Tik Tok trends come and go faster than water after a marathon, and the most recent trend on my personalized For You Page has been conveyor belt sushi.
The videos I see typically consist of people out to dinner who place their phone on the belt, hit record and keep it rolling as it travels through the restaurant. The viewer will see different groups of people eating at tables along with the chefs in the kitchen. Although I don’t have enough trust in the world to put my phone on a conveyor belt and openly offer it to the grips of strangers, I wanted to try the unique style of sushi — with my phone safely in my back pocket.
After some researching, I discovered Sakura Sushi Train at 7474 Nieman Road in Shawnee, Kan. According to it’s Yelp review, it was the place to be for “killer” conveyor belt sushi.
My first attempt to go was a Sunday night at around 7:50. Their website said it closed at 8:30, but when I arrived, the doors were locked and the lights were out. I was extremely disappointed to waste 40 minutes worth of gas, but still determined to get there. To avoid another incident, two days later I arrived at 6:00 p.m. and was met with Sakura Sushi Train’s bright lights and open doors.
Instead of a belt traveling on the outskirts of the entire restaurant, there was one large circular bar in the middle of the dining space that had a choo-choo train running around it.
I assumed that the restaurant’s style would be similar to Fritz’s: I would look through a menu, order what I wanted and watch it chug its way to me on the train. However, sushi rolls, salads and tempura fried seafood were already on the train as I sat down, and I was expected to pull things off when they caught my eye.
There was a sign in front of every three to four chairs breaking down the prices — a blue plate was $2.85, a yellow plate was $2.95 and a purple plate was $3.95. When I visited, every plate was yellow and each dish was covered with a small plastic cover for COVID-19 safety purposes. While I appreciated the safety, it made it slightly hard to see what each had to offer.
This process definitely challenged my fear of the unknown. Since there were no labels on any of the plates, I had to blindy guess what was rolled up in the seaweed, or the true identity of the mystery fish slowly rotating out of my reach.
I could see this proving as a huge problem for someone who isn’t extremely adventurous when it comes to sushi and seafood. But I was okay with it because there are only a few foods I am completely closed off to trying. I lessened this fear by asking the waiters what each dish was after taking it from the train.
The first plate I pulled was a shrimp tempura roll, a lucky grab since shrimp tempura is my go-to roll at nearly every sushi restaurant. Each plate consisted of two items, so I got two rolls, both covered with spicy mayo and a little touch of eel sauce. Based on the name, you might think the sauce would be unappetizing, but it was actually very rich and similar to soy sauce. I have no complaints and was happy to have ended up with a trusted option on my first pull.
On the second round I tried to grab something that looked a little bit less familiar and ended up with tempura-fried crab legs. These resembled a really long sushi roll, as there was a layer of rice on the bottom.
This grab was definitely a blind taste test as I had not yet learned what I had grabbed. However, I love crab and will eat just about anything fried, so it ended up being delicious. The dish brought in flavorful sweet notes mixed with the filling taste of the crab and just the right amount of crunch. I do feel proud of myself for reaching for something unknown on this one.
After the train passed me by for about the tenth time, I grabbed an order of crab rangoon. With this round I knew what I was getting into, so I was mostly just excited to eat a little bundle of cream cheese and crab dipped in sweet and sour sauce. I definitely thought about getting my hands on another round, and would rank this as one of the top crab rangoons I’ve ever had. It was the perfect mix of crunchy outside and warm inside.
Finally I snagged my last sushi roll — a KC roll — before it was barely out of reach. This roll was topped with a crunchy piece of tuna and filled with shrimp, cucumber and avocado. I think out of my four dishes this one would be my least favorite, only because the tuna on top made the roll hard to fit in my mouth, and hard to eat. Nevertheless, it tasted delightful.
When pulling plates off of the train, it can become easy to forget how each one costs somewhere around three dollars. If I wasn’t remembering to be money-conscious, I could see myself getting carried away and grabbing more plates than necessary. In the end, the four plates filled me up and I spent less than $15. I would consider this “fast sushi” as all the food was ready the second I arrived. If it were closer to me than 20 minutes, I could see Sakura Sushi Train becoming one of my go-to’s — but I have no doubt I’ll make the drive again.