Kura Revolving Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Bellevue

June 2023 My sister and I have been to the Kura in DC, and my sister heard this place had robots, so we checked it out. The conveyor belt, ordering menu, and the prizes worked the same (more on that later). Though I did notice an option to BUY the prizes on the tablet menu that wasn't there in DC. Very handy, and it means you don't need to eat a lot of sushi to get that one prize you're burning for. The fish quality was better than the DC location, though I would say that the sushi crafting skills of the staff is the same (subpar to decent). The staff's speed and efficiency was better, but I think that's because there were more people (both in the kitchen and among the customers) as well as the two robots helping to deliver drinks.

The entrance for this place is located in the parking garage, next to the garage's entrance/exit to the road. There was a staff member outside with a tablet, letting people know when their table is ready and asking newcomers if they were already on the waitlist (you can join online on the app). If not, there is a koisk inside where you can join the waitlist. When we came back out, the lady also asked if we were ok with bar seats. Bar seats are not at an actual bar with alcohol, but you're sitting next to each other (and strangers) in chairs with the conveyor belt in front of you. The bar seats are also at the end of the conveyor belt, but that doesn't matter much (will explain more later). Otherwise, seating is in 4 people booths with the conveyor belt next to you. We took the bar seats.

How to eat at a Kura sushi location. First, the setup: mounted above your table/seat is a tablet where you can order drinks, appetizers, udon, ramen, dessert, and yes, sushi. Right below that is a one way conveyor belt where the kitchen directly delivers food that you order from the tablet to you. Since you can order from the tablet, it doesn't really matter that the bar seats are at the end of the sushi conveyor belt. Below that one way conveyor belt is the sushi conveyor belt that runs through the whole restaurant. If you see something you want on the conveyor belt when it reaches your seat, just grab it off the belt. DO NOT put stuff back on the conveyor belt. That's disgusting and rude.

Continuing the How To. On the table, below the sushi belt are napkins, soy sauce, a box of ginger slices, and the plate slot! The plates you can insert are the green sushi plates. Note that this includes sushi that you ordered from the tablet. In DC, this also included dessert plates, but it seems desserts do not come with insert-able plates here. For every 5 plates you insert, your tablet will show a short video detailing the adventures of Mutenmaru as he defeats villains! Help him by inserting plates! For every 15 plates you insert, you get a free random prize! Though it seems if there's a certain special prize you want, you can order it from the tablet, no need to insert plates. Note if your party of 2+ are sitting at the bar, you should insert your plates into 1 slot to get the prizes.

For the various sushi, the most noteworthy were the snow crab nigiri, the king salmon nigiri, and the real crab california roll. All of them were very good, very delicious. The tuna's color was a bit off, so we didn't try it. The shrimp was sadly pretty slimy. The eel was good, though they use too much eel sauce. And of course, we highly recommend the Hokkaido Milk Cream Tarts. They are delicious and amazing.

Overall, may come again if they have prizes I really, truly want. Though I will be buying them from the tablet and save myself a...

Update: 3 Years Later TL;DR: Nope. Sucks even more now!

It's been three years, so I was ready to give Kura another shot. I have friends who enjoy the games and stuff. My friends, clearly, have too much disposable income.

This is massively, massively overpriced junk on a plate. Still! Three years on and the fish is at least cut professionally, but the prices are astronomical.

I could rehash my review.from before, but suffice to say the (lack of) service and cleanliness are no longer giving them any bonuses at all. They've dropped to 1-star.

Listen, I know Bellevue millionaires don't care if they shell out $60 (15 plates) for a 10¢ Lego toy, but to the rest or us, that's a scam we can't afford.

If you don't care about your wallet at all, sure, go have an experience at Kura. Otherwise, there are plenty of amazing real sushi places nearby to eat at cheaper places.

TL;DR Outrageously overpriced for poor quality sushi. Don't bother.

Let's start with the positives of Kura Sushi: the cleanliness and decor are really impressive. Sadly, that's about it.

The service is both enthusiastic and fast for the staff on the floor, and slow and lazy for the kitchen staff. Three dishes we direct-ordered took 30-40 consecutive minutes each, making our lunch last far, far too long. As great as the floor staff were about refilling drinks, kitchen staff were painfully painfully slow to restock and fill direct orders.

Which brings me to the food itself. Terrible for the price. At $3/plate, often for a large block of rice with inexpertly cut fish on top, lunch for two people with drinks, tax, and tip hit $100 without us even trying.

The sushi was bad on multiple fronts. The rice was poorly made by the automatic machine, the nori was so thick it made chewy balls in our mouths, the fish was mostly hacked and too thick, the makizushi rolls were often tiny, and the taiyaki tasted like it had been fried in the same oil as the tempura shrimp. Oh, and the "wagyu" had so much gristle I had to spit out a ball of connective tissue (and gross non-wagyu fat).

Just all around we could have gone to an expensive, fancy sushi bar and spent the same amount of money for really high quality food in a more relaxed...

Update: Not very happy with this last visit. The cost for 2 people was nearly $100. Most our items were good, but some were very cold on the belt. We ordered the limited time matcha pudding and it was soup and the red bean paste was so sweet it was like drinking pure sugar. We also had issues paying. The building has no cell service for Verizon now, so I couldn't use my app or coupon. The waitress just set the check down and left without asking if I had a coupon, so now I'll probably never get to use it. Also really concerned that the food rating has dropped to "Okay." I don't usually eat at places with ratings that low because I am high risk. Really disappointed as this was my favorite sushi place.

Kura Sushi is by and far my new favorite belt sushi place. I feel there are a lot of unfair reviews as some people are frustrated by the long wait times or the need to be onsite when called, but it's a fair system for an incredibly popular restaurant.

And it's popular for a good reason. Kura Sushi has a great atmosphere with their fun animated video clips and capsule prize machine that rewards you every 15 plates you dispense with. The selection of sushi, desserts, and hot dishes is fairly good size, and in addition to belt plates, you can use an intuitive touch screen to special order and track your meal. Ordered items are auto delivered on a seperate track.

The food itself is solid belt quality (remember, belt sushi is akin to fast food/fast casual, so if you expect fine dining quality, that's on you). The portions per plate are solid ($3.25), ingredients are fresh, and the recipes are more nuanced than most other belt places with a more traditional profile. Desserts are hand-made, with standouts like the warabi mochi and fresh made taiyaki with ice cream.

Service is friendly, but minimalist. With the focus on self-service, this really isn't an issue though. Safety and sanitaztion is also high priority, with acrylic protectors between patrons, minimal contact plate covers, and an incredibly clean interior.

Overall, if patience isn't a problem, Kura Sushi is a fantastic belt sushi...