Kaminaribashi     雷橋  

Bought 10 Groupon for Sunday lunch buffet. At the beginning didn't start well, as took me one whole day to have someone finally pick up the phone. (Well i basically call twice every one hour from 11:30am until 1900)

As soon as we arrived today, table was ready, food pretty good.. Taste nice.... They didn't really skipped our order.. even if they did, they actually apologised... (great service)

But I was quite disappointed with the Haagen-dezs ice cream, it took almost 20 mins to serve us. And by the time they serve us the ice cream, most of them are kindda melted... Plus i have no clue if they are Haagen dezs.

Overall, i don't think i would pay for the standard price for the lunch buffet as food are pretty limited. But as for the taste wise, is accepted for the price we paid for (Groupon price)

They have a strict seating time, allowing you 2 hours to eat as much as you want. We booked for 9:30pm and when we got there it was jam packed with people. We shared a table with another group of 3 girls but there was enough space between us that we didn't feel crowded in. The decoration is modern, grungy and clean, the noise level was bustling but acceptable.

The staff were extremely busy and I guess could not be held responsible when they forgot to bring a glass of water after a couple of reminders, but they eventually managed to fulfil our request. The minute we sat down, a large plate consisting of 2 ginormous prawns, 3 mussels, 2 thick slices of mackerel and some scallops was plonked down in front of us. The grill was started swiftly, and it was clean, non-stick and non-greasy despite the whole night's cooking. The heat was constant and was at a good temperature so our food cooked thoroughly at a nice pace without burning.

We ticked off as many items as we could on the first round, and since we were both meat lovers, we went all out on the beef, chicken, pork, lamb and seafood. I also had some sides such as the house salad (fresh greens, light soy dressing, a couple of amaebi and octopus slices hidden amongst the lot), kimchi (decent, not too spicy), edamame (stale, tasteless), and a soft drink each. The sashimi platter was of average quality but at least they didn't taste fishy or frozen, and overall was acceptable.

My favourite was the chicken pieces which were tender, with various kinds of seasonings, the lamb chop was also tender with a good amount of fat. The beef was also good, some more fatty than others, the only problem was we weren't quite sure which item corresponded to what on the menu list, but I guess it's all the same once it's in the stomach. The seafood didn't fare as well in comparison, the fish were a little dry, the prawns were small (but then we had the two king sized ones to compensate), but everything was edible, and the fun part is you get to season it yourself with the different kinds of salt, pepper and shijimei powder on the side.The food generally came as we ordered, and this should be commended because in a lot of other tabehodai places they just dish you whatever they want seemingly with disregard to whatever it is that you've actually ticked on the paper. The only thing I wish could be improved on is they give us two separate tongs so one could be used for meat and another for vegetables, or at least for cooked/uncooked meat. Overall, it's a good place for some hungry folks if you want to pig out without sacrificing quality over quantity.