Billy Sushi ビリー寿司 — Restaurant in Minneapolis

TLDR; If you’re looking to celebrate a special occasion with awesome sushi and a pleasant experience, consider skipping this place and heading a block over to a different establishment.

The only other time I’ve felt this disrespected at a business was 8 years ago in a Taco Bell Drive-Thru.

Earlier this year, my partner and I walked in and had a great dinner at Billy Sushi’s bar. Since the environment was fun, I opted to come here for my birthday last night and also invited my family. Unfortunately our recent visit was awful.

My partner had made our table reservation weeks in advance. We were excited and arrived approximately 20 minutes early hoping to grab a drink before my family showed up. A server behind the bar curtly told us that the bar was reserved. No problem— we stood around until our table was ready.

A few minutes later, the hostess seated us. That same server from behind the bar came over to the table as our waiter. We ordered some drinks. The rest of our party texted that they hit traffic and were arriving 7 minutes late from the reservation start time, which we mentioned to the waiter. That’s when things took a weird downward plunge.

He first said that we would have to order immediately once the rest of our group sat down. He then explained that since we had arrived early, we only had an hour left because a 90 minute timer started ticking from the moment we sat down (not from the start of the reserved time— from the moment we sat down). We were NOT told this when we were seated early. Meanwhile, “sushi is taking 30-45 minutes to come out”.

With that in mind, we scrambled to try and get a sushi order decided without the rest of our group so we could at least leave some time to eat. When 2/3 of my family came in (last person was parking), our waiter took our orders and then proceeded to tell us that we had to wait until the last person came in before we could actually place an order.

All these illogical and poorly communicated table management rules, plus being rushed to make an order that we were then told we could not make, was incredibly confusing and frustrating. From the moment we encountered him, that server’s tone and choice of words gave the impression that we were an incredible inconvenience to the restaurant’s tightly packed schedule. My partner went back to the front desk to try and sort something out, and then a different server took over who looked annoyed the whole time.

It did not make sense to me why the table countdown would start when we got there rather than at the time the reservation was for. It also didn’t make sense why we couldn’t get some sushi orders in a couple minutes before my whole family showed up if leaving on the 90-minute-from-the-moment-you-sit-down dot was so vitally important.

From then on the vibe was just awkward and hostile (exceptions being the wholesome gentleman who came over to sing happy birthday and the front of house ladies who were helpful on both visits). The table service left me feeling sad and uncomfortable. Maybe it was just a bad night, but my impression of Billy Sushi is now terrible. I straight up cried from relief after we left and won’t be returning.

Kado no Mise is a fantastic sushi place right down the block from these guys. I would recommend...

Unfortunately we had a really bad experience here. We first came here about a year ago for my birthday and had a great time. Such a good time that my husband and I looked forward to coming back and decided to bring my sister here last night for a celebration for her. When we arrived, the hostess told us we had a 90 minute limit, which many restaurants say but I have literally never experienced any place actually enforcing. However for a group of people, even just 3 of us, that’s not a very long time. We placed our orders for drinks, apps, and mains (rolls). The recommended app special (sashimi) ended up being $75 which the server did not disclose to us. Yes, we didn’t ask, but for many people that amount would be unaffordable. We would've appreciated transparency up front on the cost. Then when the rolls came, one of them was incorrect. We were told to just keep the wrong roll as a bonus and the correct roll would be brought out asap. Well the correct roll showed up about 20 minutes later just 10 minutes before our “time limit” was up but since it had just been delivered my sister ordered another glass of wine (encouraged by the server who said “why not!”). We were still finishing our drinks and eating the late arriving roll when the server brought out our check unprompted. We were really put off by the brusqueness but my husband paid. While my sister was still finishing her glass of wine the server returned to tell us we needed to leave now because the next reservation was here and needed our table now. It was the restaurant’s fault that the food was late, so for them to not even give us time to finish our food and drinks was so unacceptable. Honestly the quality of the food doesn't even matter because there is nothing worth being treated so disrespectfully. They made it so obvious that all they want is your money and to turn your table over. This was supposed to be a happy celebratory dinner and the whole vibe was ruined by being rushed through our meal and essentially kicked out. I would say we were not even 10 min over the 90 minute limit. A time limit on meals is such a bizarre concept. We appreciate food and meals are meant be savored and enjoyed and are a time to connect and celebrate. Not to just scarf food and move on. If we wanted to rush through a sushi dinner we could’ve just picked something up from Whole Foods. It was such a poor service experience, I am certain we will...

First and Foremost, I was so blown away by everything at this place I don't even know how to start my review. I'll try to start at the beginning... walking in, you have your temp taken and they ask where you'd like to sit (sushi bar or table), I ALWAYS opt for the sushi bar and it having been over 7 months since I've been able to sit at one, I could not pass up the chance! The seating is distanced for COVID, everyone is wearing masks (fully wearing them, not below the nose or chin diapers).

The crew manning the sushi bar were extremely quick to greet us and made us feel welcome from the second they saw us; they engaged in discussion, helped with menu questions and even inserted themselves when they heard us debating a couple different roll options. We were shown a few of the specials as they were going out (had we not seen them, we likely wouldn't have ordered them). Currently offering a BlueWave Roll, A5 Waygu and Lobster Hand Roll, and Waygu (lightly seared with truffle oil and fresh wasabi) - the waygu dishes looked so good we gobbled them up before I could take a photo).

We also ended up ordered several rolls, some Nigiri, and Sashimi. In the photos: Naughty Ninja, Mexican, BlueWave, 4 different kinds of Tuna from lean to fatty (we ate them one after another to really taste the difference - that was fun!), Salmon, and Yellowtail. With the Waygu dish having fresh grated wasabi on top we asked if we could have a side of that for our sushi - if you've never had this, it's worth asking for it, very different from the pre-made stuff (earthy, flavorful, and often not as aggressive) - they were happy to oblige.

Billy stopped over to chat with us for a bit, which was very kind. He even scraped a few of the tuna pieces from our dish cause he didn't like how they looked and gave us new ones - while I'd never have known the difference, I appreciated the attention to detail he had. What a fun guy!

I already can't wait to go back and I'd encourage you to get there very soon!

December 16, 2021 update: just wanted to give Billy a very special shout-out for his generosity this week, you make the world a better...