Rachel's Review: Sakura Buffet

To begin with I've eaten at almost every Asian restaurant in the county. I have 3 that are my favorites. Each one is different in its own way. One has great sushi. One is always fresh. And the last has great flavor. Depending on my mood, I will pick my Asian meal for the week, only because I can’t go longer than that without my chopstick fix.

I have to laugh right now because if the title of this review. My personal note to self has always been to completely avoid anything that ends in “buffet". When Sakura Buffet opened, I was very hesitant to try it. There was no way you were getting me into a buffet.
However one of my customers at work said it’s not bad and Sakura’s has a good deal on Wednesdays and Sundays for everything at $6.99. So I thought it over and went there on a Wednesday evening. I mean for $6.99, I could eat my weight in sushi, or whatever floated my boat at the time. Hey, it’s cheaper than some value meals at Mickey Dee’s.

My first visit to Sakura Buffet was met with hesitance and after arriving a generally more relaxed feeling. I was quite afraid the old restaurant would be like its predecessors. However Sakura’s building is now more updated, modern, and has much newer amenities than it used to. The buffet is quite large, and has a good variety to choose from. You can have fresh sushi, Chinese food from the steam tables, or hibachi style meals made in front of you from another station. You can pick from at least 3 to 4 different soups, or finish your meal with many of the pre-made sweets at the dessert station. Oh and for those of you that like ice cream, well, you can hand dip it from 3 different flavors.

The staff there is helpful; they keep your glass filled and are quick to remove old plates from your table. Of the three visits that I’ve made, the restaurant has been mostly clean. Everything is pretty fresh. However, only one of my visits was a true success. The other two visits left me feeling a tad bit uneasy. I left feeling overly full, and not as satisfied as I really thought I should be after eating. The food is not bad, it’s just not excellent. It is exactly what you would find at any clean buffet. It’s so-so. There really was not any single dish that had that wow factor, except for the vast amounts of food you could eat for the small price.

I wish I could say I am definitely going to try Sakura Buffet again, but I think I am going to stick with my original idea of nixing the word “buffet” from my list of choices in a restaurant. Sakura Buffet isn’t bad, I would just rather pay a little more for something incredibly good, than a smaller amount for just so-so food. Like I said, I tried Sakura Buffet three times, and only once was everything just great. That’s not great odds for me. I tried my hardest too. Maybe I’m just a food snob? Probably. But as the old adage goes, quality is better than quantity. And that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me, Rachel at rachelc@valleyvoicenews.com Sakura Buffet is located at 624 Parkway, Sevierville, TN 37862