Todai, Asian Seafood and Sushi Buffet, Fair Oaks Mall

[Kibbee Nayee]

The food in the general vicinity of Fair Oaks Mall is really dreadful, so when I had to drop off the MacBook Pro for some maintenance at the Apple store, my expectations were low. And being a Sunday, the Chik-fil-A was also closed. So I wandered around and found the international chain called Todai. It's a buffet, with sushi on one end, desserts in the middle, and hot foods on the other end, generally ranging from Japanese to Korean to Thai to Chinese, with plenty of Americanized offerings here and there. And surprisingly, I'm here to tell you, it didn't suck. It compares favorably to that buffet place close to the intersection of Rts. 50 and 28 in Chantilly, and beats the hell out of those buffet places with sickeningly lousy fried foods piled high, like King Buffet or Old Country Buffet....yukh!

First, the place was wall-to-wall packed on a Sunday afternoon, and I'm going to estimate that 70% or more of the patrons were Asians. The food is, well, Asian fusion, but not quite as annoying as the PF Chang's of the world. The sushi here is good, not great, and the slices of fish on the sushi are rather spare. The rolls are somewhat unique, a few good and a few not so good. A few of the more interesting items on the sushi table were the mixed tempura -- sort of a fried ball of flavorful surprises -- and the seafood dynamite. The tofu salad was pretty good too.

Moving to the hot items, I enjoyed the baked mussels, the chicken with cashews (nice spicy kick to it), the Korean beef, the Teriyaki chicken and the sauteed calamari (tender and flavorful).

There were ups and downs all over the place, but for $18.95 "all you care to eat" you can just spit out the downs and double-up on the ups. And kid-friendly? Anyone under 3 feet tall eats free, and under 12 years old it's half-priced.

Todai boasts locations all over California, Hawaii and Asia. Move over Tejas de Brazil and Cheeseteak Factory, whenever I'm in Fair Oaks you know where I'll be....

[tbantug]

I've seen that place, and it generally looks okay... kind of like the Walmart of Asian food. I remember hearing a good thing or two about it previously. I'll have to check it out more seriously next time I'm at the mall, which is rarely.

Seeing Asians patronize an Asian restaurant is always a good indicator of food quality. I can say that because I'm Asian and thats how we roll.

Todai boasts locations all over California, Hawaii and Asia. Move over Tejas de Brazil and Cheeseteak Factory, whenever I'm in Fair Oaks you know where I'll be....

[astrid]

Todai is a good value in its market segment. The food is all pretty fresh because of the volume of customers. The sushi and sashimi is nothing special, but they don't overwhelm the fish with rice like cheaper buffets.

[weezy]

Ate here today with a friend and thought it was pretty good. I will say I'm a bit of a sushi novice, but I do know if fish is fresh, and everything I tried had a light, sweet, clean slightly briny flavor. By happenstance, we ended up being the first arrivals at 11:30, but the place was packed by noon. Even getting there at the opening bell, I was too late to the side of the buffet line that had the eel nigiri. And by the time I remembered that I had intended to get some, I had eaten so much of everything else that it wasn't appealing to go back and try to find a piece or two. On the hot side of the buffet, they had a grilled calamari salad that was just lovely. Simple flavors and the calamari was cooked very well, a slight chewiness with no rubber band effect. Also, they a few different green mussels preparations and I think I tried them all. Meatiest mussels I've seen in ages. I also missed the udon noodle soup because I was just so unfamiliar with the layout, but next time will get some, for sure. Service, such as it was for a buffet, was very good. Every time we left the table, we came back to refilled waters and steaming hot cups of tea, dirty plates cleared, and cheerful, polite greetings, interactions and good-byes from all the staff. Eye-opening food? No. Worth $20? Yes, very much so.