Plenty For Everyone at Tokyo House in Little Rock.

If you'd asked me five years ago what I thought of buffet sushi, I'd have told you to keep it.  Most places around Arkansas that served sushi on a buffet focused very little on the rolls, and in some places the age of said maki was an unknown element.

I'm glad to say my mind's been changed, thanks to Little Rock's (and as far as I know, the state's) only Japanese buffet, Tokyo House.  The venture that went in where other businesses failed to thrive has become a must-stop for sushi lovers -- and one of our two go-to restaurants for lunch when we're indecisive (Star of India being the other choice).

Thing is, every other buffet in town has at one point or another disappointed me.  They start strong, but will lag or even just completely fail later.  Not Tokyo House.  And believe me, we should know.  Couple of times a month, it's lunch.  It's a weeknight dinner at least once a month.  Hunter insists on getting her sushi fix here -- and has been known to talk other people into taking her there.  But why?

Could be that it's not just sushi. The lower level (the buffet is so large there are two separate rooms of it -- one with cold items and sushi, one with hot items and soups and desserts).  There are a lot of usual suspects on the hot buffet -- a shrimp dish with zucchini's one of my favorites.  There's usually

hibachi steak or ribeye, beef wrapped green beans or asparagus, coconut shrimp (pretty sweet), pork chops, some variety of warm fish (usually salmon or a whitefish of some sort), shumai (dumplings), fried rice and either thin noodles

or udon.  There's also often roasted duck or lamb (or both!), volcano roll and grilled calamari.  And there's always spring rolls and long, panko battered shrimp with tempura and duck sauces for dipping.

There are also the often overlooked soups, white rice and fried noodles in the back corner.

Desserts include a variety of fruits (melons, pineapple, grapes, oranges), tiny delicate cakes and cream puffs and three to four colors of Jell-O.

But that's not you're looking for when you see sushi in the title.  There's a whole 'nother section for that.

On the square buffet upstairs (no worries, it's just two steps or a long

ramp away), you'll find salads (seaweed, octopus, traditional lettuce with ginger dressing), cold vegetables and pickles and ginger on one side, cold items such as soba noodles with crabstick and evening-only items

like cold oysters, crab legs and peel-and-eat shrimp on a second.  The other sides are the crowded ones, though -- and at times, it's an elbow-to-elbow match to see who gets what first.

The maki side always has a ton of options, almost always including these rolls: vegetable, shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, rainbow and Spicy Mama.  There's an ever-rotating selection of handrolls -- these go so

fast that it's rare to see more than three at a time in the rack.  And then there are the other rolls that are switched out throughout the day -- Pink Queen, banana-strawberry, Hello Kitty, Little Rock, Superman, softshell crab... during the day, you'll often see Rock N Roll, Green Dragon, Crazy Lover and Philadelphia.  In the evening (when the price point is higher), you may see Long Island, Spicy Titanic, White House or Digital Dragon rolls.  There are always at

least ten rolls available.

The fourth side always has nigiri -- from simple salmon, tako (octopus), ebi (shrimp), tamago (egg), ika (squid), tuna --

plus those marvelous little seaweed pockets (gunkan) of rice and roe.  In the evening, you can also find several varieties of sashimi (that's just the raw fish), tataki, thin slices of raw peppered beef and more.

There are always two and sometimes three sushi chefs working during mealtimes, and at least one during that slow time weekdays

2-4:30 p.m.  They do take some requests, and if you're a regular, they might surprise you with a favorite (such as a plate of very, very fresh salmon nigiri).

So we went last week, Grav and I.  His favorite thing is the grilled calamari.  Alas, this time

it wasn't there.  Grav mentioned this, and within a few minutes an entire platter of grilled calamari was delivered to our table. I'd say it was marvelous, but I only got a tiny piece.  Grav was very, very happy.

One more awesome thing about Tokyo House?  At the end of the meal, you're offered ice cream.  I'm not 100 percent sure on all the favorites, though I believe they include chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.  But Grav always gets the green tea and I always get the mint chocolate chip.

Considering how much is offered, the $11.45 lunch buffet at Tokyo House is a STEAL.  Dinner is $16.95 during the week and $20.95 on the weekend, and weekend lunch buffet is $13.45.  You can also order takeout (the takeout menu is very tokyohouselr.com.

reasonable!) but I can't quite imagine why -- unless you're ordering for someone who has no way to get there.  Call (501) 219-4286 or check out

Tokyo House
11 Shackleford Drive
Little Rock, AR 72211

Finally, a Japanese buffet: Tokyo House.

• KAT ROBINSON
• VEGGIE ROLL: Packed and ready to go at Tokyo House

Little Rock has good sushi places, a lot of them. It has some halfway decent buffets. And there are some buffets where you’ll find sushi. Just about every buffet that features sushi — is at a Chinese restaurant.

For those who have really been looking forward to gorging themselves on Japanese food, there’s great news. Tokyo House caters to folks who like sushi in large amounts — and who might want a little yakisoba or shumai, too.

• KAT ROBINSON

• KAT ROBINSON

The buffet at Tokyo House is really two buffets — a sushi-heavy buffet featuring cold items upstairs and a heated

• KAT ROBINSON

Japanese grilled and tempura-heavy buffet down in the back. In fact, on my first visit I noticed two of my dining companions completely failed to notice the second buffet tucked away in the back. I smelled it… roasted meats, seafood items and the lure of dumplings pulled me back to the back to check things out there, too.

Not to say that just sushi wouldn’t draw people in. I know folks who have been going to Panda Garden since it opened in 2008 who have likely never eaten from the hot tables, preferring instead to knosh on California and Philly Rolls and the occasional Volcano roll and a few hand-formed fish-topped nigiri amidst the maki.

They’ll about fall out of their hats when they enter Tokyo House and see the sushi buffet. Two sides of the square sushi bar are dedicated to maki rolls — not just spicy tuna and California and crunchy shrimp and vegetable —

• GRAV WELDON

but Spicy Mama, Green River, Rainbow and Redhead Rolls. A dozen or more varieties line the two sides. There are also clean, neat nigiri of crabstick, shrimp, mackeral, tuna, salmon and squid; special stands hold temaki cones full of fish and rice and vegetables; gunkanmaki pockets topped with roe. It’s an excellent selection.

Along the other two sides are various cold dishes — salad greens and ginger dressing, octopus salad, orange slices, peel-and-eat shrimp, raw vegetables, edamame, cold shrimp salad and seaweed salad. There are condiments — wasabi paste, cocktail sauce, sliced ginger. The upper buffet really does cover just about anything a casual sushi 

• KAT ROBINSON

eater would enjoy.

• GRAV WELDON

And then there’s the heated buffet, a triangular shaped buffet in the back. Two sides contain hot dishes: dumplings, shumai, grilled fish steaks of various sorts, grilled calamari, fish balls on sticks, barbecued beef

• KAT ROBINSON

and shrimp, yakisoba noodles with red onions. There was hibachi steak with broccoli, crab cakes, something called Honey Moon and a Dynamite Roll sliced and deep fried. There were piles of tempura-battered shrimp, tempura battered vegetables and little clams cooked with jalapeno slices. There were spring rolls. There were soups. Along the shortest wall there were dessert items such as mango, red bean and coconut puddings; fresh fruit and small slices of cake.

Did I mention this was the lunch buffet?

So, how was it? It was fantastically good. I didn’t encounter anything I outright didn’t like (though I couldn’t make it through an entire portion of red bean pudding after an initial visit to both bars).

• KAT ROBINSON

My three dining companions were all quite pleased with themselves.

• KAT ROBINSON

What did strike me was the service. We went the second day the restaurant was open — and the service was incredible. Our waiter was very attentive, and other members of the staff would come by and ask if we were pleased with our selections. There were gentlemen in the hot buffet area answering questions, and the sushi chef on duty happily filled requests.

And when we were coming to the end of our meal, our waiter asked us if we would like ice cream — chocolate, vanilla, strawberry or green tea. It was hand-dipped and it was in just the right portion.

• KAT ROBINSON

So yes, on my first visit I was thrilled with Tokyo House. I am planning to go back and see what’s for dinner, though — because the place advertises itself as a sushi and seafood joint, and while there were seafood items on the buffet I suspect there’s far more seafood at night. Besides, some restaurants do their lunch and evening buffets in completely different manners.

Lunch is $9.95. Dinner is $18.95. Drinks aren’t included in the price — do be prepared for that. There are also a selection of maki rolls you can order ranging up to $14. If they’re anything like what you see on the menu, they’re artistic delights. Still, considering all the neat rolls they already offer on the buffet, I can’t imagine why you’d order more — unless you just really want to impress someone.

Tokyo House is on Shackleford Drive across from Cozymel’s. It’s open seven days a week at 11 a.m. Lunch buffet runs until 3:30 and dinner buffet begins at 5 p.m. It wraps up at 8:30 Sunday through Thursday and 9:30 Friday and Saturday… the restaurant closes a bit after that. (501) 219-4286.

More sushi in the Rock: Tokyo House.

• KAT ROBINSON
• ALMOST READY: The new Tokyo House

Tokyo House, a sushi and seafood buffet, is moving into the location formerly home to Rockston's, Gaucho's and other restaurants at 11 Shackleford Drive (behind Cozymel's). The restaurant should be open in about two weeks, according to the folks I cornered on site.