When it comes to stuffing yourself to the brim on a cornucopia of cheap, delicious eats, nothing quite hits the spot like a nice Chinese buffet in Tampa.
Ichiban Buffet is a newer addition to Tampa's Chinese buffet lineup. Sitting off highway 60, this all-you-can-eat Asian eatery boasts a wide assortment of hot and cold dishes, fresh-made sushi, and more in an impressively large buffet environment for lunch and dinner.
While the appearance is nice, the execution leaves a decent amount to be desired when it comes to the food at Ichiban Buffet.
For a typical Chinese buffet, Ichiban's sushi spread is quite impressive. Two sushi chefs take the helm behind the display rolling fresh rolls at a consistent pace. There's a variety of raw sushi and rolls you can choose from. While passable, Ichiban's sushi hardly ranks among the best in the area. Fried rolls were curiously hard and crunchy while others were bland, questionably fresh renditions of much better sushi in the area.
The rest of the fare I tried at Ichiban followed in the same suit; bland, salty, uninspired. Look, if you're looking to get some bang for your buck, your eight bucks will definitely get some mileage here, it's just every dish seems like it was born from the least effort possible in the kitchen. Fried General Tso's was near indiscernible from other varieties of fried, glazed chicken at Ichiban. Lo mein required a hearty splash of soy sauce for any flavor whatsoever. Szechuan beef could've easily passed for a microwave Lean Cuisine version. The list goes on.
In the end, Ichiban Buffet boasts the quantity it takes to be a solid Chinese buffet, but the quality leaves much to be desired judging from this experience. Give Ichiban your own rating and review on the Ichiban Buffet 813area business listing.
