FOOD: All You Can Eat at Hokkaido Seafood Buffet

BY Ra Chan

Special To Falls Church Times

July 1, 2011

I’ve been eyeballing this place for a while; every time I drive along Route 7, I have to slow down just a bit to see the progress of this place. When Hokkaido Seafood Buffet finally opened it’s doors, I had to check it out to see if it’s worth coming back.

As you walk in, the restaurant space is huge. The booth type seating was a little strange to me though, I didn’t feel that it had a very diner friendly flow. But looking around, I noticed a wide range of food options: sushi, cold seafood, a teppanyaki station, soups, steamed seafood, traditional buffet offerings and the standard dessert options. I walked around and got a little bit of everything that caught my eye, that way, when I go for my second round, I know where to spend my time.

The sushi was average, but what can you expect from a buffet? I was impressed that they had a large selection of nigiri and sashimi. I steered clear of the raw oysters, mussels and clams. I tend to get a little nervous about eating raw seafood that’s been sitting out for too long. I didn’t try the teppanyaki station, but the meat and seafood looked really fresh and there were a wide assortment of veggies and noodles to create your own meal. What impressed me most about Hokkaido was the large selection of steamed seafood; you had your choice of a few different steamed and fried fish, garlic clams, black bean oysters, salt and pepper shrimp, salt and pepper crab, steamed whole crab, crawfish and of course, no buffet is complete without steamed snow crab legs. And all this for only $18.95! The dessert and fruit stations were a little disappointing. I didn’t see any fresh fruit, except for some orange and honeydew slices. Everything else was straight out of the can, syrup and all. There were a few pastries in the dessert section as well, macaroons, cookies and slices of cake.

Overall for a buffet, I thought the selection was great, but the flavors and tastes were mediocre. I think the winner here would be the steamed seafood station. If I were to come back, I’d definitely spend my time feasting on the steamed crab, crawfish and snow crab legs.

July at the Library – Sunday Hours Return

By FALLS CHURCH TIMES STAFF

July 1, 2011

New hours start today. The library will still be open 64 hours each week but with the following changes:

Sunday hours, which were suspended in FY11 because of budget cuts, will be reinstated starting July 10.

In order to reinstate Sunday hours, the library will be closed Wednesday mornings.

The Local History Room will no longer have regular hours but will instead be accessible by appointment. (To schedule an appointment to use the Local History Room, please stop by the Reference Desk or call 703-248-5035).

The library will be closed Sunday, July 3, and Monday, July 4 for Independence Day..

July events at the libary include Peter McCrory’s One Man Band on July 6, Waiting for Harry Potter on July 11, and Didgeridoo Down Under on July 21.

Details on these and other July events are available in the library’s newsletter.   [click on Read More to access]