Conveyor belt dining

Okay, so conveyor belt dining...restaurants where diners sit along a wall equipped with an ever-moving conveyor belt with little plates (usually sushi) that diners are free to pick up as they pass and are charged by the number of empty plates left on their table. The belt is constantly being replenished by fresh plates--no one goes hungry. Kind of an American buffet meets Chinese dim sum cart meets Japanese sushi bar meets robots sort of thing...

I have seen/heard of these types of restaurants existing in Japan and have always thought it was a neat concept. And, now having seen this video clip, the idea is even more appealing.

Does anyone know of such a place in Chicago?

Hey Sushi on Clark has a sushi conveyor belt. Never seen it in action though.

Hey Sushi
2630 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60614
773.248.3900

A little info here on conveyor belt sushi.

I've found that this is much more common in California. My sister has a favorite place called Cio-Cio San which I think was in Ventura, but I can't seem to find any info on it.

Best,
Michael

There used to be one in the Gold Coast but it went out of business, and from my one experience, that fate was not undeserved.

In the 90s I spent two years in Tokyo and was a huge fan of the concept - kai-ten sushi (kai = circle, ten = motion/movement). There was an enormously popular kaiten sushiya in Shibuya with queues 50-100 people deep to get in the door.

(This might be the place...

http://www.igougo.com/travelcontent/pho ... rom=1&To=3)

Even at our local train station you could find a late night option. Its a great concept. Plates were three different colors representing the price of the sushi - white plate = 100 yen, green = 200 yen, red = 400 yen, and at the end of the meal you wave to the staff and they count up the colors and hand you a bill. Not your top of the line maguro, but always decent quality.

I have never found good kaiten sushi in the US. The places I have been to seem to pride the novelty of the conveyor belt over the quality of the fish. Never been to Hey Sushi so can't comment on it.

They had an aquatic version of this in Illinois Center where Houlihan's is now. Little baskets of sushi floated by in sort of a mini great america pflum ride for food. This is from a while ago. Didn't last long.

We once had the floating version in Toronto - very nice - tho my sushi-fu was much weaker in those days, so who knows what I'd think of it now...

Not in the city, but in the Arlington Heights area:

Sushi Station
1641 Algonquin Road
Rolling Meadows, IL 60008
(847)593-2450

www.sushistation.us

We ordered some sushi to-go from them a few weeks ago and it was excellent, although I wish we could have eaten there because the place looks pretty neat!

Edit: I guess reading links to other posts first could prove helpful!

in the vicinity of NW burbs there's also Yue Sun on Irving Park / Prospect.

but Sushi Station is a MUCH better choice, Japanese owned, Japanese operated (mostly but... not quite the entire staff). One can find many local Japanese logistics/machinery companies' personnel staff dining @ SS during lunch.

good to see you shoes!!!

I've always wondered how long the sushi could go round and round on a conveyor belt, and I guess I'm not the only one. This article definitely indicates that it can be a problem which this restaurant owner has solved using RFID chips.

This concept reminds me of the Feeding Trough restuarant that Willy 'n Ethel used to frequent.

IIRC, the good spot at the trough was nearest to the kitchen so you have first dibs as the food slides down the trough. Would this also be true at this sort of place?