Hokkaido Seafood Buffet

Address:
2200 Bridgepointe Pkwy
San Mateo, CA 94404
(650) 212-2688

The two of us went there for lunch today. $10.99 per person.

The selection was good but the quality was very disappointing. The hot dishes are on par with Indulgence buffet in Belmont but the sushi at Indulgence buffet are better. Todai in Cupertino has better food. Here are some specifics:

Food that were okay:
- Hot and sour soup
- Tandoori chicken wings
- Buns with red bean and buns with yellow filling
- Cherry tomatoes
- Sticky rice with pork covered in lotus leaf
- Edamame (Japanese beans)

Disappointments:
- Any dish with shrimp - the shrimps were all soft and falling apart. Not sure whether they were overcooked/re-cooked or just spoiled. No taste either.
- Any sushi with fish - fish did not taste fresh at all - a little rubbery and with a strange taste
- Sushi with sea weed - we love sea weed but their sea weed had a weird taste and smell
- Mussels - smelled spoiled
- Deep-fried imitation scallops and crab claws - no taste of scallop or crab - they were deep-fried flour
- Jellyfish - similar to unchewable plastic bag
- Short ribs - no meat, just fat
- Broiled salmon - the meat was white so we weren't sure it was salmon; strangely enough, it was sour and tasteless at the same time
- Tofu - looked like tofu except it tasted like rectangular fish ball, only it tasted terrible
- "Tofu skin" roll - another tough-to-chew dish
- Melon - no taste; cantaloupe - too ripened
- I expected shrimp dumplings but I didn't see any. They would probably taste horrible anyway.

We went there because the TV commercial made the food look really delicious. During the meal and afterward, we regretted going here instead of going to the Korean BBQ in Santa Clara.

I don't know how much the restaurant paid for the ingredients - but it must be very, very little. We hate wasting food - that's why we always sample a small portion of only the dishes we want first. At this buffet, even with this approach, we ended up wasting quite a bit of food because the food was just that bad. We will never go there again.

Palace BBQ Buffet - Review

Address:
1092 E El Camino Real
Sunnyvale, CA 94087
(408) 554-9292

We went there a couple of times for lunch. About $15 per person.

Excellent beef - lean, fresh, well marinated. Of the cooked food, you must try the following:
- Seaweed soup
- Rice noodles with sesame and a little sea weed
- Sweet dessert tea with rice at the end.

The squid is hard to barbecue well. Save room for the short ribs.

- Remember to ask the servers to change the grill once it gets charred - about two rounds of BBQ
- Remember to wear old clothes - they will have a strong BBQ smell afterward

It's the best buffet we have tried in the bay area. The only drawback is the lack of selection, though we pick quality over selection any day. The quality here is outstanding. We will definitely visit again.

Little Sheep Mongolia Hot Pot

Address:
34396 Alvarado Niles Rd
Union City, CA 94587
(510) 675-9919
www.littlesheephotpot.com

Four of us went that night and the total bill was $80 (including tips).

The soup base is excellent. Make sure you get the half-and-half (half plain and half spicy). If you don't finish the soup, you can take the soup home, which we did - we ended up re-using the spice in the soup for about a month (of course, we have to add our own chicken soup).

It is a little expensive because you pay by the dish - even though each dish is not expensive, the portion is not that big - the prices add up quickly. Everything tasted good but not too filling - it would be too expensive to have a full meal.

Try the lamb and the beef. The beef meat balls are also good. I don't recommend the beef "pan cake"/"pizza" - not as special as expected.

Be sure you get there early and get a ticket before going shopping in the supermarket or the Daiso. We forgot to get a ticket and ended up waiting for 1.5 hours. When we left at about 9:30pm, there were STILL people waiting at the door.

We would give it 4 stars if the portions were larger.