I had an amazing experience at Island Sushi! My husband and I went for the first time on Valentine's Day around 4:30. We decided to sit at a table rather than the all you can eat experience. We ordered an appetizer and within 20 minutes our 3 rolls came out. The crab Rangoon was awesome for an appetizer and loved the King Kong and Galapagos rolls! Service was awesome, atmosphere is very laid back, and the food was even better! We've already been back since Valentine's Day! read more

If you're looking for great tasting sushi with a variety of delicious, mouth watering food item in a buffet setting, then move along. This is not the place for you. Sure, having the sushi on a boat going around a long table is a novel idea but it's just that. Thinly sliced raw tuna on a rolled up rice roll (with TOO much vinegar) was the most common roll floating past me. There's simply no variety and the excessive amount of vinegar overpowers any flavor it may have. I've never been to a buffet and leave early and hungry. I know that if it was the old owner of what it used to be called, Jet Sushi, he'd be ashamed of what it turned out to be. If you're looking for sushi buffet, try Fuji on Northland Ave or the new Great Buffet by Toys R Us. It's not worth $15 per person. Use that money on better sushi at woodmans or festivals, yup it's that bad. read more

To be clear, it isn't possible to serve real sushi all you can for $17. What they can do is serve a small selection of sushi rolls, appetizers and deserts. From other reviews you probably read about the boats, it's true this is a fun atmosphere and everyone is very friendly. The dress is very casual, some were dressed nice but others more like they were at a buffet. You CAN order your own rolls but it does also take forever, and what you CAN order is where some including myself would say this isn't really sushi. First, you aren't going to get anything other than the cheapest fish.... Tuna, crab, shrimp, eel, some salmon I think. Also, when you get any fish it will be wrapped in rice and typically loaded with other things. Use of avocados and cream cheese in rolls border on the ridiculous. Now, I love a good California roll or even Philadelphia, but when it is alongside healthy sushi. Here the California roll is not very good because of the quality of fish. So it's like a double whammy. Other things that make this not really a wise choice for healthy food or a real sushi meal are deep fried rolls, I have to stress the use of cream cheese AGAIN, chicken, brats, jalapenos etc in rolls. Lastly, I'll leave you with what one seemingly single mother let her ten year old boy brag to the owner about eating last night. 2 orders of Crabby sushi, which would be 8 pieces of this HUGE deep fried mess of a creation. 4 deep fried Oreos. These are delicious but humans should not eat much less a kid. Batter an Oreo, then when deep fried the cookie essentially just soaks up oil like a sponge. This is in addition to a bunch of other rolls of course, this is not what an seventy pound boy should eat for dinner.....ever. In conclusion, this was a try it once place for my girlfriend and I. People have been telling me for near a year how much they love it, but I figured they didn't really knew good sushi so it took me a while and my skepticism was completely justified. read more

I've never had sushi this fresh ever. I am a Chicago native and for the price, you will not find a better deal or experience in the Fox Valley area. Don't pass this gem up! BEST CRAB RANGOONS I've ever had. No lie. read more

Island Sushi - Big Kahuna Roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - Appleton, Wisconsin

My daughter found. Love for sushi, however she wants it all the time. I used to love coming here however you can now only get the sushi for all you can eat. They used to put other items on the boats such as Rangoons, egg rolls, dessert Rangoons, edamame etc.... Well tonight she ordered take out and ordered 3 rolls. Wait time ??? 100 min. Seriously???? We live on the other side of town but it surely doesn't take us 100 minutes to get there. I totally understand staff shortage but I feel if you were open more days and longer, you wouldn't have a swarm of people. My husband dislikes coming here to dine due to the wait time. I wish we could call and put our name on a list so the drive time counted for the wait time. I myself prefer sushi lovers over Island because I do not have to get all sushi. I can get peppered tuna etc..I also think the wait time could be sped up if you had more options on the boats to fill people up faster. It just seems everyone is waiting to special order and not taking off the boats so much which is making the wait time super long. Also when we ordered tonight the listening skills were not on point. Her name was wrong and for waiting 100 min. They only had 2 rolls on the order when she ordered 3. read more

i called 50 times no answer. ive eaten here before and loved it. terrible phone service if you want take out. at least give us an answering machine instead of just hanging it up. better off going to another restaurant read more

Island Sushi - called 50 times and no acknoledgement - Sushi Bars Near Me - Appleton, Wisconsin

Not the best sushi or sashimi experience. I've order Tuna and Salmon sashimi and they came looking like thick potato fries and frozen as popsicles. Total disrespect to japanese food preparation. I will never return. read more

So, I feel, that for the niche this restaurant represents, it's as good as it gets. I've paid the same price for a sushi buffet that wasn't as nice and where the sushi chefs didn't take as much care in putting the sushi together. Every time I've come here, the patrons have been happy. There is a lot of laughter and chatter. The space is very nice. It's actually a lot more classy than I thought it would be, and the bar is pleasant to wait at when there's are people ahead of you for the buffet. The sushi is pretty good. The chefs have always been proactive in making special rolls for us, even on busy nights. I like just watching the sushi revolve around and taking what's available. There is a lot of filler, but the rolls are a lot more adventurous than other sushi buffets I've been to. The most exciting thing of all: the sushi revolves around inside of little boats. The whole experience was just a lot more than I was expecting from an Appleton sushi buffet. read more

Great sushi! The way they are presented is pretty cool they float around on boats. I of course lost a roll to the water. Sorry. I have eaten at a few different sushi buffets and this is the first one that will create a roll however you like it. The cheesecake thing was really yummy and I really liked the Wisconsin(brat and stuff deep fried) and the Big Kahuna was tasty as well. Going back before I head back south to warmer places. read more

Incredible sushi. Great price. All you can eat for $20 and you can order anything off the menu. Can't beat that. read more

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Yum. You can order your own roll on rotation (lobster roll is an amazing choice, also crabby Patty) and try everyone else's choice as they float by. So much better than I expected and come to IS every time we are in the area. read more

Great staff and fun atmosphere. They do all you can eat sushi for about $20 per person. The gimmick is that the sushi comes around in fun little boats. Throughout your time the chefs will ask some people for a request. That person will get the request and a bit of extra from it goes on the boats. Came in with my vegetarian fiancé and the chef noticed and made sure she got some vegetarian dishes made. Staff overall seemed very friendly. Sushi was tasty. Obviously when you're dealing with something like this there will be a lot of blander filler (I love that honestly), but they do make some fantastic specialties. My fiancé got a guacamole themed one and sweet potato mango that was great. Atmosphere was a bit on the dive side so don't expect fancy, but it's comfortable enough. It could really be a great place for a bunch of friends during a night out. read more

Several of the sushi chefs are unbelievably slow at making sushi. If we stopped in at lunch and saw certain ones working, we'd walk back out because we'd know we'd be there forever waiting for stuff to be made. The price has increased so much! This last time, we spent $71 for four of us to eat (and that was after a discount because my kids didn't eat much). That was with two of the special Asian sodas, fried Oreos, and a dessert roll, which you have to pay extra for. Those used to just be set out at random times on the boats. I was stunned by the check because I hadn't realized the price has gone up so much per person before we ate. Never again! I recommend Fuji Sushi over this place. It's a family owned business, the chef makes sushi very quickly so they never run out of varieties to choose from, the sushi tastes a lot better, and it only cost $41 for a family of four to eat there (and that's including sodas and there's no extra charge for dessert). read more

Excellent Sushi! Excellent service! We sat at a large round bar at field the room, and the sushi was made right in front of us. We tried many different kinds, and they were all delicious.I can't wait to go back! read more

Would rather eat sushi from Pick n Save. The rice was kind of hard and the rolls were small. Also why did nearly all of them have cream cheese? Not even close to authentic. Trash sushi covered in eel sauce and panko. read more

Just got back from Jet Sushi or Island sushi, new ownership again. Total bill was $41, both water. It was not a pleasant experience, I had 8 small plates of bad sushi, comes to about 2 small rolls. The wait was extremely long we sat for about 2 hours, they couldn't keep up with the people eating, but they kept putting sushi in the middle isles so only those people ate. What sushi we did eat was bad, some pieces had strange sour tastes to them and others just didn't taste right. The rice was prepared incorrectly, it was too hot, temp wise, for sushi. The fish was too warm as well, probably because of the rice. Did not taste fresh at all even though they had just made them. All frozen old ingredients. After about two hours we had enough and left. There were other guests who arrived before us still eating. Last time we go, don't say I didn't warn you. read more

Be sure to make a reservation or be prepared to wait. My husband and I waited for 45 minutes before being seated. The selection of sushi on the boat was slim and the chefs couldn't keep up with how many ppl that were there. Sushi was decent read more

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After living on the west coast for many years anyone will develop some taste for sushi. So whenever there is a place offering sushi in the area I will try it out. Some of the rolls are very good. Most are not focused on the fish and many are even completely devoid of anything from the water. The option to order a few rolls you really want, and to grab whatever floats by is nice. The wait can be a bit on the longer side, but the bar tenders are always nice. My wife hates sushi, but she just sticks to the chicken, crab, or rice options and seems to survive. read more

Best crab rangoons ever! the sushi is fresh and so good. I definitely will be back again and again! read more

Island Sushi - Sushi Bars Near Me - Appleton, Wisconsin

Sushi is okay but make sure you have enough time about 90 minutes spare time. It is very easy that you have to wait 90 minutes more to start eating. Is it worth it?! Hey if you are a big eater this may work. You waited long enough every sushi taste good. read more

Grocery store sushi. Does the trick but nothing special or tasty. I'm sure it's all premade and they pull out what they need as ordered. The rice has a lemon taste...kind of like they put lemon on it to prevent oxidation while the food sits waiting to be ordered. One bonus, we did not get sick from the raw fish but it really had no flavor. Did arrive timely by Eater. read more

First off, I'd like to say the staff really makes the visit that much better. I've only been here once so far but I can honestly say they had their act together. I love the concept of all you can eat sushi. The boats add to the atmosphere by making it more interactive with your date, chef, whoever really! The sushi wasn't what I'd expect from Gingerootz or DongPo's but it's very edible. The crab ragoons are very reasonably priced and tasty. I'm glad I live close by! Special on Tuesday is buy 2 sushi get 1 free. I believe it was Tuesday. All you can eat is around $18-20 if I recall. read more

It's a little pricey, and expect to wait between rolls, but otherwise, it's a fun place to go. But, under no circumstances, ever go with more than four people to the all you can eat, because not only will you not be seated for like an hour, but neither will anyone else!! read more

If a dive bar and sushi restaurant had a baby ... it would be Island Sushi. Not the classiest place ever. Not a place to go on a date. Kind of feels like a bar with all the noise and people yelling back and forth. It's very dark, which is a pet peeve cause I like to see my food. Tables and chairs are a bit worn out. Most importantly, sushi wasn't the greatest. No privacy since everyone sits around the same big table. That being said, the place was packed when I went and the workers seemed to know all the customers by name. So, obviously they have a following, just not the place for me. read more

Im not a huge sushi fan but we decided to try this place cause it was my daughters birthday & she loves sushi. With that being said, I'm so glad we took her here cause it was an amazing experience & she loved it!! First of all, we had a party of 15, I have to say that from the moment we walked in, to the moment we left, the staff was so kind, professional & accommodating! The atmosphere was relaxing & clean. The boats that go round & round were so cute! And the chefs were interactive & awesome!! We will be back... read more

For the buffet there is not a lot of choice it a lot of basic white rice rolls most of which where vegetarian. There was one really good roll I had but it was the only one I seen go past most had shrimp so that sucked because I hate shell fish. When I asked for a specific roll I still managed to get the same one I was getting on the boats I specifically asked for a certain one because they only sent 1 the entire time I was there and didn't even get that. The people making things where very loud and so if you tried to ask anyone for anything it went ignored. I heard a lot of good things about this place and had been looking forward to FINALLY being able to eat there and it was a huge let down. They need to learn how to make more variety of sushi not just the rice rolls I can get from the store. read more

Excellent service, friendly people, reasonable prices! We didnt do the all you can eat island, but ate off menu. Roll selection was awesome (must try Crabby Patty!) They do serve sashimi! We ordered the salmon which was sweet & delectable! Wine is a value and a good variety. Sam, our waitress, had great recommendations! Staff was so nice and helpful for our 1st time there! We will be back!! read more

This is a great place for a sushi date night. I would say however, as a general rule of thumb, to expect a long wait time if you are looking to sit down with the sushi boats even during the middle of the week. read more

I brought a 20 month old. Her review is "yum, yum, yum, yum" "thank you". Pretty sure I couldn't put it better read more

Island Sushi - Sushi Bars Near Me - Appleton, Wisconsin

I love this place. The bar/waiting area is nice. Drinks are always great. It can be a little bit of a wait, but if you're expecting it and plan accordingly, it's not bad. The all you can eat sushi is awesome. I like that you can order whatever rolls you'd like plus pull from the boats. The only draw back I can see if you behind a group that keeps pulling all the sushi off the boats. I'm not picky with my sushi, so I'll take whatever comes my way. I know it's not the best sushi out there, but you can't beat $20 for endless sushi. Don't forget to ask about dessert rolls. They'll make a fruit roll or they have an apple with caramel roll that's awesome. read more

The place is poorly lit and cold. I felt like I was sitting in a cave. Host and sushi chefs were attentive but.... As for the sushi...Bland, tasteless. Not much of a variety to choose from. Majority of the sushi rolls consists of tuna or shrimp.. or veggie roll. If you only like tuna or shrimp. This is the place for you! read more

This place has gotten worse. It's not worth the price anymore. The rolls are really basic, there is cream cheese in everything, and there are jalapeños in every roll. Tonight was probably the worst experience I have had. There was a couple to the left of us that had been there a while already. From the time we sat down to the time they left, they were asked about ordering specialty rolls 4 times compared to our 1. There was a group of 2 to our right that was seated after us. From the time they sat down, they were asked what they wanted from the menu 3 times. The whole time we were there we were only asked once what we wanted from the menu. How does that even happen? I understand that it can get busy, but please remember there are other customers to serve. Since the quality has gone down and we've experienced this bad service, this is the last time we'll be getting sushi here. I suppose we shouldn't go cheap when we want to get sushi next time. read more

It was our first time to Island Sushi. Great staff! Jonathan was excellent! He greeted us and seated us immediately. He explained everything and was super attentive. Will definitely be back. read more

Super fun place when you're super hungry for sushi. It has a fun atmosphere with a nice bar and friendly staff. They have a Wednesday date special which features $5 off two drinks. Make sure to take advantage of that! read more

All you can eat sushi buffet for $20. I went on a Friday night and had to wait 45 minutes, what can you expect though? Excellent food made perfectly. The staff was very friendly and always willing to help. read more

I'm so sad that I have to give this place 1 star. I used to be a huge fan of Island Sushi. I have not been in a long time, so my friend and I decided to give it a go. Now with everything I'm about to say I realize we just got into a hard time in society. I also know employees are hard to come by during these times. So writing this for the owners to improve because I want this place to succeed. So first off it wasn't as warm and welcoming as I recall. Then the 1st bar tender was great but the other one was off, young kinda cocky and off, they seemed to be short a lot of liquor I gathered just from comments I could here from staff (also not their fault). It was taking a while to be seated so we ordered app they said it would be 20 sum more mins so we had time to order app and we did then no sooner we got app the yelled out my name across the bar. Instead of coming to get us and carry our barely eating app to our main dining area like ever other waitresses does we were expected to carry. I asked to start tab they said they rather give us the bill and then just keep on adding on drinks. So we had to carry our app to the seating area and our bill tab, which is just odd. Then they told us at some point too they only had one sous chef. So then we sit to eat & the sushi was okay but it was so dark, and hard to make out what we were eating. I know they use to have signs to indicate how hot sushi was and what it actually was so that was strange. Then my dishes started piling up next to me and at first waitress started taking them but didn't they seated a poor dude next to this stack of my dirty dishes, kinda gross! Then they were making custom rolls for us but the chef, bless his heart screwed up my roll and said it was extra brown crusty and burnt and asked if he should make a new one, tbh lol I got grossed out after I got it and had a hard time finishing it. I just feel bad there was no flow and it lost it's touch. The checkout system sucked and they put all these percentages on which I get but I was not 100% sure if I tipped right. I heard another consumer say it looked dark and too vamp like, I couldn't have agreed more. Oh & I also should of turned around when I ran into their awkward angle bar and bruised my hip. Also the lid covers also were kinda gross and foggy looking they need to be spruced up or something. I just think they need a makeover and a freshen up on communication or something, I know you can do better Island sushi because your Krabby Patty still rocks! So get it together please, sorry to be such a Karen but if I'm going to pay over 90+ dollars and a tip on meal I want it to rock. Until I hear otherwise I don't think I'll be back sadly. I hope they use this review as source as improvement. Also this is my first yelp review ever. So sorry. read more

You experience dining at Island Sushi, It's more than a "dining experience". Island Sushi is our A#1 sushi joint in the Fox-river-region. I did have to convince M that Island Sushi's floating armada of sensational-sushi-boats actually a traditional method of serving sushi (This autonomous method of self serving sometimes manifests as lazy suzan style track conveyers as well), but after our 1st lunch trip She was all about it. Brace yourself to behold the Sushi-trinity: You get to try / sample various sushis that you might have been skeptical about ordering as a whole speciality roll. The Sushi-chefs ask each of your dining party in turn, what specialty roll they would like to try (typically 1/2 goes to that person and 1/2 goes to the spectacular-sushi-armada). Island Sushi is actually an island within an island, within a Island! This statement brings us back to my 1st sentence. "You experience dining at Island Sushi": Island #1 is the personal Island you, your dining partners, and your Sushi Chef are on. Island #2 is the communal Sushi Island that you your dining partners, the other diners, and the other Sushi Chefs are on. Island #3 is the experiential Island that constitutes the restaurant it's self. Island Sushi is a savory sanctuary of solitude from the omni present big box capitalism that surrounds it. Enough said. Thanks for reading this long post. Remember to T.I.P. your Chefs. Enjoy :) read more

Dissapointed about the system. You cannot make reservations and you have to wait 1 hour and a half minimum on a saturday night, it doesnt make sense to wait that long and there is nothing you can do to prevent that. We visited the de pere and the appleton one and both had the same wait on a sat night. read more

This restaurant is all about where they place you. All of the sushi chefs are on one side of the boat loop so if you get seated in front of them, you get first dibs on whatever they put out. My wife and I were placed on the other side and had slim pickings for sushi. It was ridiculous, we could see the people across from us getting whatever their heart desired while we had to wait. By the time sushi did reach us it was the stuff nobody wanted. The chefs would come around asking if we wanted any special rolls made for us, I got asked that once, and I got four pieces of what I asked for. We both left dissatisfied, especially for paying what we did. read more

guy was so nice, bartender i think? he had a man bun lol he suggested my friend try sesame balls and she wasn't a fan of them and HE TOOK IT OFF OUR BILL???? SO kind great service read more