This past Sunday, I celebrated Valentine’s Day by devouring the sushi buffet at Todoroki, a Japanese restaurant located at 526 Davis St, Evanston, IL.

The interior is simple, yet captivating, and it carried an atmosphere perfect for any date night or night out with friends.

The buffet is $25.95 per person. I spent a long time deliberating on whether or not I was hungry enough to warrant that expensive of a meal, especially since there is a 50-cent charge for every piece left uneaten.

Ultimately, I respect and appreciate their 50-cent charge for wasting food. Deterring people from ordering obnoxious amounts of food as people do at other buffets lessens the expense felt by the restaurant without negatively impacting their customers. Overordering in the attempt to “get your money’s worth” is wasteful and will not improve your experience, especially since you are more likely to overeat if you overorder and end up feeling sick.

Besides, sushi is not a cheap dish. A single dish may only offer a few pieces for $10. You do not have to order vast amounts of food to “get your money’s worth.”

“When I went, it was my first time trying sushi – I didn’t really like it and I was full, so I ended up throwing out extra sushi in the bathroom,” senior Tahir Razzaq said. “It wasn’t worth the money.”

Personally, I can honestly say that I am beyond grateful I spent the money, and I am still having flashbacks to savoring their tasty and aesthetically pleasing dishes.

From the Appetizer section, I ordered the Tatsuta Age and the Chicken Lollipop.

The Tatsuta Age is Japanese fried chicken; they serve you small pieces of fried chicken and a deliciously sweet dipping sauce.

While the Japanese fried chicken was delicious, the Chicken Lollipop was mind-blowing. I will likely come back simply to be able to order it again.

From the Nigiri section, I ordered Shrimp, Red Snapper, Mackerel, Masago, Egg, and Tofu Nigiri.

Among the seafood options, the Red Snapper Nigiri and Masago Nigiri stood out to me the most. I am not the biggest fan of rice and decided to peel the red snapper fish off the rice to eat it. I enjoyed the red snapper better than the masago, but I enjoyed the Masago Nigiri as it came on its rice better than the Red Snapper Nigiri.

Unsure of how Egg could be made into sushi, I was pleasantly surprised by this sweet treat. The Tofu Nigiri was yummy and also slightly sweet. However, out of the Nigiri dishes I tried, the Egg Nigiri was by far the most tantalizing.

From the Roll section, I ordered the Unagi Roll, the Davis Roll, and the Todoroki Roll. All three rolls have eel. The Davis Roll and the Todoroki Roll both have salmon, cucumber, avacado, and masago in addition, but the Todoroki has eight pieces in comparison to the Davis Roll’s five. I thought they were all fantastic – perhaps I am just a big fan of eel. Either way,their Unagi Roll stood out to me the most, but I was also the hungriest for this roll as it was also the first item I ate.

While the food was fantastic, the service was slow this past weekend.

“The waitress was attentive and personal. However, our food was delayed,” English teacher Ivan Silverberg said. “She brought out my nigiri before the group’s appetizers and forgot to serve someone’s entree all together. The food is good, but the service needs improvement.”

However, since Valentine’s Day took place this past weekend, Todoroki may have been unusually busy.

“I feel like they are constantly filling up our water to fill us up the way other restaurants use bread,” senior Josh Sahadeo said.

I had time to spare. I was there for more than three hours, and after the dinner rush, the speed of their service picked up remarkably. In addition, I ironically did not come to the buffet particularly hungry, so I did not notice the wait Sahadeo did.

Overall, I had a pleasant experience.

Previously, I went to another sushi buffet that was cheaper and allowed you to get up and refill your plate as you pleased, but the sushi was not very good.

Ultimately, I go to a restaurant for the food. So as long as you can finish your plate and avoid ordering more than you can finish, I recommend Todoroki for your next night out with friends, family, or a date.