The things one does out of professional curiosity. Stopped by Teppanyaki Grill & Buffet to have dinner en route to something else. I'd been curious about the Asian mega-buffets for a while, and here was a convenient way to investigate.
Yes, definitely mega. It must seat more than 200 people. At least 10 hot and cold tables with food. And at an early dinnertime on a weeknight, it was fairly busy, although the noise levels were astonishingly low.
Beyond the hostess stand in the large foyer one sees a line to pick out ingredients for the teppanyaki, or stir-fry grill. No one was manning it when I arrived, and there was no discussion of "When he comes back, you can___________" By the time I left, someone was working there, and an Asian couple had begun to give him some business.
At first the layout seems a little confusing – the first dougle-sided table has fresh fruit and desserts facing the door; on its far side are cold salad ingredients and cold seafood, not just boiled shrimp but squid salad, chilled and quite spicy mussels and seaweed salad. All four of those items were fresh and tasty.
Lots and lots of hot items, and nearly all were Asian or at least Asianesque, rather than the fried chicken-meatloaf-spaghetti oeuvre. Here's a condensed report:
Mongolian pork with green onions scored well. A chicken skewer, large pieces of squid marked "cilantro squid", black pepper chicken and salt &pepper shrimp all were pretty good, not fabulous, but acceptable. There were even whole flounder on the steam table, and it remained surprisingly sweet and not vastly overcooked. A steamer marked "dim sum" contained shu mai, the open-top pork dumplings, pretty flavorless, but some fried dumplings were juicy and well-seasoned. Crisp, un-greasy crab rangoon were better than much of what's around town in this price range. Crawfish were a surprise, showing up with sweet peppers, but they were small and overcooked. Overall, a surprisingly large amount of seafood on a budget-priced buffet. Skip the sushi, which seems mostly to be rolls with fake crab inside.
And that's the advice for the desserts, too, mass-produced cookies , taste-alike pudding-and-cake concoctions, and such. But frankly, for $10 per adult for dinner – which has a better selection, I'm told, than lunch – this is still worth it if you're watching your budget or feeding a bunch of adolescents or just need a bite on your way to somewhere else. The dirty plates disappear quickly, but it's a one-fork operation unless you find the rack with fresh tableware. (It's near that cold shrimp.)
Better than Golden Corral by a couple of miles.
Teppanyaki Grill & Buffet
7289 Watson Rd., Shrewsbury
314-353-7888
Lunch & Dinner daily
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No
Dinner buffet: $10 for adults