Texas is known for going big or not going at all, and so I wasn't all too surprised when I saw signs for buffets all over the city. I had the gluttonous pleasure of trying out some of these all you can eats, including sushi, Korean BBQ, Mediterranean, texmex. Here are my thoughts on them:

Gui (2719 McKinney Ave, Dallas)

On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, Gui offers an all you can eat deal - $20 for regular rolls only or $25 for regular plus specialty rolls. This is by far the best value, especially if you order primarily the specialty rolls, which are normally ~$8 a roll. We (two people) ordered 21 rolls, which would have likely cost us ~$150 had we ordered each a la carte.

The caveat is that you have to pay for anything that you don't eat and you can't be shady and eat everything but the rice.

Terra (5910 N Macarthur Blvd, Irving)

For less than $13, Terra's Mediterranean lunch buffet offers a plethora of meat options, with even more salad and vegetarian choices. Anyone looking for dessert, however, will have to look elsewhere. There are only fresh fruits and rice pudding that fit in the sweets category.

Sura Korean Bistro (2240 Royal Ln, Dallas)

Sura offers about a dozen selection of meats ranging from chicken to brisket, but no fish. There's a small selection of self-served vegetables that include carrots, mushrooms, onions, etc. More salad and kimchi are provided when asked, although sometimes you have to ask multiple times to finally get it. The price tag was ~$24.

Full disclosure, my stomach did get sick immediately after eating this and also the following day. My dining mate didn't, however.

Blue Mesa Grill (7700 W NW Hwy, Dallas)

For $20, the Sunday all you can eat brunch was an okay choice. I have to give Blue Mesa props for the initiative to put some, but not all, of its nutritional info online.

There's a decent selection of food from enchiladas to an omelette station to taco fillings to salads and grilled fish. With the exception of the grilled fish, I found everything else to be a bit at or below average. A lot of the food is soaked in no trans-fat oil, but the oil doesn't seem to add to the dishes' flavor. The dependency should be on the spices for the flavor, not the oil.

I shouldn't forget to mention that the price includes unlimited mimosas, coffee, tea, and soft drinks. The coffee is made with a boatload of cinnamon (which I liked, but be forewarned).

Mirakuya
695 Kidder St
Wilkes Barre, PA 18702

We came here on a Sunday night for dinner.  Perhaps a bit surprisingly, it was quite crowded - but, we got seated within about 5 minutes.  We sat down around one of the hibachi grills, and gave our orders about 10 minutes later.  Another 10 minutes passed by when one of the hibachi chefs came along.  The chef, referring to himself as "Justin Bieber," was energetic, interacted with the customers, did the traditional light the grill on fire wiz bangs, etc.  It was fun, however, it was pretty obvious he was making one of the customers quite uncomfortable by constantly driving the attention towards her.

One of the pros (maybe cons?) of the hibachi experience is that we got to see all the ingredients that went into making our dish.  I ordered the salmon hibachi, and let me tell you, a lot of butter, oil, and soy sauce went into making this dish.  The soy sauce was absolutely overwhelming, masking any flavor there was to the salmon, rice, and vegetables.  The plus is that the salmon wasn't overcooked!

Oh, yes, I didn't manage to take any other picture besides the salad that came with my dish :)

Located next to Chifa, Morimoto is giving Jose Garces a run for his money. Unlike most restaurants, Morimoto is not dimly lit, and you can actually see the person sitting across from you. Although, there is an awkwardly placed artificial candle/light at the center of the table that can't be moved. As a result, shared dishes have to be put near the edge of the table and diners can't look at each other without being blinded by the light. The food, on the other hand, is enough reason to return. We started off with the 10 hour pork 'kakuni' - a braised pork belly served with hot rice porridge. The pork belly was cooked perfectly, with the meat flaky and the fat pure decadence. Next up was the angry chicken - a nicely marinated organic half chicken with roasted finger peppers and spiced chicken jus. The chicken was cooked just right, moist and tender without being overwhelmed by the sauce. Then there was the kobe beef ishi yaki bop - a rice dish prepared tableside in a hot river stone bowl. The kobe beef cooked evenly to medium-rare, and the flavors blended in a perfect fusion. Finally, the deserts. First came the black sesame moussecake - a silky smooth cake with layers of goma mousse, sea salt mousse, flourless chocolate cake, and dark chocolate ganache. Each bite was a bite of heaven. Then there was the irish coffee jelly parfait made up of coffee jelly, coconut sorbet, suntory 12 year yamazaki, and a dash of cinnamon. There really aren't that many words to describe this - you'll just have to go and find out. http://www.chaseminhchau.com/subpages/restaurants/morimoto.html