Makino Chaya's Hawaii - the Super Buffet

Makino Chaya or Makino's as many people call it, in my mind is a buffet on steroids. While it traditionally serves Japanese foods such as sushi and raw fish, it also has a ridiculous desert bar as well. Not only do they serve the usual raw fish and shrimp that you can get buffet style, but they have a separate menu with specialty items that you can order off of. Let your waitress know what you want off the specialty menu and they will bring it out in a few minutes. This place is an over eater's heaven.

When I first visited the Pearl City location on the island of Oahu I was very overwhelmed. There were so many choices that I did not know where to begin, nor could I possibly enjoy all of them. I decided to get the shrimp cocktail, seaweed salad and sashimi (sliced portions of raw ahi to be dipped in soy sauce and wasabi) to start with. I took a look at the menu and then proceeded to order some nigiri rolls, if you do not know what these are I will explain. The nigiri rolls are pieces of fish on top of a small rolled piece of rice. You take it and dip it into soy sauce mixed with wasabi or Japanese horseradish.

As if this was not enough, I decided to check out the other row of the buffet. Man was I in shock at the vast amount of different foods. You can get rice, fried rice, different fried noodles, shrimp tempura, mussels with sauce, fried chicken, calamari and that is just to name a few. And I really do mean that this part of the buffet was huge. I swear it was at least twenty feet long filled with all kinds of stuff.

Ok, so by now you can imagine how stuffed I was. I ventured over to the dessert bar and found what can only be compared to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. There was a huge chocolate fountain that you could drizzle or dip bananas, strawberries or any other fruit. They also had someone making fresh crepes filled with vanilla ice cream or frozen cream puffs you could douse in chocolate. Hold on though as this was not the only thing you could get at the desert bar. They also had sponge cake and some other treats as well.

I cannot even tell you how much food was there. This does come with a price though; the price tag was about $22 per person. Still not that bad considering how much food was there. I have one tip though. If you want the cheaper version, visit their Mililani location. It is a little hard to find so be sure to call to get directions, but it is well worth it. It is only about $15 per person, but they are smaller and do not have as much of a variety as the Pearl City location. If you want to visit a pumped up buffet, try out Makino's, your belly will thank you.