Makino

I'm often asked for the best buffet in Las Vegas and can only come up with "It depends". But I have no hesitation to declare that Makino (two locations; one on Decatur, one in the Fashion Outlets off Charleston). Makino was once voted best Japanese in the Best of Las Vegas poll so you know its good. We often send friends there and have never heard a bad word after.

But Makino's is not a place you go to on the spur of the moment. Wife Mari and I try to starve ourselves all day to be able to take advantage of the all-you-can-eat sushi and other Japanese food. By late afternoon we are dying to be there when it opens for dinner at five.

The original Decatur location is not fancy but it is our favorite. It seems bigger than the more nicely appointed Charleston location. A couple of years ago Makino tried a new place near Summerlin closer to where we live. It was "too nice" as it had upgraded the seating, the service, and even had a bar area. That missed the point of why folks go to Makino's in the first place.

Wife Mari loads up her first plate (and sometimes her second) with mounds of various sushi. It is all fresh and some of it is innovative. Anyway, even though she loves rice, Mari eats the 'sashimi' off the top and then, like we all did in grade school, tries to make her plate look like she tried finishing everything by messily spreading the rice around. It doesn't work but she is never called on it. At a 100 pounds, Makino's doesn't figure her to be a threat to their business model even when her next plate if full of shrimp and crab legs. To pack it all in properly, she doesn't order anything to drink except water.

I always go for a much more rounded diet of sushi, raw seafood, yakitori, beef teriyaki, Japanese salads and pickles, miso soup, and much more. After three rounds of such, Mari and I then come back together at the dessert bar where I am partial to the ice cream sundae, a Japanese favorite. Yes, sundae's were our favorite treat in Japan many years ago.