A Conveyor Belt Sushi Chain Has Opened in the New York area: Should You Go? | Eater NY

"Making a comeback in the region, Kura Sushi — a growing Japanese chain that opened locations in Fort Lee and Jersey City and now has 44 spots around the U.S. with another planned in Flushing — felt wildly popular when I peeked into the Fort Lee location and saw lines through the parking lot. The place is as automated as it gets: customers join a waiting line electronically just outside the front door, orders for other Japanese food like noodles, soups, and tempura are placed via a touch screen once seated, a robot named KuraB (the Kurabot) delivers beverages, the plates on the belt sit under domes called “Mr. Fresh,” and finished $3.70 plates are launched into a narrow slot that swallows and counts them. Sushi is offered in 66 varieties, but my friend and I found the quality uneven — sometimes acceptable but more often repulsive: many rolls are nori packed with mayo and crunchy crumbs so the fish is hard to find; a spicy popcorn-shrimp roll had three tiny, thickly breaded shrimp that were sodden rather than crunchy; a Texan roll contained fish we couldn’t identify; and anything labeled “crunch” or “crunchy” often resolves into a gooey heap (the salmon golden crunchy roll was smothered in a thick red sauce like a cross between gochujang and ketchup). Cream cheese ruins some eel nigiri and appears in Philadelphia rolls, nigiri sometimes comes with minuscule filets (mackerel looked odd) or overly fatty belly tuna, and portions can be just one piece. To be fair, some items are good — premium American beef came as two nicely marbled pieces seared on the edges with fried garlic chips, plain tuna nigiri was solid, a salmon skin roll with bonito shavings was enjoyable, and a bowl of watermelon was the best thing we tasted — but overall, as a place to eat sushi Kura is abysmal; it remains cheap, entertaining, and affordable (lunch for two was under $50)." - Robert Sietsema