There are many places where you can enjoy cheap and tasty sushi in Japan. One way to enjoy this is to visit the largest rotating sushi (Kaiten-sushi) chain restaurant – Sushiro. This is a step by step guide made by a Japanese local who wants to share the enjoyment with visitors to Japan.
Quick Q&A
- I cannot speak Japanese. Can I get by with English at Sushiro?
- Yes. Ordering/payment is done via a tablet or a machine and the display can be switched to English. You should not have major problems dining at Sushiro even if you cannot speak Japanese.
- Does Sushiro have table seats?
- Yes. Sushiro has both counter and table seats. Table seats can be 4-6 seaters or 2 seaters.
- Can you talk freely while you dine at Sushiro?
- Yes. Sushiro is casual dining, often with families and kids causing noises in the back ground.
- Is Sushiro expensive?
- Compared to over the counter sushi? No. According to an Yahoo news article, the average amount paid by an adult for one meal was around \1,500 in 2020.
What is Sushiro?
With over 600 restaurants across Japan, Sushiro is the largest Rotating Sushi chain restaurant in Japan. Sushiro also operates in other countries like Taiwan, Korea, Hongkong and Singapore, so those with from Asian backgrounds may be familiar with this restaurant.
Other than sushi, Sushiro also offers different types of side dishes such as noodles, fried chicken, desserts and more.
Here is a quick video on what its like to eat in at Sushiro.
Eating at Sushiro
Before heading to the restaurant
As with any Japanese restaurants, you will often be in for a long wait at the que if you go in blind. Depending on the location of the restaurant and timing of visit, you could be looking at 60 mins+ wait time.
There are 3 ways to pre-book your seat – via the Sushiro app / LINE app / Google assistant. All methods require you to have a Japanese phone or Japanese SIM card.
If you do not have access to a Japanese SIM card, you will need to take in to account the wait time when visiting the restaurant.
Sushiro app
If you have access to a Japanese mobile phone or a Japanese SIM card, download the Sushiro app from the app store and book your seat before you visit the store. The app can be used in English. With the app you can check how long the current que is at the restaurant and book your seat before arrival. This method is definitely recommended to enjoy smooth seating at the restaurant.
You can download the Sushiro app from below:
LINE app
LINE is a popular SNS app used in Japan. This app is available in many overseas app store but to actually use it for Sushiro booking you will need to be in Japan. Just search for Sushiro on the home tab in the app, then tap on the Sushiro service that will come up in the search.
Download the LINE app below:
Google Assistant
I personally have not used this method but you can use the google assistant for Sushiro booking. For anyone interested, the key phrase is “Going to Sushiro now with OO people”(スシローで今から○○名) where “OO” will be replaced with the number of guests for booking.
Check-in upon arrival
Sushiro does not have staff members to greet and guide you to a seat. Instead you will need to obtain a check-in ticket through the touch panel machine placed at the reception.
There will be 2 machines at the reception marked in English with RECEPTION and GUIDE.
Start with the bigger machine labeled with RECEPTION. Whether you have pre-booked via the app or not, follow the prompts on the screen to have the machine spit out a paper ticket with QR code. If you have not pre-booked, you can see the current wait time on the display.
Keep track of the number on your ticket. Your number will be called when the seat is open. There is a monitor above the reception which can be used to track which number is called. When your number is called, go to the smaller machine labelled as GUIDE and have your QR code ticket scanned at the machine. The machine will then spit out another ticket with your seat number.
You will need to find your own seat. There will be labels along the walls which shows the numbering for each aisle. Use this as a guide to find your correct seat number.
Ordering your food
Navigating around your seat
Time to order! Every seat will have a tablet (English available) which is used to order food and drinks. But first, lets go through where things are placed around the seat as it can be confusing on your first arrival.
You will realize that there are 2 conveyor belts running along top of each other. Whatever is coming through the bottom lane is available for all customers. Plates coming from the top is an express lane used for food ordered through the tablet, so do not grab food from the top lane unless it is your order.
There is a tap on each seat in which you can pour hot water. Grab some cups from the top shelf (above the express lane), and make your self some hot green tea with the tea powder on the table. If you are looking for cold water, you will need to look for a water jug or water faucet somewhere around the restaurant, away from your table.
You can also find chop sticks and sauce on the table for you to use.
If you are looking for wasabi, these come in little packages and come rotating through the bottom lane, so make sure you pick them up when it comes by.
Order your food
All plates coming through the bottom lane is available for anyone to take. These days though not many sushi plates come through the bottom lane.
Instead, use the tablet to order your food. The food ordered through the tablet will be delivered to you via the top express lane.
After you have ordered via the tablet, there will be a sound and text displayed notifying that your food has arrived at your express lane.
For certain types of dishes (especially those on the Special menu) the staff will bring the dish to your table instead of sending it through the express lane.
How to enjoy sushi at Sushiro
Unlike traditional restaurants where you sit at a counter with someone preparing the sushi in front of you (often expensive too!), rotating sushi is more casual dining and thus there is no particular rules in enjoying your meal. However, if you want to try to enjoy like a local I will share some tips and tricks here.
Soy sauce placement
Sushiro does not have a dipping plate to place your soy sauce. This is intentional as Sushiro wants you to have the soy sauce dripped on top of the meat and not under on the rice. You will notice that the soy sauce bottle is designed to pour the soy sauce in little drips for this reason.
You can drip soy sauce on top of the sushi every time but this can quickly become annoying. What I like to do (and many others too) is use a finished plate as the dipping plate so we can avoid the hassle.
When to use the sweet sauce
There is soy sauce and there is sweet sauce. In general, sweet sauce goes very well with and is usually used for eel dishes. Some also like to go sweet with Scallops.
Like I said before, there is no strict rules in how you want to enjoy your meal so you can use which ever sauce for what ever sushi you prefer. But if locals see you using sweet sauce for every sushi, it will surely turn some heads in your direction (just sayin!).
Eating by hand or Chop sticks
Traditionally sushi was enjoyed by picking it up and eating it with your bare hands. There may be some people who still prefer to eat this way in Japan but this is very rare. 99% of people at Sushiro will eat with Chop sticks (at least from my experience).
What to do with empty plates
As you finish each plate, stack them up on top of each other. As the plates have different pricing depending on its colour, it may be wise to group same coloured plates so that you can calculate the amount yourself if you are on a budget.
For the staff it wont matter how you stack it, as they will use a hand held machine to count the plates automatically.
Check out & Payment
You have now enjoyed your meal and are on a full stomach. Its time to call the staff via the tablet to count your plates. Follow the prompts until you see a screen stating “Thank you for your visit”.
The staff will come to count your plates with a hand held reader which reads the chips inside the plates. The plate numbers will be read out vocally for you to confirm. Most of the time I do not count my own plates and I trust that the machine and the staff are doing their job correctly and faithfully.
Once the plate count is complete and confirmed, you will be given a payment card. Take this with you and head back to the reception area to proceed with your payment.
Head to the payment machine at the reception. Change the language on the display if needed. Scan your payment card at the barcode reader and follow the prompts on the screen to confirm your payment amount and payment method. Make your payment and you are done!
There you have it, a full guide on how to enjoy your sushi at Sushiro.
If you liked this guide, be sure to check out my other guides and follow my twitter at the bottom of this post to know when new posts are made!
Comments