Location:  1473 Dixwell Ave.  Hamden, CT 06514

Price: $$

Atmosphere:  Small casual place.  Usually really crowded with a wait, even upon reservation.

Food:  For about $20 weekends (cheaper weekdays), it’s all you can eat via ordering. Depending on how much you eat, it may cost less eating here than a regular Japanese restaurant.

I went a few years ago and a bunch of Sushi tasted pretty decent for an all you can eat Sushi.  Some of my friends didn’t like the sushi choices they ordered, they liked mine better, so they ended up eating off my plate. The sushi isn’t as high quality as the sit-down Japanese places (because you are paying “cheaper”), but Sushi Palace does have better quality Sushi and Japanese food than a lot of places, especially better than the sushi in many Chinese buffets.  The rest of the food however is really good and the ice cream is great.

Some maki rolls I’ve tried: Spicy Salmon, Eel cucumber, Spicy Tuna, Salmon Skin and a few of the special rolls.

You can check out their menu on their website.

How it works:  Mark off food items what you want, and the quantity on the paper menu, hand it to waiter, and they serve, instead of waiting in a buffet line and self-serving.   If you have left overs, they don’t charge you like other places for wasting, but I recommend ordering only what you can eat, to not let food go to waste.

Parking:  It is a nightmare to find parking.  The lot is usually filled.  I wasn’t able to get a spot, so I had to park on a side street that appeared somewhat unlit unsafe.

Service:  I’ll be honest, when I went a few times a few years ago.  We waited a very long time before we were seated (even though we had advanced reservations). Orders were taken over 1 hr later, food took about 45 minutes to make, retrieving additional papers for more food (45m), and to receive the check (1/2 hr).  We ended up spending over 3-4 hours there and not eating as much as we’d like because we gave up waiting.

The problem is the place pretty popular, but not enough tables to sit everyone down, so there’s a long line, especially weekends.  The place is so busy that the staff cannot attend to people immediately. I know they are trying their best, and they are polite in the process, however, I think it’s time to expand and increase staff.  I think the quicker they can sit people down, take orders and bring food out, the faster they can get people out so others can come in.