Matuba Restaurant

On the past Friday around 1:00PM, I went to have lunch at Matuba Restaurant with my boyfriend, which is located at 4918 Cordell Avenue Bethesda, MD. This wasn't my first time going, it actually is probably my fourth or fifth time eating here. Each time I come to Matuba, I am there for the rotary buffet, which is located in the back of the restaurant. For lunch (11:30AM-1:45PM) during the weekdays, the price is $13.50 a person. After fighting for parking in the nearby Montgomery County garage. I headed to meet my boyfriend inside.

You pay upfront first, of course, my sweetheart already covered that even before I walked in! Then, the hostess tells you to head up the stairs, walk across the small hall and to the back. Once in the back, you are to walk down the stairs and wait to be seating. Unfortunately waiting for a seat wasn't the greatest experience, the rotary bar has seats all around the bar as well as tables- for-four that connect to the bar on the right hand side. The tables-for-four had two tables that were empty, however, the waitress was hesitant to sit us there. We ended up waiting for about 5 minutes till we were seated and the place wasn't that crowded. For that 5 minutes, the waitress cleared off the tables-for-four and by that time, a couple and a single diner got up and left. They were sitting around the bar. Finally, after she ran over to clean that space up, set up napkins, chopsticks, wasabi and ginger we were seated there.

The appearance of the backroom/rotary buffet room, is quite simple. I actually don't remember anything special about it. Apart from the white walls, and papers taped to the wall, I am guessing all eyes are on the rotary bar! I did notice, one of the paper advertisements stated that they will begin opening the rotary bar buffet for dinner on Thursdays! The dress code is casual, but you will find people dressed up, I am guessing they are people who work nearby grabbing lunch here.

After waiting to be seating we quickly started grabbing food off the rotary belt. I guess that is what draws people to this place, just the fact that they have a rotary bar. There are various items that are on the belt, from sushi, sushi rolls, hand rolls, hot foods, salads, fruits and edamame. If you look off the Matuba website, you can find a total of 26 items. Looking at that list, I would have to honestly say that the bar only had about 12-13 of those items listed. That was disappointing. Each plate that had rolls, had a total of 3 pieces. The nigiri plates had 2 pieces. Remember, this is a buffet, so you could have 100 plates of the rolls if you wished! The sushi rolls are average. Almost all of the usual rolls that you can get in Japanese restaurants are all available here, such as tuna roll, Salmon/Avocado roll, eel roll, California roll..etc. The chef also made hand rolls, we had eel hand rolls and spicy tuna hand rolls. There is a good balance for those who don't eat raw fish too! As for hot foods tempura, chicken teriyaki and gyozas were fresh and hot! The waitress had to bring these out from the kitchen and place them on the belt, of course! Every so often, she brought out fruit plates, that consisted of a slice of orange, honeydew and cantaloupe.

In the middle of the rotary belt, there was a sushi chef of course. He was very friendly and nice. Apart from just standing there and making the sushi, he checked on everyone sitting around him asking us if we were enjoying and if we would like to request anything. In addition, when he made new rolls for the belt, he would frequently ask if we wanted it and directly hand the plates to us.

All and all,  I would give the restaurant 2 stars out of 5. In the past, there was a most extensive selection on the rotary belt, reflecting what the website lists. I believe, during dinner, there would be the full selection... The waitress was odd for not sitting us down as soon as possible. Actually, I feel that she wouldn't sit us in the tables-for-four becuase she was saving it for more...hefty people, who later walked in. The sushi chef was polite and great. The quality of the foods were average and, not taking the amount of varieties that there was into hand, the quality of the food here is just the way I remembered it to be each time I ate here. Would I come back? Yes, if I was ever in Bethesda and have a major craving for sushi, I would. Also for the price, its a deal, but I wouldn't go out of my way to eat here. There are better sushi buffets out there ~ But remember, this review is only on the buffet portion of the restaurant, I have not yet actually sit down at the "restaurant" part of Matuba.