Andrea Harner: Getting the Best Deal in a Japanese All-You-Can-Eat Restaurant

August 20, 2003

Two days ago in LA, Jonah's grandmother brought us to Todai Restaurant, "The Mother of All Seafood Buffets" for a ~$13.95 All-You-Can-Eat Lunchtime Special.

Being the clever cats that we are, Jonah and I turned sushi into sashimi so as not to fill up on rice!

but then we noticed this sign...

and this sign...

So, while we plotted to turn wasted rice into invisible rice, we took in the clientele...the hideously hungry, bona fide overeaters and seriously greedy people...

We then spotted the piggiest family of all sitting behind us. Note that there is a whole plate of lighter fish sushi in the middle of their table and several more plates arrived at their table...waitresses also periodically stopped by to ask them if they were going to be able to finish their food.

Here's a close up of that beautiful plate...

We noticed that they of course started turning sushi into sashimi as well so we were immensely curious to see how they would dispose of their rice!

As you can see from the pics above, Jonah and I were intrigued by them so we stared a bit, and then, as any normal people would, we took turns holding my camera over our shoulders and taking pictures of them and ummmm, yes, with flash.

So perhaps it's not so surprising that finally the mom barked at Jonah, "CAN I HELP YOU WITH SOMETHING!?" and then the dad whipped his head around to demand, "CAN I HELP YOU WITH SOMETHING!?"

Slightly horrified and collectively 15 pounds heavier, we rolled out of the restaurant into the scorching LA heat...

Those signs are priceless. They remind me of a sign in my hometown at "Something's Fishy" that says, 'NO LEAVING RICE' and it always made us crack up during the All You Can Eat Sushi tuesdays...

We now call the place "Something's Yucky".

Posted by: brooke at August 20, 2003 2:19 PM

My favorite all you can eat sushi sign asked patrons not to flush rice down the toilet. Apparently rice is worse than paper towels when it comes to clogging up a toilet.

Posted by: Steph at August 21, 2003 10:28 AM

Hi Andrea! Our favorite sushi buffet sign was "One dollar each rice left" - we always wondered if that meant, by the grain?

Meanwhile, I don't know what to make of this.

http://www.toiletology.com/justfun.shtml#tiredbaby

Posted by: Tim at August 23, 2003 12:43 AM

Those people were being gluttens, and they were mean. I think that one "can I help you with something!?" would be enough. Ah, but see they even protest in excess.
Bonus: now we all know about their ravenous desire to eat their moneys worth. You see that much sushi on one plate doesn't reveal they are that hungry. It shows they just don't want anyone else to have any.
This is how your Blog affirms my belief in a balanced universe because now we all know the truth about them.

Posted by: Scott at August 28, 2003 12:38 AM