Ichiban, Lake Mary - Closed

I had lunch at this Hibachi Buffet on 46a on Friday. It was $8.50. I mostly had sushi. Chinese food is greasy and salt ridden. And that's the good stuff. The sushi was passable. It was mostly rolls, but, they had the tuna, salmon and a white fish trio. The white fish used to be snapper, but, now I think talapia is often substituted. Alas, I remember when tuna was actually tuna (blue fin) and not a large mackerel (yellow fin). The pieces were small. That's fine with me. I hate it when they try and load you up on rice. They did a fairly good job at restocking the supply. They definitely don't waste any part of the fish (or they suck at trimming fish). You get all sorts of crunchy bits mixed in with the flesh. I did try the salt baked crab. It was overcooked. Think warm paste. I never understood why the Chinese flavor shells. How about we take the crab out of the shell and then season? Or use soft shell crabs. I also tried the Har Kow (Shrimp dumplings). They were also overcooked. Pasty and the shrimp were tarred and feathered with some sort of sarimi slurry. Gross. And finally, I had a clam dish. Not bad. The place is big. They took two office spaces to the right of the coffee place and added it to the restaurant space (some Asian fusion place most recently). The buffet is in the office space area. There are about one hundred seats in front and to the left of the entrance. The sushi counter is on the right in the back. They left the restaurant room as it was. The place is decorated basic plus. It's pretty bare except for some modern Japanese decorations. It's not meticulously appointed, but, it's not a dump. It's like a cut rate Koy Won. And that's where I put it. Slightly below Koy Wan and maybe on par with East-West Buffet. It is a little more expensive than EW. I'm going to go often, but, I love "almost free" sushi. I think that has to be your attitude too if you come. Quantity. Not quality. They took Amex and they are giving a 10% discount. They just opened two weeks ago. A soda was $1.75.