Ichiban Buffet

High points first. Cheap. Affordable. Good food. Many varieties of shrimp, beef, and chicken. Food is fresh and tasty. Sushi bar that’s very good. Low points. Loud.Noisy. Can get hot if it’s crowded. Crowded, crowded, crowded… Having said that, your drink will be refilled very quickly, the employees are so-​so in the «nice» category. Getting your check and finding your «waitress» can be a monumental task, as they seem to pull a Houdini and vanish. Checking out can be a hassle if you’re in a hurry. They have a crude little credit card machine, circa 1980, behind the counter and if there’s a line you might be here a while. I’ll give is a c+ overall.

We are locals here (part of the year here, part elsewhere). We eat out every single day. We recognize that the restaurant business is a difficult and tricky business to achieve success in. We eat in divey out of the way places and in high end restaurants. It is with this in mind we write reviews.
I love this place. Its an amazing value and I can’t figure out how they make money. The food is real food. There is a huge variety of sea food, chicken done 20 ways, Mongolian BBQ, noodles, sausage, fresh fruit and salads, deserts and faux-​Sushi. One can purchase beer and wine.
Let’s not kid each other — this place isn’t top shelf — but quantity has a quality all its own. There is no pretense here — One knows why one eats here and really — it tastes good, there is a lot of «it» and one may eat until they are comatose. The value is unbelievable. Service is fast, efficient and attentive. Seating isn’t bad and the noise level is entirely acceptable. The restaurant is clean and the food is changed frequently.
I love this place and that it does not pretend to be more than it is. High Fat, High Salt but really good tasting stuff, plenty of it, a great deal of it for an amazing price!

This place has the cleanest, most fresh food you can find in a buffet setting. Fresh sushi, all sorts of buffet food and a hibachi for requests! If I died and went to heaven, I’d hope there would be one there.

Mostly a bunch of fatty horrible food. The Hibachi Grill is OK. The sushi is not too bad.
Despite my misgivings seems reasonably clean and is probably as good as you going to do in this area. St Augustine is not exactly a mecca for Oriental food.

Food was ok for a buffet but the hostess was just a rude bit**… and the waiter was rude too… went back (hey I like Chinese buffets) to find the same scenario… food was good hostess (same one) and old waitress now a hostess were just rude…

Let me start by saying I have only been to this location one time. I usually like to patronize a restaurant or service already twice before reviewing but I feel as though I have a relatively strong grasp of the quality, freshness and friendliness of this restaurant.
My Visit!
Upon entering you are welcomed by a beautiful fountain. The place is super busy. Seating takes only moments because the people are round up like cattle coming in one door and out the other.
The inside of the building looks to be quite clean and modern with a touch of Eastern Asian flare.
The host is exhausted. You can tell he has been on his feet all day dealing with hungry Americans. He is pleasant none the less and followed by our waitress who is super happy and bubbly.
Our drinks come out quickly and I have a little pow-​wow with my group, learning what’s good and what to try, having been my first time. Then the attack. Like a pack of wild boars, with tongs, we grab any food that catches our fancy.
So many to choose from. All types of seafood, noodles, rice, chicken, vegetables, American stuff for the lil’ones, cakes, ice cream, sushi, salad and much more. They have a hibachi grill master to prepare food that you select in that section as well. Whoa!
The waitress had a great sense of humor and was on top of things. It’s always great to see anyone who is excellent at their job.
For the price of $ 11 a head! Outstanding.
Will be returning to consume more. Can’t wait!

Went for the buffet during lunch hours and it was only $ 7.50 per a person. They had so much sushi, I believe around 15 different kinds. They also had a large variety of seafood items and obviously Chinese dishes. The food was warm and delicious too! I would go back here again!

Have been here before and enjoyed it. Variety for the same price you pay elsewhere for one dish. Not enjoying this visit. Everything is cold. Chicken is hard as a rock. Not a good visit!

It’s a Chinese buffet. You pretty much know what you’re getting within a certain margin of error. This one wasn’t on the right end of the curve, though. The buffet food wasn’t particularly hot at 7:30 pm. The wonton soup noodles had been in there so long, they were mushy and disintegrating.
Also worth noting, the website has a coupon that says, «Must present coupon.» What it actually means is you must /​print/​the coupon. Showing it on your phone is no good.

I usually only check in to and review restaurants that are poor when I am out of town — but I will make an exception here. Excellent and well varied food for a buffet — and with a very good Mongolian grill and sushi to boot — coupled with very reasonable prices and friendly staff. St. Augustine, you are lucky indeed. Even the décor is nice!
We are here on vacation and had both lunch and dinner here. It was excellent both times, and I would gladly come back for more if we were staying longer.
If you are looking for a great buffet at good prices, your search is over.

Wonderful buffet! This is probably my favorite buffet in the area. They have a great selection of food and have wonderful deserts. Come hungry!

I just ate here with my family yesterday for dinner (Wednesday) and it was great! They have a nice selection of sushi, and also a made-​to-​order hibachi grill. They have a wide variety of dishes, including seafood. My favorite items were the string beans, shrimp, dumplings, and sushi. They have all the items you would find at a typical Asian buffet, but I think it’s one of the nicer buffets that I have been to. At $ 9.99 a person for dinner on weekdays, you definitely get a great bang for you buck! I will definitely be back next time I’m in the area!

OMG OMG, you have to come and visit this buffet I am from Miami Friday and I’ve been at so so so so many buffets and I have to tell you this one it is the best so far i have eaten at. I think I will drive her I was just awesome. The grill guy did my plate just perfect.

This place is average at best. I have gotten a lot of chewy food here you can tell has sat for awile. I have also got some food that was fresh, so seems hit or miss. The place always has me feeling guilty when I leave. Bring back Quincys!!!

Your typical Asian buffet. I love their sushi bar. Food was fresh and the place looked ok.

Average at best.barely. sushi selection was decent but the hot portion was hit or miss. Ice cream and service was good. Maybe it was an off day and it is a buffet so if you don’t like it get something else but I found it more miss than hit

Best Chinese buffet I have been to! Clean, good selection of food and great taste (for a buffet) :)

I was with someone that wanted oysters and so I called this place and they had it on their buffet. So off we went. We were pleasantly surprised. They have a hibachi grill so you can have stir fry made-​to-​order. Sushi also that was good. The oysters were not refilled as quickly as we liked but we hung out for a bit. The snow crab legs was like 3 bucks extra to the per person price. They have clams which I loved! I plan to explore more eateries in this area but this is my list of places to head to if we can’t find anything else.

Ichiban is your typical Asian buffet. Many choices, hot or cold.
The food is decent and fresh, with many seafood options.
Sushi bar… it’s decent, nothing fancy. Mostly rolls with two selections of tuna and salmon sushi. Lots of creamy (Japanese mayo) drizzles and fake crab on the rolls.
Stir fry bar… very nice. Load your plate up with varied, fresh ingredients and they cook it to order. One of the better parts of the buffet. Too bad this is overlooked by most diners.
Cold Seafood… shrimp, mussels, oysters, and crayfish. All fresh and not spongy (meaning old).
Hot Seafood… shrimp, oysters, crayfish, king crab (+$ 4). Again fresh, hot, and not spongy.
Other entrees… Almost everything you can imagine on a typical Asian buffet. Some better than others. It’s best to sample a tiny portion first.
The salt & pepper crusted shrimp was odd as it was cooked and coated with the shells still intact. Impossible to peel and eat.
The BBQ ribs were quite good. Very tender with a lightly smoked Asian style sauce.
Hot Tea… my biggest pet peeve. This is an Asian restaurant, where is the hot green tea? They only offered generic black tea. Loss of a star!
Value…dinner was $ 11, not bad considering everything that they offered, including dessert and soft serve ice cream.

Talk about a hidden gem my uncle took me here for lunch one afternoon the crabmeat alone was a reason enough to come here. The nice size shrimp was a pleasant surprise. The honey barbecue chicken knocked my socks off. A little bit of everything you can’t go wrong with whatever you pick.
They have a sushi station along with hibachi and a plethora of dessert options including soft serve vanilla and chocolate which I highly recommend.
Overall I can’t wait to get back and have a little bit of everything again on my next Florida trip.