Hokkaido Seafood Buffet

I was sad to see that the BEST seafood
San Mateo is closed! There service was AMAZING and the food was 10x better. I loved coming here for dinner! I really hope they relocate soon! ;)

I found this AYCE buffet was the best seafood buffet in my life. Price was cheap for the awesome quality of sushi/​sashimi and all other foods (20~25 depending on the drink). Waiters/​Waitress were very polite. Not crowded most of the times.
I’ve been to other $ 70 seafood buffet which had way less types of food and the quality of sushi was mediocre. Everything here tasted awesome. Also, I thought it was better here than Bellagio buffet in Las Vegas that I had to wait 2 hours in line for no good sushi. My heart’s broken because they are closed now. I really hope they open one somewhere in NorCal.

One of my favorite Buffet places is closed as of 7÷9÷13
I went there yesterday for dinner only to find out that it is closed.
There is a sign on the door that states that they are going to relocated to another location… stay tuned — I guess the owners of Bridgepoint are going put retail there at the former ice skating rink /​building which Hokkaido shares.
I hope they reopen soon because there are a lot of Hokkaido Fans.

Came here with my family three times already.
Nothing like the las vegas buffets, but for the price paid… You get BIG BANG Fo yo buck !

Horrible all around but my London coworkers somehow loved it.
Food: 1, Atmosphere: 1, Service: n/​a
Cost to worth it rating: 1 (even at $ 12 lunch, not worth it)
Return worthiness: no way
Highlights:
— Close to the office and not expensive
— Chilled shrimp were ok
— Large variety
Lowlights:
— Atmosphere: dark room that felt like a cheap Reno casino
— Food: overall horrendous items most bordered on inedible
I used to frequent Todai as a younger person so I’m not anti the concept, but this did not deliver.

Does anyone else think that people who complain about buffet food not being high quality need a reality check?! Buffets are obviously not going to be worthy of a Michelin star, ever. When you choose to go to a buffet, you are paying or quantity over quality and if you’re lucky you can find a buffet that is a great balance of both.
My family and I came here as a celebration for my return of a 1 year trip away from the country and let me just say — DAMN it’s good to be home!
Atmosphere:
The only negative aspect of the atmosphere is something the restaurant can’t really help — it’s one of the busiest buffets I have seen yet with traffic jams between tables with everyone trying to rush to the food. However, you can’t really fault them for that since it is a well-​deserved popularity. Just keep the busy atmosphere in mind if you’re not a fan of loud places. In terms of décor, Hokkaido is pretty large and classy as well — perfect for a celebratory dinner and a tiny bit of dressing up (but nothing too fancy!)
Customer Service:
Not bad at all! The servers were courteous and are constantly swinging by to clear out any plates and making sure the patrons are happy. The service isn’t really something you have to care about in buffets though, but it’s nice when you’re paid attention to.
Food:
I am definitely impressed with their wide selection of food — everything for quite flavorsome and you most definitely would be able to find a few favourites. Don’t forget to have a check at the dim sums! I have to say there wasn’t much of a variation in terms of sushi, but the options they did have were pretty spectacular — try the smoked salmon!
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The prices charged by Hokkaido aren’t too steep as well, especially if you’re coming here for lunch. When it comes to a good quality buffet served at decent prices, look no further than Hokkaido!

Pro: 3^rd time here. Fun place. Environment is pretty chilled like any other buffets. I came here for the seafood (of course). I have sinned once again splurging on foods I love; committing crime. Got here early, was able get my hands on this huge lobster claw the size of my hand. I was so happy even words cannot describe… happy yet guilty.
To me, just that lobster claw made it all worth it. Then I had a bunch of raw salmon sashimi, some surf clams, oysters, duck, dim-​sum, dessert, and I was all done for the day. My partner in crime was there for the heavily mayo fried prawns/​shrimp, lobsters, oysters.
I felt like I had 5000 calories. Won’t be back for a while Hokkaido.
Cons: The reason why they lose 2 star? I know it’s not their fault but um, yah my partner saw this little kid vomit at the ice cream machine (likely overate) LoL? So imagine you’re full to the brim, you’re at the dessert section gettin some goodies for a happy ending, then u see someone vomit… LOL… (you’d wanna vomit too) I mean, tho he vomited inside that grill looking area where ice cream drops in when it spills, still gross… people continue to get ice cream there without knowing tho. nasty. (They should have blocked the area and sanitized it first)
Also, at the 2^nd time we were there, my partner was picking up a bunch of oysters because he loves it… but was being told off by a kitchen worker yelling at him in Chinese about how he’s taking all the oysters? I thought it’s a buffet? Thought you could eat all u want to… and they just bring out more. so did he. But here’s the funny part: she’s yelling at him in Chinese so he had no idea what she’s saying, but my mom overheard. When she said «ure taking all the oysters, that’s not fair for other people, we have to make more, it’s not all for you, then she said «NO GOOD, NOT GOOD» in English…
so confused, he replied, «No, the oyster is REALLY GOOD» lol… Ahahaaaaaaa but she was mad and gawked at him for the rest of the time we were there.

Hokkaido is located in Bridgepoint Mall, fka as Fashion Island, in San Mateo. We don’t usually eat at these Asian buffet type restaurants, but we were here for a baby party. As a matter of fact, we’ve been to these buffet restaurants only because of the baby parties we attended in the recent years have been held here or in Kome in Daly City.
Compared to Kome, Hokkaido appears to be more spacious, in the dining area and in the food stations. Upon seating, the servers offer your choice of sodas, hot tea and water for your beverage. The food stations include: cold section of various appetizers and salads, mussels on a half shell and peeled shrimp; sushi section: a selection of sashimi, nigiris, and rolls; hot section: a large selection of Chinese foods, tempura items, soups, grilled items consisting of chicken and beef skewers, bbq ribs, and roast beef; dim sum section: a limited selection; dessert section: fresh cut fruits, soft serve ice cream, a selection of cakes and a chocolate fountain.
Most of the food was decent, some items better than others, but nothing special. The Dungeness crab was not the freshest as the meat was mushy, rather than being light and flaky as it should be in fresh crab. Service was good as servers came by to clear used plates and refilled tea pots.
Overall, typical for an Asian style seafood buffet. Large selection of decent food with some hits and some misses at reasonable prices.

Located at what used to be called Fashion Island. The restaurant itself is housed in a shared building with the ice skating rink.
I’m not a huge fan of these type of buffets, but we were invited here for a baby party.
There’s various stations — hot cooked meats, hot and cold seafood, sushi, typical Chinese foods, dim sum, salads, and other items. My head was spinning. I was so overwhelmed thinking of the crowds that I just kept scooping at the shortest lines. I should have focused on the seafood instead. My favorite was the chocolate fountain.
There’s no beverage station. When you first arrive you’re asked what you would like to drink. Tea or soda. If you want coffee it’s $ 2.50. We passed.
Quality of food was A-​ok. No shout outs. But plenty of it.

I was invited to have lunch here 3 times in the past year. Needless to say, I had a wonderful time because I did not have to pay :)
So to sum up my experience: try the self-​serve ice cream! I know it looks crummy after it’s squeezed into a bowl, but the texture is magnificent. I was so shocked when I first tried it that the 2^nd and 3^rd time I went back, I would run straight to the ice cream machine.
Sushi is mediocre, service is decent, and the seafood does not look so fresh and succulent. But hey, I didn’t really expect it to be a gourmet seafood buffet. If you’re into healthy Chinese soups, they normally have Wu Ji soup — which is this blackened chicken cooked to a tasteless concoction but is said to benefit the ladies.

Umm… no.
I usually am not a big fan of seafood/​sushi buffets (except for maybe in Vegas) since they always have lower quality everything and this place is no exception.
I don’t even like Kome but Kome is def better than this place!
Seafood — not that many options and not that fresh.
Sushi — wow, every piece of sushi I had lacked flavor and was dry
Dessert — I liked the marshmallows. yeah, nuff said.
What else. there wasn’t as much variety as Kome and the food wasn’t as good as Kome either.
That’s all!
The redeeming factor was that service was consistent and kept clearing plates + refilling water/​tea, so good job on that!

Your typical asian buffet — don’t expect much. Avoid the (not-​so-​great) dim sum items and you’ll be fine.
$ 11.95 is ridiculously cheap for a weekday lunch, not sure if I’d be back for dinner.

Despite the rather abysmal number of stars that Hokkaido has on Unilocal,I was actually pleasantly surprised when I got there. I was definitely stressing because I didn’t really want to go to a three star place, but my parents dragged me there, and it turned out to be pretty great.
Dinner is expensive, but it’s unlimited sushi. Let’s be serious. Think about how much more expensive it would be for you to actually buy separate pieces of sashimi? How much more expensive would it be for you to get so many crabs and lobsters and clams? They also had this black chicken soup that my parents had me try out – it tastes a bit weird upon first drink, but it really ends up being delicious.
If you come to Hokkaido intending to spend your time at the regular Chinese food section, well no kidding you’re going to be disappointed. But honestly, if you just eat ten sashimi pieces plus some rolls, you’ve basically easily made sure that the amount of money you’ve paid for the meal is worth it.
And all these complaints about the stinky hockey rink? It really isn’t that bad. Admittedly the entrance to Hokkaido is a bit hard to find, but I definitely did not notice any repugnant smells at all.
Service is a bit weird – the server who directed us to our seat was very… inefficient. It was strange. But after that, it’s all you and unlimited seafood.

When I was younger I used to think Hokkaido was the king of all buffets. Now it’s more like the court jester or something. It dropped a few notches.
I came here tonight with my family to celebrate my dad’s birthday and we all had good thoughts about Hokkaido… Until we had the food that is. Maybe it was just tonight, but a lot of their beef was just too hard to chew. They were tough like they were over cooked or something. Their sushi was probably the highlight of this trip and even they were mediocre at best. The next best thing? Their ice cream. They even threw in a chocolate fountain which I thought was awesome. Too bad they only give you shitty marshmallows (they were using the Halloween ones tonight) to dip it in. Their hot and sour soup was all sour, not hot. Their fin soup was way too watered down.
The servers here were sorta nice? I mean, they just come once in a while to take away plates and refill your water and tea. The workers who are making the food would give a smile or two and if you have a question, they would kindly answer it. However, there was a guy working where the soups were and I heard that he made the food for the customers without a glove on which is… yuck. So be aware I guess?
Overall, this place is expensive for what it’s worth. Sure there’s crab and lobster, but for the lobster– you’re gonna have to fight for it. Once it’s out in the open, a hoard of people are gonna be crowding around it and getting plate loads.
Yeah, it’s mostly the Chinese people, too.
Damn.

I rarely give 1-​star reviews but this place warrants it.
I’ll start with the low-​lights:
–Crab reeked of strong ammonia as soon as I cracked the shell. I didn’t dare try it.
–Chicken feet tasted weeks old and not fresh. I only ate the skin off one joint.
–Fish fin (seafood) soup was extremely fishy tasting. Old fish probablywas used in the soup
— Calamari with mustard greens — the calamari was so fishy I took one bite and spit it out. The mustard greens were only halfway cooked.
–The Mongolian noodle station was horrible. My shrimp was still raw and it was randomly tossed together with garlic and hot sauce.
–The hot tea reeked of chlorine or some strong cleaning detergent.
–Sushi — i didn’t dare try the raw fish or raw oysters. The CA rolls and shrimp tempura roll were just OK. Again — it did not taste fresh.
–String beans were chewy and undercooked
The stuff that was OK:
–Beef with broccoli — broccoli was undercooked
–Chow mein and fried rice were fine
–Fried calamari rings were soggy but edible
–The fried chicken wings were fine
–Roasted peanuts!
Sadly my favorite things at the buffet were their roasted peanuts and fried chicken wings. I used the wings as a chaser whenever I bit into something disgusting.
I would not recommend this place to anyone unless you’re into quantity over quality. Sure there are a lot of dishes and the layout is spacious… but prepare yourself for the worst. I’m just thankful I did not get food poisoning… but one of my friends was not so lucky. I’m getting nauseous reliving that meal and writing this review :(

Asian parents love buffets.
Why?
I was really planning on giving this place 2 stars, since the buffets I have been to in the east bay were far worst. But this place is extremely pricy for their mediocre food.
The one redeeming part of the experience is the layout and the fancy/​cleanliness of the venue. Other than that, seafood was fishy, meats were overcooked, and cheap chinese food were cheap. To top it off it was 20.99 per person. The bill came out to be 145. We were quite generous with tip and gave them a total of 160.
When I got home, I felt extremely sick. I’ve been trying really hard to control my diet (not like dieting, but overall eating habit) and the abuse I had at Hokkaido didn’t work well with my stomach. I don’t recommend my east bay-​ers to drive down here for buffets. I think a restaurant would be fine, buffets are over-​rated unless you are in Vegas.

Weekdays preferred for dining as weekends are terrible if you make it to lunch at just past noon. Thankfully we made it to the resto right at 1130 and seated closer to the buffet, no lines, fresh food. Just when we were finishing our lunch at 12:15 a huge line for the dessert, line at the soup/​dim-​sum section.
Arrive there at 1pm and you are guaranteed either you will be waiting for 45 minutes or offered seats on the upper floor and trust me it is so NOT worth getting table upstairs, sharing the table with strangers, no staff around, having to go downstairs getting your food!

Mmmm nice buffet

Came here last Friday for lunch with a couple friends as they wanted to try this buffet restaurant.
For $ 11.95 you can get a variety of sushi, sashimi or Chinese dishes, including beef, chicken, pork or seafood (white fish and shrimps), some stir fried vegetables, some dim sum dishes, soups (miso, Chinese chicken soup, etc.) and dessert (small bites of cakes, cream puffs and ice cream). That’s a pretty good deal for the price and variety to choose from.
The sushi rolls were just o.k. and nothing stands out but this is a buffet restaurant so I would not expect their sushi dishes to be outstanding anyway.
The Chinese dishes kind of reminded me of cafeteria foods, such as the prepared foods section from Ranch 99 or Marina Grocery stores. They are greasy and every dish pretty much tasted the same.
The restaurant is quite spacy and it gets busy during lunch time. I probably would only go back when I have friends who want to eat a quick and big lunch that does not cost a lot. Dinner is more expensive ($ 20 something) and I am not sure they serve more fancy dishes there so I probably will not go there for dinner.

This is a Vegas style buffet, if you like King Crab, Sushi, and Authentic Seafood this is the place to go, probably best asian seafood buffet in the bay area… Forgot to add that you can also pick yr meat, veggies, and other items and they will cook it on the grill for you like they do at Korean BBQ places, this place is amazing!
There is a lot of seating at this place and is great for groups and or even a romantic date. Now the price is like $ 15 for lunch and $ 21 for dinner but I would really go here for dinner as you get more bang for the buck and the desserts are better here during dinner time. If you love Vegas buffets, then you will love Hokkaido!!!

This is the perfect place for a birthday!!!
Why?
1) Free seafood buffet meal! (you have to show them your ID for proof)
2) They give you an ice cream cake!
3) Sing you a birthday song, both in English and Chinese!
That’s pretty damn good. Not only do you get a free meal, but a meal that’s all you can eat, PLUS an ice cream cake that’s a good size portion! The food was all delicious too, compared to other seafood buffets I’ve been too! AND it’s pretty decent in price too!
We came here for my dad’s and my birthday. I see a tradition coming along :)