I was glad to see our favorite resturant OPEN for business once again. We were in the area yesterday and stopped in. You pay as you enter was a change.OK, Food was plentiful and many choices with a desert bar included.I did not use the Hitachi but was told it was available for us also. Our waitress was very attentive to us. Looks likeThey are off to a good re-opening.
It's a shame that I left my phone in the car, otherwise I would have been able to photograph the pile of plates that were left at the table for the duration of our dining experience. That alone is not why I'm leaving one star. If it were possible I would give negative stars. Let me begin by stating that Mai Tai has been my favorite restaurant ever since the '80s. I went to this establishment on Father's Day of 2022 and the greeter could have used some fine tuning on her customer service skills. I'm understanding of the fact that it is a holiday so I extended her a bit of grace. I was not happy about the fact that they make you pay up front now. I suppose that's because they know that the food is disgusting and that the selections are limited. People were literally circling the bar trying to find something that they wouldn't mind eating. I literally watched people walk around the bar as many as three times until they finally settled on something. There is a wait and there is a 15% service fee charged on parties of seven or more. Even if there are children, this fee is charged individually for the children... Even if the kids eat free. Times are hard right?! I paid in excess of $70 to feed my family of four at an establishment where the food was lackluster at best and the service just absolutely sucked. I have better words but this word is most suitable for the situation. This is no longer my favorite restaurant and I did not want to believe the reviews, but seeing is believing. The next time I will save my money and go into the kitchen and boil some hot dogs. I will not be going back until I have heard that they have closed their doors and restructured this establishment to the fine cuisine that it once was. This place is just trash now. The tastiest thing on the menu was the watermelon.
The buffet was NOT like it was before Mr. Tony pass. RIP. The selection was not as it was. They have new items. (Seafood) fish w/head on, crawl fish, and something else I cant make out. Our service lady wasn't all that. She hardly came by to refill, nor took our plates. The food was not as flavorful as the old way. The meat portion was almost nonexistent. The fried rice was bleh, just rice hardly any meat. The Mongolian beef was just full of onions and peppers. The chicken wings were tiny and dried. I know they just reopened, but...It's not like what is was. There is Hibachi. But the cook over cooked the meat. Very limited ingredients. The desert bar is very limited. There are no more sushi. Not worth $13.95
Food is a bit different then before but not bad . They're doing a soft re-opening. So they definitely need time to iron things out...They need to do better keeping buffet item filled. Wait staff is overwhelmed/slow...UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP... Not all things are on buffet like use to be. Will return in future hopefully they'll have things running smoother by then !!!
Just recently ate here with my family on Friday. They really need more cooks, and servers because we waited 30mins to be seated when tables was available and 30mins to get 2x waters and 2x lemonade. We also had to wait even longer for food as the buffet was empty. We had to sip soup until the cooks brought out more food. Once the food was out it was good but not every thing else.
Traveled from Beulaville(35 minutes) to the Jacksonville NC Restaurant. We had a party of 6 and got there when they opened at 11am. The food was the worst ?. It was not fit to eat. It was horribly cold and hard and uncooked meat. We still had to pay partial $5 for our meals..It was not worth no $5 for we did not eat nothing! The waitresses are very nice. Had no problem with them. Management is who we had a problem with.
Had a ton of memories here and it's nice to know they still serve
I went to eat at the buffet but it was temporary closed but in the website it said dine in was available I was very disappointed because I took my disabled father and couldn't even eat buffet website is false
Dark and gloomy because they are remodeling I think. The inside is gutted out and they are still serving food for take out. Don't know if that's safe for public or not.
Do not prefer to eat here. Multiple occassions that bugs have been found crawling around food buffet areas.