Oki Nago Japanese Seafood Buffet

I really liked this place and had eaten here for 5 years or more, but tonight when I went there they are gone — they consolidated August 19, 2013 with another place a block away, East, on Severn. So we went there but it wasn’t as good. Too bad, will miss the plum ice cream at Oki Nago as well as their long beans and sushi.

So, I was a fan of Oki Nago and would go there once or twice a week when they were new. Now, I would not step foot in there. The board of health has rated this location as the worse with over a 120 violations, listing rodents, roaches, and food no stored properly, etc. On several occasions prior to that report I notice the food being under cooked and taste spoiled, along with smelling rotten. Please if you care about your health DO NOT EAT THERE!

This place is filthy. The foos is old and dry. I should have known better than to get sushi from a buffet. It is my own fault. the tea is awful.
Before you think im just some snotty person who doesnt like buffets, review my pictures, you can see the filth on the floor for yourself.
This place used to be good. the food was fresh and colorful, now its just depressing and dank.

Solid 4 stars! The waitstaff isn’t the most glamorous or overly friendly, but certainly get the job done. The buffet is huge and you shouldn’t ever leave here hungry, or broke. The prices are great, especially for great Japanese food. Informal dining and lots of room for everyone.

As far as a sushi buffet goes, this is the best. Fresh and a lot of variety. Always pleased every time I come, and the price is great.

Upon moving to New Orleans, one of the first things I did was Google, «sushi buffet.» I woke up one Sunday morning and was craving Chinese food and sushi – buffet style. Oki Nago sounded the best, especially with a $ 7.99 lunch buffet (it is now 8.99 for the lunch buffet). It has everything you want out of a buffet. Granted, it is buffet food, but definitely the best of the buffets. Every time I go it’s never empty, which is good for a buffet since it means the food keeps coming out fresh. There is a sushi counter which has some pretty good selections. I have one warning to all sushi eaters: don’t eat «white tuna.» Just Google it and you’ll understand why. They do serve the horrid «white tuna» here.
There are also your Asian buffet norms: the fried section, cold seafood section, steamed/​stir-​fried sections, assorted desserts and fruit, and they even have some salads that include a cucumber and seaweed salad. The quality of the food is nothing amazing, but since I go here too many times to admit and crave this ridiculous place so much, I’m giving it four stars, because for what it is, and what it advertises, it deserves four!

Wow… really gone downhill. Everything tastes stale. Not stale, as in it’s been sitting out too long, but stale, as in, «How long have you been storing this rice? It’s tastes like basement.» The service is still fast and friendly, but the quality…

I LOVE THE SUSHI! The only problem is the environment being so dirty and sticky but everything else is Fantastic. The Hibachi is Alright and The Sushi is kind’ve always cold. Ice Cream Selection is amazing. I Highly suggest the Green Tea Ice Cream! REALLY AMAZING! The Service is Good too. Its probably just the stickiness of the place that bothers me

My first time at Oki Nago… we decided to go right at the start of lunch. The sushi chefs were prepping the sushi, so I knew it was fresh (an unexpected surprise for a buffet).
The tuna & avocado rolls were delish. I don’t usually stray from the «norm» when it comes to sushi, so that’s about as adventurous as I got.
I also grabbed some of the garlic eggplant off of the buffet, since I can never resist that dish. It was good, as were the dumplings.
All in all, not a bad lunch. I would probably return, if I’m in the area.

I have eaten at this restaurant a few times. I have enjoyed it the different times that I have gone. The sushi was good to eat and the hibachi tasted good. I found the staff was polite and helpful filling my drinks.

Sushi is something I usually expect to get made fresh. The distinction between buffet and all you can eat seems important. This was, though, my first sushi buffet experience, and my girlfriend remembered the place well from her college days.
Oki Nago is only in part about sushi. About 25% of their counter space is dedicated to sushi, with the rest being dedicated to assorted seafood and general Asian staples. The presence of crawfish and fried oysters reminded me where I was, and I had a bit of each.
I should say that the sushi generally wasn’t memorable, but the salmon sashimi was pretty tasty and there was plenty of it. The price was such that coming here just to have a bunch of sashimi and tea seems like a great deal. Too many of the rolls are covered in mayo and eel sauce, which just isn’t necessary. Avoid the fried stuff, and get a bit of green tea ice cream to finish your meal.
This was not my usual sushi experience, but it was tasty and certainly worth a look if you’re looking for a cheap sushi binge.

When this place first opened it was AWESOME!!! Sadly they have been in a long, slow, steady, decline ever since. The quality of nearly everything has gotten to be seriously lacking. They now have a very poor selection of sushi and so many of the other items have just gotten plain gross as they are either prepared with such little care or are of such low quality. I’m so sad as I used to so enjoy my time here but unless radical changes are made my time here is at and end :(

I used to like coming here because their food was good years ago when they opened up…
I went there recently this year and my gosh, their sushi is awful. Their buffet price per person is pricey. I don’t know what happened to their sushi, but it sure tastes a day old. I would not go there again.

As far as Sushi Buffet’s, this is the better one in the area. If you go during busy hours, you might be waiting on sushi to be refilled, but if not… they have a very nice selection. Even dinner is even better. The hibachi on-​demand is pretty good too!
That being said, it’s been a while since my last visit. Hopefully things haven’t changed or have gotten better.
I still prefer my sushi custom ordered and fresh to my plate, but if i have to do a buffet, I’d rather do this one.
Majority of the help don’t speak english or very little so if you are one of those types who don’t know how to communicate with other nationalities.(eg. screaming or talking loudly as if they will understand) then save yourself the trouble. Or better, don’t be one of them douchelords.

Located on the lakeside of I-​10 near Vets at N Arnoult and accessible via the I-​10 Service Road, Oki Nago sits tucked away from the higher traffic Severn/​Vets corridor by Lakeside Mall.
In my opinion, Oki Nago is pretty good buffet. Almost every time I’ve gone they’ve had plenty of variety and while the chosen dishes don’t change often between visits I usually leave satisfied with my choices and my lunch or dinner companions find something they like even if they aren’t big fans of sushi.
Another point is they have larger rooms for rent which makes this a perfect choice for the annual dinner of my Toastmasters club. Add the variety in choices mentioned, everyone finds something they like.
During my last trip though the sushi didn’t seem to have as good presentation as before. (Okay before I emails about sushi presentation at a buffet, hear me out!) Usually even with buffet sushi I can reasonably expect the rolls to hold together up to the point of consumption. Salmon falling off the rice or rolls starting to separate as soon as it touches the plate during acquisition are kind of things that haven’t happened in the past here.
I’m on the fence for deciding how many stars to give Oki Nago. Overall, I’m going to stick with the A-​OK since I’ve been here a lot and can say with almost certainty that I will go again.

.I’m not big on buffets. In fact, I usually avoid them due to some seriously bad experience with them. However, Oki Nago is actually pretty good. All the times I’ve been the sushi has been fresh even if it’s not the best and the selection is ok if modest. The hibachi is great although beef is only available for dinner. Thankfully Oki Nago’s prices have come down quite a bit. It’s not about $ 8 for lunch and $ 13 for dinner, much better than ¹³⁄₂₀ it was before.
Oh, and save room for dessert. The ice cream here is pretty good.

I have to start by warning you that i detest buffets. I think they’re gross and unkempt and they serve crappy fattening food. So me liking this place as much as I do is a big deal in itself!
I started going here about 5 years ago. I was skeptical (at best) when I walked into the place for the first time. I think all the cheesy asian décor kind of threw me off. But it was surprisingly clean. I was walked to my table and before my butt could hit the chair, i was greeted by a very friendly waitress who took our drink order right away. I went straight to the buffet to assess the situation and was amazed that I wasn’t grossed out. I filled up a plate of all sorts of fun stuff. It wasn’t until I actually started eating that I was completely hooked! They have a great sushi bar with super fresh sushi made right in front of you; they typically have at least 2 sushi chefs making rolls for everyone. These people make what i consider the best pot stickers in the city! They are so moist and tender and they have a great dipping sauce that isn’t too salty.
My favorites on this buffet are the sushi bar, the potstickers, the mussels (yes, fantastic and fresh mussels on a buffet!), teriyaki chicken, chinese dumplings, all the fresh fruit and the cold noodle salad. I also love that it’s very inexpensive to eat here.
My least favorites on this buffet are the boiled crawfish and boiled shrimp. They just aren’t seasoned properly.
Overall, this place is awesome and I usually bring my out-​of-​town guests here if we need to grab a quick lunch.
If you haven’t been, please give this place a try. I am sooooo anti-​buffet and I absolutely love it. I think you will too.

Before I moved to New Orleans, the idea of a sushi buffet was merely the stuff of fantasy. Don’t get me wrong — there were Chinese buffets up in the Frigid Midwest that had some sushi out on the table, but those little dried up rice rolls were better suited to be those little rubberized feet for your furniture than anything worth human consumption. I could extend that to many other aspects of midwest dining, but I’ll save it for another day. Back to Oki Nago…
Every time I go to ON, it makes me feel like a sushi buffet virgin, exposed to cattle-​like masses happily and mindlessly grazing on endless quantities of sushi and seafood for the very first time.
I’m like a virgin when I pile up stacks and stacks of rolls on my plate, so happy that they’re mine.
It feels so good inside with the artificial crabmeat, avocado, and sashimi. Oh oh oh oh oh oh…
All kidding aside, this place does a very good job with their sushi — definitely better than most. They have a nice assortment of sashimi with a number of varieties of fish, including white tuna, which is my hands down fave. The rolls include spicy tuna, california, philadelphia, eel, and a number of futo maki style rolls that are also very good.
Besides sushi, there is a hibachi grill with a very nice variety of meats, vegetables, rice, and noodles. The chef is awesome about adjusting the spiciness to your liking, adding extra garlic, etc. There is a very impressive line of seafood items, from raw oysters (a bit grainy usually), clams, peel & eat shrimp, crab legs, salmon, and all sorts of other briny goodness. Of course, there are the requisite soups and fried items, too. The spring rolls suck, though. They are full of overcooked, mushy vegetables. Do not eat those.
There is an interesting salad bar that includes squid salad, that spicy cabbage business, and a «seaweed salad» that is mostly cucumbers. Don’t bother with that stuff, either.
For dessert, get some ice cream. They have a ridiculous and strangely exotic assortment, including green tea and ginger flavors. That ginger stuff is bomb.
Yeah, your love thawed out what was getting cold… Oh, Oki Nago… how you make me feel.

So…“Oki” means «bland» in Japanese, right? Right? It does, doesn’t it?
If so than Oki Nago is perfectly Oki (You see what I did there?) in my book.
Seriously. It’s boring. If you have tummy issues and can’t handle spices at all then… er. WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING IN NOLA??? Ahem… I mean… then this is the place for you.
The staff was eating when I went there. I sat in the very back and it seems that THIS is their spot because suddenly my table was surrounded by a lot of people who kept looking at me like I was trespassing.
But what I found most interesting was that instead of eating the food from the buffet, they has big plates of rice soup (Watery rice) and stuff I did not recognize at all from the buffet.
Spooooooky.
Oh, and it looks like bland in Japanese might be «burando»
But that doesn’t flow as well as Oki, does it?

I’ve been here before and it has been a while since then but I have to say this time I was absolutely impressed.
They always were basically the best sushi buffet around but the sushi today was so fresh, the ginger was fresh, crab legs, mussels, etc.
I have a pic because when i sat down my plate looked so pretty and it wasn’t prepped that way, it just happened.
(I have a pic of my plate up top)
In all today was the best ever sushi experience I had at a buffet and Lauren even said that this salmon is way better than what we normally get at Sake… I have to agree 100%
I know being a buffet this can vary but this time = Awesomeness.
~Larry
P. S. a plus was they dropped the price of dinner by $ 1