Journey Sushi & Seafood Buffet

Unexpected surprise, a decent seafood buffet in Madison, good service and attentive staff. The ambience was to be expected, family oriented. The surprise was they have decent sushi! If your ever in middle America give them a try!

The buffet has a variety of stations, a decent size and quality for the Madison area. You have your sushi station with sashimi that’s cut against the grain *doh!*, sushi that doesn’t taste fresh, and deep fried rolls that are unappealing because they’ve been fried and are sitting in a cool sushi trays. Even the kimchi, diakon and edamame have a mild fish taste to them.
Keep your eye out for the salad bar where they serve shucked oysters with lemon wedges.
The hot buffet trays carry your standard Chinese fare (fried rice, lo mein, Governor Tso’s Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Chicken and Broccoli, etc) and your typical American dishes to appease to the Midwesterner’s taste, such as mac and cheese, pizza, french fries, and egg rolls.
I actually like the soup station where they have the crowd-​pleasing Hot and Sour Soup, miso soup, but they have a tapioca ‘soup’, which is a warm, sweet dessert soup that has a light condensed milk-​like flavor.
They carry some dim sum items such as pan fried dumplings, red bean paste bao zi, shumai, and Chinese sugar donuts.
I love Phở Station! Although there is no raw slices of beef for your piping hot Phở, there is a lovely staff there to flash cook the rice noodles for you along with a soy boiled egg, tripe, or meatball. She ladled two flavorful stock to which I topped with cilantro, lime wedges, onions, jalapenos, green onions, and basil. The basil here are chopped, I wish they would leave the leaves on the stem because there’s becomes too much garnish floating around in the bowl later.
For around $ 13, they do not skimp on the seafood. There’s cocktail shrimp, fried shrimp, breaded shrimp, (starting to sound like Bubba), stuffed crab shells, and crab legs — all of which they continually replenish.
There’s also a Mongolian Grill station if you want the freshest stir-​fry.
End your glutton with a soft serve cone! Swirl-​it-​yourself, or pick up a mini container of packaged ice cream if you are swirl-​challanged ;O)

This wasn’t the worst buffet I’ve had, but it wasn’t more than okay, and the price was far too high for the quality. The sushi, which was what I was most interested in, had that dry, chewy consistency that says, «I’m not fresh — you should leave me alone.» The other seafood was okay, but all of the dishes had the muddied flavor that suggests that more care could have been taken with, for example, cleaning the shellfish.

Do not eat here. I ate here once with a work colleague and put it this way within 45mins from being back in the office we both had the full journey end to end. Food tastes ok but instant food poisoning didn’t sit to well with me. I have no idea how they stay in business.

I had an A-​OK experience at Journey, let me tell you about it.
Selection. Largest selection of items at a buffet around. There are at least 6 buffet lines ranging from sushi to salad to dessert to soup.
Sushi. Once again, largest selection of sushi at buffet I have ever seen. I am allergic to shellfish so I am limited in my selection, but, the spicy salmon rolls and the veg rolls were a favorite. The staff were knowledgeable in directing me to what I could and could not eat. They were willing to make something specific for me to accommodate my allergy.
Something I would have wanted to see was food with a bit more kick to them. A lot of the main dishes were on the bland side.

Of the times I visit Madison, Journey’s is often one of the places our group of friends finishes off with before we part ways. In a way, you can say that the journey of going to and experiencing Madison is incomplete without visiting Journey.
Journey has a standard assortment of Chinese Americanised buffet food. The selection is large and plentiful with a focus towards seafood items. There is a section with more deep fried and American dishes that will satisfy your buffet needs. What sets Journey apart from other Chinese buffets is it’s dedicated sushi bar with many Japanese American highlights. There is a large assortment of available Maki roll pieces, most made with imitation crab meat or vegetable based for those who shy away from raw fishes. They do have some tempura (Japanese deep fried) rolls and sushi and sashimi pieces as well, though the latter two take a while to restock.
If you’re expecting fresh and quality sushi, you won’t find it here. The rolls often feel like they’ve been sitting out for a while and are more chewy than you would normally find among Maki rolls. Maybe this is an indicator of how long the toppings have had to bond with the rolls? The pieces itself weren’t abysmal, but weren’t giving me any wow. I was left doubly unimpressed by what the sushi bar claimed to be a «Shrimp Tempura Roll» with me being unable to identify the tempura and an absent crunch. Anything tempura or deep fried at the sushi bar is soggy and chewy. The sashimi cuts are as slices as much as someone peeled off fish with a rough knife. The cuts are not similar in size and look very unappetizing, like they were scraped off rather than cut. The rice to fish ratio in the nigiri is often unbalanced and inconsistent as well. Overall, if you have sushi cravings but aren’t raving about quality and just the experience, Journey’s would be perfect. If you’re expecting quality sushi for a cheap price, I’d consider traveling elsewhere.
Besides the standard Chinese/​American fusion selection and sushi bar, the service was fairly well. Plates and drinks were handled frequently and swiftly among the party of 24+ I traveled in. There’s also a Phở (popular Vietnamese Noodle soup) bar but I hadn’t tried it personally. The ice cream and fruit selection are also standard.
As a Chinese American buffet, Journey’s is a great place to eat for a relatively wallet friendly place. However, as it advertises itself as a Sushi buffet, it largely felt underwhelming. Definitely try this place out, but don’t have high expectations.

Do yourself a favor and do not eat here. It’s just not good. The person who showed us our table didn’t even speak to us. Carelessness pretty much sums up the approach here: Cleaned bowls for the buffet line are tossed in a bin next to the line. There’s an ice cream dispenser (which is funny) with a messy bottle of Hershey syrup next to it.
The food isn’t good. Except for the phở. Just don’t do it.

great selection of sushi，Chinese food and dessert for only 15 after tax，it’s very much worth it. But stay away from fruit sushi，mango is not fresh at all.

5 star for many reasons! But I won’t tell you any, you have to come and experience yourself! Hahah

The first week they opened it was alright, now it just plain disgusting. Food taste bland and dry. Service from the waitresses were ok but service from the manager/​owners were terrible. They had a coupon online and when I went to redeem it they didn’t honor it and instead blamed it on their «publishers». I told them «I’m pretty sure your publishers wouldn’t do that unless they have permission from you guys.» She continued to be clueless and insist to get that extra dollar from me. What upsets me was the fact that it was false advertisement to get people in and then act clueless about it. I called their «publisher» the next day and they told me it should be valid to use… yea, I’m never returning.

Everything here has been okay but nothing is really outstanding. The service is standard for a buffet and there are lots of food options as other have said. The sushi itself has been disappointing, almost squished together like it was prepped days prior. The freshest food is going to be the made-​to-​order stir-​fry style dishes.
Honestly the price kind of gets me here, especially if you are new to the buffet and don’t really get into it (perhaps that’s what the mac & cheese and French fries are for) — you’re still on the hook for $ 13 – 16 per person. I’d hope kids are less. I don’t know what could add more value honestly, maybe include a drink with the buffet price? They used to have $ 2 off coupons but they disappeared.

Impressed with the variety, love the sushi bar. Yum!

Quite possibly the worst Asian buffet I’ve ever eaten at.
Very confused because most people eating here are Asian, normally a good sign. And everyone is piling their plates high. But I am not a picky eater and I didn’t find one thing that tasted good to me. I love sushi and the sushi here should not be allowed to be called sushi. I am not a fan of seafood like shellfish so there’s was a lot I had no interest in on the buffet. But I tried every type of traditional Chinese food dish they had and couldn’t take more than a bite of anything.
Lots of dishes looked good but just tasted awful. And many that were supposed to be hot were downright cold.

The first time I went here I actually liked the place… it was inexpensive and seemed to be a good quality spot (Chinese/​Japanese/​American hybrid) with a couple of opening service kinks to work out. Sadly, the service has improved, yet the quality of cuisine has suffered immensely, & the price-​tag has gone up.
The sushi is plentiful and options abundant, however most traditional rolls call for about ¹⁄₃ cup of rice per whole roll… their rolls have WAY too much rice (at least 2x normal roll amount) so much that any flavor is overpowered by rice… perhaps they switched chefs but my most recent visit was ridiculous… if you want to do sushi here I recommend going on the busy, weekend day/​nights but definitely not during the week… the only time I recall their sushi being of good caliber was during this time frame.
The hot food is usually stale, underdone, and generally lacking… when crab ran goons are inedible I definitely raise an eyebrow! They do have consistently good items like an assortment of soup, fresh fruit, salad, and a create-​your-​own grill and my personal go to’s like seaweed salad and surprisingly delicious mussels!
For weekends this place gets 3 stars… otherwise…more like 2 simply because service here is always pleasant.

Ehm, if you are looking for some quality and tasty sushi, this is not the place for you!
They do have a number of variants, but none is to my taste… They are just blah *sorry*
But the seafood is okay. If you are craving for some crab, shrimp, fish and other seafood, you can give this place a try.
And will I ever go back? No, not really, unless I really miss having some seafood, which may not happen in the near future.
As for my sushi fix, I will definitely look elsewhere.

This is a place my fiancée and I like to go to, as well as have a group of friends for no-​fuss dinner.
There’s a good variety of foods; my favorites are the crab rangoon, fried rice or noodles, and almost any of the meats. I also like that the sushi has a cooked option because raw fish isn’t my thing. We’ve yet to try out the hibachi grill in the back, but it may require that you not eat anything else at the buffet since it can be so filling.
Overall, this is a no-​fail place for a cheap and delicious meal.

I came here just to check this place out even though I’m not a super huge buffet fan.
There was a variety of sushi options as well as Chinese food options. The chicken Chinese options were a bit dry but otherwise, it was halfway decent.
The service was pretty good — the servers were pretty attentive.
I will be back if I’m in a pinch for a Chinese buffet.

Why is this place rated as 4 stars???
This is your typical Chinese buffet with a few more sushi roll choices. Food was not fresh. The quality of sushi was low. And it seemed that the food has been sitting there for a while. I know I will never be going back to this place.
Save your money and go elsewhere.

Journey was my first ever sushi buffet experience. I definitely didn’t go into it expecting to be blown away, but I was pleasantly surprised!
The sushi wasn’t the best I’ve ever had by a long shot, but it definitely satisfied my craving and I loved the variety. My husband and I went for their lunch buffet on a Monday afternoon and they must have had 12 – 15 different rolls up for grabs!
I didn’t have much other non-​sushi food except for the soft-​serve dessert, but they had 4+ other buffet lines with non-​sushi offerings.
Journey will definitely do for sushi in a pinch, but I’ll probably go to one of the other sushi restaurants in the area for my sushi fix in the future.

Back in the day when I used to breakdance ²⁴⁄₇ and take advantage of all the free food provided by student organization events, my homies and I would perform on State Street during Badger football games to make some side money. Once we got enough bills from drunk fans that began their Saturdays with downing 40s at 8 am, we’d blow it all on eating at the buffet in the afternoon. (Because that’s what you do when you’re beautifully young, constantly hungry, and unaware of this tool called Unilocal.) We used to hit up this spot called Taste of Asia on the reg, and even battled with that name in Columbus, Ohio in 2005. Needless to say, buffets have a small place in my heart.
But now I’m grown, I gots some $money, and I haven’t been to a buffet since 2010; however, every time I get together with my old friends, I get sort of nostalgic.
Several months ago, I took a trip out to Madison with my girlfriend and met up with one of my best buds, his wife, and their newborn. He told me about Journey’s, and we decided to check the joint out. Would it be like old times?
In comparison to other buffets in Madison, this eatery is much cleaner and larger. And speaking of larger, this buffet looks like if Noah’s Ark crashed and everything died inside. Whether it’s scarfing down deep-​fried prawns, indulging in the sushi and salad stations, or raising glucose levels to a dangerous height with the soft serve ice cream machine, one can live this fantasy at Journey’s.
Sadly, all the items there, to me, just taste incredibly bland. It was the first time in while where I actually didn’t enjoy eating my food. However, there’s only so much one can critique about Journey’s since 1) it’s a buffet and 2) you’re paying less than $ 20 per person.
I’m sure buffet lovers will love this place. For me, though, I’ve moved on and so has my stomach. Thus, I think it’s appropriate to give this place a well-​deserving A-​OK.