Ben Gui Sushi — Restaurant in Virginia

I didn’t want to leave a bad review. But reading others & seeing that the problems we encountered tonight have been going on for at least a year? The 4.5-star rating is no longer an accurate reflection. It’s been a while since the last time we ate here, & the decline over the years since our last visit is noticeable.

Bottom line: Overpriced & underwhelming.

The food is fine. Our group had sushi rolls, fried rice, gyoza, chicken teriyaki, a bento box… It was okay, some things better than others, but nothing was amazing. The rolls I got all seemed pretty small compared to what we’ve had at numerous other places. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t something we’d go back for. The others felt more or less the same way about their entrees.

The atmosphere is okay but is not updated, trendy, or upscale. You don’t feel you’re walking into a nice establishment that’s going to charge the prices they charged. The whole place needs a facelift.

As others have mentioned over the past year or so, we were told the ice machine was broken when we asked if we could get a glass of ice to go with the canned soda. Our only drink options were bottled or canned drinks — $1.50 per can of soda ($3.50 for the orange soda my son ordered; prices for drinks weren’t on the menu, and we didn’t know his was costing that much, but oh well). Nothing refillable was offered—not water, fresh brewed tea, etc. (Btw, soy sauce makes you thirsty, but we squeezed by on as little drink as possible and then got fountain drinks at a gas station after we left).

The menu prices are NOT accurate unless you play a game of seek & find with the back page, which is the only place on the menu that reflects accurate pricing. So, find what sounds good on the first few pages, then flip to the back page & try to find the name of the item you’re considering to see the current cost. And don’t miss the details about dinners no longer including soup or salad, or the $1 upcharge for extra ginger and wasabi.

The menus would be so easy to update and change out the inserts by just printing new pages; why put the customers through all this confusion and risk making your restaurant look bad? Just fix it. It wouldn’t be costly or time-consuming. I almost wanted to offer to just do it for them. Now I see it’s been this way for a long time, so clearly, somebody simply doesn’t care. And it shows.

For what we paid, we could’ve eaten at one of the steakhouses or upper-scale casual restaurants around here. This was absolutely not worth that at all.

Overall, we left feeling very disappointed that we paid nice prices for not a nice meal. This was not our first time at Ben Gui, but it was likely our last, I’m...

First time trying this restaurant, and we were more than disappointed. My first impression walking in was how quiet it was. There was no music playing and 2 tables seated. We got to our table and the waitress seemed friendly enough. My partner and I asked for a water and an unsweet tea, and we were surprised when we received a bottle of water and a bottle of gold peak. No refills. No disclaimer about how all they provide are bottled drinks. I was thinking at that point that maybe we should go somewhere else, but decided to stay because it was the day before Valentine’s Day and already 7pm, plus we hadn’t been here before and we were hungry… so we committed to seeing it through. We ordered the house pork dumpling soup, a special sushi roll, a shrimp tempura roll, and yaki soba with a small salad. I received the salad first, which was basically your standard, run-of-the-mill pre-packaged, pre-cut iceberg lettuce and carrot mix with a brownish colored carrot-ginger dressing. Then we got the soup. It appeared big enough for 2, the broth was decent, but you had to work your spoon around an excessive amount of sliced white onions to get to any broth. And the dumplings were basically pre packaged frozen gyoza thawed and thrown in the bowl. It was the worst soup I’ve had in a long time. The sushi rolls were just OK, plain rice and shrimp tempura, and my partners roll was soft shell crab with a spicy tuna topping. Underwhelming, but ok. The yakisoba was probably the most disappointing…. It was probably a 50/50 ratio of thin noodles to what seemed like the exact same lettuce mix that my salad was made of, stir fried into the noodles, barely any chicken. It was awful as it sounds.

When we got the bill, every food item was about $3 more than what was listed in the menu… plus the cost of the bottled drinks. My partner asked about the prices and complained. They acted like there was a sign on the front door about price increases… but it was all very inconspicuous and the fact they gave us a menu with lower prices listed was very misleading. The food wasn’t really worth the listed prices, let alone the increase prices. There was no honor given to the menu we received, so we paid what they had us pay. At the same time, another customer came up with their bill and complained about the same thing!! We likely won’t be coming back to this place.

I do hope for them that they work out the kinks and revamp their menu and communication tactics. Owning a business is hard and I feel for them, but they need the feedback to try to improve. And customers need to...

I had an absolutely fantastic experience at Ben Gui Sushi in Roanoke! Despite being on a budget, I decided to treat myself, and it was worth every penny. The uni was incredibly fresh—straight off the truck, as Ben himself shared with me—and it was a delight to indulge in such high-quality sushi. I even went a little over budget to try something new, and I’m so glad I did.

One thing that really stood out to me is that he talked to almost every customer and knew their story. It reminded me of my childhood sushi hang out with my family, where everybody knew me, and was always waiting for me to come back even through my college days, despite it changing hands, someone on the staff always knew who I was. Brought back great childhood nostalgia especially since my mom passed recently.

Ben personally served me and made the experience even more memorable with great conversation. His passion for sushi and his customers really shines through, and it’s rare to find such a warm and welcoming atmosphere. I enjoyed getting to know about his personal story and how he came from New York to Roanoake and I can’t wait to hear more about it. The food was impeccable, and the care in preparation was evident in every bite. Thank you Ben ❤️

Even though it’s a bit of a drive from Blacksburg, I already can’t wait to go back. I’ve already started telling my partner about the amazing sushi. I found in the area. This place is a true gem, and I’m so grateful for both the food and the company. Highly recommend stopping by if you’re in the area—or even if you’re not! It’s definitely...