Last month while visiting Minnesota, Susan and I ate at Sushi Train, a local restaurant. I’ve since learned that there is also a restaurant in nearby Tulsa called Sushi Train, but the two places are unrelated. “Sushi train” is slang for any conveyer-delt driven sushi bar, so discovering that there are multiple restaurants with this same name is not completely surprising. It would be like finding two buffets 1,000 miles apart that were both named “Buffet.”
It’s hard to know what’s authentic and what’s not authentic when it comes to Japanese and Chinese food. For example, 99% of all wasabi is fake, simply a mixture of horseradish, mustard, and green food coloring. It is also true that most people in China have never heard of, seen, or eaten a Chinese fortune cookie. So I wasn’t sure is conveyer belt sushi was really a thing in Japan or just something invented here, but it turns out conveyer belt sushi restaurants are very popular in Japan and date back to the 1950s. We would have gone even if it wasn’t authentic, of course, the same way I mix my wasabi into my soy sauce like the uncultured gaijin I am.
The way the restaurant works is very simple. There’s a long, winding conveyer belt that snakes its way past every table in the entire restaurant. Riding on the conveyer belt is a never-ending parade of sushi plates. There are six different colors of plates, and each plate has a specific price. You’ll find the cheapest items on yellow plates, which cost $2.55. The most expensive items arrive on purple plates, which are $6.95 per plate. (The prices of the plates are hanging multiple places throughout the restaurant.) As things pass by that look delicious, all you have to do is remove the plate from the conveyer belt and set it on your table. “Once you remove it from the belt, you bought it,” our hostess reminded us.
All of the plates had little plastic covers over them to keep them clean and fresh. I’ve seen videos of other restaurants that do not do this, so I’m not sure if this was introduced post-COVID or if it’s a restaurant-specific thing. Also, the plates rode atop little holders explaining what each one was. It was not uncommon to see multiples of the same thing pass by, so we rarely found ourselves waiting to find something to eat. Most of the sushi plates had 4-6 pieces of sushi on them, and after finishing each one we stacked the multi-color plates onto our table. When it came time to pay the bill, our waitress simply counted the number and color of plates, did the math, and handed us our check.
It was both relaxing and a little mesmerizing to watch the sushi make its way around the restaurant. I’m told as items get old they are removed and replaced with fresh ones, and occasionally we saw multiples of the same item stacked on top of one another. We arrived somewhere between lunch and dinner and almost had the entire restaurant to ourselves so it was very calm and relaxing. I can imagine that might not be the case during peak business hours.
Sushi wasn’t the only thing on the conveyer belt. We picked up a bowl of edamame, and saw a few small salads go by as well. I was slightly disappointed that the Sapporo I ordered was hand delivered by the waitress and didn’t arrive via conveyer belt, but in retrospect that was probably for the best.
We really enjoyed our visit to Sushi Train, and our first experience with conveyer belt sushi. I am now considering building a conveyer belt that runs through our entire house, for sending me my phone when I leave it in the other room or perhaps a refreshing beverage from the fridge. I think I’m on to something here…
We have a place like this in town. I’ve never been but after this fun review I feel like I never have to lol. It does look fun though. Good stuff Rob.