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Los Telares - Japenses Buffet


jkgourmet

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Just a quick note to say how much we enjoyed the Japanese Buffet at Los Telares yesterday. I've commented before on the lovely setting and great, friendly and professional service we've experienced at Los Telares.

The place was full and the service still remained outstanding. We find that buffets are often sadly lacking in service - dirty plates left hanging around on the table, no one asks if we want another glass of wine. Quite the opposite from Los Telares.

The food was well presented, prepared in small batches so it was fresh rather than the usual buffet food that has been left sitting on the line for hours. This also meant that you might return for a specific item, and find that it was not available at that exact moment. But within a few minutes, another batch would show up, fresh and hot. I consider that a positive, but those who are impatient might not find it acceptable. All four of us really enjoyed the food - even husband, who generally is not a Japanese food fan, but decided that it would be a nice change. Too many dishes to list here, but everyone at our table made at least 3 trips to that buffet table. And left stuffed and happy.

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Jeanette, I must say I always enjoy your thorough reviews that, like Leonard Maltin "At the Movies" show how generous you are with your comments, even when you find things not to your liking. I'll try to be equally thoughtful in my comments about last night's buffet.

I know he will do another one, because the place was crammed all day. We won't go back. The food was mas o menos. There was usually lots on offer, with the exception of the sushi. We arrived around 6:30 and waited a good 45 minutes for that platter to be restocked, so we tried all the other interesting items while waiting. Some of us had requested tempura, via email. We got one dish: shredded vegetables with shrimp pieces. And it was yummy, except that it was dumped on a board and left to cool. Nothing is worse than deep-fried food that's gone cold: the oil coagulates and ruins everything.

We enjoyed some of the items, and not some of the others. We did fill up, though; hey, it was a buffet. When the sushi arrived, it put the lie to my whole reason for being attracted: former head chef of Suehiro, perhaps the best-known and very-good sushi place in Guadalajara, right? So how come he served sushi Mexicana? That is, every piece was stuffed with cream cheese. One type of roll even used cream cheese as the wrapper. Other items were deep fried. "Sushi" usually means rice with raw fish. I know Mexicans seem to enjoy the style employed here, but we can get that anytime, anywhere, at any of the fast-food sushi chains in Guadalalajara. I don't like to fill up on cream cheese; not only is it "illegal" (you recall an article in the Reporter that mentioned Japan would be sending over "sushi police" to Mexico), but it's like having a giant bun with your burger: too much outside, not enough inside. BTW, the sushi rice, thank God, was excellent.

There were no sauces of any kind, save for a soy with chilis (!), and a pot of delicious wasabi. But you don't serve spicy soy with wasabi; what's the point. The manager generously grabbed us a bottle of regular soy from the kitchen.

Service was attentive, the price at $130 pesos was reasonable, and I always like the atmosphere at Telares. The breaded salmon pieces were very tasty, as were some medallions of (I don't know if it was chicken?); the miso soup WAY too salty.

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Mike, what may have made the difference was that we arrived at 1:00pm, the beginning of the buffet, versus your 6:30pm arrival.

I do agree with you about the tempura, though others at our table liked it. I would have liked plain soy sauce, too, but never thought to ask for it. As far as the sushi, when we were there, there were some standard California roll sushi, no cream cheese. I don't remember what was in the deep friend sushi, but I did go back for more of it. (BTW, cream cheese turning up in more and more sushi bars in Arizona - likely due to the popularity of chains like Ra and Blue Wasabi. Yes, they do turn the wasabi sky blue. Sacrilege. It has also become fashionable to make sushi out of weird things like peanut butter and jelly, fried calamari with marinara sauce, and mexican style rolled in Doritoes. Be afraid. Very afraid.)

I also keep my expectations reasonable (read: lower) when it comes to ethnic food in an unexpected location. I know that some people disagree with me about this, but I believe it's simply realistic.

I can certainly understand your point of view, and respect that your experience was different than ours.

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Jeanette, you're absolutely right about lowering expectations under such circumstances. So I wouldn't say my dreams were shattered, lol. And I have to hand it to Telares for continuing to try new and unusual things to bring in the clientele. He certainly proved his own point, that advertising is good, based on yesterday's crowd. I'm sure everyone was unexpectedly exhausted by the time we got there. (I seem to have a knack these days for turning up at newly-deluged restaurants... )

The ingredients you mention turning up in Wasabi: you're right again; we need to be very afraid. Where are those sushi police?

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Jeanette, I must say I always enjoy your thorough reviews that, like Leonard Maltin "At the Movies" show how generous you are with your comments, even when you find things not to your liking. I'll try to be equally thoughtful in my comments about last night's buffet.

I know he will do another one, because the place was crammed all day. We won't go back. The food was mas o menos. There was usually lots on offer, with the exception of the sushi. We arrived around 6:30 and waited a good 45 minutes for that platter to be restocked, so we tried all the other interesting items while waiting. Some of us had requested tempura, via email. We got one dish: shredded vegetables with shrimp pieces. And it was yummy, except that it was dumped on a board and left to cool. Nothing is worse than deep-fried food that's gone cold: the oil coagulates and ruins everything.

We enjoyed some of the items, and not some of the others. We did fill up, though; hey, it was a buffet. When the sushi arrived, it put the lie to my whole reason for being attracted: former head chef of Suehiro, perhaps the best-known and very-good sushi place in Guadalajara, right? So how come he served sushi Mexicana? That is, every piece was stuffed with cream cheese. One type of roll even used cream cheese as the wrapper. Other items were deep fried. "Sushi" usually means rice with raw fish. I know Mexicans seem to enjoy the style employed here, but we can get that anytime, anywhere, at any of the fast-food sushi chains in Guadalalajara. I don't like to fill up on cream cheese; not only is it "illegal" (you recall an article in the Reporter that mentioned Japan would be sending over "sushi police" to Mexico), but it's like having a giant bun with your burger: too much outside, not enough inside. BTW, the sushi rice, thank God, was excellent.

There were no sauces of any kind, save for a soy with chilis (!), and a pot of delicious wasabi. But you don't serve spicy soy with wasabi; what's the point. The manager generously grabbed us a bottle of regular soy from the kitchen.

Service was attentive, the price at $130 pesos was reasonable, and I always like the atmosphere at Telares. The breaded salmon pieces were very tasty, as were some medallions of (I don't know if it was chicken?); the miso soup

WAY too salty.

A group of us were there around 2, and I was terribly disappointed. I went because the ads said it was the ex-chef from Suehiro. The food was not at all like the food I expected, as I am a frequent customer at Suehiro. The sushi was, as you say, Mexican style, just boring skinny rolls with cream cheese, no nigiri at all. Most of the other dishes were fried and nothing was like the non-sushi dishes I eat at Suehiro, they were like something you would get in a "make-believe" Japanese/sushi restaurant at Lakeside or in most of Guadalajara. I did speak to Julio about it and he said next time would be a sit-down meal, not a buffet, but I would check with him about the menu before going again. For the most part, I really like Los Telares and Julio, and the service is usually very good. The setting is beautiful.

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To add our two new cents - we had reservations for 7 p.m. and upon arrival, were very courteously advised to look at the buffet before deciding to stay. Julio said they had been overwhelmed and we appreciated his warning. We did look at the table and as nothing looked really like the Japanese food we had hoped for, decided to pass. I must add that the previous day, Australian friends and we had one of the best lunches we have had in our short visit here. I thought the chiles en nogada were the best I had ever had and the service was first rate.

Incidentally, we eventually ate at Simply Thai and had, simply, a wonderful meal!

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A group of us were there around 2, and I was terribly disappointed. I went because the ads said it was the ex-chef from Suehiro. The food was not at all like the food I expected, as I am a frequent customer at Suehiro. The sushi was, as you say, Mexican style, just boring skinny rolls with cream cheese, no nigiri at all. Most of the other dishes were fried and nothing was like the non-sushi dishes I eat at Suehiro, they were like something you would get in a "make-believe" Japanese/sushi restaurant at Lakeside or in most of Guadalajara. I did speak to Julio about it and he said next time would be a sit-down meal, not a buffet, but I would check with him about the menu before going again. For the most part, I really like Los Telares and Julio, and the service is usually very good. The setting is beautiful.

Have to agree with you. Four of us arrived around 4PM and there was very little food out. When the food did come out it was not what we were expecting. The salmon teriyaki was good, but the cream cheese was a bit much on the rolls. My husband is Japanese and he spoke to Isao (the chef), a very charming person, so the both of them got the opportunity to speak Japanese. He (Isao) did not want to do a buffet, he wanted to do individual sit down Japanese dishes but apparently the owner did not want that. This was the first time that he has ever done a buffet, and probably the last.

When he comes back in October it will be individual dishes. I am sure that it will be to every ones liking. We are looking forward to his return visit. He also sings pretty good.

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Guest RevImmigrant

Overall, I thought the food was pretty good, not the best Japanese I've ever had, but pretty good, particularly for an Asian buffet. Asian food tnds not to keep well on a buffet, but, as Jeanette pointed out, they served small portions and refreshed it often. I don't eat sushi or vegetable tempura so I passed on that. The salmon was very good, as was the chicken. The fried fish was delicious and I filled up on that and the chicken.

I was one of the first ones there, arriving at 12:45 and to ask for dipping sauce. I found it disconcerting, to say the lesst, to have it served in small tequila cups and no dipping sauce bowls available. Also I have never seen white onions in dipping sauce; it usually has thinly sliced Schittlauch/chives and, of course, the one with sliced jalapenos is clearly a Mexican touch. The way it was served made it impossible to actually dip the food in it and I had to pour it over the fish, which was unsatisfactory.

The parking was typical for the village - slim to none. I got lucky and found a place just a little bit down from the restaaurant that someone had blocked of with the orange cones, so I did what I have done before and got out and moved them, then parked there. This is illegal to block off parking on a public street and as long as people continue to tolerate it, it will continue. This makes it difficult for those of us who can't walk very far. I usually avoid going to the village if possible because of the parking.

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