Kura Revolving Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Spring Valley

Kura Sushi is now in Las Vegas; this is HUGE. It's the Japanese food equivalent of Vegas getting the Golden Knights and the Raiders. I feel like this city is finally legit. Being dramatic you say? Read on.

So Kura Sushi is a huge kaiten sushi chain in Japan with over 400 locations. Kaiten sushi literally means rotating/revolving sushi and that's because a huge selection of premade sushi, rolls, appetizers, and desserts make their way around the restaurant on a conveyor belt (see pics). If you see something you like, you just grab it and eat it - no waiting to order.

What sets Kura Sushi apart from other kaiten sushi restaurants in the US is there's a display at every table (see pic) so you can view the entire menu and order items without involving servers. For example, you have your heart set on salmon but after watching the food go by for a couple minutes, no salmon. Pull salmon up on the screen, enter how many orders you'd like, and send it in.

The cool thing with Kura is there's another track that runs above the main belt that has all the food going around on it. Once your ordered items are prepared, they zip their way right to your table via this second track (see pic of my two orders of Masago). Whaaaat...

The menu is pretty extensive so they have ramen, udon, tempura, takoyaki - just a ton of stuff - and every plate is only $2.50. When you're done with the plate, you slide it into a slot that's at one end of the table (see pic) and the display let's you know how many plates you've had. Every 5 plates you get a little animation that runs on the screen. Every 15 (I think) you get a little prize.

For people who are worried about germs or people breathing/sneezing/coughing on the food - all the dishes are in a container with a see-through lid (see pics). When you see what you want, don't touch the lid to open - just lift the plate itself and the lid pops open. That's a terrible description but you'll see what I mean when you're there. So basically, nothing gets touched - no grubby fingers touching the food.

And I'm sure this is because they just opened but there's no wait. Whenever we're in a city in CA that has Kura, we try and stop by but 30 - 90 minute waits aren't unheard of. No wait here. They do have an app that lets you check in; hopefully there won't be a need to use this for a few more weeks - but I'm positive Kura is going to be really popular here and will wreck some of the smaller joints.

If you like sushi, then l think you need to try kaiten sushi at least once. Luckily, you can do that right here in your own...

The family had lunch here during our last visit to Las Vegas. Kura is "near" the strip, but not close. It took us about 15 mins to drive there during the middle of the day, on a weekday. That said, getting there from NYNY casino was pretty easy.

Kura is located in a strip mall jam packed with various Asian restaurants and storefronts. There is a huge parking lot, but when there (during the day on a weekday), it was pretty full and we did need to circle once or twice - overall nothing too hard.

Upon entering, we were quickly greeted "Irasshaimase!"and the host asked if it was our first time there - which it was. After we were promptly seated, we were given a brief but informative overview of how the ordering system worked. I will sum it up like this: most plated items on the belt are a set price, regardless of what it is. (Slightly different from other establishments where color of the plate determines price). If you don't see what you want on the belt, self-service ordering is available from a touchscreen at each booth. When you are done eating, simply drop the plate into the slot built into the booth and the dish is counted and tallied to your order. At the end of your meal, your bill is calculated based on what you ate and you can self-pay or cash out with the server.

One interesting difference here, is that Kura "gamifies" your sushi experience. Every 5 plates deposited triggers a short animation/story on the touchscreen. After 15 plates are deposited, you get a prize. Another interesting difference is that when you order an item, it comes whizzing to you booth on a separate belt and stops at your table for you to grab. There are also a couple of robots who serve drinks to tables.

Overall, the sushi was good. The nigiri proportions were just right - not overly large pieces of fish or rice. My one complaint, is that there was a rather small selection to choose from off the belt, which was a little disappointing because as you know, we eat with our eyes first. Seeing something IRL vs on a screen, can be 2 different experiences, however, because I could order whatever I wanted from the menu using the touchscreen, it really was not an issue.

Kura Revolving Sushi provided a sushi experience like none I'd ever had before - and my family will remember it forever. The restaurant was well lit and clean, the staff were helpful, the robots are super cool, and the sushi was good. We will go again the next time...

I want to say it was an off day, but I have no hope for this place. It's gone downhill.

Time of Day & Sushi/Belt Items: Friends and I came here on a Thursday during peak lunch hour, and it was nearly empty. It was slim pickings - not a lot of food presented on the belt, I get it - because there weren't many customers. However, is that an excuse to leave dried out sushi and meat on the belt? You can actually tell that the fish had dried out due to the change in color, and the meat had turned brown - BROWN. That's not fresh. I get it (again) that nothing can be completely "fresh", but these are health hazards.

Menu Items: Pot stickers were extremely dry, felt like rice crackers and that it was cooked in an air fryer. The ramen noodles - seriously, what was that? Why did the noodles look like the rice cracker dough of the pot stickers????

Drinks: Friend and I ordered green teas, and omg it looked and tasted just as sad as the sushi displayed on the belt. It looked like they had scooped it out of a swamp, and it had such a stale taste to it.

Service: The only "positive" was that the server kept coming by to refill my friend's soda. Other than that, mostly everything is self-serve. Now that I think about it, a 10% tip would have been enough for the server. Don't tip more like I did.

Event - One Piece: Not worth it. You have to eat 15 plates for 1 chance at a prize, and the prize honestly isn't worth it. I paid over a $100 for a tiny little rubber keychain that may be worth $5 in total. Seriously, not worth it.

Price: Overpriced - way too overpriced for the poor quality of food. I honestly don't think I should have to pay over $100 just for that.

Overall: The first time I went to Kura, it was a fun and positive experience. However, they went downhill. There's a lot of competition around them, but it's clear that they just gave up. They don't care. They're trying to attract people with their anime-themed gacha prizes, but having to spend a lot of money for 1, truly is not worth it. I highly recommend people to try out the other sushi places nearby because those places still care about what they put out and...