Buddha Sushi Bar

The place is great! It is a little bit hard to spot of the road, so keep your eyes open when you get around there.
The atmosphere is extremely nice, I love the interior design, some of the sushi is taken in the room by boats floating on a little river, and you can see the kitchen and the chefs cooking.
The food is good and very fresh, you have absolutely to try the Cleopatra roll, it is the most amazing roll I have ever eaten. You can also ask the owner, he is always walking around, making sure that everything is fine and suggesting dishes to order. He is very friendly, and the service is good too.

Almost everything Valerie said about this place is absolutely true. The one thing she didn’t include is the sanitation of the chefs preparing the rolls. I mean seriously, we can see you making the rolls. Prices are overpriced. The place looks closed from the road. Over charged on the bill. And just like Valerie it was a Thursday night at 830 and we were the only two people in the restaurant. During our meal here a couple walked in, had a bowl of soup, and then promptly left and went to the place next door.
Not coming back, sorry

I hate to write this revision, but this place most certainly doesn’t deserve the four stars I gave it and I don’t want people to go to this place based on my previous raving review.
The last time I visited I totally loved the floating boats with small plates of sushi. This time I sat down and saw no food traveling around, I was told they had disco’ed that, hence all the empty boats. I can order a la carte, or they have an all-​you-​can-​eat special. It’s $ 26, which is way more than most sushi buffet places. But I figure here they make it fresh for me, and it’s better quality, so let’s give it a try.
The chef started sending small plates downstream to me. I enjoyed the first few dishes, but then I realized a problem. The dishes are made for ME, if I don’t pick it up they keep floating around waiting for ME. The chef thought I was too slow to catch the plates and turn them around to pass in front of me again. The plates stared at me sadly, then indignantly, for my rejection. I started hearing my mom’s voice about not wasting food… urgh!
But the thing is, I don’t necessarily want all the dishes he made! I don’t want to stuff myself with fried dumplings. If I paid $ 26 I deserve some good sushi! Not just variations on the theme of salmon w avocado, or tuna and tempura crunch. I want some real, nice quality pieces of fish. I decided to help the chef out, and let on that I like unagi, Then he made three dishes with unagi. But sadly the fish was dry, non of that succulent melty fattiness I love.
While the sushi is a notch above those cheap sushi buffets, I don’t feel like I’ve eaten good sushi. I definitely expected nicer quality as well as variety.
What’s worse, I was told that because the special is such a «great value» already, the Unilocal deal I bought didn’t apply. Nowhere was it mentioned on the menu. Also, the Unilocal coupon clearly stated that the vendor is not supposed to add terms that are not printed on the coupon. The waiter, however, told me that it’s the owner’s decision, and in the past when the waiter accepted a similar coupon, the discount was taken from his pay. Really no point in taking the issue with the waiter, he was nice enough, but I definitely am not going back, especially if the owner is such a mean person.
What a shame to turn such a lovely restaurant to ruins!

This place is AMAZING! Hidden on 79^th st just by the causeway. My favorite place for Japanese, actually is Japanese but wit lots of Latin flavors. Its a floating sushi boat place, all u can eat for $ 30! Just high quality Japanese!

Four stars for food quality. MAYBE one to two for value, experience, and service.
I came here a while back with one my best friends to have a sushi dinner. We’re both big sushi fans and since this place was new and getting pretty good reviews we thought we’d give it a shot. Considering the lack of good sushi options in the midtown/​downtown/​brickell area I REALLY wanted to love this place.
We came for happy hour which a) either wasn’t that popular or b) hadn’t quite caught on yet because we were the only people in the place. While it’s not their fault that we were the only patrons, I think the appropriate thing would’ve been to come and ask us what we wanted them to make. Instead they started sending random stuff out, and we had to sadly watch it float by for at least an hour until someone else eventually picked it up. Realistically, sushi in a restaurant should be freshly made when you eat it — I wouldn’t want to be the person who picked up that california roll or whatever else that had been sitting on the river for god knows how long.
When the river started rolling and more people streamed in things improved dramatically. The sushi was delicious and they sent out a few other cooked things that were interesting and also very good.
Once we got the bill the experience went downhill all over again. I was shocked — we somehow spent like $ 80 for two people with no alcohol during happy hour. Another problem with the sushi river — they periodically take away some of your plates so you have no way to confirm what you’ve eaten. If somehow we did manage to spend that much, it was way too expensive for what we got. It’s also important to note that the only thing the waitress did was remove plates — throughout the meal she was nowhere to be found, probably because tip was included.
I think considering how good the food was I would’ve come back if we hadn’t felt like we somehow got conned by this happy hour. No way i’m paying $ 40 for a meal without drinks where tip is included and the service is awful, I don’t care how good the food is.
Important Note: Also, after the fact, I saw all of the rude replies the owner had left on unfavorable reviews of his restaurant. Not only is it completely unprofessional (and borderline harassment), but it cements in my mind the idea that making that one visit to his restaurant my last was a good one.

We had our last dining group event here and all that I can say it was the best dining group get together that We have had. Not only was the food good, the owner was there helping the staff and making sure everyone had a drink or something to eat. We were offered more food than what we ordered and the owner made it feel more like a family dinner that just a group meet up event.
If you come here you must order the following items
1)Big Mac Roll
2)Nirvana Roll
3)Parata with Curry
4) Buddha Roll
5) Crispy Brussel Sprouts
This place has a great environment and they have some unique beer and Sake choices.

Food:
— the worst hole in the wall in NY or SF is better than this
— chicken basil tasted worse than just-​thawed frozen food
— pad-​thai was sweet and sour, chinese flavoring
— IMHO, nobody on staff has tasted true Asian flavors and combinations
— NO sashimi and NO nigiri on our party menu!!! really? at a sushi bar!!!
— if you are going for quantity, and quantity only, I heard the all-​you-​can-​eat boats are a good deal
— they do have a couple of decent items (fried sprouts, Big Mac roll, a couple of desserts)
Service:
— 3 servers, all distracted, all scrambling, forgetful, they seemed to have ADD
— wrong orders arrived, and with huge delays for the same course
Ambiance:
— no music, no décor, nothing Japanese about this place
— place was literally deserted, it was a Monday, but that’s no excuse for a good restaurant

So after reading a lot of good reviews for this über pricey place, curiosity for finding a high-​end «all-​u-​can-​eat’ took hold so I decided to go try it.
I was already prepared for and expected to see an empty restaurant when I arrived, fortunately it wasn’t. What was empty was the little boats going round and round. Not a good sign. The other negative things I read about this place also seemed to hold true on my visit. I guess the owner doesn’t really read these reviews or doesn’t really care.
I sat down and looked at the menu. I never really eat in expensive sushi places, so the prices seemed a little ridiculous to me, the $ 29 all you can eat option seemed like a great deal when considering some of the rolls run almost that alone.
Just one problem though, my waiter informed me that they no longer do that, the «all-​u-​can-​eat’ is now limited to a special menu of mostly Thai/​Japanese food and basic sushi, even though the original menu states otherwise. I guess that explains the river of empty boats…
I voiced my dissatisfaction to my waiter and was about to get up and leave, but he assured me that even one of their specialty rolls is a meal onto itself. I was apprehensive but I figured I’ll give it a try and see what all the talk was about.
I decided to try the Volcano roll, which was $ 19 and one of the «cheaper» items on the menu.
Even though the place had been opened for 2 hours already it seemed like the kitchen only started to make food upon my arrival and it took a bit of time for the chef to make my roll.
Fortunately it wasn’t too long a wait, and what came out was really pretty. I took a picture, then proceeded to eat it. Although it was very good, I don’t think it was $ 19 good and I still felt a little hungry so I asked for a Cali roll which did manage to keep me content and only slightly overpriced at $ 6. Whatever. The food was good enough to where I may not have given this 2 star review, however, the 18% gratuity that added to my bill was enough to push me over the edge. I usually tip around that or more, however, when it’s added automatically I get a little peeved.
I didn’t say anything, I figured this review should be enough. I don’t see this place lasting another year. You can charge these prices in a touristy area like South Beach, or trendy like Midtown, but we’re on 79^th St. ‘Nuff said.

Clean and bright space with white walls and rustic wood floors. Unfortunately, the Sunday we decided to stop for dinner, the main room with the boats was closed for a private event, something they apparently do quite often. We were seated in the small dining room while waiters, owner and cooks were running around frantically as party guests were rolling in. It felt a little chaotic but we were nevertheless taken care of in a timely fashion.
We’d purchased a dinner for 2 Groupon and got to choose 2 apps and 2 entrees, as well as share a bottle of cold Ty-​Ku sake. Sake was delicious, so were the crispy brussels sprouts and torched salmon appetizer. The salmon bola is hard to describe. Crab salad on the bottom, torched salmon, mystery pink sauce, topped with avocado and bonito flakes. We very much enjoyed how rich and creamy it was but I don’t think I’d pay $ 19 for it.
The brussels sprouts were salty and crispy, however, it was basically a bowl of single leaves deep fried and a little too oily. $ 10 for what appeared to be about 4 sprouts broken apart into flakes and fried is (again) pricey.
The menu is different and innovative, with a few Latin twists on Japanese food, like cilantro and coconut. The maki rolls are expensive compared to many other sushi places and I gotta say, they’re not worth $ 20. The Big Mac roll is, well, big but the rice they use is all wrong. In an effort to cut cost, they use long grain white rice instead of sushi rice. The result is a dry, grainy rice that won’t stick. The roll completely fell apart.
The Nigata Roll (spicy tuna, hamachi, snow crab, truffle and yuzu) was disappointing. Once again, long grain instead of sushi rice. The roll tasted fishy without even a hint of yuzu or truffle. We also had to ask for wasabi and pickled ginger. This is a $ 9 roll at best, not $ 19.
Perhaps the hot food is a better way to go. One of the monthly specials was a roti paratha with curry dipping sauce. Paratha is a flatbread similar to phyllo dough as it is rolled out, brushed with oil, rolled out again and so forth. The result is this crispy flaky texture that is totally addictive. They serve it steaming hot straight from the pan. The curry dipping sauce was delicious. It was so good that we ordered a second one.
They have an all-​you-​can-​eat $ 28 sushi special that would be incredible had our sushi tasted better. I do believe the chef is gifted and very creative but he can only do so much with sub par ingredients. Maybe we’ll give it another shot on a slow night but probably not any time soon.

By far one of my favorite sushi places! Not only is the food outstanding but the employees are incredibly nice. My favorites are the Big Mac roll (nothing like McDonald’s), Cleopatra Roll, Brussels sprouts, and the Tokyo Dream Dessert. The best thing to do is have the All You Can Eat, where you can try everything even the rolls mentioned above!
Incredible service, fresh creative sushi, and chic ambiance what more can you want.
Hope they open more!

I got a Groupon here for half off… Best $ 60 I’ve ever spent on food… Hands down…
They had this Salmon Bola appetizer to die for… The rolls were AMAZING!
I highly recommend, but it is expensive!

First of all, fuck Unilocal and their filtering of reviews — especially when they are positive ones from real paying and happy customers to a business.
Anyway, decided to try this place out as a recommendation from a friend. What a great find. Went with the all you can eat in the boats. It was like we were eating in our kitchen with a personal sushi chef. The rolls were super fresh — made on the spot — and were unique combinations that no other sushi restaurant has got going on. The service was great and very welcoming. They were quick to refill and clear out used plates and dishes. It had a nice atmosphere and was very simple and not overly decorated.
I don’t know how we haven’t been here before because it was delicious. Definitely a new staple and some of the best sushi I’ve ever had .
The mochi for dessert was yummy too, can’t forget that.

If you want to eat a lot of good sushi, this is the place! The All-​You-​Can-​eat boats are awesome. The chef usually communicates with us as to what we want and he makes rolls accordingly. Its like having your own personal sushi chef!
Food is excellent quality and atmosphere is modern and pleasant, but the music needs to be turned down every now and then. I’ll be back!

If only for the fried brussel sprouts you have to walk into this restaurant. I could bathe in a tub of the stuff! The sushi is outstanding. the chef combines eastern cuisine with his Latin flair (all rolls should have fresh cilantro in them. period!) They also have an all-​you-​can eat that is prepared for you personally by the chef. The service is great. the saki divine & the food incredible. Literally had the BEST roll I’ve ever eaten in my life. (Jennifer is now my favorite name)
try it. you won’t be disappointed.

Usually when people say all you can eat sushi I kinda throw up with my mouth a little but that’s not the case here whatsoever.
I came in on a Friday night with my sister and to our surprise this place was rather empty. The ambiance is very calm and food arrives on little boats. The sushi wouldn’t be any fresher if I walked to the bridge and caught it myself. Our waiter was the sweetest and he constantly checked on us. Needless to say I will be coming back a lot.

Hands down the most incredible sushi I have ever had! Everything is so fresh, and tastes better and better each time I go there.
This sushi place has 2 options, to order off the menu, or sit by the river, where for $ 29 you have an all you can eat experience of chef selections. All 3 times I ate there I have opted for that option, it has yet to let me down, in fact it has exceeded my expectations each and every time I ate there, and I strongly recommend you try it.
The wait staff is extremely friendly, and they do the best they can to cater to all my needs.
This will probably be the only place I ever eat sushi again…

Not sure what the deal is with making your customers line up against the wall and watch others eating while you wait. Not only is the sushi mediocre at best but at least treat your customers with some dignity and not have them stand over those who are eating. If you are into conveyor belt or a tiny river boats bringing you food then perhaps you really don’t care what you eat. Do they really expect to be tipped for such service? Bizarre.
If you want to go out and eat on the cheap and get drunk then this is the place for you. Prepare to wait either outside in the heat or inside against a wall (which you cant move away from as per the rules of the owner)

Disappointing.
The most unfortunate part of our experience was the service and ambiance. Greeter/​server was awkward from the start and the lack of other customers and low to non-​existent music didn’t help him. There were no recommendations from our waiter and absolutely no excitement or confidence about the food.
We sent back miso soups and an awful fruity roll which not even our waiter could swallow… Yet we were still charged 50% of the $ 24 roll… Really?
This could have been a cool new place to have in the neighborhood but it still seemed a little nonprofessional, untactful, and trying harder than it needed to as far as food.
Take trip to Mikan in Brickell for some a good example guys.

I had heard a little buzz about a new sushi spot called Buddha Sushi Bar so I was really excited to be going to check them out. Although the location was a little hard to find and a little out of the way, after such an extraordinary experience here, I can tell you that it was a gem of a find.
I had the pleasure of meeting the owner who was also responsible for making this such a fantastic meal. He was really nice and very enthusiastic about his business. He was very thoughtful in recommending dishes and checking in on us throughout the meal.
The restaurant is known for offering the floating boat concept. This just means that boats of sushi are placed on a floating river of water that winds through the restaurant and you have the option of letting what you don’t want float by or grabbing the fresh sushi you do want. It is a very cool concept, but my boyfriend and I decided to just order off of the menu.
The owner recommended we start with their Crispy Brussel Sprouts, but my boyfriend being picky and not liking anything, we decided to be safe and order the Shrimp Avocado Salad instead. Honestly, it wasn’t special and I could have done with out the dish but the ingredients were fresh and the sauce/​dressing was good so I am not really complaining. It just didn’t stand out because of the delicious dishes that followed.
The other dish he recommended was the Salmon Bola (Avocado, Crab, BBQ Cream, Salmon, Torch, Bonito Flake). It was fricken yummy! I highly recommend you try this!
In addition to the two appetizers, we also ordered two rolls. The first one was the Big Mac (Spicy Tuna, Crab, Avocado, Cruchies, Eel sauce). It was exceptional!
The Cleopatra Maki (Crispy Shrimp, Snow Crab, Masago and Soy Paper) topped the Big Mac and was out of this world! It was so deliciously good that I cannot even put into words!
The flavor and combinations of ingredient they have come up with for their rolls is just so crazy good. The prices may be considered a little high, but these roll are ginormous and well exceed the price.
You can’t go sushi with sake so enjoy a bottle of Tyku Sake with your meal too.
In addition to the unbelievable food you will find here, you will also find a fantastic dining environment. The dim, green lighting sets the mood. You can sit by the boats, in the dining room or outside. Either way, know that the food here will make you not notice where you are sitting anyways. I recently moved from South Florida but whenever I am I town, I will definitely be back.

DELICIOUS! AWESOME, AMAZING FOOD!
Jackson the owner has created a very unique space, bright, clean, modern, with a stainless steel sushi boat river that is so cool. Not only has he brought this fabulous new restaurant he also has Michael the best su chef ever. He has rocked my world for quite awhile with his very creative scrumptious dishes.
The inside of the new restaurant begins with the sushi boats floating when you first walk in through the front door. A patio outside with seating. Then they also have a dining area off to the side which is where we sat. I adore the boats but Michael and I have an understanding. I barely look at the menu and he makes me anything and everything that he knows I will love. He has never stirred me wrong. I have told him for years now I really want him to be my personal chef. Aghh a girl can dream.
Michael is just one of those chef’s where he is so very creative not only with food but also spices. He makes items that are so beautiful and delicious that I am always in awe over his talent. Michael sent out a great fish salad that was to die for with three different types of fish, calamari and fresh greenery, it was so good. Then we tried the Partha cake that was so unique hard to describe but trust me order it you will love it.
He also made me a roll that left me so full I could barely move. They offer wine, and cocktails. I chose a lychee sakatini and the server killed it. She made it so good I ordered two. Prices are good and fair especially for the quality of the food. Jackson purchases the best of the best. The entire staff are super attentive and very friendly while giving awesome service!
Many kudos to this new restaurant, go now you will-​thank me later, ha ha seriously it is excellent. I can not wait to visit real soon.
Parking is super easy, they have their own FREE parking lot.
You can not ask for more. Oh wait maybe you can be like another reviewer and write a bad review for a FREE party, what a complete douche!
Love you Buddha Sushi!