Don’t let the frowny face fool you, the Kaiten Sushi (sushi that comes on a rotating belt) is one of the happiest places in Shibuya to fill your tummy for cheap. Located a short walk from the popular Shibuya Station (in the back district of high end restaurants, American apparel shops, and Karaoke bars), Genki Sushi is a great place to stop, rest your feet, and munch on some absolutely delicious, fresh sushi.
Convenience
The convenience of Genki Sushi is two-fold. First of all, it’s in a very centralized location. Usually a fair share of what you pay for food in Tokyo comes from the location. After all, a centralized building in one of the most popular districts in Tokyo doesn’t come cheap. However, Genki Sushi’s nicely air conditioned and convenient location doesn’t add yen onto the price of the sushi.
The second aspect of convenience comes from the “order your own sushi” button (don’t worry; it has settings in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, and a couple others). Once you order, you have to wait a couple minutes while the people in the back make your sushi. Once they’ve finished, they load it up onto a plate (that holds the maximum of three plates of sushi) and send it to you. And by send it to you, I mean actually send it to you.
Once a plate carrying your dishes gets close, the buttons in front of you will start lighting up. The plate will stop in front of you, you grab your plates of sushi, and press one of the blinking buttons, sending the tray back to the kitchen. Genki Sushi has three layers of delivery channels, so the trays don’t knock into each other. The best part about ordering your own sushi is…
Freshness
The Genki Sushi is fresh. Very fresh. I can actually taste the difference. The Salmon is soft – not yet begun to melt to the rice. The egg is still springy. The seaweed is still crisp. Everything in Genki Sushi is delicious and fresh.
Every time I go to kaiten sushi, I usually like to order my sushi fresh. After all, I’m not exactly picky – but I know what I like. And, of course, no one knows how long that sushi has been rotating on the belt. Or at least that’s what my Japanese friends always tell me.
Taste
The best part about ordering your own sushi on the screen is you can special order it to have no wasabi, a little wasabi, tare sauce, or other additions. And they can’t judge you for ordering that way (I mean they can, but the people in the back kitchen never get to actually put a face on the judgment, since a mechanical plate delivers the sushi).
Price
Despite the rocking taste, Genki Sushi is one of the cheapest of sushi places I’ve ever been to, especially when you consider the cool factor, the quality, and the location. They have two types of stores – some that serve mostly everything for 105yen and other shops that serve most pieces for 120yen. Like I said, Genki Sushi is very affordable; a full meal should be less than 1,000yen.
They have a nice button in the corner where you can check your tab at any time. It will show you a list of the sushi you’ve ordered as well as the delivery status (so you don’t accidentally double-order).
Next time you’re in Shibuya, take a short break at Genki Sushi!
