On Monday, I had a nice salad bar dinner at the Sizzler located at Shinjuku's Mitsui Building, next to Royal Host, not far from Hilton and the old Century Hyatt, which is in process of rebranding or turning into something else? First I went to the other Mitsui Building near Nishi-Shinjuku subway station, but luckily the hostess at the Bellini Cafe there told me where the Sizzler was.

The salad bar buffet costs 2,180 yen, and it is a better version of the US and Bangkok ones. Interesting beverages (including sweet & sour plum iced tea), desserts (chocolate fountain, soft ice cream, almond tofu, chocolate mousse, aloe with strawberry yogurt), and decent breads. Lots of fresh produce, and even some fresh fruits (yummy pineapple, pear, & grapefruit slices, plus lichees). The soups are supposedly non-veggie, with meat stock. Some of the deli salads have meat or stock, as do the couple of hot dishes. But overall, there were more than enough to feed the hungriest vegetarian.

I even enjoyed the food better there than at the Park Hyatt New York Grill Sunday brunch, which costs over 3 times and doesn't even have any fresh fruit in the appetizer/dessert buffet lineup. OK, so they give you one glass of good champagne.

The Sizzler was very busy, and the manager seemed stressed and overworked and reluctant to answer my questions about which dishes were veggie-friendly. He kept disappearing and leaving me alone, but I wouldn't give up, and he finally checked and came back to tell me what dishes to avoid. He wasn't rude, but by Japanese standards, he did not provide good service.

By the time we left at 8pm, there was a queue to get in.

I think there are 2 other Sizzlers in Tokyo: Aqua City in Daiba and Tokyo Dome Hotel in Suidobashi. Any others? Do they all basically have the same salad bar?