Kura Revolving Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Beaverton

The promise: prizes, robots, and automation can be fun!

The reality on the prizes: for spending $60, we got a free pin.

The reality on robots: water is not brought out automatically. Instead, you have to order it from the touchscreen. And it's not prominent either, it appears on the second page, after the more expensive beer and sake options. Dark pattern or minor oversight? You decide. After ordering water from the screen, the time spent waiting for the robot to deliver felt like about 8 minutes.

The reality on automation: sushi still seems to be assembled by humans, by hand. We ordered two different types of salmon nigiri. One had seared salmon skin but was cold. The other had melted mayo on top and was warm. We received the cold crisped salmon skin one quickly. Not great. Then something else. Then another order of the same cold salmon skin one. We left it on the belt because the sign said not to put anything back and we didn't to render the order unsanitary by touching it. Leaving the order on the belt threw it into a state of confusion. It zipped back and forth, offering it to us again and again. Eventually, a gentlemen came out and we spoke. No, this wasn't what we ordered. We already received the other type. We now want the other thing. Fixed.

When you invest in automation instead of human capital, you end up with this issue: asking for help by using the "call" button on the touch screen was in no way prompt. Perhaps the resto was understaffed. Maybe the waitstaff was primarily trained to clear tables and little else. Either way, when we wanted to inquire about water, paying our check, and requesting wasabi were all met with a 10 minute wait. The staff–when they did come–were cheery, delightful, and helpful, but much too slow.

Finally, the reality on the sushi. It's... fine. Offering skipjack tuna? That's not a selling point. There was unagi on the belt. In my opinion, unagi is best served warm. We let that bottom belt options pass and ordered the unagi with miso-mayo instead, which did arrive warm; point granted! Unfortunately, this was also the most repulsive bite of sushi I've ever had, barring expired mackerel and mussels I've had elsewhere. I love miso. I love unagi. In fact, the miso butterfish at another restaurant is one of my all-time favorite things. I'm not sure what went wrong at Kura with this order, but this single bite ended my meal. My tastebuds went to strike and my brain said "you better not". That was the end of my Kura experiment.

Recommendations:

move water and tea to page 1 of the drinks menu. is wasabi on the menu too? Never found it. Make it more prominent. train waitstaff to pay attention to the call queue and respond to the table-waiting boards. add an additional floater during this opening period to help train staff (and clientele!) on how your resto operates. Check in with tables periodically to see if they have questions or...

The hostesses working on Tuesday 12/10 are clearly slowing down the service on purpose because they don’t want to work. We put our name down in the iPad at 6:08, received a text that our turn was approaching and to come check in and we will be seated shortly at 6:15. We checked in as the text said to and the host guy told us to wait outside and they’ll call us when ready. At 6:32 I went back inside to double check they didn’t forget us. While I waited for host/hostess, I glanced at their iPad which was very visible and it showed several open tables. The hostess with dyed hair and crusty makeup finally came after a few minutes and immediately had an attitude with me because she noticed I was looking at the iPad. She told me it would be another 15 minute wait. I was confused because another 15 minutes means we’d be seated at 6:50, when we had received that text at 6:15 saying our turn was approaching next. I asked why I got that text so early / prematurely then if clearly they weren’t ready. The hostess kept rolling her eyes at me and having an attitude, saying that this is how it works and that we need to check in twice basically and it’ll take as long as it needs to take. I called out that there were empty tables and she said they need to be bussed. Why does it take another 15 minutes to bus tables? The plates are literally put away in a slot, all they have to do is wipe down tables with a cloth. I didn’t say that but I kept asking about why they would send that “your turn is approaching” at 6:15 if we wouldn’t be seated until 6:50. The hostess said it’s not her fault and I said I know it’s not, I’m just trying to understand. She got frustrated and walked away and another hostess took over, and again told me the same things. Then she said “do you want us to take you off the list?” And I was fed up and said yes. We took our business elsewhere.

I have been to Kura dozens of times in different cities and it’s never been like this. When you get the “your turn is approaching” text you literally get seated within 5 minutes. I am convinced that these hostesses were purposefully slowing down service and not seating people because they don’t wanna work. If management is reading this, definitely look into this issue because you’re losing customers from inflated wait times caused by...

Kudos to one of our servers, Destiny. She was very attentive in a full lobby of customers, refilled our hot tea frequently and even packed extra tea for us to sip on during our drive home through hwy 217 traffic. Kura Sushi Bar is our go-to Kaiten zushi spot in Oregon. It’s a chain restaurant originally made popular across Japan before hopping the Pacific pond and spreading nationwide. Great selection of high quality sushi and Japanese food. The downside is it gets pricey for the “common” items like tamago (sweet egg loaf), ika (calamari sushi)and inari (sweet tofu skin stuffed with vinegary rice) when every nigiri/gukan/hand rolls are $3.95 a plate, being the same price with uni (sea urchin roe), ikura (salmon roe) and o-toro (southern bluefin tuna belly). We load up on the 3 aforementioned types of sushi along with salmon toro, unagi ( fresh-water eel) and Hotate (raw scallop sushi). I don’t care much for eating land dwelling creatures at as she bar but I do notice the wagyu beef rolls are a hit for non-seafood eaters. And for $3.95 a plate of wagyu beef, who would complain? The wait can get significantly long during dinner time, especially on weekends where we had waited nearly 2 hours just for counter seats our first visit. We learned our lesson and now come during non-peak hours to nab a booth right away. The ordering system is quite efficient with a screen to place orders for stuff you want right away. The delivery system is on a separate conveyor belt designated for items ordered on screen. The items on the belt are placed in a covered lid that only opens once you touch a plate through the open slot. We always finish with a serving of taiyaki (friedJapanese like waffle in the shape of a fish) served with vanilla ice cream and a dollop of azuki (sweet bean paste). I also order warabi (soft rice mochi dough) served with a generous dusting of kinako (finely ground sesame seeds). I love mixing some of the extra kinako with the canilla ice cream to give it an extra layer of creaminess and texture. *Bonus: the bathroom is equipped with a very Japanese bidet, soothing sounds, air blower and heated seats! Must try experience! Just don’t get too comfy in the bathroom, there’s only 2 stalls and the line can get...