Review: Buddakan
As Chuti mentioned, my birthday just recently passed and as a gift, my family took me out to a restaurant that I’ve been dying to try called Buddakan. I had heard of Buddakan as some friends had eaten at the Philadelphia location. We tried to get a reservation there and at the NYC location but the waiting lists are forever for a weekend table. We decided to visit the Atlantic City location, located at the Piers at Cesar’s Palace.
The restaurant at the Piers is located on the third floor. You could walk right past it as the sign is so small.
But once you turn the corner, the decor is amazing. From outside the restaurant, you can see the restaurant’s focal piece, a long, lit table sitting in front of a gorgeous, huge Buddha statue.
The rest of the decor is lovely as well. The feel is very open and airy and is punctuated by an amazing ceiling that actually looks like a clear night sky.
But enough about the decor… bring on the food.
We were a large party and as there were five of us I made everyone promise to order something different so we could get a good sampling of the cuisine. The menu was very large and diverse, full of dishes I could not wait to try. Even though we had plenty of food, there was just as much left on the menu for me to try on a subsequent visit. One interesting note, since we were a party of four or more we were offered the “tasting menu”, a menu with three levels that contained four apps, four mains and four noodles for $60, $70 and $80/person. We decided against it and dug into the full menu.
We ordered so many different dishes I was glad when the waiter informed me that the food would come out, not in waves, but as each dish was ready. Considering the small table and the large number of diners, this kept the table fairly manageable until we all had or mains. First up was appetizers. We ordered four appetizers, the Kobe Beef Satay, Pork Pot Stickers, Hosin Glazed Pork Sliders and some Octopus dish I could not find on the menu.
For the most part the appetizers were very good. The Hosin Pork Sliders were very tasty and they were served on a sticky sweet bun which was surprising and delicious. The octopus was also very tasty, I’m not sure how it was prepared but I was suprised at how tender and not rubbery it was. The lone miss of the evening was the Pork Pot Stickers. It’s not that they were bad… they just weren’t anything special and they almost tasted frozen. In sharp contrast however was the Kobe Beef Satay. The beef was tender and perfectly cooked, so buttery and succulent.
We also decided on a large salad for the table. The waiter informed us that the small would feed two to three people and the large would easily feed the five of us. We chose the Asian Caesar with spicy cashews. The dressing and the spicy cashews made for an amazing salad. One that I wish I could have right now actually 
!
Just as soon as the salad was finished the noodle dishes began to arrive. We went with two noodle dishes, shrimp fried rice and Singapore noodles. Both were average, but I preferred the Singapore noodles. I’d never had them prepared with tofu before but the curry flavor and heat could have been kicked up a notch.
After we devoured both plates of noodles, we moved on to our main dishes. My sister and her boyfriend ordered the Wasabi Crusted Filet Mignon with Sweet Potato Mash.
A perfectly prepared Filet Mignon with a spicy, balanced crust of Wasabi, accompanied with maybe one of my favorites bits of the whole evening… the sweet potato mash. I believe it might have been an even mix of regular potatoes and sweet potatoes mashed together, I could not get enough of the light an fluffy side dish.
Next up… Dad’s Hot and Sour Scallops.
A very simple and small dish, the flavors and spice were on point and the scallops were fresh and huge. My only complaint was I wanted more of this dish and there was barely enough to go around.
My partner chose what I would call the best dish of the night, the Char Grilled Aged Beef.
Cooked medium rare, the beef was every bit as tender and tasty as the Kobe Beef. A very generous portion meant that I could pilfer more than a few slices without him noticing! The beef was served with “Szechuan Fries” which seemed to me to be flash fried been sprouts but boy were they tasty.
And last but not least, I had the Asian BBQ’d Pork Loin.
A very nicely prepared pork loin with a really tangy and sweet BBQ sauce served over one of my favorite vegetables, Chinese Broccoli. The dish was very good and was served with three RIDICULOUSLY huge onion rings!
Since it was my birthday celebration we decided that we should definitely go for dessert. We ordered two. I was enticed by the “Chocolate Bento Box” and my sister had her heart set on the “Crying Chocolate”. Both were to die for. The Bento had lots of little selections from cocoa powdered macadamia nuts to an amazing sorbet. And the Crying Chocolate had a lovely little cake and coffee ice cream.
All said, my trip to Buddakan Atlantic City was one of good times, good food and good drinks. The atmosphere was divine and the service above reproach. I am eagerly looking forward to a return visit or maybe a stop off at the Philadelphia or New York locations. 4 pans for sure.
Buddakan Atlantic City
The Pier Shops at Cesars
One Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic City, NJ 08401
609-674-0100
http://www.buddakanac.com
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