The Plaza’s newest restaurant has drawn quite a few eyes for its autonomous qualities.
There’s a sort of novelty when it comes to adding something different to a regular dining experience. Kura Revolving Sushi Bar attempts just that with the introduction of conveyor belts, robotic servers, and mealtime mini games in its newest location at the Plaza.
Since its first restaurant in 1977, the chain has grown to more than 500 franchise locations, spanning throughout Japan, Taiwan, and the United States. According to the Kura mission statement, the company aims to “combine advanced technology, premium ingredients, and affordable prices to enhance the unique dining experience.”
I, along with my family, went to the sushi bar for my sister’s birthday, meaning that we had an overall party of 6 people. The restaurant does not take reservations in advance, meaning your wait time is dependent solely on the business of the restaurant. The chain, however, does have an app that adds you to the wait line before you arrive on site to the restaurant itself.
Since we went on a Thursday evening, tables were open, but our group of six was comparatively unwieldy to the tables, which were made to only seat groups of four.
Once we squeezed into the table, a waiter took our first drink orders and explained the process to us, showing us how to properly open the encased food on the conveyor belt, how to place a specific order on the tablet menu at the head of the table, and how to order more drinks.
To start out, my family ordered a round of green tea, which, much to our surprise, arrived on a robotic waiter complete with a smiling digital face and a “Hi!” and “Bye!” while leaving the drinks.
Call us childish, but the robot truly did make the dining experience fun. I think it was the shock of it all, seeing a robotic assistant be fully functional in providing us with refreshments (as dystopian as that may sound to some).
Immediately after, we began grabbing plates off of the conveyor belt. Unfortunately, this is where Kura’s mission statement begins to fall apart.
The sushi, truly, was mid. There were high points yes, but also low ones. I enjoyed the Umami Oil Salmon and Garlic Ponzu Salmon Nigiri. As for rolls, I liked the Tiger Roll the most out of the various plates that we tried.
However, for the most part, the sushi rice was a bit stuffy and the fish tasted slightly old (perhaps to be expected from a conveyor belt style restaurant in the middle of the country). My family were in agreement, but since we are big sushi fans and inexplicably hungry, we ate our food happily.
Also contained within the aforementioned tablet menu were videos and mini games that spontaneously appeared on the screen when you filled the plate chute with enough plates. With each plate taken off the conveyor belt and consumed, you fill up the plate chute. At the 15th plate, a video of Mutenmaru, Kura’s mascot, appears and tells you that you received a free prize.
In our case, as we went during Kura’s Peanuts promotion month, we received a Snoopy keychain from the machine.
To end our meal, we ordered the Taiyaki Ice Cream, which was delicious. But really, how could it not be, with fried red bean pastry and vanilla ice cream.
Overall, I would recommend Kura Revolving Sushi if you want a fun, immersive experience with little to no waiter-customer interaction, especially if you have a group of four or less. The machinery of it all, while slightly 1984, added novelty to the normal sushi experience, and created quite the memorable affair.
