Jump to content

  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Mikado 23

zhelder

By zhelder
in New Jersey: Dining

 Share

Recommended Posts

zhelder

zhelder

Posted
Posted (edited)

A new upscale sushi buffet called Mikado 23 has opened in Wayne. They are located right off of Route 23 on the site that was Majestic Buffet formerly, and before that, the most sinister electronics chain to ever make its way into New Jersey, Nationwide Electronics. (I used to love going in there and seeing $400 TVs priced at $1800.)

I liked Majestic Buffet. I thought it was a little fancier than the typical Chinese buffet and I liked the decor and ample space inside. Then I discovered Minado and it completely changed my idea of what a buffet should be. Yeah, it was more expensive, but it was so much better than the typical Chinese buffet that I've pretty much stopped going to all other buffets.

I was very skeptical of trying this place, but being curious, I had to try it once, so I went last night. I got very nervous when I saw that the outside was almost exactly the same as Majestic Buffet, except for the new signage. After all, I was expecting an upscale Japanese buffet, not another Majestic Buffet for an additional $10 per person.

The entryway just past the doors was similar too. Oh no.

We were seated. OK, now things were looking up. The decor was nicely updated, with new tables and chairs, and some neat semi-private rooms lining the back wall.

And then we finally got to see the buffet. And Minado has some competition!

The sushi was excellent, and they had some varieties that Minado doesn't have. For example, they had some great shrimp tempura sushi, including one with mango. These were great, comparable to what I've gotten in sit down restaurants. They also had the usual fare: eel (and eel avocado, which Minado often doesn't have), shrimp, tuna, salmon, etc. All were fresh and tasty. They also had a salmon roe sushi, but I didn't try that.

Like Minado, they also had some nice Asian salads, like octopus salad. Again, fresh and tasty.

Hot foods were good too. They had some pad thai (good for a buffet, but not quite comparable to what you'd get at a sit down Thai restaurant), tom yum soup (again, OK for a buffet) and some wonderful udon noodles in a peanut sauce. These were great. They also had chicken teriyaki.

They also had chicken and shrimp tempura. These were fantastic. The shrimp tempura looked to be made with king prawns and the crunchy tempura coating was fantastic. Much better than Minado's prawns, which seem to be filled with creamy mayonnaisey sauce (yeek).

Desserts were limited, but good. There were a few cakes, very similar to the ones at Minado. They also had some Asian inspired desserts, like tapioca custard. They kept the old ice cream station from Majestic Buffet: there's a freezer with giant tubs of hard ice cream (Turkey Hill, I think) and scoops kept under running water. You scoop the flavors you want. Good, but no comparison to the incredible soft serve vanilla and green tea ice cream Minado added some time ago.

They have a hibachi station, but I didn't see anyone getting anything from there, so I skipped that. Maybe next time.

As a grand opening promo, they offered free large pitchers of a drink they called "aloha juice". This was a nice treat. A citrusy juice drink with strong grapefruit and coconut flavors, with mixed fruit throughout. I'm sure a pitcher of this would normally go for at least $10, maybe even $15.

The place is huge (much larger than Minado's locations, which are large themselves) and there was plenty of room to sit comfortably and to peruse around the buffet. As much as I love Minado, the place is an absolute zoo at all times, and you really have to learn how to become skilled in avoiding crashing into people while going to the buffet and back to your seat. And at the Little Ferry location in particular, seating is very tight, because there are always so many people there.

Weekend dinner was $25.95, $4 cheaper than Minado. Figure $5 less per person after tax and tip. Weekday lunch is a very reasonable $11.95, but I don't know how limited the selection is then.

The place doesn't have all of Minado's "amenities": no udon soup station, no crepes, no hand rolls (I don't think). And overall, they don't have quite the variety that Minado has, especially in the hot foods department. But then again, they are a bit cheaper, they do have stuff that Minado doesn't have, the place is more comfortable to dine in, and the food is still excellent. Service was very attentive.

I have to wonder though, whether Mikado was started by someone who formerly worked at Minado. The names are almsot identical, the logos are similar, and even the little business cards they had at the front with hours and prices were almost identical in style to the ones they have at Minado.

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by Mikado 23, and I will definitely return in a few weeks. They did just open, so maybe they'll add some things once they get settled. Minado is still the overall champ (at least right now), but Mikado 23 is a very solid and worthy alternative.

Edited by zhelder (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
rooftop1000

rooftop1000

Posted
Posted

We had to repay my M-I-L for some recent dogsitting and tried this for lunch today. I was happy to see so much variety in the non-sushi areas for her, and while she kept them busy with tempura etc. my hubby and I spent an hour working over the sushi and sashimi, including huge softshell crab tempura rolls and a lovely seared tuna salad.

Very satisfying lunch.

tracey

The great thing about barbeque is that when you get hungry 3 hours later....you can lick your fingers

Maxine

Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

"It is the government's fault, they've eaten everything."

My Webpage

garden state motorcyle association

Link to comment
Share on other sites
zhelder

zhelder

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

I enjoyed the place so much last week, I went back a second time last Saturday. It was even better than the first week! They had a lot of the same stuff, but a few new things too, including some great bacon wrapped scallops. It was about five times busier than it was the week before. The word is spreading! It would take quite a feat for this place to develop a Minado-like following, but maybe they will! No more free Aloha Juice though. :sad:

I also found out they have a sit down hibachi dinner option available as an alternative to the buffet. (I think you get to pick two meats/seafoods for your dinner.) Prices are pretty close to the buffet prices.

The website right now looks like just a place holder, but I'm sure they'll get it updated in the next few weeks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
rooftop1000

rooftop1000

Posted
Posted
I just found out that they have a website -- because I wanted to see all their meal prices. The website is very new: http://mikado23usa.com/

So when are we going?

T

The great thing about barbeque is that when you get hungry 3 hours later....you can lick your fingers

Maxine

Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

"It is the government's fault, they've eaten everything."

My Webpage

garden state motorcyle association

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...
zhelder

zhelder

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted (edited)

I went back for lunch today (Saturday) to see whether it was worth ponying up the extra $$$ for dinner. Lunch on the weekends is $15.95. During the week, it's $11.95 (I'll make a weekday trip very soon)!

I was BLOWN AWAY by how much great stuff they had available for lunch! They had almost all of the sushi varieties that they have for dinner, including eel and eel avocado (my favorite), shrimp tempura, and a whole bunch of other stuff! The hot foods were tamed down a bit (Singapore rice noodles instead of udon noodles, and definitely no bacon wrapped scallops for lunch!), but they had the usual teriyakis, and they still had the great chicken, shrimp, and banana tempuras!

But the sushi! They had about 90% of what I've seen at the dinner buffet.

At Minado, the lunch is good, but they scale back a lot of the sushi offerings. Sometimes they have an oval roll with what looks like chopped eel, but that's the only eel dish that they (occasionally) offer for their lunch. And Minado doesn't offer many sushi varieties with avocado, which I love.

Mikado's lunch blows Minado's out of the water. And it's a bit cheaper!

Dessert selection has been improved too. The cakes are similar to what you get at Minado. They still don't have quite the variety of Minado, but they're getting there!

Now, they need an udon soup station!

Crowds are building at this place too. If they can keep up the quality and maintain the prices, they will have a Minado-like following within a year or so.

I can't wait to try the weekday lunch for $11.95! Hopefully almost all of the same stuff will be available!

If you like sushi, check this place out. It really is a great place and it's gotten better each time I went!

Edited by zhelder (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...