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| - 2.5 stars.
I didn't expect the place to be so packed! We got seated a little while after our reservation time but I know the 20 or so people standing at the door weren't so fortunate. A server came by to our table to take our first orders when we haven't gotten a chance to look at the menu yet. There were clearly not enough servers for a fully packed medium-large sized restaurant so I felt lucky enough we got service so fast. Too bad the fast service didn't matter because half of our orders never came! We told the same server to check up on the food a good 20 minutes later and again, some of our orders were never came again. The rolls we ordered at the beginning finally came when we were already eating dessert. They definitely need to hire more staff on weekends and have a better system of keeping track of orders.
Some of the food were pretty good and some were just a fail for my standards. Here are some of my thoughts:
Handrolls = rice way too soft, seaweed not crispy, felt really mushy
Sashimi = the sweet shrimp was really underwhelming, some i could taste like it just came out of the freezer, standard AYCE quality
Mango roll = my biggest disappointment, the one at Tenichi is miles better
Tempura = a little too dry, otherwise average quality
Steak cubes w/ garlic = on par with other AYCE places I've been to
Kalbi ribs = not juicy, more on the dry side but it was marinated at least
Jumbo grilled shrimp = one of the highlights of the night, full of flavour
Agedashi tofu = good
Zaru soba = the quality of the soba was better than i expected for an AYCE
Unagi rice = very tiny portion of rice, good
Udon = soup base had a ton of flavour to it, better than average
Desserts = average quality
I usually don't order drinks which cost extra, but the watermelon juice was very good, albeit, a little pricey. I also loved how small the portions were because you get to try more variety of food.
So to summarize, I've been to other Japanese AYCE restaurants that charge a similar price but have gotten much better service and food. I will most likely not visit Matsuda on a busy night again simply because I don't like chasing for my orders to come. If you're more patient than me or don't mind this type of service, I guess the food isn't too bad to not give them a try.
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