Ushio-Tei

Tonight I had the opportunity to try this little japanese buffet out at koolina resort next to the pool for a celebratory dinner with some family friends. The interior was nice, but I really liked the private side room that we were seated in. It had japanese style floor seating with a recessed foot space. It was especially nice how separated it was from the main dining area considering that we had four very young children with us making a lot of noise and running around.
Most of the food was fairly average and some of the sushi rolls were a bit disappointing. There were a few items which I thought were fairly decent though. The somen with age tofu was quite tasty and I also really enjoyed the green tea noodles with scallops on the entrée side. Most of the tempura was soggy and the meats were passable but nothing special. The desserts were average as well except for the sake fruit gelatin which definitely stood out above the rest.
Overall, japanese buffets generally fall flat because it’s simply not the type of food that stays well out on a buffet line. However, I liked Ushio-​Tei because it did a fairly good job in most aspects and had good service as well. In sum I think this place is «A-​OK.»

I love this place, the food is crazy good, the service is exceptional and they have the best Itallian french press ever!

Came to eat here for a birthday dinner. Nice & cozy atmosphere. The staffs nakes you feel comfortable & welcoming. We decided to eat the buffet, they serve shrimp & vegetable tempuras, wafu steak, teriyaki chicken, sushi, raw sashimi, salmon, octopus, fried rice, shrimp scampi, miso soup, salads & desserts. Everything was yummy! Especially this drink i ordered their Ihilani ice tea! It’s delicioso! & You wouldn’t think, you’d be paying alot. But not so, our bill did not go over $$$. Overall i give this place 5 stars for great service & good food!

Nice, quite little restaurant in Ihilani. Right off the pool area. We walked from the Marriott Beach club bout a 15 min walk.
I love the Asian Buffett they have here lots of Ono food to choose from. Steph loves there mixed drinks. All in all a great place to grab dinner if your staying out this side.

Known for the sushi buffet (hit and miss, rolls stuffed with typical veggie cucumbers and such), «Ushio-​Tei» should be better known for the butterfish and other fillets. The inside is very Japanese, you can’t fault the interior decorator. For a buffet, it’s alright but it didn’t drive me wild. If your sushi standards are high, in the end, then this isn’t your best bet. I do want to mention the staff is highly courteous and very friendly, and for that, I kinda had a good time. 2.5 Stars. #mahalo!

I had my husband’s birthday here on Saturday! Prior to our arrival I had to make my reservation with reservations. Everyone returned my calls promptly and was able to take care of my needs! Annette the manager was very helpful in setting everything up and provided us a nice area outside of the patio. It was perfect for us because we had children. Most of the party enjoyed the buffet. Everything was good from the sushi rolls, sashimi, hot items and desserts. The steak was so soft and cooked perfect. Two people in the party ordered off the regular menu. The miso butterfish with sweet potato purée was an item my sister in law would order again. The service was okay. I had better. But Annette came out to check up on us and make sure we were taken care of. I always appreciate it when managers take the time to visit their guests! Thank you for a memorable evening for my husband’s 35^th birthday!

I am very disappointed that the food was not good. I give the place 2 stars because the staff was very friendly but the food was awful. After reading the other reviews on Unilocal to stay away from the overpriced buffet, we decided to go with the happy hour specials. Unfortunately, all of the items we tried were mediocre at best, in fact we made reservations at another restaurant while sitting in ushiotei since we knew we were going to walk away hungry. Here are the items we tried:
Taco sashmi — basically a wonton taco with seared tuna. The tuna was completely cooked through, not just seared, it was also an odd color. This would have been much better if they kept the tuna raw.
Bacon wrapped scallop — the bacon was severely undercooked, disgusting.
Bacon wrapped asparagus — bacon was cooked on the outside but still raw on the inside, not good.
Steak kabob — the best of what we ordered but that’s not saying much.
Huli hulu chicken kabob — ok
California roll — crab mix was too creamy
Ushiotei roll — the salmon had a smokey flavor, almost tasted like lox, really odd.
This is just another disappointing dining experience at the jw marriott. The hotel is gorgeous and the staff is friendly, just have your meals elsewhere.

We had the buffet and it was good. They also gave us an Ipad which showed us a variety of adult beverages. We tried 3 different types of cocktails… next time we want to try the sake sampler and maybe try something from the main menu.

We had Valentine’s Day dinner here on a recent trip to Hawaii because we were staying at the JW Marriott. We kind of snuck out of the room after the kids fell asleep, so we weren’t looking for anything special, just somewhere that had sushi.
Due to the holiday, they were only doing a buffet which was $ 62 a person. We were somewhat hesitant at first because these deals are generally a ripoff, but after looking at the menu of items, we thought we would give it a try.
The service was great as our waitress Jocelyn was very friendly, attentive, and professional. The buffet had a great mix of raw, cooked, and dessert items. The sashimi section was a bit lacking (3 tiny little pieces of either tuna, salmon, or amberjack on a little plate), but the fish was fresh. They did have a good assortment of rolls (spicy tuna, rainbow, california, dragon, and crunch shrimp) if you were looking for generic American sushi rolls, but they were fresh, not overly sauced, and even if there was a bit too much rice rolled, they were good.
The only thing at the raw bar that skeeved me out were the oysters. I initially grabbed two of them, but when I couldn’t get the first one off the shell because it was so dried out and then smelled a bit fishy, I decided to pass on eating them (yeah, buffet!).
The cooked food was good as well. The butterfish (black cod) was very tasty, and the chicken katsu was good. My wife had the fried rice and a sampling of the shrimp & veggie tempura, and said both were good but with a little too much batter.
The dessert section was nice, and we tried the sake jelly, the lemon ice cake, and the pineapple cake. The sake jelly fruit thing was a bit weird. I don’t think it was bad, but it just wasn’t my taste. The lemon ice cake was delicious — the perfect amount of sweet, tangy lemon, and a nice mild frosting with moist cake. It was definitely the highlight of the desserts. The pineapple cake was kind of blah, nothing to really write (home) about.
Overall, it was a decent experience. It probably wasn’t worth the $ 62 per person, but I’m not sure what their normal buffet pricing is. For a $ 62 buffet, you want at least a couple of «WOW!» items, and there weren’t really any. Everything was pretty solid, but an «a-​ok» experience is the perfect way to describe this place.

Located at the JW Marriott, our group was staying at the Marriott Ko Olina resort so we walked over which was convenient. It was a Friday evening and it was Tabehodai Buffet night.
I made reservations so we were seated immediately. The variety of food was decent and included miso soup, fried rice, various cold salads, eight varieties of sushi rolls, ahi poke, shrimp and vegetable tempura, seafood scampi, teriyaki steak & chicken, miso salmon, garlic shitake and sugar snap peas and a variety of desserts. My faves of the evening were the poke, tempura shrimp and pineapple upside down cake.
As with most buffets there’s so much food and we all over indulged. I was glad we had to walk back to the resort!

Extremely fresh fish! Very traditional so nothing fancy in terms of rolls. There are hand rolls though and Joel the sushi chef is fabulous!

As much as I want to give Ushio-​Tei 4 stars, I just cant.
Ushio-​Tei is like a fake Louis Vuitton purse — you think its a good idea to buy it cause its cheap and you think you can fool people… but NO. You can’t. We all know its not real ;) and no, I don’t own fake purse; never did. Ushio-​Tei looks great from the outside as well as the inside; the décor and ambiance is very welcoming and reminds you as if you were really in a little restaurant in Japan, but that’s where the good ends.
Went here on a Saturday night for my dad’s birthday. Saturday night is their buffet night and I thought I would enjoy pigging out on Japanese food, but there was no pigging out, as there was nothing to pig out on. There were not that many dishes to choose from — the buffet line went about only 10 feet with food on your left and right. Some things that I ate were sushi, shrimp & vegetable tempura, wafu salad, miso soup, miso salmon, and dessert. My favorite part of the buffet was the dessert! The fruit tart and chocolate cake were excellent.
One more thing — went to the bathroom to change my son’s diaper, but there was no changing table! I had to go to one of the pool chairs outside to do the cleanup.
Price for the buffet — Adults $ 43.00; Children (5 – 12 yrs.) $ 21.50.
I don’t think I will ever do the buffet again… maybe I’ll come back and try their menu or eat at their sushi bar. Those looked much more promising than the buffet.

Unilocal 365 Challenge x 2 #235/​365
Did you ever have that protective stance when you see someone just picking on someone else for no reason? Or you see your friend crying and you ask them, «Who made you cry?! Want me to beat them up for you?!» (while you’re bouncing on your feet like Rocky)
Well, that’s pretty much how I felt when I noticed 3 Unilocalish stars by Ushio Tei (Say whaaaat). Not sure if they improved their game because our experience deserved a five star!
Anyhow, it was a date night type of evening and we decided to head to Kapolei. At first, we WERE going to Outback but it seemed like no one wanted to cook dinner at home because they were standing not just outside but inside! When I inquired with the hostess about the wait time, she answered «55 minutes». What the… We turned around and left. We drove past Assagio’s and noticed the same thing!
My husband asked, «Is there a celebration?»
Me: «No, I’m thinking its because we hardly ever go out on Fridays anymore that we’re not used to the crowds!»
Then, I asked him «Are you feeling Japanese tonight because there is a Japanese restaurant at the Ihilani.»
It was about 20 minutes till closing…
Did the hostess seem irritated? Nope. In fact, she seemed really sincere and happy that we were there and further happy when we shared that we lived nearby and wanted to check out Ushio Tei. I believe her name was Annette?
Our waitress name was Heather and she was so sweet and looked out for us.
The buffet looked great but my husband and I aren’t buffet peeps, so we ordered the Wafu steak that came with rice and miso soup (my husband LOVED it).
The Wafu steak was cooked exactly as we ordered with salad and grilled asparagus. Now I want to say there was sliced edamame but it could have been Lima beans which I dislike. However, even the veggies were delicious.
You would think they want you out as quickly as possible since they close at 9 but they asked if we wanted any dessert. But, we were too full to take in anymore.
As we paid our bill, I noticed the restaurant gives 10% discount for kamaaima’s. How great is that? Love it!
Then, we started talking with the hostess because she asked us if we were related to this guy that she knows whose daughter plays softball with her daughter. Gotta love this because only in Hawaii are you asked these type of questions «Are you related…» «Which high school did you graduate from…»
Our experience from customer service to the food was over the top and delicious especially when you know that you can walk around afterwards and just enjoy the resort and the beach.
I’m blessed to live in Hawaii. Thank you, Ushio Tei!

Do not come to this buffet — you are paying for the décor + looks.
Food was disgusting. They did not have proper heating /​steamer trays, only a «heat lamp» type of style for their meats (Teriyaki Chicken, Beef, Salmon, Veggies etc). So while everything was sitting under the «heat lamps» the meat cooled down, beef was grainy /​chewy, and the salmon started to become fishy.
The sushi rolls were mediocre as well — nothing spectacular.
The POKE that they had there was just NOT up to PAR, not only was it sitting in a huge «punch style» bowl where everyone just digs into it, it was NOT SITTING on ice. So, when I ate a piece, it felt almost like jello! It also tasted as if it was going sour. Imagine how long it’s been sitting out there & all the people poking at it /​stiring around.etc. That’s just not sanitary! The Health Inspection technician (s) need to re-​evaluate their practices!
I was completely sorry for having an empty stomach all day. In addition, it’s way over priced, I believe it’s $ 45+$ 50 per person to dine. For that price, they did not have alot of options… you can buy a bento for $ 10 and be fully satisfied & it’ll be BETTER quality. That’s just sad!
Things (that I remember that they had)
–California Roll /​Caterpillar Roll /​Cucumber Roll /​‘Special Roll” /​Unagi Roll?
–Poke /​Seaweed Salad /​Agadeashi Tofu Salad /​Miso Soup
–Chicken + Beef + Salmon Teriyaki /​Snow pea stir fry w/​bell peppers /​Shrimp + Veggie Tempura
–Desserts: Can’t even name what they were — bizzarre and gross. Tasted like cardboard. No mochi icecream or green tea ice cream at all.

The Ushio Tei buffet doesn’t have the largest selection of them all but much of what they have is really good. The ahi poke is among the best I’ve had anywhere. Fresh fish, just the right amount of sesame seed, onion, and sauce. Would love to have this poke over rice for lunch at least once a week.
The sushi selection isn’t all that large but the choices are more interesting than seen on most buffets and the sushi appears to be made regularly throughout the evening — not the cold refrigerated stuff I’ve seen elsewhere.
The shrimp tempura is to-​die for. Perfectly battered and fried. Can’t think of another buffet with shrimp tempura anywhere near this good.
The teriyaki steak is «real» steak, sliced, with teri sauce. Not the paper-​thin, over-​marinated stuff seen sometimes. Good quality steak, too. Of course, that was the Mrs.’ favorite.
The Mrs. and I were so full from the shrimp tempura, we didn’t bother with dessert even though they looked good.
The service was excellent from the host who accommodated our early arrival to the busser who frequently cleared our used plates to the waiter who kept refilling our soft drink and water glasses.
Very good but a bit too far out of the way (my problem) and a bit on the pricey side at regular price (no Kamaaina discount) to make this a regular stop for dinner.

3.5 stars.
I’m a cheap eats kinda girl. Find the good stuff, get it for a bargain, and I’m happy. A $ 30 dinner is expensive for me, but a nearly $ 45 dinner? It has GOT to be a special occasion! orrrr a GROUPON!
Ushio Tei is located on the ground level of Ihilani, just take the stairs or the elevator to the left of the front desk, head towards the pool, and it’s on your left.
As far as buffets go, it’s small. Even the platters they serve food on are small! Which means that yes, there are more empty plates, but this also means that the food gets refilled more quickly which is awesome!
Think of it as a surf and turf buffet and it will ease the cardiac arrest when you see your bill. They serve steak, miso salmon, scallop & shrimp scampi (with ocean scallops, not the teeny bay ones and large shrimp), teriyaki chicken, fried rice, shrimp & veggie tempura, poke, unagi, rainbow rolls, and california rolls with real crab.
The GOOD: super friendly staff, super tender steak, well cooked and delicious salmon, perfectly cooked scallops and shrimp, crunchy tempura, variety of sushi rolls, seaweed salad, super fresh and crunchy snap peas with shiitakes (my fave of the night), guava and passionfruit cakes.
The MEH/​OK: the sushi & poke. the fish just wasn’t fresh, or maybe it was just too warm. the miso soup didn’t have much flavor, the green tea noodles in the scampi had too much lemony flavor, and everything else I didn’t mention. Most of the desserts were also ho hum (though the white wine gelee with fresh fruit was classy!).
But to be able to eat as much steak, salmon, tempura, and sugar snap peas as I want… that’s not bad. The steak was well seasoned and cooked medium rare, and there was literally a guy who filled his whole plate with just steak!
Would I drive out 45mins out to Kapolei and pay full price to go again? No. But I do think I ate my money’s worth and I can’t say I was disappointed. 3 hours free parking with validation.

You can’t have a great movie without a movie star and a great supporting cast.
With that being said, I have a special way of thinking of buffets. There is a headliner (the movie star) and there are supporting casts. The headliner is the reason you pay almost $ 50 for your meal. It’s usually crab legs, prime rib, shabu shabu station, a waffle station or an omelet station. Then there is the supporting cast which is the rest of the buffet that complements the headliner.
At the buffet there was a sushi, an entrée, a salad, and dessert section. The food in the buffet line was served on large dinner plates plates but I liked that because fresh food kept coming out. Here are a listing of what was in each area:
Sushi area– 7 different sushi roll selections (I wanted sashimi!!)
Salad– somen w/​agedashi tofu, green salad, edamame, ahi poke (the best thing), ocean salad
Entrée– salmon, steak, fried rice, tempura, shrimp scampi (on green tea soba), shiitake mushrooms w/​beans, and teri chicken.
Desserts– cookies, cakes, cheese cake, and torte (I wanted green tea ice cream or shave ice!)
This buffet was a buffet with a supporting cast only. Nothing was really the shining star here but everything was good. The entrees in the buffet seemed like they were supposed to compliment something bigger. However, the supporting cast will not make me come back for more. To translate this in Unilocal terms everything was 3 stars except for the poke which was 4 stars!
However, I must say the ambiance was nice and the staff was professional and nice too! Also, I did not smell the musty smell that some reviewers smelt.
Unilocal 31 Day Challenge #15/​31
Starring— nothing.

I don’t know why I do this but I almost ALWAYS look up reviews for places I am going to eat at. Of course my husband saw this Groupon and we were excited to try it. I made reservations on OpenTable and we, for the first time ever, actually had plans for a Friday night dinner. We don’t like to plan things nor do we like to be on time. But we were!
I was wondering where this was located in Ihilani. What made it harder was that it seems like the entire Ihilani was being renovated and people around were scarce. I don’t think there was a sign showing where Ushio Tei was in the building. My hawk-​eyes of a husband found it! We walked in and was greeted and sat pretty quickly. Nice little restaurant with a quiet ambiance. Our server directed to start any time we want on the buffet. Let me give you a little background on my thoughts on buffets. We don’t go together. Seeing large amounts of food overwhelms me and I already feel full ever before eating. But this set up was nice. Small area with little portions that were promptly being refilled/​replenished when the plates were running out. I like that because it keeps the food fresh.
Some of what I ate included miso soup (maybe could have been kept a little hotter), pickled cucumbers, somen salad, ume, lots of shrimp tempura (which was oh so amazing), miso salmon, a variety of sushi (I was loving the california roll with real crab), shitake and suger snap peas, and their ahi poke. I swear that was one of the best ahi poke I had in a while. I also pigged out on dessert which included a variety of cakes, cookies, and tarts. I had a whole piece of haupia cake AND a whole piece of chantilly chocolate cake. Also had an Asahi beer to wash it all down. I loved everything! Seriously. I was hoping my experience was not like the ones I read in the other reviews and it wasn’t. I thought I needed to roll out of the restaurant but I was okay, I could walk upright. I had a happy belly and a happy face.
The service was really good too. Picked up our plates immediately after we got up to grab more grinds. They made sure we had water, asked if we needed beer refills, or any other drinks we wanted.
The only thing is that we had a Groupon. I am not so sure I would spend $ 43 bucks per person on a buffet. I don’t think I’ve had a buffet that costs so much. If I was a baller (like those two older gentlemen sitting beside us were with them unlimited amounts of sake) then I would definitely pay a visit to this restaurant more often. Yes, I am aware that it is in a resort and maybe if I was a tourist I would pay it but as a kama‘aina and Hawaii’s lovely cost of living, the price is a little steep. Aside from that, everything was awesome!

If you’re going for the buffet, and are expecting a vast selection like at Naupaka Terrace — you’ll be disappointed. But the quality is good, when the food is out on the line.
My BF and I ate here during our little styacation Labor Day weekend — I made ressies on Open Table (yaaaay!) and we showed up at exactly 8pm. There were 2 other couples in front of us and the hostess asked both of them if they were staying in the hotel… for what? I don’t know — but when it was our turn, she didn’t ask us. Humph.
Anyway, our server was nice and got our drink order fairly quickly… the buffet area is small, and when we went up there — 3 of the 5 or 6 sushi selections were completely empty. I guess they make the food in small batches to eliminate waste or maybe because it was getting late… but it kinda sucked. The food that was out and available was good though ~ poke, sushi, assorted tempura, chicken, steak… all delicious! The manager was out there checking on what needed to be refilled, but by then — I had enough to eat, but my BF went up for more ~ we were so stuffed after dinner!
My BF asked if they give a kama’aina discount and our server said that they don’t anymore, but if anyone asks about it — they still give it! LOL I think it was 15% He also asked if they have Green Tea Ice Cream to go, and they did… it was a pretty good serving of ice cream and we enjoyed it in our hotel room :)

I guess I should have known when I walked in and the place smelled of mildew, like a carpet that had gotten wet and not been properly cleaned, that my experience was going to be less than what I hoped for.
I asked to be re seated outside so that I didn’t have to smell the mildew but they said that they were not serving out there on this particular night. Oh well. After awhile I grew accustomed to the smell so that it didn’t bother me. . or maybe the sake took over!
The menu has a small assortment of rolls, sashimi and entrees. I asked if the sushi chef had any specialties and my server said that he could also do a spider roll, rainbow roll or a dragon roll. Hardly specialties as you can get those anywhere.
I started with a crab and avocado salad. Hardly any crab to be found so I would just skip it if I were you.
When my two rolls came (the ihilani and the rainbow roll) they were not very artful. Part of the beauty of sushi is the beautiful presentation on the plate. These were loosely rolled and really didn’t look too appetizing.
And after a taste of the rainbow roll, i wondered just how fresh the fish was as it just didn’t taste fresh. And couple that with the fact that some of the fish that they put on the rainbow roll was smoked (I hate smoked fish) and my attention was directed to drinking my sake and eating the ihilani roll which tasted okay even if it didn’t look very pretty.
All in all a pretty disappointing evening. This place looks lovely and the service I had was quite good. But the food? And that mildew smell? Sorry. There are better places for sushi in town.