Went to this place on 31st Dec 08 for New Year Eve's dinner with 7others with 1 infant & 1 toddler.

Maybe due to New Year, Timing was limited. We chose the 2nd Session that start at 8pm and our last orders at 9.45pm. ( & We thought this place was too popular thus they have to do it this way)

Anyway, Place was small and crampy, we had to adjust the seatings ourselves and the staffs could not be bothered.

Buffet is in ala Carte manner so we have to order through the waiter and waitresses.

Food serving is very slow, twenty min through we are only serve one sashimi platter and some sushi and we have to ask for our drinks. ( Do note we have only 1&45Min for ordering! & It's Not even crowded!)

So we have to adopt our Kiasuisim and write down what we wanted to order and pass to the waiter! Nothing came! and when we check, the Kitchen says nothing outstanding!!

Thus we have to order again!

The worse part is that the Kitchen is unhygienic!

Were treated to fish scale on the salmon sashimi! Not once but twice! The Manager on duty can only managed a feeble explanation that they had to descale the fish in the kitchen! what bullshit is that!!

The sushi and sashimi was all cut and sliced in messy manner that a primary school kid can do better.


He tried to offer ice cream for compensation, That's Crappy !

This is the worst experience in dinning I had ever!

The place STINKS. Not only does the food suck, the whole environment literally stinks. I should have just gone with my gut instincts and walked out when I was assaulted by a stale smell on my way into the restaurant. Even food court jap food also better. OMG! How did these fellas stay in business for so long?

Not sure if I had just gone there at the wrong time, but it was an all in all disappointing meal. The food was pretty decent for a Japanese buffet since one doens't really expect inagiku quality sushi and sashimi but avoid the cheese chawan mushi which is uninspired. The fried shishamo is also somewhat disappointing. The rest of the food, including tempura, agedashi tofu among others were pretty good, as was the grilled makarel. However, all this was ruined by the poor service. We had multiple orders missed or wrongly ordered and the waitress was pretty rude, complaining she could not hear the person ordering rather than going over to stand next to the orderer and getting the orders wrong even when we had repeated the orders next to her. Not sure if is is because these are new post JC hires but it ruined our friends birthday experience nontheless.

Having read the reviews on this good site, we decided on this place as a spot to eat and be jolly with a group of mates. Minori was actually suggested by one of our group but a look at the reviews on Minori by fellow reviewers on this site will have you switching choices faster than you can say 'ocha'.

First off, the food. The menu is extensive, as a buffet should be. The sashimi was fresh enough but quality-wise, average. We kept up the shishamoh orders as the fishes they brought out each time were tiny. The cheese chawanmushi was not particularly inspiring. A thin layer of hardened cheddar at the top of the cup, and that was it! The zaru soba was disappointing, rubbery and ill-prepared. The agedashi tofu was decent, the skin just the right texture and the sauce the right combination of salty/sweet.

Next, the service was somewhat lacking. We were not sure if it was the surreptitious gawking at our celebrity mate by the service staff that led to them forgetting our orders, or just plain lackadaisical service.

Better Japanese fare to be had elsewhere on our island.

I have heard from my friends who have been to Hanabi that the buffet spread had a wide range of items too choose and plus the priced quiet nicely making it affordable for people to come and enjoy Japanese food without having to spend too much that would burn a hole in their pockets, so me and my friends decided to head down for a buffet spread.

The food served was good but what made the evening bad was the service that was provided by the staff there.

First of all, My friends and I ordered quite a number of items but to our surprise ONLY a handful of dishes managed to reach our table, a far cry from the number of dishes we ordered, It took us a long time to get the attention of the staff there and when the staff got back to us, the staff said all the orders were out, this could only mean that the staff just take the food without checking the table number
(Just a note, this happened 3 times during our visit)

and the service was slow, we ordered green tea which took a long time to be served, (one would wonder if they went to Japan to pluck the leaves for the tea), when we asked about the tea, the staff we ordered from gave a reply that was not the response one would expect from a staff from a restaurant,

To top the evening off, my friend found a hair in the maki we ordered, and when we highlighted it to the staff, the staff response was just " OK, I will highlight it to my Manager", and we had to ask a second staff about the reply which only resulted in an apology and explanation for a more senior staff.

It would take a lot of convincing for me to head back to Hanabi for a second meal.