Sushi raft — Restaurant in Queensland

Prices doubled and sushi pieces halved in 2024, since below review was written in 2021, so ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ amended as well. Inflation is perfectly understandable, but doubling it up with shrink-flation is just ripping customers off!

In 2021 these were my thoughts: The best sushi experience in FNQ since Zipang and Sushi Express in Cairns closed a few years ago. I will never go to Trinity Beach again without visiting Sushi Raft.

It was quiet around 4pm yesterday (09 June 2021), so I was glad the conveyor belt was empty and the sushi was freshly made to order. Those "trains" are fun, but I always worry how long a plate has been on there. And I hate food wastage.

Delicious lobster salad and octopus balls!

I'm spewin' that I didn't take note of the waitress's name, coz she really deserves a special mention: attentive (but not hovering), accurate, genuinely friendly and warm. I hope her employer appreciates how lucky he/she is and treats and pays her accordingly. (Edit: second visit I asked her name: Hayeong!)

If she reads this: Thank you for explaining and showing us why those fish flakes fluttered. That was so fun!

We came straight from the beach and we were expecting to be cold, but were pleasantly surprised that the temperature was not freezing, so we stayed much longer than planned... and ate much more than needed. 😄

We will definitely be back!

Ps. How about opening a second restaurant...

This was OK, but not great. The restaurant design doesn't lend itself to great ambience with a service / preparation area in the middle of the room and customer tables on either side. Some dishes were good but others were not. I had tuna sashimi which I didn't enjoy and tekkamaki which I did. My lunch partners had a bento box and spicy chicken rice bowl which they generally enjoyed. We each had green tea which consisted of a tea bag in a cup of hot water -- somewhat disappointing. In the bento box the feedback on the gyoza was not great. Other parts of it were rated well. We saw the service staff putting dumplings from a packet in the steamer for consumption later in the service day. I can buy something similar in Woolies or Coles, so this is not something I'd expect from a restaurant. Summary -- the place was OK but could have been better. I want to give a 3½ star rating but I can't do that so I lean to 3 stars not 4.

An afterthought. The sushi train wasn't operating (May 2023). The reason may be changes post-COVID or maybe it just wasn't operating on a weekday lunch time. That makes no difference to me but thought...

I love this place. Great food, no fuss. Staff is very kind. Highly recommend the lunch bento -- it was the biggest I've ever seen -- my partner and I can split one bento, plus a few orders of nigiri, and I feel like I want someone to roll us all the way back home. Definitely a local's place -- I come down on my lunch break, and it's easy to get to, but far enough from the water that you're not paying beachfront prices. I always eat in, but they seem to do a lot of takeaway business as well. They have a sushi train setup, but I've never seen it running, maybe due to COVID or because I've never been in at dinner, only lunch. I don't mind that at all, as I'd rather eat it fresh anyways. Service is very fast, too. If you're still reading...