Minato Japanese Seafood Buffet

I enjoyed the sushi buffet. It’s a good value for your dollars. Not the best, but not that expensive. You pay for what you get.

Food is just ok nothing awesome, lobster on weekend is nonsense they gave as like 2 small piece that’s it isnt this a buffet?$!# dirty plates takes some time before they take it and funny thing is during this visit there were customers who run away and di not pay their bill… what an experienced for a first visit to this restaurant.

Food:
There’s no sashimi. Only those rolls that filled with cucumber or imitation crab. Yet have salmon sushi, but that tray was emptied for 15 plus min, but the time it was filled up only 3 were left. The hot food were oily, very unhealthy. And the dessert was dried.
The guy that did the noodle, he wasn’t there. I waited for 5 mins, and what made it worst, there was a guy that stood there but didn’t help or said a single word. He can’t speak English. Turned out he was not the cook and he needed to find the cook. He could b Ave told me instead of just having me staring at him and wondering why he didn’t grab my plate.
I gave them 10% tips. Should be no tips at all. Just bad experience, you pay for what you get

Sigh… I don’t even know how to rate this place @___@
Friday night dinner $ 16.99 and I used Unilocal!check in 10% off discount
Went in around 8:20pm, the host was super nice and friendly, the waitress came right away to greet us and place the lobster order for us.
Walked around the food station, again and again try to find something to eat. There were 2 fried shrimp left, dried steamed dimsim, grilled fish with only bones left, empty plates, some sashimi and some rolls (like other Unilocaler said, they are all California roll based with different topping or sauce)
I finally had some tapanyaki noodle and General Tsao’s chicken.
The food selection was really bad for my taste, but I did saw them refilled the fresh oyster, stirred fried crab and mussel. Maybe they stopped cooking hot food after 8:30 being the restaurant close at 9:30pm.
Although the food was NO GOOD, but all people there were really nice, our drinks were never close to empty, the dirty plates were removed immediately. We appreciated their service and left a big tip. But for the restaurant wise, no plan for a second visit.

If I could put down 0 stars I would.
Cons:
— can’t speak English
— sushi was like frozen ice tasting like fish
— Chinese food taste like lukewarm oily dirt
Pros:
— open
I hope this place stays in business, but I hope they never net a profit. New ownership blows.

When I first reviewed this place back in 2013, I didn’t see Minato as a «common low quality Asian buffet.» I do now. Why? Food quality.
Their sushi quality has degraded immensely. The rolls served during lunchtime are now extremely similar. They’re almost always California Rolls with something different inside and outside each roll (i.e. cream cheese, radish, etc.) They also serve different nigiri compared to what they used to serve a year ago during lunch. They’re the fairly common nigiri (imitation crab stick, egg, etc.) rather than actual fish nigiri. I swear, they used to have better nigiri.
They also placed new Asian salads next to the sushi. 95% sure they’re all pre-​packaged salads, but I gave the tripe a chance. Grew queasy after.
I can’t comment on the general food that they have. I tend to stick with the sushi for the most part at Minato. I did notice they have a new rotating display that keeps food warm. I saw pizza in it.
I’m also irked at how dirty this place has become. Plates and bowls aren’t cleaned properly. Disgusting food specks here and there.
They did lower the price of lunch to $ 7.99, which I figured may be the reason why the food quality went down. But I don’t think the new price justifies the new food.
One reviewer stated that this place is under new management. It looks like it’s downhill from here.

Used to be called something else. Doesn’t matter, food and service sucks.
After my grandma’s funeral, my family just decided to invite all our guests here instead of laboring and cooking at home. A bit more expensive, but saves us time.
There was one server who was giving everyone an attitude. Please. We just wanted our drink orders. Next thing you know, she drew on a cardboard box and announced for everyone to just get their own drinks.
As for the food, I got sick. Super sick to be exact. I got massive food poisoning. Vomiting, diarrhea, fever, chills. You name it. I’m guessing it was from their oysters.
Also, if you do wait for the lobster, these workers are beyond rude as [bad word goes here]. They limit you to one lobster tail. Make more, idiots. The lady had the nerve to yell at my own mom, «NO!» and the lady even smacked the tong’s out of my mom’s hand with her metal tongs. RUDE. RUDE. RUDE. RUDE. It’s a damn buffet. You don’t need a damn security guard. If you do, have a security guard at the ice cream station because the floor around there is stick as [insert bad word here].
Probably won’t come here again. Rude staff. Horrible service. Food that will give you food poisoning. I have a doctor’s note to even prove my illness.

READ BEOFRE EATING AT THIS RESTAURANT
i just live around the corner close to this buffet resturant so i have been here for few times already. When this restaurant was just FRESH and NEWLY OPENED about 2 years ago–
the food were A+ OK, they would serve everything in fresh esp sushi sashimi etc and HOT for hot foods. everything was flavorful, i would really recommend it to my friends that they had the best asian buffet around the corner.
cleanliness– bout 4 — 4.5 fairly acceptable, someone would clean the dirty area quickly. could barely see dirt.
service– 3 – 4 understaff due to HIGH VOLUME of customers. some servers are slow. when you try to call some of them they would TRY NOT TO LOOK at you just to avoid you. ok no problem with that cuz i would give any tip if that was the case.
so here is my PRESENT REVIEW ATE HERE YESTERDAY 1÷7÷2015
FOOD– awful, NOT FRESH seems like they recycled it from yesterday’s leftover/​lunch time. sushi was VERYY SOGGY, would fall appart easly. sashimi guaranteed NOT FRESH. food are not that hot. was already kinda cold-​warm. SOUP– oh my gosh very dirty area. seems like nobody cleaned it. the soup container was OPEN exposed to air so i dont know if any fly went inside the soup. very unhygenic practice.
didnt even bothered looking at the salad bar b/​c doesnt seem appealing at all.
DESSERT– EXPOSED TO OPEN AIR VERY DIRTY AREA. nobody tries to maintain it clean! horrible. not enough serving clamps/​thongs for the cakes etc.
chocolate fountain NOT WORKING. you have to DIP the marshmallow INSIDE THE LARGE BOWL of chocolate — how UNHYGENIC IS THAT??? chocolate was almost hardened. maybe it wasnt change for days already. FRUITS were all over the trays ohmy gosh please can some one fix this problem. few banana were in the melon tray etc swapped sharing of serving spoon. DIRTY SERVING SPOON. seems like we are getting E. COLI for their UNHYGENIC PRACTICES!!!
cleanliness of the place and service– if i could give 0 stars then i would. VERY CLUTTERED, unhygenic, there are peices of food on the floor, seems like nobody has vaccumed the place for YEARS. very unappealing to eat with dirty area!
service became WORST, waitress WOULDNT LOOK AT YOU even you are calling then for drink refill. but if you call to ask for bill they would get back very quickly.
restroom– VERY VERY VERY DIRTY wet floor, sink, and one of the toilets is clogged. tissues on the floor.
NOW YOU GUYS KNOW THE REASON WHY THERE ARE NO PEOPLE LINING UP FOR THIS RESTAURANT compared to when it first started. their service and hygine practice WENT THE OPPOSITE WAY when they first started this business. i hope FOOD departmebt will do random check at this place.

This is the absolute last resort. Don’t ever come here unless you are starving. They had baked lobster — which they wouldn’t put out — they actually took it away in front of me. I had to ask for one. It wasn’t that good. All the food was lukewarm and old. So bad. Old dry sushi. $ 18 per person for this nightmare? Yeah, no way. Even the green tea was served weak and expensive.
This is probably the worst Asian-​style food I’ve had in years. Even Panda Express would be a step up.
The hot and sour soup was good.

I found a COCKROACH in my food and they did not apologize or anything. They just looked at the thing and took my plate. And at check out they still made me pay! Unbelievable! This is my first time here and it will surely be my last. I made this account and wrote my first review because this is the only time i actually feel like i need to say something about a certain establishment. Dont come here unless you have a taste for roaches. Seriously, i almost threw up when i spotted it. Horrible service at this place. I noticed the girls at the front were laughing after i paid and walked out… horrific first time experience at this buffet…

WARNING: EAT AT OWN RISK.
I would give this place a negative 5 if I could. If you look at the 3^rd page of photos, I posted a picture of a bug that was found among my food in the green beans. Needless to say, I lost my appetite and complained to the waiter (who barely spoke english) All he did was apologize and make some BS excuse that pest control came in the previous day. He talked to his «manager» who didn’t even come out and apologize to my party. All they offered was 2 percent off of our bill. DO NOT EAT HERE. THIS PLACE IS DESPICABLE. unless you like friendly critters in your food i suggest not to eat here.

For the 17.99 price on Sunday it was OKAYYY, but not something that I would be itching to go back for. I ate mainly sushi, and while the salmon was delicious, the rolls weren’t all that spectacular. Ahi ahi was delicious as always. Service was okay dice all they did was full our waters once and take plates. Place looked clean too.
All in all if you’re in the area and want a decent amount of options then go ahead, check this place out.

5-​stars for the sushi variety (a pretty big bar) and quality. I pretty much loaded up on my favorite rolls, sided my dish with a lot of ginger, wasabi, and then topped with seaweed salad (delish!). The sushi chefs tend to drizzle most of the rolls with sauce (i.e. Sriracha-​ranch sauce), which I appreciate taste-​wise but definitely not calorie-​wise. Each were mouthfuls of heaven :)
4-​stars overall due to the desserts, which are overly sweet but with a strange taste and quality that I can’t describe… maybe it’s the un-​authentic ingredients. For example, the chocolate fountain, like all that exist in buffets, doesn’t even taste like real chocolate because they’re incredibly diluted with water. At least they provide the wooden sticks for you to dunk anything into the fountain (did I mention I accidentally dropped strawberries and chunks of banana into the fountain??? 3 times, actually). The pastries and mini cake slices even tasted bland for what you’d expect from desserts (they have mini cream puffs, rice pudding, chocolate cake, and fruits).
I haven’t tried the Grill, but it looks pretty good, and the fact that they have one adds more food choices to the menu, which would make certain people happier.
The salad bar is pretty much ignored. There’s huge chunks of watermelon and huge crab legs (dinner only, I believe) and shrimp (cocktail sauce, ketchup, and the like available) near the salads, too.
I would come here mostly for the sushi (yum!) — can’t complain about all-​you-​can-​eat sushi!
A friend came to join our party later on (probably half an hour after we sat down), but wasn’t charged (on the house) in the end! Such kind-​hearted people ^_​^ The service (waiters coming to take our plates) is 5-​star; they came pretty often to make sure our plates were cleared right away.

Buffet food usually sucks but this place is pretty damn good. It has a huge selection of Asian food and desserts. Came during lunch and dinner and both times I left satisfied.
Service is okay.
If you come during lunch hours it’s only $ 10 but oysters, lobsters, crab legs are only served during dinner time (dammit) !
The sushi is good here! Worth the price!

Gahh, came back for another family reception. My stomach hates me. The runs set in a few hours later, with this place being the only thing I ate beforehand.
–_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​-​’

After shopping at the Westfield Mall, we decided to give Minato a visit for lunch last week. It’s located across the street from the mall on Vincent Street with ample parking provided. We were pleasantly surprised that they have changed, presenting better quality and more choices. Last time we visited was several years ago, but it was under a different name and ownership. We came on Sunday and the place was fairly busy, but still able to get seating for a party of five. Clean, bright atmosphere… the setup is slightly similar to before, but the food stations are now along the wall versus scattered in the center creating a better flow of traffic.
For a buffet, the quality of the sashimi was spot on, everything was fresh and delicious. Unfortunately, the hand-​rolls and sushi rice was not the best I have had, not well made and small. Seafood was better than I expected. The baked lobster, snow crabs legs and baked crabs were terrific. I really enjoyed the baked crabs. Most were females filled with fatty, scrumptious roes (crab eggs) and a great delicacy. Not as big, but unlimited option surely made up for it. The highpoints for me were the fabulous choices of cooked meat. Both the Peking duck and New York Steak were perfectly cooked and succulent. The steak was freshly prepared and cooked teppanyaki style. You can actually see them cooking it behind the glass window. Along with a nice selection of decadent cakes and pastries for dessert, the chocolate fountain fondue station was delightful treat. Skewered fresh strawberries and marshmallows doused in heavenly melted chocolate were irresistibly yummy.
Overall, everything was good. Price was reasonable for what you get ($ 18 each with drink) and better than most Asian buffets that I’ve visited in San Gabriel Valley. The food was fresh and constantly being prepared. Great services — staff was quick and efficient coming by regularly to refill our drinks and take away our used plates. It definitely warrants a return visit when you’re in the mood to pig out.

I thought this place looked familiar. Years ago, it was a buffet under a different name, with a slightly different layout. It resembled every other Asian buffet in SoCal. Very forgettable. I’m not sure when they changed their name and theme to a sushi dominant buffet, but to me, it’s an improvement.
While I was in the West Covina area, I needed to fuel up for a day of furniture shopping, so I thought gluttony was the way to go. Using my trusty Unilocal app, I found this place. Seems like reviews were all over the place, but settled at an average of 3 stars. Acceptable and expected.
The dining area is divided by a walkway highlighted by electric blue lights that should be used at a rave. To the left, larger tables for parties, families or as I can imagine, some people could reserve this area for a private party. To the right is where the buffet stations are with mostly smaller tables.
On one station, there are several types of sushi offered. For the most part, the flavor wasn’t bad, but nothing popped out to wow us. What looked like spicy tuna was not spicy at all. But a quick dip in their potent wasabi was more than enough to clear any sinus.
They also offer hot dishes:
Pork ribs: didn’t try, looked dry and hard
Korean BBQ chicken: dry, hard and not sure what’s so Korean about it
Terayaki chicken: tender, tasty and no terayaki taste at all
Chili filet of sole: sweet, tender, very good but where’s the kick of the chili?
Their soups were good, hot, light, not greasy.
Didn’t try their Mongolian grill, although I saw several people get steak w/​stir fried noodles. I can’t imagine the steak to be great quality.
Overall, this place isn’t bad, and I’m also giving it a 3. Items are hit & miss so you’ll have to try and decide. Ethnic dishes like the Korean BBQ or Thai chicken didn;t taste anything like what they claim to be. But some are still decent.
Notes:
* For the wasabi, if the color is darker on top, that means it’s been sitting in the fridge overnight. Dig a little to get the lighter green parts.
* Check in on Unilocal to get 10% off on one plate. It’s $ 10. for lunch on weekdays (cheap!) minus another dollar.
* On that note, don’t expect great quality. It’s very average, some dishes are better than others. Hey, it’s a buffet so you can experiment.
* As for desserts, although they look colorful & tempting, some cake slices are dry. (from the fridge) I passed on most.
* Lunch rush seems to start at 12:30. Go earlier for faster service.
I haven’t tried their weekend menu, and not really in a rush to do so. But judging from their packed weekday lunch rush, weekends may be just as busy, though at a higher price.

Sad to say it’s not even a year since my review and I’m writing this one.
Minato has fallen way below my previous review. When they used to offer only fresh ingredients now it’s bordering on scary you might get food poisoning. It’s been a few times when their deep fried crab legs smelled awful and yet I gave them a chance, but I can not in good conscience leave my 4 star review up when it can be deceiving to my fellow Unilocalers, coz not only is the food quality lacking, the service has slacked off big time. It’s time for me to find another AYCE fix.

This restaurant is just another Chinese knockoff to make people think that it is a Japanese Buffet like Ichiban. The quality of the food is similar to Zen Buffet but, you get better than average Sashimi and Sushi for a buffet. The food selection is quite limited though:
[Good Part]
Sushi — This is their main strength as the Sushi had good presentation and tasted good.
Salmon Sashimi — Not bad quality. I like the presentation.
Snow Crab and most other Seafood — They were stocked most of the time and there was no need to keep waiting like some other places. Other than the claims I found the quality is pretty good for a buffet
[Mediocre Part]
The dessert — Looks good, but is stored in freezing cold temperatures and some of the cakes have too much sugar.
Mongolian BBQ — Not bad at all. They cut the steaks very thin, but the vegetables aren’t too fresh.
[Foods to Avoid]
Fruit — Almost all the fruit was no good except the melons; even the bananas were dark and looked inedible.
Tuna Sashimi– Way too cold and is a low quality.
[Missing]
Roast Beef — This is first time I didn’t see this item on a Chinese Dinner Buffet.
Forks — There’s none in the tray, so you must ask your server for one.

After a morning business appointment in West Covina that went into the afternoon. My wife and I were eager and ready for a wholesome lunch. Our adviser and friend, Frank, recommended the nearby Minato Japanese Seafood Buffet.
We were anxious and excited to try this lunch buffet. It’s remarkably pleasant, clean and beautiful inside. Plenty spacious booths and tables in two sections of the restaurant.
There’s an amazing range of traditional and favorite hot and cold dishes. Freshly prepared variety of sushi. salad bar, Mongolian BBQ, variety of fish, vegetables, desserts and a fabulous chocolate fountain.
Our lunch buffet was $ 9.99 each. An affordable price for such a phenomenal lunch.
Thanks for the recommendation Frank. You have always steered us in the right direction. That’s why I listen to you.
«Attaboy Frank!»