All You Can Eat Sushi at 168 Sushi Buffet
168 Sushi Buffet
All You Can Eat Sushi at 168 Sushi Buffet
168 Sushi Buffet
168 Sushi Buffet
Foods from 168 Sushi Buffet
Comments

2017 Jan 9
Was here last week and have to agree that this is the best AYCE sushi I've had in Ottawa. The main thing that sets 168 (both locations) above the other places is they use much larger pieces of fish in their rolls. The service has always met my low expectations for AYCE sushi. A nice bonus is they have added crab legs to the menu (max 2 per person, I believe weekends only) which is likely in response to their new competitors (Mandarin) coming to town.

2017 Jan 7
Sushi 168 on Merivale has been my go-to AYCE (all you can eat) sushi place in Ottawa for a number of years now. When going into an AYCE Japanese restaurant such as this, you have to have the right expectations. This will not be melt-in-your mouth Hiro Dreams of Sushi sushi. There will not be any exotic fish or flown-in-from-Tsukiji quality sushi here. What you can expect will be an expansive menu of rolls that contain various combinations of salmon, tempura shrimp, avacado, cucumber, imitation crab, eel, etc. The menu also has extensive options for cooked items, such as teriyaki dishes, fried tofu, dumplings, chicken wings, beef, miso soup, etc. And there are also other Asian dishes, such as curry chicken or General Tao's Chicken.

You order with the iPad menu, and I find that the food typically comes pretty quickly. The service is curt and efficient, if not warm. You should be prepared for some typical AYCE situations, such as the occasional item that you order does not arrive (for me, typically the sirloin steak), or for some items to be down-sized (e.g. you ordered 20 pieces salmon sashimi and only 12 come), or for a server bringing you something you didn't order. These things are all par for the course, and should be taken in stride.

My favourite items at Sushi 168 are the salmon sashimi, the cooked salmon belly, the fried chicken wings, the beef short ribs, the garlic sirloin steak and the tobiko sushi (fish roe). I find the restaurant to be clean, and the sushi quality (especially rice) to be decently good.

2015 Apr 26
The other half and I stopped by for lunch yesterday. It was our second time here and, unfortunately, our last.

We generally visit Sushi Kan/Khan if we want dependable, AYCE sushi. We had come here on a whim a few weeks ago because the Kan was full and hey, iPads. The sushi was on par with what we expected, but the place was dark, loud and the service was only mediocre. We figured it was because we had come at prime time on a Saturday. Seeing as we were arriving a little later, we figured it would be okay. Indeed, when we arrived at 2:15, half the tables were empty and we were seated right away.

We placed our first orders immediately upon sitting down. Our water and soda arrived promptly, but that was the end of that. Our tempura items trickled out haphazardly, the tables beside us putting in and receiving orders before we got a majority of our items. We put in a second order, including for a beer. We received those items before the end of the first order...minus the beer. At this point it's 3:20 and a server comes over to ask us how we're doing and if we're ordering more. OH and I look at each other, and then at the waitress and explain that we're between orders, but we will be getting more items. She then informs us that last orders are at 3:30. At this point, an hour and fifteen minutes in, we had probably received less than 20 items (I'm counting single pieces of nigiri in this and groups of 6 maki rolls, so really an insignificant amount of food). We place our third and final order.

It takes a server another 10 minutes to come confirm our order. Our drinks are long since finished. All of our empty plates are stacked beside us. That beer still hasn't showed up. We watch as four booths fill up with servers eating lunch, leaving two servers for the massive, massive restaurant. One of them keeps wiping his nose on his hand and then delivering plates to tables. We finally flag someone down for the beer and another soda. The wipe-nose-hand guy brings it and I'm suddenly no longer thirsty. We get the end of our orders (poorly rolled) and discover that just about everything is covered in tobiko, despite not ordering any tobiko rolls. I do mean covered. We had polka dot sushi. We pick at our food, pay, leave and sit in the car dazed, confused and covered in tobiko.

$50 down the drain. Will. Not. Be. Returning.

2015 Jan 15
I got to try this iPad ordering system and it works well. Much better than the scribbles on paper.

The food was overall very good. The sushi was fresh and the majority of dishes we ordered were all very tasty: hot and sour soup, seaweed salad, shrimp dumplings, stir fried noodles, fried rice, beef ribs in soy sauce, fried tofu, teriyaki salmon. Pictures are: the fluffy fried tofu in a sweet sauce, the beef ribs in soy sauce, a platter of salmon, white tuna, clam and grilled eel sushi, and stir fried udon. There was no sashimi for lunch. It is only available at dinner time.

The dishes I thought were just ok were the deep fried ones such as the tempura shrimps, tempura yam, fried squid and fried bananas.

There were a few flavours of ice cream to choose from. I had the green tea and red bean. Very satisfying end to lunch!

In short, I thoroughly enjoyed lunch as not only were the dishes good, it was promptly served. Service was good, unlike at a few other AYCE places.

2013 Dec 16
iPad ordering is a go at the Merivale location! I was here with my son last night. Prices have gone up a little at $25/adult for dinner, but the quality is great for AYCE.

I was hoping that the iPad would allow you to submit many very small orders without waitstaff intervention, but you have to call a server over (using the iPad) to submit the order for you. I'm not sure why this is needed -- they could easily flag large or suspicious orders for further investigation while allowing the more mundane ones to go through the system automatically.

In any case, the picture-based ordering system is fantastic!

2013 May 25
The iPad ordering system available at some Toronto-area locations is a total game changer. Can't wait until we see this in Ottawa! No more silly pencil scratches on paper.

Preview here: instagram.com/p/ZvU5DHl7aT/

2013 Mar 13
After experiencing sushi in Toronto for the last 7 years, 168 was the first place I had tried in Ottawa simply because it was close to work. I've been 3 times and have mixed reviews. The service is always fast and efficient. I know what I do and don't like when it comes to sushi, so ordering is never an issue. In terms of the food I have ordered the following:
-YAM TEMPURA: thinly sliced, which means that the yam isn't crunchy in the middle. Its actually some of the better yam tempura I've had
-BEEF & CHICKEN TERIYAKI: was not a big fan. These are usually my go-to's on any menu. The sauce was salty and tasted like a cheap grocery store sauce. The meat is chewy.
-SPIDER ROLL: I was actually surprised at how good the roll was. Its definitely more fishy than a standard roll, but it was a nice change.
-SPICY TEMPURA CALIFORNIA ROLL: I think these are the only reason I keep coming back. I've tried ordering these at other sushi places, including in Toronto. But I've never had rolls quite as good as the ones at 168. Crispy and spicy but still cold on the inside. I would definitely recommend this roll
-TERIYAKI CHICKEN ROLL: I absolutely hated this roll. I made the man I was with eat them and he could barely stomach them. Between the taste, texture, and the terrible teriyaki sauce, I would not recommend
-SWEET POTATO TEMPURA ROLL: Again, I absolutely hated this roll. After I had enjoyed the actual yam tempura, I figured the roll would be good. WRONG. It was mushy and overall just disgusting. I've tried and enjoyed the roll at other sushi places, but the ones at 168 are not enjoyable.

Many of the standard menu items- spring rolls, udon noodles, california rolls, crab rolls, dynamite, etc.-are pretty average in taste. Besides the average food, the actual restaurant is beautiful: very dark and comfy. But the birthday music is frightening and plays throughout the restaurant which was annoying (especially hearing it multiple times).

2012 Aug 9
Sorry to hear about your bad experiences at 168 New User 4951. I have been to many amazing sushi restaurants (Japan and NYC), just not in Ottawa. If you want really good sushi you have to venture to Montreal or Toronto.

A la carte restos in Ottawa do not distinguish themselves from the AYCE establishments. The difference in quality and freshness is marginal at best. Used to like Kinki's a few years ago, then Wasabi's. Now when I feel like sushi, I will actually go to 168 or 1000 Island (Carling location only).

Disappointing a la carte's and AYCE's from my dining experiences incl Kinki, MHK, Genji, Japanese Village, Sushi Kanata, Taste of Japan (no longer) and Sushi Kan (AYCE) and Sakura Sushi (AYCE and no longer).

Fusion House is a borderline AYCE establishment. The food was good but the service was horrible and I become very leery when an establishment cuts corners on their hydro bill (A/C) in the dead of summer to save a few dollars, not usually a good sign (others I know I have experienced the same). I would actually try this place again but only when the weather cools but also not when we're in a deep freeze.

168 also has a more extensive offering of chinese food items for those in your group who are new or feel borderline about sushi. Great way to introduce them to sushi while also satisfying your own sushi craving. Children prices here are reasonable as opposed to 1000 Island, especially when your children eat the equivalent of a thimble.

Note to a previous poster about surf clam...the surf clam portions served at 168 are much bigger and fresher than 1000 Island. My experiences of ordering surf clam and salmon sashimi differs from others, we usually get more than ordered, which is good and bad.

Haven't given up trying to find a really good sushi restaurant in Ottawa, just not overly optimistic.

2012 Aug 7
I have been to this place a few times. I must say it is extremely inconsistent! Not to mention customer service was lacking and some of the staff come off as being rude.

On one visit, there was a long strand of hair in our food which clearly did not belong to us (group of guys with short hair). The waitress simply removed the hair and told us we could resume eating. Seriously? Disgusting. not only that, we had to argue to be compensated somehow for the rude people skills and the hair.

I had taken the family there once, and the staff was kind and accommodated us by letting us sit in the back area where it was quite, bright, and was further removed from the kitchen. On our second visit, one of us has a sensitivity to strong aromas, and we asked again to be seated in an area where the smell was less strong and the staff was rude and refused so we walked out.

However, many of my friends still liked this place, so i had come back time and time again. on most occasions the food is ok/mediocre at best. On our most recent visit the food was HORRIBLE! We had been there right after lunch, the place was quite empty but our food still took some time getting to us. You would think the food would be hot and well prepared for such a long wait. WRONG! The battered food was lukewarm. The maki tasted of plain mayo, was falling apart, the rice was dry, bland, and tasted old. The maki was filled with eggs with barely any veggies or avocado. Needless to say, we tried to eat the food anyways, maybe it tasted better than it looked. Big mistake, one of us could no stomach the food and had to be excused to the washroom. We returned the food to the waitress, surprisingly she did not argue or ask why we were returning the food, even the staff knew this was subpar even by their standards.

In the end, this place really is a hit or miss. The safest time to eat here seems to be the weekend only. But I for one will not be going back, at the price the charge, I'd rather go to an a la carte place, spend the same amount and leave full.

2012 Jul 8
Stopped in today right after open with my stepdaughter. Neither of us are really fish eaters, so we stayed away from "traditional" sushi. We had the mushroom tempura roll, fried dumplings, tempura shrimp (just me), teriyaki beef, tempura veggies, spring rolls, scrambled egg "sushi" and tempura banana.

While most of the food was good quality, I was a little disappointed with the teriyaki steak. Seemed like a little tiny round steak, pan fried, and topped with a decent teriyaki sauce. The steak itself was dry, chewy and blank, unfortunately.

I *really* liked the mushroom tempura rolls, though. The touch of sesame was nice.

Service was good. I'll be back.

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2017 Nov 12
This is one of the few places that the whole family is enthusiastic about! We tend to go for weekend lunch which is now up to about $17 per person. For the quality and quantity we pay this happily.

Lower-priced sushi restaurants are known to take advantage of ambiguity in fish naming by subtituting inferior species on their menus. Red snapper might be tilapia, and white tuna or butterfish might be escolar. So I basically stick to salmon, which I love!

My recommendations here are:

* seaweed salad
* salmon nigiri
* unagi nigiri
* tobiko nigiri
* red dragon maki
* california roll
* fried salmon belly and neck/collar
* salmon teriyaki
* chicken yakitori
* stir-fried vegetables
* vegetable udon soup
* red bean ice cream

The tempura isn't that great and the Korean dishes are too sweet but we usually end up getting some of those anyway. One pro tip: order the shrimp har gow — not because they're particularly good, but because they come with a condiment dish of sriracha sauce.

Service is quick and usually friendly and they only miss a dish once every few visits.

2013 Dec 16
Quality is very decent and the price is excellent for my appetite. A new dish I tried this time was the Thai shrimp stir-fry (bottom right in pic). I'll get that again!

Salmon sashimi slices were nice and meaty. Pure joy.

2012 Aug 18
None of the All u can eat Sushi places are authentic Japanese. They are usually owned and operated by Chinese folks capitalizing on the buffet market. For this reason, I general take a pass on a sushi buffet. The real reason I take a pass though is the incredibly crappy service at most places. I can't imagine anyone asking you to consume everything on your plate or else! This place tried to charge me for a horrible tasting sushi roll that I refused to eat. I told them flat out that I refuse to pay extra and if they pushed, I would flat out refuse to pay anything.

Don't stand for this terrible service at these all u can eat sushi joints. For the most part, the food is a rip off and the service is terrible. You can make your own sushi at home.

2011 Jan 27
I've been here twice now (would've been 3 times but the line up was too long last time i tried).

The first time I ate there was just a few days after opening. The first thing that I noticed was the decor: wide open, very simple and clean and purple! The next thing I noticed were the huge picture menus which really help when deciding what to order, however some things that I ordered didn't really look like the picture. The food was very good, everything seemed very fresh. I tried some items that I had given up on at other sushi places, and it felt like I was eating them for the first time. The rolls were good, although I am not the biggest fan of the special rolls with all that heavy mayo, cream cheese and sauces. The BBQ mackerel was actually a whole mackerel pike, and it was delicious. Tempura was good, although kind of greasy. The free ice cream was a good finish. After my first trip, I thought the quality was better than other AYCE sushi places in the area.

The second time I already noticed things weren't as good as the first time. Perhaps the first visit is always better, or things just weren't as fresh a few weeks after the opening. The BBQ mackerel was now a mackerel steak, which was still good but not as good as the pike. The fish didn't taste as fresh as the first time, the tempura was still a bit greasy, but overall I thought it was now on par with other AYCE sushi places around.

All in all, 168 sushi is a good addition to the growing number of AYCE sushi restaurants in this area. I will definitely be going back, however I will also be going back to Sushi Kan and 1000 Sushi Islands once in a while because I like variation and they all have their unique athmosphere and menu items.

Oh yeah, and I love the big bowl of genuine Jelly Belly's at the check-out counter!

2011 Jan 26
As much as I am irked by fake reviews, I can offer this information -

I have not been to 168 and I know nothing of the owners, but I live about a block away and have NEVER seen the parking lot so busy. At all hours that the restaurant is open. The place does look like it's always hopping, and my husband and I were thinking of trying it out.

2011 Jan 26
The initial review was certainly over the top and appears to have been written by a young woman who has the hots for the manager. I talked with him on Saturday and he told me that the place has been so busy during its first month that the inexperienced staff has made some mistakes. I live in Brampton and am a friend of the owners, so I am obviously biased. I know their writing style in English and know they did not write that review. The place has been so busy (without any advertising) that they have to be doing something right So far, I have seen only 1 negative review and it was probably earned due to poor service received by a customer. Try the restaurant! You might just like it.

2011 Jan 24
Wow... warmth AND elegance... refreshing AND visually delightful...

They could at least pretend to try to make the fake review look less fake.

2011 Jan 22
PROBABILITY THAT YOU ARE THE MANAGER: 1.0

:-)

2011 Jan 22
The manager is Amazing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great service from the staff and himself.
As you enter the168 Sushi Japan Buffe tRestaurant run by the gracious manager & the talented young chef in the back of the room, you immediately get a feeling of both warmth and elegance in the lavishly EXTRAORDINARY
dining area, surrounded by beautiful light. This wonderful impression continues with the hospitality and creative details of the dishes. Aside from the menu, guests have a choice between several tasting menus for thier own personal selection of the day or night. I selected many tasting menu, which did not disappoint. None at all.

Following some tasty “KALBI BEEF”, the first course I had Is amazing. Contrary to what you may think , this dish was delicious with just the right blend of each ingredient. The food is refreshing and visually delightful. It was almost a shame to eat this beauty!

The final dish, the dessert, was a lovely Red Bean,Mango, and vanilla Ice cream scoops. Also to top it all off with banana tempura ..........yum yum. A perfect end to an exceptional meal.

Despite all the busyness
Hurried..like one who had always a multiplicity of tasks on hand.

They managed to give me and my guest amazing service and I would say I've there 6 times since they open.

You should go there its awsome!!!!!!!!!!!

DECOR:10
SERVICE:10
FOOD:10
PRICE:10