[Newport Beach] [Buffet] Hokkaido Seafood Buffet

Hokkaido Seafood Buffet
4200 Scott Dr
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 851-5888

Dr. P's friend, Dave, helped us with our move.  We wanted to take him out for dinner to thank him.  Dave likes sushi a lot.  He tried Hokkaido Seafood Buffet a few times before and he likes it.  He told us since he can eat a lot, he doesn't want us to spend too much money treating him to a sushi restaurant, so he picked a buffet where he can have unlimited sushi.  So thoughtful!



This place is huge!  At first I thought this is a Japanese seafood buffet like Todai.  But after seeing the type of food they have, it was more like a Chinese/Japanese buffet like Zen Buffet.  Also all of the servers are Chinese.  The price is $15.99 per person for dinner.  But we got a coupon in the mail for $2 off per person.



Sake and Sapporo Beer

We ordered a bottle of sake and a bottle of Sapporo Beer.  It was the first time I tried unfiltered sake.  It was creamy and sweet.  Pretty good.



We hit the sushi bar right away.  They have rolls, sushi, and sashimi available.  This was my first plate.  The rolls were surprisingly good.  My favorite was the spicy tuna roll with the fish roe on top.  The sushi was fresh and delicious, especially the salmon.



Dr. P's first plate.  He also liked the salmon and the spicy tuna roll a lot.



This was Dave's first plate.  Yes, we definitely made the right choice coming to a buffet.  haha....



Dave also got this plate full of shrimp.  I think he likes shrimp a lot.



Still Dave's.  He went back and got another plate of sushi.  Yes, he finished everything!  Amazing!



A plate of Mongolian BBQ to share with Dr. P.  I LOVE it!  Pork, beef, chicken, shrimp, veggie, with pineapple!  I really really really like the sauce they used.  Yum!



I also got a bowl of spicy and sour soup.  It has a lot of tofu, bamboo, and black ear mushroom in it.  Great soup.  Up to this point, I thought this buffet was great.  Unfortunately, everything after this just went downhill... really fast.



The cooked food just killed this place.  Let's talk about the MOST horrible thing on this plate, the oyster.  At first I was like "OMG!  They have giant oyster?!  And it looks delicious!"  It was cooked with a black bean sauce.  I took a big bite of the oyster, and I almost threw up right there.  The oyster tasted so gross.  I don't think they were very fresh.  In fact, it was just bad.  I spitted it out on a piece of napkin.  But that gross aftertaste stayed in my mouth for a long time.  Yuck!  Then I tried the crab.  It was oily and barely had any meat in it.  The king crab leg was alright.  Kalbi had good taste, bit it was so fatty and oily.  I don't think it was good quality kalbi.



A little disappointed.  But I still went back for a 2nd plate of cooked food.  I wanted to give this place another chance.  Maybe their other cooked food is edible.  Wrong!  Again, nothing was good.  The red bean bun from the dim sum section probably has been sitting at the station all day long.  The bun tasted like rubber.



I love dessert.  I walked around the dessert station like 3 times.  I couldn't pick out what do I want to eat.  Not because there were too many good choices, but because everything looked so bad.  I finally settled for the mocha roll and some ice cream.  The roll was way too dry.  The ice cream was way too watery.  Maybe I should've mixed these two?

I can't really say if Hokkaido Seafood Buffet is good or bad.  I would come here for sushi and Mongolian BBQ.  But I would never eat their cooked food nor their dessert.  Maybe we should come back for lunch because it's only $10.  But paying $20 might be a little too much.

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