Todai Restaurant

I only ate here between 2001 and 2005, which back at that time I really liked this place and it was really good. However, it seems like since then the quality really declined, which I haven’t experienced after that time. Most reviews after 2005 seem to show its decline.
Just 2 months before they closed (unpredicted) I stopped by the nearby AT&T store to take care of a texting issue on my phone and then I went up to todai to drop off my resume applying to jobs. The manager there was a bleak IDIOT!!! I had my resume in a clear folder which he snatched the ENTIRE thing out of my hand and looked through the other papers I had in there (like my ATT receipt.). He asks me «do you work for AT&T?» I say «no, that’s just a receipt.» No wonder their quality went so downhill… it must’ve been a management change. I think his gross incompetence turned into disgusting results.
I’ll miss eating here during the time that I enjoyed it. It still had potential to operate today had it been much better managed than that idiot could do so. I moved out of Portland over 4 years ago.

i liked the idea.
it’s closed for a reason.
over time it became so bad i didn’t even want to get my free birthday meal here.

I’m not a bit surprised this place is closed. We had a horrible experience when we visited. First of all, it was wretchedly expensive. Secondly, the seafood was ghastly — not fresh at all, badly prepared, and don’t get me started on the inattentive, zombie-​like service. As others said, with all the great food choices in Portland, this one was not worth the money or calories. If it tries to crop back up, Portland needs to take copious amounts of antibiotics and thoroughly rub ointment on it daily until it’s gone again.
I write this as a warning to anyone who might be thinking about going to Todai in one of its other locations in Nevada or California (and I hear they’re making one in Vancouver! Nooo!) I strongly advise diners who don’t want a $ 30 crappy meal to stay very far away.

Yeah… I was quite sad, looking up at Pioneer Place just recently, and seeing that the familiar todai sign (we used to always come for someone’s birthday, making the dinner 50% off) gone. simply gone.
Now to be replaced with another same genre place on the 2^nd floor, and the name of it slips away now, but believe connotes in its name «Another tired Todai»

The hubby and I gave it one last shot since we found ourselves wandering downtown one uneventful evening. The selection was meager, the seafood was not fresh, and the server could care less if you were there or not. I said leaving that the place wouldn’t be open much longer. Bye bye Todai.

What happened?! This place used to be really great. Expensive but worth it. It HAD great selection and was always fresh. I wish I had checked Unilocal first… I am guessing based on reviews the place closed and reopened under new management.
I went to dinner at 5pm last Saturday. The food had clearly been sitting out for far far too long. This place is a serious health risk. When sushi has been sitting out so long that it has dried up and changed color… it’s time to close the doors and call your restaurant a huge pocket of fail. Next time I want to get sick and write reviews from the toilet, I will save my $ 25 and pick up a hot dog at the local convenience store.
Edit — the listing on Unilocal shows as closed… do not be fooled by «new management» as I was…

The fact this location is closed says it all. I’ve been a couple times, don’t ask me why since I regretted it the first time. Oh well. They had a poor selection of everything and the quality just wasn’t there.
With so many good food choices in Portland, this place definitely wasn’t worth the calories.

For all those who hated Todai, you can rejoice in the fact that they have apparently closed.
The quality had declined seriously over the past couple of years, while the price had skyrocketed. It was once a place for a passable Japanese-​centric seafood buffet, but had become the home of stale sushi and tasteless side dishes.
Went by there on Friday, January 21, and there was a hastily written sign informing you of their permanent closure. It literally looked like they locked the door after some recent evening’s business and just left.

From what my husband tells me, this place used to be a lot better.
We came here for a family dinner, and the consensus was = disappointing.
The selection of sushi and cooked items is large (spicy tuna, eel, tempura, Udon, rice, etc), but the quality is low. The sushi rice was a bit old and dehydrated, and the the amount of fish per roll is really low. The best thing I had was a mayonnaise covered «crunch roll.»
I don’t think any of us will be coming back here again … too bad. It is such a good business model.

2.5 stars
I went to Todai a few years ago and I have to say it was the best seafood buffet I have had in a real long time. I recently revisited this place and it was so disappointing. The sushi was not even sub-​par. It was very dry and looked like it had been sitting there for while. The Prime Rib was the same way. Everything had the feeling like it had been sitting under the heat lamp for quite sometime. The only thing I truly enjoyed were the baked jumbo shrimp and the snow crab legs. Other then that, everything was not as great as it should be for the price of the meal.
P.S I am terrified of clowns and when I read some reviews saying that there was a clown at Todai, I was a little freaked. But luckily he wasn’t there when I was there =]

Yikes, after experiencing the Todai back at home in Northern Virginia, this Todai left me terribly disappointed. Through some research I learned that this Todai isn’t owned by the same company that runs the Todai in Fairfax, Va but rather a franchisee.
While the selection is large none of the food was fresh or made with much care or attention. The Sushi was dry and the fish dull– a sign it has been sitting out for far too long. The other food, like the chicken teriyaki, soba noodle salad and the desserts were also below par. To add insult to injury, the price we paid was the same as back at home in VA, meaning about $ 16 for the lunch buffet. While it may be located in a nice location, don’t waste your time unless you’re desperate for Japanese.

Todai no longer validates parking. The food quality seems to get lower every time I go. It’s gotten to the point where it’s not even worth the free birthday discount. I went here for the last time today.

I went recently in June…
I had been here about 4 years ago and a few times prior and enjoyed it. I recently moved back to the area and wanted to go to Todai because I remember liking it. Well… it was nothing like I remember it. The sushi was dry… really dry. The other food wasn’t exceptional either. I tried it again a little more recently to give them the benefit of the doubt… maybe it was just a bad day… NOPE… still not good. I’m very disappointed. I used to love this place and now I will never go back.

I’ve heard good stories about this restaurant, so I thought I’d check it out. I was reluctant to do some research, and I found out that all of the people who talked about it haven’t been here for years. Apparently, it’s under new management…
When we walked in, we naturally expected a lot of people. It was hyped up, and I walked in with rather high expectations. Instead, the restaurant is isolated and there’s a clown — I s*** you not; a clown — blowing balloons for a birthday party.
The sushi selection was limited and mislabeled. The sushi was also more Korean style than what they supposedly had originally, meaning it’s spicier. If you like spicy Korean sushi, then you might like this place. The Yakisoba noodles were bland and tasted like a dissonant sympathy was puking into the base of my mouth. The quality of the teriyaki chicken was sub-​par, and the desserts were awful. I think the only thing they didn’t screw up was the rice.
Now, I noticed under this new management that they attempted to ‘Americanize’ the restaurant. The buffet offers prime rib for dinner (I haven’t eaten here for dinner, so I have no idea how that is). Most of the employees speak more Spanish than English, and that total Asian atmosphere of the place really subsides.
Now, I do have to be fair, this is a buffet. Buffets are known to have rushed food with lower quality, so I should go a little easy here, but this place had a reputation to uphold and they simply failed in that department. To sum things up, this is a 3 star buffet with a 4 star price. I did the math, and somehow calculated that to be 2 stars. You’re better off staying in your suburb going to a local Asian buffet than waste gas, parking, time and money going here for mediocre buffet food.

Ok, ok. Yes, it’s a buffet. Yes it’s a buffet that serves sushi… in a mall. But come on! All you can eat sushi! For $ 15 at lunch! I can’t say no. It helped that the office I worked at was around the corner from here, so it became frequent lunch stop for me.
Both sides of the buffet are really good, I usually stuck with the cold (sushi) side, but meandered my way to the hot side every now and then — where you’d find you typical Asian-​American fare (lo mein, fried rice, stuffed mussels, etc). The sushi is really good for being served buffet style. I can’t vouch for it’s authenticity, but I thinking not too many can, so when I say it’s good, it’s probably pretty good. :) The desserts are really tasty too.
It’s worth a try (do it at lunch for half the price of dinner).

Todai use to be good. Now it sucks. How can they call it seafood. When your only selection is crab legs, mussel and shrimp… food selection is very limited
The food quality is very low… it use to be better. The sushi taste like shit and the food taste like shit, I will never comeback… for 30 dollar you can go to a fancy sushi rest…
I paid 27 dollar for dinner on Friday Dec. 12 2009.
I also had to pay $ 2.20 for soda. since that is not included in buffet. They use to give it for free. They also don’t validate. After spending 90 dollars at Todai… Todai use to validate, now they don’t. Service sucks there the waitress was never around.

There’s not much to separate this place from any other redneck buffet in Portland.
That being said, I still ate way too much. Even if the food was god awful, I still would have eaten a ton; the price tag of $ 16.95 or whatever it was, demanded that I stuff myself like a Thanksgiving Turkey.
Overall, too many kids, too many people; but at least they had some tofu sushi. The desserts are also pretty decent considering everything else.

Yesterday was my mom’s birthday, and she wanted to go to this place.
Okay.
I got downtown early so I was killing time with a beer, when I told my bartending friend where I was going, his advice was an emphatic DON’T! It’s worth it, he said, to pay a few extra bucks to get good sushi. I assured him that I wouldn’t know good sushi from bad unless it smelled like microwaved tuna.
I was right.
First of all, it’s pretty expensive. About $ 26 I recall. The buffet is set up as a long counter, so it’s really hard to drop in to the section you want (unless you’re a member of a certain rude, line-​cutting demographic). Two long counters, really. A hot side and a cold side.
The hot side is a step down from what you’d get at Panda Express or one of the Mallnese joints at Pioneer Square. Except the roast beef (wtf?).
In the cold line, don’t be dissuaded by the fishy smell as you approach the sushi. It’s the seafood salad immediately preceding it. The sushi is okay, I guess. I had a few rolls to test them first, but because of the line I never went back.
So if you want to eat a LOT of okay sushi and mediocre Mallnese, hit Todai when it’s slow. Otherwise, I’d avoid it.
p. s. I’m not sure why there are 9 votes for Waiter Service. It’s a freakin’ buffet. Yes someone takes drink orders, but that’s so they can save money on the pop fountain. Don’t believe the hype.

For somewhere between $ 20 and $ 30, you can eat all the crappy-​buffet-​food-​dressed-​up-​as-​decent sushi that you want. You’ll feel like shit afterward because the ingredients are sub par and you will have eaten about 3 to 4 times what you normally would consume. If it’s your birthday, you can gorge-​and-​feel-​like-​crap for free. Yay!
I’ve been here a few more times than I care to admit, as I have had many-​a-​friend who wants to get fat for free on their bday. Ugh. Honestly, the only way to really make this place worthwhile is to hit the snow crab legs… HARD. If you watch the majority of the Asians in the place, they have it down. (don’t get uppity, it was my Korean friend that pointed this out to me). They know how to get their money worth. Wait until the crab legs come out… grab about 4 plates full, and hit it up. The rest is filler.
+1 star because they have fair-​to-​middlin’ profiteroles on the dessert buffet.
Do yourself a favor, avoid.

I always find it hard to rate buffet places as for the price and volume of food available, you can’ really expect top quality but the value for money’s usually pretty good.
Todai’s tucked away in the Pioneer Place shopping centre and probably represents better value for money at lunchtime than the other fast food options in the food court. The service was fast and efficient, usually again another hallmark of buffet places which aim to turn over tables quickly. However, at Todai, you’re made to feel welcome to stay and eat as much as you want.
The food choice is based around mainly Japanese cuisine with nods to a few other oriental food styles. There’s a cold half where you get salads and sushi. I would highly recommend that you go to Todai to try different types of nigiri sushi and then go to a proper Japanese restaurant and have your favourites again. It’s an inexpensive way to work out if you enjoy the more exotic offerings. The chefs behind the counter were working flat out to keep up with demand on the busy Labor Day lunchtime when I was there — I’m not sure if the speed required was the reason the wasabi was left off — the toppings all fell off the rice without this bonding layer.
The hot half contained some usual Chinese noodle dishes but had some of my favourite dishes at Todai — the crabcakes and shabu shabu stew. Desserts comprised mainly western selections as well as fruit, probably because oriental cuisine doesn’t tend to place a lot of emphasis on dessert. It was nice that they were served in tiny just-​over-​bite-​size portions to enable you to try more varieties.
In summary, a large selection of competent rather than mind-​blowing oriental place. A gentle introduction to Japanese food and ideal place for dipping the toe in if you want to try Japanese food — you can try a wide variety of food without breaking the bank.