So, I've thought long and hard about how I wanted to review this place. I rarely leave negative reviews and that's because I generally try to take into account as much as I can, and under certain circumstances giving the restaurant an opportunity to try again.
My family and I went here a couple weeks ago to celebrate. Some of us love sushi but trying different types is sometimes difficult and not cost-effective. I also thought the sushi train (conveyor belt) was an awesome idea and I was excited to see it in action.
We arrived after dinner hour (probably around 7 or so). There was a lot of open seating, but no large tables so we were asked to sit on the edge (long table bar-style seating which was right by the sushi making station (which is not viewable from the restaurant or these seats). "This is great", I thought. But that is pretty much where the optimism ended - there were a few high notes but many things that left more to be desired. Let me get to those details now.
Food Quality: This was one of our greatest concerns about this place. The food was tasty, but we noticed one BIG RED FLAG about the foods on the conveyor as we sat there. It appeared that nobody was monitoring the length of time that items stayed on the conveyor. We noticed this on multiple occasions. One of the items had the orange sauce ("special sauce", maybe), but we noticed that a couple plates that were back to back on the belt were *different colors*, meaning that it had been exposed to air and had been so for a while (as it changed from a bright orange to a burnt orange). On another occasion, I noticed that one item was not being grabbed and one of the plates had a chip/mark so I took note of that plate as it came around - it was on the belt for over 30 minutes. Having worked in fast food and taking food safety courses, food is not safe to consume the longer it sits at room temperature. There were hot and cold items on the belt, so it wasn't temperature controlled. It solely depended on people taking the items, but if they weren't, it just kept rolling around. I'm not sure if it was someone's job to monitor this, but I didn't feel comfortable that it was being done that night and that was my wife's and my greatest concern about this place.
Service: There were at least two servers there when we got in. Our server came to get our drink orders, explain the process, and once to ask if we wanted to order anything. (Side note: In addition to the sushi train, you can order items off the menu in different portions or to try things that wouldn't be on the train for some reason or another). After that, our server never returned until it was time for the bill (probably 45-60 minutes). At one time, we did want to order a few items, and I had to walk to the register, wait for her to look up from her phone, and place an order with the inattentive staff member. Service was not very good on this particular evening.
Food Selection: The conveyer had a variety of items on it and I was impressed with the selection, including dumplings, fried items, vegetarian salads, a few traditional sushi items, drinks, fruits, cakes and desserts, plus some more unique options like mini octopus. However, in our party of six, three of them aren't huge sushi fans and traditional seafood-free options would have been nice but just weren't featured heavily on the conveyer belt. My 9-year old had only chosen chocolate cake and Ramune, 15 minutes in (the belt goes constantly). Similarly, two of them aren't extremely adventurous with regards to raw seafood. But a lot of the items contained raw seafood. I placed a special order for rolls with peanuts and another with cream cheese. There just wasn't a lot available for non-adventurous types and that was disappointing, especially if you are trying to bring young kids. The other thing to mention was that our "great" seats by the sushi table meant that we were at the END of the conveyor belt, so lots of good things were probably being taken before we saw them (the restaurant got busy after we arrived).
Price: The pricing is per plate. Each item is on a different-colored plate. When you pick an item, stack the plates and they total them up at the end. There were five different price points. Our family of 6, spent around $180 w/ tip. This seems reasonable to me for sushi in the volume we ate.
General: The concept's super easy and I was very excited for it. However, the selection wasn't the greatest and the quality of the food and service were severely lacking. Due to the questions we had about food safety, my wife and WILL NOT come back here again to give it a second try. If you like sushi, the experience is kind of cool and it might be worth a try. Just not for us. If I found this concept somewhere else or maybe in a busier area, I would try it in a heartbeat, but I won't recommend Yamato.
I gave 2 stars for the concept and selection, plus the ability to order fresh items. read more