Culinary Corner Food Blog. Buddakan a b for blech!

For the last several months, many of my friends have been raving about a restaurant called BUDDAKAN at 75 9th Avenue. Last evening I went there under cover to see what all the hype was about.

The place is stunning and huge and was amazed at the sheer size. The gorgeous decor (except the black unisex bathrooms and one of the sinks did not work yesterday) will make you feel like you are royalty.

The food on the otherhand was a complete disaster. I was told to try many little plates and we asked our server to bring us five of his best. If these are five of the best this restaurant is doomed and I will give it six months to close.

We tried:

The Edamame dumplings: (My favorite of the five selections)
The Tuna Tartar Spring Roll: Bland and the tuna quality did not match the standards of my favorite place Raku.
The scallion pancakes were a complete disaster. The top seemed to have a dried tuna on the top but it was hard and horrendous. Not even edible but because at that point I was starved I ate it to fill my very unhappy stomach. We also had the calamari salad which was very good but my date thought it was too spicy.
We also had the pork lollypops which were heavy and non satisfying.

I adore Asian and asian fusion but the selections we had yesterday were worse than inexpensive chinese takeout. The food at The Cottage chinese restaurant has better tasting food than this very expensive noisy night spot.

Go to Buddakan for the wonderful Pinot Noir and gorgeous scene and skip the food. Then go to the Cottage for chinese takeout.

If you are only into appearances Buddakan will impress. If good food is your goal skip this place. The food was very expensive for the small size appetizers we consumed. My date asked if we could go for dinner after this meal. He went home and ate cheese and crackers and soup.

Buddakan is very disappointing. I will give it 4 stars for looks and 1 star for food.