M Sushi — Restaurant in Charlottesville

So I am a sushi lover and I’ve been to sushi king or “msushi” many times before and have had a good time but today was a different experience. Me and my sisters came into the restaurant to enjoy a quick lunch before we had to go into work. Our server was Jason. Mind you, I’ve had him as a server many times and sometimes he is the only server I get when I go there. When we got there, it was slow, maybe 2 to 4 tables. We got sat immediately but didn’t get seen until 5 mins later which is sum what okay, but we were on a time crunch. When we were seen we got our drinks and put our order. Our food took 15-20 mins to come which is somewhat understandable. When we got our food, unfortunately we had to go so we started to ask for boxes. We were told that we had to pay a togo fee which is understandable. One of my sisters had ask to see the box to see if she wanted to pay the fee. And the boxes are not worth 10$ or however much they may said we had to pay. We could tell Jason wasn’t understanding us as his body language started to change. He started shaking, getting hostile and started getting rude. My sisters and I remained calmed until he got into one of my sisters personal space. We understood what he was trying to say about the fee for the boxes but it was like he wasn’t trying to understand us. When he didn’t leave to get a manager that’s when my sister started to record the conversation and that’s when Jason got into her personal space trying to grab her phone. At that point we are telling him to back up and go get a manager cause clearly this conversation wasn’t going anywhere. At this point my sister is telling him to back up and that’s when the manager realizes there is a problem and he starts to walk over to where we were sitting. When the manager got a little closer to our table, Jason started to walk away, but then he turned right back to come to our table when the Manager got there, but that’s when he started putting his fingers in my sisters face, he was acting like he was trying to fight her. At that point, one of my other sisters got up and got between them, so nothing further would happen. The manager told us we still have to pay normal price, but we wouldn’t have to pay the box fee, which is OK but it shouldn’t have gotten to that point we told Manager what had happened and after that the situation got resolved and we left. I feel like we got racially profiled, which is weird because I’ve been there before and he knows I’ve always paid. I’m pretty sure if he’s had other tables who have received the box 1st and left without paying, but I have a job there’s no need for me to not pay for food. If I can’t afford to eat out, I don’t eat out at all. The manager handled the situation very professionally and respectively, which I appreciate. I just hope that Jason is held accountable for his actions, and that this does not happen to...

This is a guide to the "Sushi King Experience," specifically maximizing the number of rolls you eat at Sushi King AKA the "Final Roll Count" (FRC).

A huge part of hitting a personal record on your FRC is preparation, not just the day of, but also leading up to your visit. You want to practice expanding your stomach in the couple days before attending- grapes are an excellent tool used by a lot of competitive eaters, including Kobayashi. When it comes to the day of, avoid eating much for the 12 hours prior to attending. I typically have just a couple of eggs for breakfast. Make sure to hydrate well so that your stomach is able to process the rolls quickly and efficiently.

I always try to go with a group to help motivate me when the going gets tough. When you're halfway through your sixth rainbow roll and the times are getting tough, knowing that your buddy is right there with you can make all the difference.

Avoid appetizers. I'm a sucker for seaweed salad, and I let myself have a few bites just to get the enzymes in my stomach roaring, but it is crucial that you don't fill up on this stuff. Especially avoid the heavier appetizers, like the avocado salad. This stuff will bog you down and is sure to drop your FRC. I've seen a lot of folks aspiring to hit an FRC PR, only to down a couple plates of avocado salad and only ending up eating 10 or 11 rolls. You hate to see it.

When it comes to the event itself, everyone takes slightly different approaches- hitting a new FRC isn't just a science, it's an art, and everyone's unique. That being said, there are a few tips that are pretty universal:

1. Salivate often. Your spit helps break down food, so try to collect the spit when you're taking a break between bites.

2. Avoid creamier rolls. I try to avoid more than 1 or 2 Volcano/Crazy Dragon Rolls. The Asian Mayo sauce will leave you dead in your tracks.

3. Don't drink too much water. Just take small sips to help wash down all that rice- any more and you're taking valuable stomach space.

4. Pacing- I try to eat my first 5 or 6 rolls as quickly as possible, but after that you need to slow down a bit, and try to let the stomach catch up a bit.

5. Vegetarian rolls can be a good option as a break between the meatier, more filling rolls. Also will help with keeping the mercury levels in your blood down.

Make sure to take care of yourself after- stay safe...

This was an awful experience, I wish I could give zero stars. We have been here previously, and while it was never amazing sushi, it was an acceptable trade-off for quality vs price, and was always a decent experience. This is our first time back since Covid, and the quality was much much lower, but the price had gone up a bit. It definitely tipped the scales to make it not worth the price, but that alone wouldn’t have prompted this review. My first roll, a spice salmon, came out with almost no fish at all. Without any exaggeration, the roll had approx the size of my middle finger nail of salmon, and the rest tempura. I’m a small woman, my nail isn’t very big. I brought it to my servers attention, and he asked if I wanted a new roll without tempura. Perfect response, all is good. The second roll came, and it was slightly better. Now the roll was almost the size of my thumbnail, with the rice wrapped around several layers thick because they had to take up all the extra space somehow. It’s still ok, you get what you pay for, at this point I’ll think twice before coming back, but my meal isn’t ruined. But then...there is a long hair laying across my plate. I pick it off, but it is embedded into the wasabi. The server was still standing right there, and watched this happen. Since he saw it, I went ahead and complained, asked that my meal just not be charged since I hadn’t eaten anything, and dropped the hair. Much commotion and talk later, someone else is at my table trying to ask what happened, and clearly doubting my tale because “he (the server) didn’t understand what was happening”. Not my problem.

So now I’m sitting here watching my husband eat, because in all this time he had already had one roll and wasn’t going to pay $20 just for that one, and had already ordered more. The check just came, and I wasn’t charged for mine. So it ends up a wash, but I will definitely...