I've been hearing about Yakimix for months, and recently, we found a reason to try out the restaurant in Greenbelt. Having an infamous reputation for famished crowds, we deliberately made our way an hour before lunch time to secure some seats.
The interior of the Greenbelt branch lends a hotel-like feel, with its high ceiling and elaborate chandeliers. Booths lined up several sides of the restaurant and family-style tables were available as well.
The dining tables were set up with smokeless grills in the center for cooking the raw meat dishes that they also serve. The weekday lunch buffet was P499 per head, while holidays, weekends and dinner buffet was P580 per head. Kids below 4 feet can eat for P380, and the leftover price is P699.
Camera on hand, all ready to take photos of each dish (surreptitiously of course in order to avoid disturbing other diners), I was about to take my first shot when a staff suddenly approached me and partially blocked my view of the buffet, simultaneously pointing out that it was against restaurant policy to take pictures of the food.
A short exchange with the branch's manager provided me with a way to circumvent the situation. Apparently, the only thing they don't allow is taking close up photos of the food directly on the buffet table. Any food you bring to your own dining table, you can shoot to your heart's content. You can also take pictures of the buffet from afar.
Unfortunately though, this unfavorable position limits you in identifying the food you're about to partake. Unless you have the memory of an elephant, I doubt you can enumerate all the food in your plate 10 minutes into eating them. A menu won't be of help either, not that they have one. Since they don't serve ala carte, they found no need for menus. You may be lucky with remembering some of the cooked and uncooked viands, but I guarantee you won't be with the numerous sushi and sashimi congested in the sushi bar.
Recently dining at Red Kimono (which has set the bar for ebi tempuras) impeded me to appreciate any inferior version. What I love about Yakimix though is their vast selection of sushi. Not everything was good, nevertheless, it was fun trying out each variation.
I like the baked mussels a bit but admittedly, I've tried far many others that are better tasting than this. The sad looking greens beside them, on the other hand, had bitter after taste and not having something to complement it just threw my taste buds off balance.
I was surprised to see some fried pork lechon, but happily so since the skin had so much crunch into it and the meat was seasoned well. I love love love their salmon sashimi. It tasted really fresh and the color was just the right amount of inviting pink that I had to go back for a third helping. Oh no, looking at the salmon is making me drool again.
My favorite was the rows of uncooked protein that you get to grill yourself. The marinades of the meat were delicious, amply providing earthy and robust flavors. You can choose from a wide array of seafood like shrimps and squid, beef, bacon-wrapped mushrooms, chicken, and pork.
The sukiyaki was insipid at best, almost bordering on awful if you compare it with Tempura's or Red Kimono's. Enough said.
The salad bar was fine. Nothing that really grabbed my interest but they're nice for cleaning your palate. Not to mention, those fibers are good for washing down all the meat you've consumed guiltily (or not).
Their Blue Lemonade (P75) was yummy albeit in a sickeningly sweet way. It was refillable and you can even change it to other drinks for the succeeding refills. Nonetheless, I found myself asking for the same drink four times.
Honestly, you can skip the dessert section apart from the ice cream scoop station. The leche flan was passable, but I can't be as generous in describing the mini cakes. Those little petit fours lacked any flavor whatsoever. It was one bland bite after another. I was surprised to see slices of Goldilock's cake in the middle of the dessert table, more so that they haven't even bothered concealing the brand name.
The sweet saving grace? Their ice cream sundaes. With several flavors to choose from and more varieties of toppings like sprinkles, chocolates, marshmallows and gummy candies, it's a delightful ending to a very hearty meal.
The food at Yakimix wasn't really as extraordinary as I imagined it to be with all the hype that surrounded it for months. I guess what just sets it apart from other all-you-can-eat buffets like Saisaki's is the enormous variety of dishes. I'd recommend the grill-it-yourself section, the salmon sashimi, some of the sushi rolls (don't ask me what, I can't remember even a fraction of their names save for the California Maki) and the ice cream sundae. I still say P499 or P580 for that matter, is worth it for the abundant supply of good food.
19 comments:
Guia,
Hello there. Wow your blog makes me miss home. But glad you are sharing your dining experience over there in Manila. Now I know where to turn to when "homesickness' creeps in.
Thanks for coming over!
great to meet you,
malou
Didn't know Yakimix had a branch in Greenbelt already. The interiors look better than their MOA branch. =)
we tried their branch at MOA. twas okay. there were lots of choices talaga. i didnt enjoy much lang kasi we werent able to get a table inside. outdoor yung table namin kasi there were a lot of people that night.
What is leftover price? Pag may tira, sisingilin ka ng 699?
@J: yup, they'll charge you P699 if you don't finish what's on your plate. although i don't think they really strictly implement that policy. oftentimes, people leave a little bit of food on their plate. just not big portions of untouched food i guess.
There was no lechon at their Trinoma branch. Boo! *LOL*
This post made me wanna go visit YakiMix again. I love their Blue Lemonade, too. ^_^
hmm, parang I'm changing my mind..... if not only for the grill your own food. I'm torn between yakimix and Dad's
@Kitten: Well, if you like International/Continental food, go for Dad's. But if you want Japanese, go for Yakimix coz I really enjoyed trying out all their sushi, even if I didn't like everything! Hehe! :)
Greenbelt Yakimix branch is a lot more better than in other branches. I remember this branch when my boyfriend got home here in Phil. and we'd spent time laughing and sharing some moments together here in this place...so as you see, this place is memorable for me;)
Checking out your review cause I'm gonna meet some friends here tomorrow.
Nasisiraan ako ng loob..LOL!I want to change our "meeting place"
@Peach: Maybe they've improved, it has been several months already, hehe! :)
This is the worst restaurant buffet in the PHILIPPINES. I would not dare recommend it to the buffet eating public. The name of the restaurant should be YUCKYMIX!!! As in literallly, mixes of yucky foods! Imagine all of the hot food items are loaded with MSG (monosodium glutamate) which is not good for the body. A food that is loaded or mixed up with MSG only shows that the restaurant could not make a delicious or good food without the aid of the notorious MSG!!! Even their lechon kawali is loaded with MSG!!! I just can't imagine. Most of the people would be amazed and appreciative if a restaurant could cook a food that uses natural spices to let out the aroma and the best possible taste of the food. If you would notice their steamed siomai, you would also notice its greasiness because it is loaded with too much oil. Basically all their hot foods are loaded not only with MSG but with a lot of oil too. Too much fat and greasy!!! One thing more, they don't wash their plates and even their eating utensils with the dishwash machine. It is only being washed manually by the dishwashers themselves. Imagine all the possible dirt and smudges that could leave your plate and since it is just being washed by tap water, would you think all the bacteria is already killed? Just asking. Because once a plate and the eating utensils are being passed in a dishwash machine, there's a certain temperature which is being maintain to kill all these germs and microorganisms. So think again if you'll gonna eat again with this restaurant. With all of their branches spread around the metro and soon to be built branches including the existing Hongkong Emperor and King One in Macapagal Boulevard, 101 Buffet in Mall of Asia and soon to be built City Buffet in Fairview Quezon City, you could just imagine that they practically do the same practices in all of these restaurants!!!
I have a feeling the bad comment posted above was written by someone related to another buffet restaurant other than the restaurants he/she mentioned for bad publicity. Maybe not, but well, just my gut feel telling me.
I am in no way paid to advertise for Yakimix, but I can personally say that I had a good dining experience with their spread of buffet and classy ambiance. Their service might need a little boost as it could get really busy at dinner time. There weren't enough waiters to attend to every table. Nonetheless, I think Yakimix is still worth a try if you're after the food! In fact, I'm coming back there today satisfy my cravings! I recommend the Greenbelt branch.
Yakimix as in "YUCKYMIX" in Greenbelt 3! Soup with floating big fly as in Musca domestica! and what did the management do??? Offer another soup or popsicle! Really disappointed!!!!! I will never go back there again and never will I recommend this to my friends!
You should try Kimono Ken as Red Kimono's Ebi Tempura got nothing on the former. :) A friend of the supplier for Yakimix also said Greenbelt has the most extensive selection as their supplies are more complete compared to other branches.
yay! im craving for salmon sashimi....:))
bullshit!!!! you work for san bokojin!!!
mag tokyo tokyo ns lang kayo. mas mura. mas masarap. swak sa budget :-)
We just had a lunch today at yakimix greenbelt but waa disappointed because the place is not that clean anymore. Would you believe what I saw? So gross..
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