I am fortunate to have this very cool gig where I go out to eat, write about it, get paid—and repeat it. When people learn that I am a food-reviewer, I generally get the same reaction: “Wow, that is the coolest job ever!” Most times, I would have to agree.

Here at the Weekly, we do our best to abide by standards when we review restaurants—we wait until they’ve been open a minimum of three months; we always try to go twice to make sure that one bad experience wasn’t just a rough day; and we try to be fair and objective. But we’re all human, and sometimes, after visit No. 1 to a restaurant, I can’t help but face the second visit with some amount of dread.

I have to admit: I wasn’t too keen on visiting Hibachi Super Buffet even the first time. I am not a big fan of buffets, and one that touts multi-regional cuisine, including Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Mexican and American, sounded a bit like a horror show.

Fortunately, it wasn’t that bad. But still, the best thing I can say is that you get what you pay for; there’s a large selection; and the beer is cheap and cold. There are 11 buffet lines, each featuring from six to 10 dishes; a hibachi grill, where patrons pick out a mixture of raw meats, vegetables and noodles, which are then grilled to order; a sushi station; and a scoop-your-own ice cream bar.

The restaurant is huge, with the capacity to seat probably 400 or so, if you include the special-event space. It’s clean and bright, and adorned with large crystal chandeliers, neon lights and a big fountain. There also are several TVs, and white marble tables with ample seating make up the rest of the space. The service is prompt and, for the most part, friendly.

Lunch is $6.99 per person, and dinner and all weekend meals are $9.99; kids 10 and younger get a discount. Beers are cheap—on both visits, I opted for the Tsing Tao at $2.99 a bottle. Kirin Ichiban, Corona and Heineken also are available, and for $2.49, you can get Coors Light, Budweiser or Bud Light. Wine is $3.99 a glass or $17.99 a bottle, and sake ranges from $2.49 to $5.99.

The buffet selection is massive. Stick with the traditional Americanized Chinese selections, and—for the price—you shouldn’t be disappointed. Anything deep-fried is also a pretty safe bet. If you play it smart, you can get quite the bang for your buck. Steamed crawfish, mussels, clams and peel-and-eat shrimp are plentiful and pretty tasty. The bacon-wrapped shrimp wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great.

Beef and broccoli, sesame chicken, orange chicken, lo mein and fried rice were fairly standard for inexpensive Chinese fare, though the sauces were extra viscous, and the food had a distinct … shininess to it. The salt-and-pepper crab (salt-and-pepper shrimp were available on the subsequent visit) was whole and deep-fried, shell and all, in a light batter. They were pretty darn tasty.

The hibachi grill station was probably the highlight of both visits. Patrons can select their own mix of raw meats, seafood, vegetables and noodles, and it’s freshly grilled to order. The desserts were also pretty tasty, with many choices, including cakes, mousses, puddings, custards, cream puffs and other various pastries, as well as fresh fruit and that buffet staple, Jell-O. The sushi was a bit ominous-looking—I’m not sure the turnover rate is especially high, and room-temperature-or-warmer sushi is always a bit disconcerting.

All in all, despite feeling that I ingested about 300 times the recommended daily amount of sodium, the buffet was a fair value for the price. If you’re looking for a cheap meal with lots of choices, or you’re feeding a large family, Hibachi Super Buffet would be a reasonable option to consider.

Just stay away from the tacos. Seriously.

This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2012.

56 replies on “For the Masses”

  1. For a city its size ..Tucson has THE most boring food and food “scene” in the country. Its either buffets or shitty taco shops up in here.Its a disaster. I’m guessing that its largely due to the pathetic, lazy, unambitious populace and the people that serve them. You get what you deserve.

  4. For the record. I have worked in fine dining and casual dining places in NYC, Bostoopn, Portland, Or, L.A. San Diego, Puerto Vallarta, Chengdu, China and Anchorage and Tucson. 32 years in the business from dishdoggy to management. Tucson is by far the worst food and easily the worst “workforce” Untrainable staff, poor products on and on and on. Compare Tucson to Portland someday. Its a city of similar size…

  8. I’ve been around- food wise at least. Are you working in the industry now? Just curious? I feel bad that you have such a negative attitude about Tucson.

  10. The Union Public house has terrible food. The wait staff is all cute young thang know nothing big booby chicks. Its a meat market with beer. Kells in Portland would be its closest equivalent. It is not an upscale dining experience.People from Beaverton go to Kells to “experience” Portland. Edgy.

  11. Thomas, I missed the words fine dining in your first rant. Fine dining is going the way of the dinosaur, even in places like New York. You didn’t answer my question about working but I have another, why are you here if you hate it so much? Nothing anyone says will convince you. Others who I know personally who have worked at the best restaurants in Boston and New York think the food here is great, so perhaps it’s your attitude.

  12. I have worked here for 4 years. Replace fine dining with upscale and the food still sucks. People live in places for a variety of reasons often not of their choosing.. as to the Boston/ New York comment……I know people from New York who like Arbys….so what.?

  16. More like common sense. Why do something you don’t enjoy? Sounds like a terrible way to live. You must have failed pretty miserably in your years working in the food industry if you ended up in Tucson. Enjoy being a pompous douche who can’t find simple pleasure in anything.

  17. What about Feast, Kingfisher, Pasco Kitchen, Abbey, HUB, 47 Scott, Cafe Poca Cosa, Downtown Kitchen, Hacienda del Sol, Dish, Cup Cafe, Maynards, Wildflower, Bluefin, Bazils, Jax, Parish, Agustine, or Delectables?

  18. Lol….I love what I do. I opened the Core restaurant at the Ritz and as I said…people live in places for many reasons. Family obligations…finances, etc….And thank you for supporting my point about Tucson. You seem pretty pompous and realistic about Tucson yourself.

  19. Drew..what about them? I think 47 Scott would make the cut. Jax and Abbey are a dime a dozen up there. Oddly, Portland doesnt excel at seafood but has a few new places that are much better than anything in Tucson. Which is reasonable. Cafe Poca Cosa is a joke. Lived in Mexico City for two years and…please…salad? Parish..is a neighborhood bar with some food..I live right next door…not friendly either. I’ll give you 47 Scott…good cocktail program.

  22. Due to Portland’s rather odd liquor laws, “neighborhood bar with some food,” describes nearly ninety percent of Portland’s dining scene.

    Yes Portland has some fine restaurants, but it is a city that remains humble about its accomplishments. Look at Pok Pok, arguably one of Portland’s best restaurants, it started life as a food truck and now has a James Beard award. Give us a little more time and with any luck we can be the next Portland. Just don’t be so quick to say everything is awful.

  23. I worked with Andy at Zefiro in the early nineties. Great guy. Hard worker. Adventurous. Very deserving. He didnt wait. He brought it

  24. We are forgetting in this discussion that Portland has an annual metro population of nearly 2.2 million residents. During peak season here in the old pueblo we can maybe hit one million if we count Red Rock and Vail as part of the metro area. Of course that number dips to around 700,000 in the heat of the summer.

  25. I worked with Andy at Zefiro in the early nineties. Great guy. Hard worker. Adventurous. Very deserving. Oregons liquor laws largely affect prices more than anything.

  26. Thomas: I have traveled around the world (in the Northern Hemisphere, at least), and I have been reviewing restaurants off and on (mostly on) for 15 years, and I have to say you are way off-base. For reasons Drew mentions, Tucson is no Portland, as we’re a fraction of the size. (Also, if you think Puerto Vallarta is a good fine-dining city … God help you. It’s one of my favorite places on the planet, but it ain’t because of the fine dining.)

    As for your question: The food at any of these places could stand up to anything Portland offers: The Dish. Lodge on the Desert. The Cup (on a good night). JaxKitchen. The Abbey. Agustin Brasserie cound get there. And that’s just off the top of my head. Other restaurants that aren’t fine dining that produce amazing food: Taco Giro, Mamma Louisa’s, Kingfisher (that burger!), Mother Hubbard’s (if you have not tried some of their more adventurous breakfasts, you’re missing out) and even El Charro (mediocre service aside, that carne seca is something).

    If you want to bash Tucson food because it makes you feel good or something, have at it. But I think my credentials in terms of food knowledge and travel are strong, and I’ll say this: Despite some weaknesses (especially in Asian food overall), Tucson’s food scene is one of the things I am going to MISS when I move to the Palm Springs area in January.

  27. Oh Thomas. How tired is it to compare one city to another? I love that you mock Tucson openly, but without any respect to the down home shit happening here every day you bore me. That you honestly believe that known restaurants are the source of all the food in a city speaks poorly of your vantage point. Cruise the southside. Have some tacos de cabeza, perhaps a little tripe, and get back to us. Your tales of Portland superiority bore and tell volumes. That said, thank you for talking shit. We honestly need more of that around here.

  28. Portland has an abundance of fertile land. If you can’t grow anything in Portland, time to hang up the trowel. We live in the desert.
    I think I remember you Thomas. Where we met, I cannot remember, but you made some comment about how you were going show Tucson how it should be done. You pissed off everyone in the room. We all thought you had no idea what Tucson had to offer.
    I agree with Drew. Tucson is on the verge of something memorable.

  29. I got over the “fine dining” thing a long time ago. Would much rather have a hole-in-the-wall $10 plate of good “real” food than spend my monthly allowance on one meal. In all the cities I’ve been to, I don’t remember the fancy shmancy places, I remember the little places I feel I discovered. Where I had a good conversation and was able to get advice on places to go and things to see. Sometimes it happens at fine dining places, but usually they’re too busy looking effete.

  30. oh, and Hibachi Super Buffet should put the “taco” filling into romaine lettuce leaves and then they would be okay to eat, definitely weird in tortillas.

  33. “Oh Thomas. How tired is it to compare one city to another? I love that you mock Tucson openly, but without any respect to the down home shit happening here every day you bore me. That you honestly believe that known restaurants are the source of all the food in a city speaks poorly of your vantage point. Cruise the southside. Have some tacos de cabeza, perhaps a little tripe, and get back to us. Your tales of Portland superiority bore and tell volumes. That said, thank you for talking shit. We honestly need more of that around here.” Thank you for your honesty. :)- Cranky?

  34. Anywho, you guys should thank me. You have more comments on this thread than the previous 3 years worth of Chow comments.Tucson has so many engaged food enthusiasts. Proof positive of a thriving food scene

  35. Why would anyone expect good restaurants in the 6th poorest town in America. Compare Tucson to Bakersfield, Stockton, and the rest of the bottom of the list and you will get the picture.

  36. Scarpia, now that you pointed out that reality…… Tucson has great restaurants when compared to others in its league. I formally apologize to Portland. Tucson always reminded me of a bigger El Centro. Now I know why…it is.

  37. I’m offended that Thomas seems to think the wait staff at Tucson restaurants suck. I work part time weekends at a local restaurant and I take my job very seriously; I’ve been a food server at one point in my life or another for the past 20+ years, and I have never had a bad comment on my service. I agree with everyone else here: if you don’t like Tucson then leave!

  39. Based on the recommendation of the Dec. 6 Weekly (Best of WWW) I moseyed on over here. May I now please have the several minutes of my life back wasted on reading pretentious douche-bag comments?

  40. I’ll throw my hat into this ring. The Tucson workforce and restaurants do have some bright spots but owners ability to train their staff and run a kitchen is what mercifully kills most the bad ones

  41. The 1000 shitty taco shops in town would be gone in a couple of months if not for the Mexican cartels drug profits being laundered threw them.

  43. The recipe for failure I’ve seen; A new restaurant opens and food mite be good but as soon as the initial buzz is over and covers go down, the cost saving begins with lowering the labor cost by bringing in the packaged foods. The customers hard won business declines even more with what made the food special gone. With covers down good staff move on to a better Restaurant. Now you have bad food bad service and the businesses days are numbered.

  44. Burnie, I did have a nice birthday there. Even better because I didnt pay. I like Mariscos Sinaloa. Chef Alisahs and …….lemme think…

  45. I’m not offended by Thomas’s opinions about Tucson, he has valid points but I think the decline of our restaurants will reverse if the Tucson economy ever recovers. There has to be money to be made for talent to return.

  46. I can not afford to eat at Flemmings but have heard its good. With McMahon’s going downhill Flemmings and Sullivans are the only steak houses we recommend at work.

  47. The food truck scene in Tucson is a bright spot. Hopefully the city council will not figure out a way to put them out of business.

  49. My hats off to the restaurants that have been making it threw the Great Recession while still providing good food with quality service

  50. Chef Alisahs I worked with Ahmet at Ventana Canyon before he opened, coworkers have told me it’s really good.

  51. The thing is that Tucson has a culinary voice. That cannot be said of many cities. It’s a shame that Thomas can’t hear the voice. Who knows the reason why.

  54. @ Thomas I have been to some of the places you mentioned and have found the best sushi here in Tucson. I have found some good places here but do agree to a point the service is very lacking. I recently went to a new place called the Wild Garlic Grille that is presenting as an upscale lunch and dinner place. I found a hair on my stale fondue bread and showed the waitress and she just said sorry. I was disgusted. I found the food mediocre at best. I will give the benefit of the doubt as a bad day perhaps but I am reluctant to return. I do think there are a few fine restaurants but for the most part Tucson could improve.

  55. I agree wholeheartedly with Thomas. When I first came here from Chicago, The whole family was disgusted with the restaurants here and we still are. Even chain restaurants that are halfway decent in other places are garbage here.

Comments are closed.