Sushi Maru @ Five Dock — Restaurant in Sydney

This is a great local sushi place, conveniently located in middle of Five Dock shops & out the front of Coles, Library & next to the new metro station which is under heavy construction.

The atmosphere & interior is nice enough, being clean, well laid out & functional. Service is pleasant & efficient, however, given it’s predominantly a sushi train set up - the staff are only really around to get you seated & departed. Been numerous times & never bad service, it’s just a quick in & out type of operation.

Big reason to come is the food, it’s a huge variety of plated options on the train & easy to order other or more substantial menu items. I’m always impressed by the freshness, quality & abundance of choice, so much to choose from & you watch the kitchen team making it in front of you. Must try the salmon options, mixed sashimi, prawn & tofu dishes. You can get lucky too with gyoza & karaage chicken hitting the train after just being cooked. Don’t think I’ve ever spent over $30 for lunch & that is for 6 ish plates & an iced...

Service is always great, very quick and friendly. Lots of great options on the menu, sushi has always been fresh until last night, we spent almost 80$ on sushi and I’m pretty sure everything was cold (that wasn’t meant to be). I ordered a signature roll off the menu hoping it would be fresh but she just grabbed one off the train and gave it to me, so that was disappointing. There were about three items we couldn’t even finish because quality was poor. The Takoyaki was soggy, I realize now that it was probably because they were closing within an hour after we got there (we arrived at 7:15 on a Saturday, which is reasonable on a weekend). I understand they don’t want the sushi to go to waste, but maybe offer a slight discount or at least let everyone know they will not be making any fresh rolls? Anyways, will come back but earlier in the evening. Do recommend trying the special sauce and parm cheese...

How do i give zero stars???

The most poorly run sushi train I've ever encountered. They sat 2 people at a booth for 6 when there were multiple big groups waiting on a friday night. When we questioned it they said "they were here first", so all of the big groups got passed over because of course only the train seating had quick turnover.

We had a baby and needed a high chair so could only have a booth (which we clearly asked for on the ticket at the door) yet we were the last to be seated (over 1 hr wait) and as we sat down were told "we are closing in 15 mins and the kitchen will close in 2 mins so you need to order". Also because of this, nothing on the train was replenished so it was just old tuna rolls and plates of edamame left.

This is place is shameful to true Japanese omotenashi.

I will never ever...