna have some hot tea, some rice balls and enough nutrients to fill yourself until a mid-​afternoon snack.
Am I saying this is bad sushi? Actually not. But for the price, and lack of sophistication, you can do better at a roadside shanty. But you do get a nice cookie with one of them self-​affirmations inside. Guess it ain’t all bad.

Boooooo — not sure what happened to this place!
I haven’t been here in years, but recently decided to make a venture out to Woodfield a few weeks ago. I recall my prior experiences here being pretty good, but this time was just awful.
The quality of the Sushi was bad. The meats, rice and tempura was blah. On the plus side, the deserts were actually so-​so. Overall, the experience was a rip off given the prices they charge.

I used to think this place was the bomb. Until I discovered Nagoya in Naperville and Crazy II Buffet in Elk Grove. It’s inside Woodfield which helps because after you stuff your face, you can walk it off around the mall — but hopefully you’re not gonna try on clothes because your waistline may be bigger than normal post Todai.
I miss when the green tea ice cream wasn’t soft serve… and sometimes their sushi worries me because it’s just sitting out there, but for the amount of selection they have of hot and cold foods as well as soups and dessert, I still stop in sometimes with the family. Just make sure to come hungry, because the food looks and tastes 10 times better that way.

Damn you oysters… gave me food poisoning… I threw up for about 2 days before it passed… DON’T COME HERE… Over priced and the price does not even include a damn fountain drink… the hell are you thinking todai?
I’ve been here a couple times with my family and friends and regret it but I always end up coming again. The only thing worth going there for is the unagi… Everything else is sub-​par… Avoid at all costs… Many other restaurants in the area…

Long gone were the days when people used to await anxiously for the doors to burst open for lunch. What happened? As everyone noted, the sushi has drastically gone downhill in freshness and construction. I was taken aback by the seemingly small selection and the way sushi would look if it sat out all day long– yep, that’s how some of the rolls looked as I immediately averted my eyes towards my table.
The hot foods didn’t appeal to me. I loaded up on some gigantic slices of pineapple. Once my tongue was sufficiently numb from the pineapple, I hopped over for dessert. The lady making the crêpe skimped on the banana and it was essentially stuffed entirely with whipped cream. I didn’t really complain since I could eat whipped cream straight up, but I missed the days when I ordered a banana crêpe and it actually had banana in it! Such a novel idea, right? The cakes were still pretty good with the exception of the green tea cheesecake. I love me some matcha as much as the next person, but it just didn’t mesh well.
Upon paying our check, the lady ringing us up overheard me saying that it was my friend’s birthday. She was quick to offer a birthday voucher valid for three months. Now to find someone who’s willing to accompany her… nose goes!

I have eaten here about a dozen times since it opened; having worked in the area for a number of years. Now I seldom come out this way, so its been about 6 months since my last visit. I have been here 2 – 3 times for dinner and the rest of the time for lunch.
I remember this place used to be somewhat good. Now its just pathetic.
During lunch time, this place was a lot less crowded than I have ever seen it.
Gone are the many fresh roll selections, replaced with sloppily prepared rolls containing wacky combinations: Eel and Cream Cheese?
I also decided to get a hand roll (Eel). The guy grabbed a cold piece of eel from the fridge, took some rice from the roll station and slapped into a sheet of seaweed. He then remembered the sauce and reached for it from the fridge. I took one bite and spit it out.
On top of the sad ass rolls, they also turned the lights down; so the place really has a run down feel to it. Sorry for the $ 20, I can get less volume, but better rolls at Matsawa or Sea Ranch.
I wish someone would come in and straighten this place out. It’s a chain, so someone should notice the drop in customer volume and fix it.

When will I ever learn not to eat sushi at the mall? My wife and I were hungry and decided to stop here to grab something to eat. We didn’t want fast food, and the other restaurants in the mall didn’t seem to fit our mood. We ended up settling on here, and I really wish we hadn’t.
My experience was so bad that even writing this 3 days later my gag reflex is kicking in. I started off with the sushi, tried the various rolls they had, and nothing really stood out as good, I found quite a few rolls and pieces that I hated. Since the sushi wasn’t doing anything for me, I went on to the other Japanese foods they had and this is wear I had one of the worst dinning moments in my life.
I like trying new things; I’m not squeamish about what kind of meat is in my food. (IE eel, octopus, etc) So when I saw a Spicy Baby Octopus dish I thought I should try it. I’ve had octopus before and I generally like it. This stuff was so vile tasting, that I couldn’t finish my one bite. The flavor alone set off my gag reflex; I couldn’t finish chewing on the rubbery texture in order to swallow it. Thankfully I have a bit of Backwoods American in me and I was able to bring myself to spit it out into a napkin. Maybe it’s supposed to taste like that and it’s just not for my palate… honestly I can’t think of anything that they would make anyone want to eat it. It was overly rubbery even for octopus and tasted like hell.
The only thing that they had that I really did like was the Fried dumplings. They where pretty good, but not good enough to get me to go back.
The kicker was that we had a late lunch and we were told around 2:00 that they were closing and taking all the food down. I’m not sure if they where changing over to their dinner menu or if there is some health ordinance about buffets, but we found it kind of rude. Fortunately, we really didn’t want to stick around and eat much more.
In the end, I will never eat here again. Yes it’s a buffet and all you can eat, but at $ 43.00 for two people, and we could only eat $ 20.00 between the two of us, not worth the visit.

Restaurant Review
Houston we have a problem! By looking at the reviews, you can see that there has been a steady decline since opening. I remember this was the place to go for AYCE sushi with lush fresh sashimi and maki with wonderful variety of hot foods (udon noodles, fried tempura, chicken terriyaki, etc…) They have not decreased the price since opening, but continue to increase. Lunch is 15.95 on weekdays and 18.95 on weekend. Dinner 25.95 weekdays and 27.95 weekends. I found during my last visit that the fish was not very fresh with a interesting texture to it. The maki rolls were poorly made and falling apart with a healthy helping of rice. This was a weekend lunch buffet. For 18.95 they didn’t even provide sashimi. All they had was sliced salmon swimming in soy sauce. This was utterly disappointing. The only highlight was the dessert which I took a picture of and the fresh made crepes.
Pro– none
Con– way over priced, poor fish quality and maki rolls, staff was disinterested and not friendly at all
Hidden deal– On your birthday you can dine and get a voucher for a free meal at another time valid within 3 months. This is so backwards, you dine on your birthday and you can come again for another meal for free. Why not comp your birthday meal?

— Sushi bar — modest offerings. Tuna was OK but can’t say much for any others.
–Crab legs — very small, and they rarely replenish the tray. Not worth it!
— Udon station — too much broth and not enough noodles.
— Crêpe station — need to ring the bell for service even though a guy was nearby and could see me waiting.
— Hard to get someone to refill water.
— This location is far inferior to the one in Fairfax, VA which is far inferior to the one in Waikiki.
— Will not return.

I don’t see why people are rating this place low. It’s all-​you-​can eat, and it’s awesome! The quality is great (though I did go when it first opened for the day, so everything was freshly made), and the staff was very helpful. I was in sushi heaven. Only complaint I have is a lot of sushi is covered in spicy mayo when you can just put it on yourself at the end of the buffet line. But all in all, I had a fantastic lunch.

Even though I do actually really like Today, I’m giving it 3 stars.
It used to be THE sushi buffet when it first opened and for a while after. I remember waiting in 20 minutes lines just for lunch and sometimes staying after closing time to finish eating. At the udon station now, there used to be a ramen dish (at least, I think it was ramen), but I guess it wasn’t popular enough or something since it isn’t there anymore (I never tried it, so I can’t give an account as to how it tasted).
The big advantage of going here is the variety. There’s sushi and a bit of other Japanese foods like yakisoba and sukiyaki. There’s udon and miso soup, and rice (of course, duh). There’s also sashimi and sometimes raw oysters. There’s cakes and green tea ice cream, jello, tapioca pudding and crepes (I’m not sure if they still serve crepes, though). The quality, though, is okay.
The quality of the sushi has gone down over the years it seems. My mom says you can tell the quality of the place by the amount of rice that’s given – the less rice, the better. She’s pretty stingy about the rice, though, and isn’t even satisfied when there’s anything more than a sliver of rice in her food. I don’t mind too much. The variety is pretty standard for sushi. The advantage is that they have sashimi, which my mom loves, and they have unagi which I always love.
Like I said, it’s okay. I still really like the place due to the variety and I like anything as long as it tastes good. The price might turn you off, though the places I’ve been so far have been around the same price. Either higher or a little lower. Depends on your budget and what you’re willing to eat and tolerate. Try it. If you like it, then there you go! If you don’t, then you’ll be like our family and constantly looking for different places to eat (so far, it seems, my parents prefer Todai due to its variety).

While the food itself is not bad, it’s not great either. There are many other choices like Sushi Ai, Sushi Para, Wild Fish, Sun Shui, etc. that offer better sushi at cheaper prices. But if you do want to have a large party around the mall area, this isn’t a bad choice.

I recently had dinner with my boyfriend and his parents (who were all born in Japan). They had the most delicious high-​quality sashimi with fresh sushi rice and Japanese nori his father got from his «hook-​up» in Japan. During dinner we talked about sushi… they asked where I had eaten, and I named off some of the better places I’ve tried, as well as some sub-​par sushi restaurants I had been to.
I started laughing when my boyfriend’s mom said that Todai is only good for the «cute little deserts.» Yes. The cute little deserts ARE really yummy. The end.

My friend Suzy C. and I were out shopping for her dream wedding dress. When we were planning where we would go to lunch, I jokingly suggested Todai… thinking she wouldn’t want to because stuffing yourself to bursting before wedding dress shopping isn’t every ones cup of tea. She ecstatically agreed with my suggestion… and that’s why I love her.
Todai blew what was going to be a four star rating from me. Why? NO SNOW CRAB AT LUNCH. If I had known that, I might not have suggested it. Total BS…
That being said, I love me some Todai. How could you not? All I can eat sushi? All I can eat udon? All I can eat fried squid? All I can eat miso?
You get the idea.
Their sushi rolls are basic. They have the usual suspects… california rolls (dislike!), tuna, salmon skin, unagi, etc. They have a small selection of sushi pieces but since they always have my favorites, I don’t mind.
The hot food area is pretty good. But, I’m a bargain shopper and know that the money is in the sushi so I filled up on the cold stuff, mostly.
When we checked in with the host, he just started walking away… and we quickly realized we were meant to follow him. A little direction would be nice, pal. You really have to flag people down for water and such… I wish they would just put it all on the buffet so I could eliminate the servers and busers from the experience.
and… I’m still kinda pissed there wasn’t any crab…

Its been five years since I’ve been to a Todai’s restaurant. We wanted to treat ourselves to a good meal so we decided to stop by here.
The food at this restaurant was not great. They had very limited food options. I’m not a plate after plate after plate type of eater, so to get my money’s worth, I went straight for the seafood. I tried the alaskan crab legs, they were ok. The regular crab legs tasted old and dry. (I’m from CA so I know what fresh crab tastes like!!!) The stir fry food was like typical chinese food. The tempura was probably one of the better food selections. The cooked seafood was not good at all. I’ve definitely had better. The dessert was mediocre. The green tea ice cream was just green colored ice cream. The crêpe was made really fast and may have tasted better if I hadnt chosen banana as my filling. The fruit may have been the freshest food out of the entire buffet.
There is a lot of seating, and the service was pretty good. However, I would choose NOT to come here if you have another restaurant in mind. I should have known better that the seafood here was not going to be fresh because its the midwest and NOT the west coast!!!
By the way, the buffet does NOT include drinks. I thought that was totally ridiculous.

Perfectly average sushi at huge quantities. Dinner includes crab legs, oysters, and other shellfish, but you better hurry — because inevitably, some greedy oompa loompa kid or his/​her equally greedy oompa loompa parent will go and jack all of it before you get a chance to even get one serving.
As others have alluded to, lunch is a better deal. But I’m surprised that so many of you are surprised by the pricing of dinner. They have to recoup their losses from the greedy oompa loompa families that flock to this place like fleas to a stray dog. I kid, halfway. Some of those food items are a little pricier in real life.
Dinner hot items are alright — there’s usually a pretty decent selection of chinamerican food to pick from, as well as some items that are more geared toward a far eastern palette.
Service is subpar. It’s clear that none of them have had any formal restaurant training where being a competent waitress or waiter is a must to maintain their jobs and/​or substantive tips. Since they pool tips and split them, they can split my generous tips of 0 dollars quite easily between as many people as they want. I usually find that after asking 2 — 3 times, I get the point across that «hey, I’d like some more iced green tea.»
The shining spot of this place is going to be the dessert selection. Crepes are decent, the tiramisu isn’t horrible, and some of the cheesecakes are tasty.
There are much better all you can eat options in the city such as Para II, or even House of Sushi and Noodle.