212 E 17th St
Costa Mesa, CA 92627-3832
(949) 631-3200
Kura Sushi's Interior
A few weeks ago I went to a revolving sushi restaurant in Costa Mesa called Kura Sushi to eat with my dad. The sushi tastes good and the prices are more than reasonable. Kura Sushi has a wide selection of fish to choose from and it also has the standard teriyaki dishes that one would expect to find at any Japanese Restaurant. What makes Kura Sushi fun is that it uses a revolving conveyor belt system to distribute the sushi. The conveyor belt even brings the sushi to the tables that are detached from the sushi bar! I am personally a bit leery of revolving sushi places because I always wonder how fresh the food is. But at Kura Sushi you can have any dish that is on the conveyor belt made fresh by the sushi chefs by asking your waiter. Of course you have to wait for the food to be prepared if you ask for the chefs to make it special, but the wait is well worth it.
Tuna Sushi - Nigiri Style
The sushi comes on color coded plates that determine the price. For example, nigiri tuna sushi (maguro) is $2.25! That’s a really good price for sushi. The slices of sushi are slightly smaller than other sushi restaurants that I’ve been to, but the quality is good. I was at Maki Maki Japanese Restaurant in Irvine Spectrum today and the maguro sushi was lager cuts than Kura Sushi, but at Maki Maki the maguro tasted stringy and didn’t have as good of texture that I’d expect to get at Kura Sushi. My dad likes to take the sushi directly from the conveyor belt. He says that the quality and freshness is fine and he likes it. I researched how the quality system works at Kura Sushi, and it seems they use a computer controlled freshness system. There is a computer that scans an identification tag on each plate and it automatically discards the sushi if it has been circulating too long.
Kura Sushi Freshness System
The staff at Kura Sushi in Costa Mesa are quite friendly and they are fast to get your order. I always got my tea filled up promptly by my server and they were quick to bring extra ginger root or wasabi. Now an experience at Kura Sushi is way mellower than at Tokyo Delves Sushi Bar. The price is a lot lower also. You can have a filling meal for two at Kura Sushi for about $12-$15 per person. At Tokyo Delves it will cost you about $30 per person if you aren’t drinking alcohol and $50 or more if you are. At Maki Maki sushi today I spent $30 plus tip for a sushi dinner and I felt like I would have much rather been at Kura Sushi. The chef’s at Kura Sushi are all Asain looking and that’s actually a big deal at a Japanese Restaurant. Why? Well when I was at Maki Maki, I got laughed at when I called my sushi chef “Victor San” hahaha! I thought it was kind of funny myself. J I guess I’m used to high quality sushi restaurants that have authentic chefs. The only bad part was that I think I embarrassed “Victor” the sushi chef who clearly didn’t look Asian at all. How was I supposed to know you’re only supposed to use the title “San” if the chef looked Asian? Regardless, if you go to Kura Sushi you will probably find yourself being served up sushi by Asian chefs. I’ve also tried the teriyaki beef specials at Kura Sushi and they taste good and are affordable $7.95 for lunch and $9.95 for dinner. You get tempura and a meat item. Although I definitely recommend that you try their sushi over their cooked food. So try Kura Sushi and have fun with their revolving sushi bar yourself!