A friend dragged me to a Sushi Zanmai last weekend, saying it’s pretty good. Somehow it’s the first time I’ve been to this chain after years of living here.
I found it overpriced and disappointing. The nigiris are meh, and the same price as premium sushis elsewhere, I’ve had ¥100 sushi that tasted better. Decided to try something else, spent ¥1000 on 4 pathetic little california rolls. What a joke. Tried a few other random items and they were all meh and overpriced.
In the end, we spent about ¥4500 per person and I was very unimpressed and still hungry. I expected better – or I expected to pay much less. I’m not a sushi snob by any stretch, I’m typically fine with supermarket sushi, but when I pay that much I expect a step up in quality.
Can someone please agree with me that Sushi Zanmai is overpriced horseshit?
23 comments
All of Sushi Zanmai’s revenue goes into buying the most expensive tuna at the first auction of the year.
All of us are eating what’s left
I have found every sushi place, even the chains Cary WIDELY to each other.
I use to live in the Hokuriku area and the worst 100 yen sushi beats any kaiten or 100 sushi place I’ve been to outside Hokuriku.
In Kyushu now. And sushi can not campare at all. Chain or not.
Back in Hokuriku we had Atom Boy chain. Bad ass. But there was one, closes now, mama-san for sick and boys didn’t want to take the mantel, anyway, same chain, but 10x better than any other Atom Boy in the country.
Also service is huge. Kaiten or Hama. We had some close to the Uni. Maybe 2 people working there. Manager was maybe 18 years old if they had a manager, again this a well country wife chain and these two places were often dog shit. Sushi sill frozen. Or meat fallen off the rice, like made with s
Zero effort despite the store not being Peak. Hama was one of our favorite chains but the service and hense the sushi at this one place was so bad consistently that we didn’t go back for over a year.
My point is give a place two chances if you can before giving final verdict.
Some of my favorite places today, I didn’t like the first one even second time I went.
Like the guy above wrote— Sushi Zanmai is a chain in name on my.. each restaurant is different.
I agree.
It’s 100 yen sushi for mid-tier sushi restaurant level price.
That being said, I’m just gonna take this opportunity to brag that I saw the Sushi Zanmai boss dude randomly walk in one night when a friend dragged me to a Sushi Zanmai in Akihabara.
It’s crap.
You’re right. The sushi is sub-par, and the owner cares more about image and media appearances than actual sushi. He spends a fortune on one expensive-ass tuna every year, and the public is supposed to think they’re getting that quality of sushi when they go to his shop.
Some 15 years ago, I went a few times to the 24hr main restaurant located at Tsukiji fish market. There was always a line, the quality was consistently good and a major pro was the prices being on display unlike other Sushi restaurants in the area, where you sometimes weren’t sure how much you’d end up paying. Since then I’ve only been to one in Shinjuku and I agree, the food there is fine, but nothing special. I personally find “Kakujo Gyorui”, a chain fish store with origin in Niigata, offers the best value for great taste. It’s always very crowded, especially on holidays when people buy Sashimi and Sushi to eat with their families at home, but if you have one nearby, I definitely recommend trying it.
I mean not the best out there, but the one or two that I know are not so bad for the price point. It mainly depends on which restaurant, there is one in Ginza not bad at all
Crap? No. The best, always no.
I’ve been to the hon-ten a couple times with visitors and occasionally (2-3x a year) to one near me in Jiyugaoka and it has been absolutely fine for what it is. For me it’s a quick, somewhat healthy alternative to “fast food” when I have to feed the boyz, that doesn’t break the bank.
TBH, you aren’t going to get a high quality meal at any kaiten zushi, IMO. There is a Hama Zushi in the middle of the shopping district where we do our weekend grocery shopping. It’s fast and convenient but we frequently end up laughing at a lot of the stuff that we get because of the contrast with the higher class sushi restaurants where we sometimes eat. Kaiten zushi is fast-food sushi, so you have to limit your expectations.
which Sushizanmai? that doesn’t sound like their honten’s 1st floor counter space, which i found to be quite good for a pretty mediocre kaiten chain otherwise.
i only ever recommend 1st floor counter space of the honten, since their best chefs are there, even upstairs the quality is not great. my favourite there are the hirame no aburi engawa(what i’ve gotten all my friends to call butter sushi).
but i agree with the used to live in Hokuriku guy, but for Abashiri. that place can’t do sushi wrong, although my favourite guy had health issues and closed down his shop(Kanigen) some years ago. damn their octopus ovaries(takomanma) was amazing, and Abashiri oysters kicks Matsushima’s ass…. nvm Lake Saroma’s scallops.
Was entirely satisfied for the price point) at one of the late night ones in Tsukiji, maybe the 24 hr one), but all we got is maguro: the maguro zanmai, and the special maguro don. California rolls and random nigiri are not what I would order at Zanmai, I think I too would be unsatisfied at that price for the those.
I w been to the Zanmai本店 several times and never been disappointed. I have had friends that lived in Japan for years go and found it to be fantastic: particularly the tuna. I loath chain conveyor sushi but my family loves it so we usually hit Kuro.
The best sushi I’ve ever had, hands down, is a small mom and pop spot in Rankoshi, Hokkaido. Every piece is fantastic and a steal for the quality you get.
Going at lunch is worth, going to dinner I prefer Kura or Hama sushi. It’s not much a leap in quality and the price at dinner is crazy.
If you want good sushi, go to Kanazawa. Doesn’t matter which place you go, it’s all amazing.
If you are looking for the best cost/value try Midori-zushi next time. If you are looking for very good sushi the answer is elsewhere.
First mistake was going to a chain, if u want quality get quality, cheap go cheap
I thought it was the same as Sushiro! Spent way too much money there when I tried it last weekend.
This makes me wonder, which prefecture has the best sushi? (Chain stores included)
In Tottori, there’s a sushi chain called Hokkaido. Hands down the best sushi you’ll have AND you’ll be full with just 3000-4000yen
You will not find good sushi at any Kaiten Sushi place. Some places it might be borderline acceptable. But it won’t be ‘good’.
I went to the location near Shinjuku Station and it was awful. The food was extremely mid, and even before that, the restaurant had people waiting sitting along the edge of the dining room very near customers eating. One table of people kept glaring at me and the people I was with as we were waiting and called the staff over. After they finished talking, the staff came over and apologetically asked us if we would mind being quieter as we were disturbing that table. Never mind that this was peak lunch hour on a weekend and the restaurant was packed, they decided to pick on the three foreigners and a toddler chatting as we were waiting. We weren’t some noisy tourists either, we were all residents and speaking at a standard volume. Never experienced anything like it before or since, and the food was so disappointing for its price that it always sticks out in my memory.