Yukai Japanese Buffet

A group of us made a trip from Richmond to Virginia Beach solely to eat at this buffet. When we saw that Yukai had been named the best buffet in Virginia by Yahoo we knew we had to try it and we were further motivated when we found a Groupon for it too.
The restaurant is a solid buffet — not 5 star restaurant quality but I think the food is delicious for it’s price of $ 16.99/person. Sushi King is the popular all-​you-​can eat sushi place in Richmond but I really wish we had a Yukai because I would convert immediately! The hot buffet and hibachi selection was standard like any other asian buffet but what stood out was their seafood, which was what I was mainly interested in. They offered a large variety of sushi and SASHIMI! I am always cautious about eating raw foods at buffets but the selection looked fresh and after sampling a couple pieces I went back and got a soup bowl full of sashimi. They also serve oysters and snow crab legs which are also pretty good. I have never been impressed with dessert at any asian buffet and this wasn’t any different, but I honestly was so happy with their seafood that I wasn’t disappointed at all.
Would I make the 2 hour drive to eat at Yukai again? Probably not, but I am extremely jealous that Virginia Beach has such a great seafood buffet option.

Sushi, sashimi, phở, ice cream, topping bar, oysters, snow crab legs… what more can you ask for and how else can I rate a place that has ALL my favorite foods for under $ 20 a person?!
I live in Northern Virginia and everytime I come down to VA beach, I come to Yukai. The sashimi is fresh and the ice cream is delicious. I kid you not, from the birthday cake ice cream, to strawberry, to caramel, everything is stellar.
I’m also Viet, so it surprised me (in a really good way) that their phở was so yummy! It is not the best I have ever had, but it honestly is better than some restaurants that are solely serving phở. Dang. How can you complain.
Dessert, albeit for the fresh fruit and ice cream, is where Yukai loses me. I am not a fan of most of their cakes/​cookies/​pies/​etc but I opt for ice cream and I am happy.
If I lived down here I would come to Yukai weekly, I swear. Maybe it is good for me that I don’t

Food was not very good seemed to be sitting for a long time way over priced for what it was

So I’m from Hawaii just moved here a month ago and when you hear all you can eat buffet specially sea food that’s an automatic we have to go there. my boyfriend and I came here, let’s just say around 6pm –7Pm is their prime time it’s so busy, we waited about 15 minutes to be seated. totally fine because it was that busy. They call you up by numbers.
Okay, so I’m rating this a 3 because the food is good but at the same time I had better.
I went straight for the crab legs, I mean who doesn’t want all you can eat crab legs.
Crab legs were good but like I said I’ve had better. Pretty much what everyone had that I saw that was eating there.
The sushi, I love sushi and theirs, I am
Not a big fan of. I felt like it’s been old like it’s been sitting there. So that’s definitely something I won’t eat if I go back there.
They have al types of food though from Chinese, to American, to Vietnamese. Which I love !
Waitress were great fast, and nice.
But over all experience it was good I’d definitely go back again. Just won’t eat the shushi.

My wife and I LOVE all things sushi — so when we heard there was an all you can eat sushi bar it was only natural that we try it out. It seems that we are fans of GOOD sushi — and you will not find GOOD sushi here. There is more than just sushi, but everything is kind of meh.
I’m going to follow suit of many of the others who have reviewed this restaurant and keep it to 5 simple words:
Quantity — Yes
Quality — Hell no.

Theres so much i like about this place, atmosphere, options, service. Simple yet perfect. I almost tried th baby octopus but couldnt do it lol

We usually come here after all of our special occasions in va beach for our celebratory meal because of the variety. The hibachi grill is good… and if you like crab legs they are all you can eat on the weekends and the sushi is pretty good. The rest of the food is what you would expect from a Chinese buffet. Nothing extraordinary but not bad at all. The price on the weekends for adults is $ 16.99 which is pretty good for the selection. I’ve been 3 times… and would go back.

This buffet restaurant was overpriced. The staff was great but the food selection was very small. They had the sand food selections as any other one I’ve been to in Hampton Roads so I didn’t understand the price but it is way out in VA Beach so I suppose the location has something to do with the price. I honestly don’t see myself coming here again. Service was good and the food was good but just too much money compared to other buffet restaurants.

My hubby and I found this place via Unilocal.It was definitely worth the visit. They had a wide selection and the sushi was good and fresh.

I Love this Place. It is very large and very, very clean. Their Sushi is so fresh, and is constantly being made right in front of you to restock the buffet!!! The staff there is so friendly and is always right there waiting to clear your table!!! Even if you don’t like Sushi or Sashimi, this is the perfect place that will have food for every taste. They have a lot of hot food trays, basically anything you would order at a Chinese Takeout!!! Their price is very reasonable for Quality Food!!!

This was my kid’s favorite restaurant before they stopped having the juice poppers. It’s your basic Chinese Buffet.

I’ve gone here on numerous occasions for birthday events and when eating out with family and friends. It is located at Hilltop shopping center right beside the dollar store.
This place is great for feeding large groups, events just because of the large capacity seating available. Also there is a large selection of food that can meet anyone’s taste preference. Price is best for lunch and dinner is decent including the fact they have a vast seafood selection. It isn’t fine dining for the high class individual but it meets my expectation in regards to affordable eating for a wide selection. It’s a buffet and specifically a Japanese buffet but with a wide variety of other ethnic choices.
I’m really happy with their sushi selection and it is pretty even in ration and not like a lot of sushi buffet places that I’ve been to. I’ve been to places where they would over stuff the sushi with large ratios of fillers to compensate for the tiny portion of fish. Yukai does a good job with the wide selections of sushi and including sashimi. It really isn’t cheap to serve good cuts of sashimi and individual cuts of raw fish and Yukai Does its duty in meeting my sushi expectations.
They also serve the typical soups, fried rice, lo mein etc. But what sets them apart is that they have a hibachi area where u can choose your meat and vegetables, noodles for them to cook.
They also serve Phở Vietnamese noodle soup! So it’s so diverse.
My favorite has to be the seafood selection. Thank God they don’t charge extra for crab legs. I liked that I told them if they could give me the freshly steamed crab legs since I noticed they were not refilling more crab legs. They kindly answered my request and I had me some freshly steamed snow crab legs. The KEY NOTE is that you must ask then you will receive!
**YOU MUST REQUEST FOR THEM TO BRING OUT MORE FOOD FOR THE SELECTION OF YOUR CHOICE**
I also love the chocolate fountain that they have. A fun dessert that my kids love when they see a flowing fountain of chocolate sauce. The ice cream bar is also a favorite of ours with the selections of toppings to go with your choice of strawberry, caramel, dark chocolates, and vanilla soft serve.
Overall I enjoy coming here to eat. They have a good selection of foods. Quality is overall good not excellent but it’s a great buffet.
Price is decent but if you have a big group expect to pay 12% gratuity.

Quantity, yes!
Quality, not so much.
I love Asian food: fresh ingredients, served hot out of a sizzling wok, and spiced with a mystery of secrets I wish I could replicate at home.
You’re not going to find that here. What you will find is an emense trough of bland food and cheap meats. Has the look of leftovers.
On the plus side, there is no wait.
And it’s all you care to eat.
And my waitress was nice.
And they have koi along the entrance.

This was a solid three star experience: a-​ok but nothing terribly special. It’s your standard Chinese buffet, with lots of sushi and tons of seafood. But what pushed it forward into four star territory was the serve serve frozen yogourt. Yep, all you can eat soft serve. I was in heaven! It’s separate from the rest of the buffet, over near the bar.
The rest of the buffet was fine. I’m a bit leery of copious amounts of sushi just sitting out like that, but several days later I lived to talk about it, with no ill effects, so I guess it was all OK. They were tasty but nothing terribly innovative.

Buffet with a huge variety!
The hot food section has standard chinese dishes with chicken, beef, and shrimp. They also have Rockefeller style oysters. My favorite dish in that section is the coconut shrimp.
The cold section has all their sushi items and majority of their desserts. There are several types of rolls, nigiri, sashimi, and even cooked items. The sushi is average which is standard for a buffet. Nothing special to note about the dessert in that section.
The hibachi grill will cook your noodle dish after you add all the meat and vegetables that you want in it.
There is also a soft serve ice cream machine and some toppings. It’s a little hidden, away from the main food area, close to the entrance of the restaurant.
There is also alcohol served there at their bar which I didn’t get a chance to partake in.
Overall, good experience. Don’t forget to ask for the military discount like I did, it’ll save you a couple bucks.

Yukai is always a hit or miss with me. Sometimes its super delicious and sometimes its just not good. Last night it was just… Ok. We got there around 6pm and the food was not fresh. Maybe they were transitioning over to dinner? The shrimp dumplings were dry. there was that greasy plastic looking film over the stir fried clams as though it was sitting there for awhile, untouched. I ate a couple and decided not to eat the rest. I didn’t want to get sick. The phở was on point though. The broth was actually really good for being from the buffet :)

It’s your usual Chinese/​Asian buffet complete with cook to order Mongolian BBQ and a nifty lil chocolate fountain. They now also serve Phô and off to the side almost out of sight is a Froyo bar. Their sushi selection is quite fresh and their buffet is pretty decent. The usual; walnut shrimp, lo mein, fried rice, the usual soup selections, etc.
Today’s experience though was that my food was not piping hot and that was disappointing. Kinda gross actually.

Wish there was a buffet like this in Maryland. Great tasting sushi especially with the variety. Good food choices in a «japanese» themed chinese buffet.
Always have to come here before going back home.

Most of the time, this place is kind of lousy. The service is consistently bad, their phở is terrible, and the crab legs they advertise do not taste fresh at all. It’s almost like they saved them from the night (or nights) before and resteamed them. The texture was all wrong, and definitely not worth their new $ 17 buffet price.
Their sushi is decent, though. They don’t load their rolls up with rice like other buffets. They have a good range of other food options, and a lot of dessert including a chocolate fountain, and a self serve frozen yogurt machine!
Overall, I would really only go here if I was craving a lot of sushi and Chinese food during a week day. If not, eh. I could easily go to a closer sushi place or order take out and be equally satisfied. They could really work on their customer service skills and make their phở better too. If their phở tasted like actual phở, I would definitely be here more often.

The first time we went here was 3 years ago when we first moved to the area and it was decent, we liked it and with the prices, it was a good deal. We visited a couple more times and always left feeling not so hot. We avoided this place for the last year and decided to give it a try again, maybe things changed.
We visited around 6pm, usual dinner time. I expected food to be fresh especially because of the dinner rush time but this was not the case. Everything looked like it had been sitting for a long time, some things were actually cold, stale, and hard. I had a hard time finding things that were edible. The food had so much MSG in it, my hands were swollen till the next day. I was reminded why we stopped coming here. I’d rather pay a few more dollars for Sushi King or Sakura.