rehearsal lunch-japanese buffet

leejj3

FI and I are deciding where to host our rehearsal lunch. My family is  japanese, our wedding party wants something "fun" and he has younger siblings that are very picky so we decided on either a japanese buffet  or japanese hibachi (so the little ones can get rice and meat of some variety) What are your opinions on the following? FYI our rehearsal lunch date is the friday after thanksgiving

Buffets
Tsukiji-Ala moana will be crazy, good food, reasonably priced.
Todai-Waikiki so bad parking?, cheap food according to reviewers online?
Makino-Chaya - Aloha Tower-really awful reviews online but anyone with personal experience?

Hibachi
Benihina-Waikiki, cheap for lunch
Tanaka of Tokyo-Ala moana (crazy)

PS did you know alas calls black friday "Thanks getting day" How ridiculous...

Kahalagurl

Machino Chaya: Bad! not worth your money. Ive gone there three times in the last two years most recently two months.

out of all the choices, i think benihana would be the most fun, but with the set up it will be hard to give speeches/pass out presents if thats what you guys plan to do. I lik Todai WAY better than MC. despite the parking situation.

caiandcullen

tsukiji's was decent. my dad and stepmom hosted a 'shower' there for us and reserved one of the rooms in the back.
i never cared for the food at todai...

for hibachi style, there's also gyu-kaku! that's always a fun place.

AKWinterBride

I am biased cause I love Benihana, and don't know about any of the other places as I don't live in Hawaii - but I think Benihana is always great and their lunch prices are very reasonable! 

On a side note, I'm dying over the colored diamonds they are showing in the video right now...OMG! 

jaymers99

Are most of the guests local or out-of-town?

I wasn't a huge fan of Makino-chaya, but I don't care for buffets in general.  I do like the Hakone and Prince Court buffets at The Prince Hotel.  Another place I'd look into that might be "fun" is Natsunoya Tea House.  You can reserve your own room, bring in your own drinks/entertainment, and get served Japanese food family-style.