SLC's new Kura Revolving Sushi Bar will challenge your self-control
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Sushi moves along the conveyor belt at Kura Sushi in SLC. Photo: Erin Alberty/Axios
If you've never tried kaiten sushi — where dishes travel around the restaurant on a conveyor belt — you're in for one of Salt Lake's most mind-warping new dining experiences.
Driving the news: With its grand opening Friday, Sugar House's Kura Revolving Sushi Bar is one of the few kaiten sushi spots in Utah.
- The location at 675 E. 2100 South is the Japanese chain's first in the state.
How it works: Sushi and other small plates slide by your table in transparent domes on a belt that snakes through the space.
- You push a button to open the cloche and take your selection. Your empty plates go into a slot that calculates your bill at $3.75 a dish. The tally appears on a tableside screen.
Behind the scenes: Chefs replenish the plates as they're eaten or have languished on the track.
- A QR code on each dome tells a robotic system — named "Mr. Fresh" — how long the food has been in circulation; after a set time, the uneaten items are mechanically removed from the belt.
The intrigue: This may sound like a buffet you sit still for, just with fresher, more protected fare.
- Yes, but: It also triggers your lizard-brain impulse to collect and try new things.
- That makes each new plate exciting — and hard to pass up.
Case in point: My family hit the restaurant's soft launch this week, expecting a casual Monday night dinner.
- Instead, we left the restaurant an hour later, Thanksgiving-level stuffed, with a $170 bill for three people (and no booze, as the liquor license is pending).
- We waited with bated breath as each plate approached and sampled a lot of fishies that we've always wanted to try but never remembered to order from a standard sushi bar.
- Every time we thought we were done, we'd see another treat and tell ourselves: "Hey, it's just $3.75!"
Zoom in: My family's favorites were the Hokkai octopus with umami oil and the Hokkaido scallops.
Wait, there's more: After you drop 15 plates in your slot, a tube above your table delivers a ball containing a toy charm. Keep eating and you'll get another.
- Drinks are also served via robot — a musical waiter that wheels around the dining room.
Pro tips: The hosts fill tables from east to west, the same general direction the food moves. The closer to the front of the track you are, the better, since there are fewer people grabbing plates ahead of you.
- The dishes cycle through every 10 minutes or so, with some items appearing twice as frequently.
- You can also use your screen to order off a menu of noodles, desserts and other items that zoom to your table on a separate track.
What they're saying: When you arrive, you may be greeted by a cheer from the waitstaff.
- "Irasshaimase" means "welcome" in Japanese.