Conveyor-belt-driven sushi part of Zen
Conveyor-belt-driven sushi, other Japanese fare are part of Zen
Thursday, March 2, 2006
Gary Seman Jr.
By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
Mobilized sushi — among other Japanese offerings — will serve as the attraction of Zen, which soon will open across from the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
The raw fish will be propelled around the sushi bar via a conveyor belt, the first of its kind in Columbus. Various forms of sushi will be placed on different-colored plates — red ($2), blue, ($3) and black ($4) — which customers will pluck off the assembly line. Servers will then tally the colored discs.
The menu is all Japanese; there will be no creative takes on pan-Asian cuisine.
This entry was posted
on Friday, March 3rd, 2006 at 10:06 am and is filed under Dining.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Related Tags: downtown • japanese • openings • restaurants • sushi • this week news • zen sushi
March 3rd, 2006 at 11:00 am
Actually went to a sushi conveyor belt place when I was in Japan in the middle of no where. It was pretty cool. You can start eating right away which I’m a fan of.
March 3rd, 2006 at 11:09 am
i went to one when i lived in frankfurt, germany… big fan. easy to rack up a hell of a bill, too. open yet?
March 3rd, 2006 at 11:23 am
Excellent! I’ve always wanted to try a conver-belt sushi place, but haven’t really been somewhere that’s had one (or didn’t know about it if there was one).
Can’t wait to try this place out.
September 22nd, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Anne & I met up here tonight with some friends for dinner and loved it! The place is smaller than I thought, but has booth seating along the dual conveyors in the middle, with bar seating along the other sides, and then table seating away from the conveyors and japanese-style private rooms along one side of the restaurant. Oh, there’s also a very small bar in the front corner.
Anyway, the conveyors deliver three different prices of sushi plates to the tables… $2, $3, and $4 plates. We got three of the kani kama (crab stick) sushi plates… 6 pieces for $2. Pretty tasty. There were a lot of varieties in each price range though, so it should suit just about anyone’s tastes.
We placed orders for several types of satay, which are cooked and brought out to you. We each got plates of yakatori, scallops with a spicy sauce, and bacon-wrapped asparagus. All three were tasty and I think each was around $3-$4 for 2 skewers per plate. We also got a serving of edamame earlier on and a cheap bottle of sake to share.
Our friends there had some kani kama sushi too, and each had a noodle soup bowl. They both enjoyed their dishes as well. I can let ddavis go into that more if he wants to throw in his 2 cents. :D
Our total bill for Anne & I was $32, which wasn’t too bad, because we ordered a lot of food for a place like this, plus a bottle of sake. You could easily stop in for lunch and eat light and only spend $5-$8 per person if you order the lower-priced plates. If you wanted to spend $30-$40 per person that wouldn’t be hard either with some of the higher-end items and more expensive sake. ;)
Overall, I enjoyed it and will be back in the near future. Our waiters were attentive, but a little forgetful. We had to ask for enough menus for everyone and napkins, but they were very polite, so I can’t complain. The conveyor-belt is a really cool novelty, as this is the first (and only as far as I’m aware) sushi conveyor in the whole state. Definately worth checking out sometime!
Really, my only complaint was the music. Didn’t fit the place at all. It was light rock stuff like Counting Crows and Coldplay. Not extremely bad music, and it was quiet enough to be ignored in the background, but I would have prefered something a little more… asian? Maybe some japanese jazz? 8)
September 26th, 2006 at 11:40 am
I think my lady and I will check this place out tonight. Good lookin on the write up W.
September 26th, 2006 at 11:42 am
have fun!
I am already wanting to go back.
September 26th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
cool, there are places like this in London and Amsterdam too. In London it’s called “Yo! Sushi” and they play techno music, not soft rock. Seemed more appropriate somehow. That place also had at-table water dispensers and a little robotic cart that drove itself around the restaurant for you to grab your own sake and beer. you basically never interacted with a server except for when you pushed a button at the end of the meal to indicate you wanted to pay. silly for serious foodies, but a blast for a night out with friends, especially yokels :)
i’m shocked, this seems so un-columbus-like. very cool!
September 26th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
Cool. Let us know what you think. I’m not a sushi expert, so I dunno how it will compare to other local places, but all of the satay was awesome. 8)
Yeah, I have a japanese co-worker who says these places in Japan are typically cheaper places to eat, so it sounds like the places you’re describing are a little more authentic. I think they’re trying to make this place a little more modern/american as to not turn off too many locals, but it was still fun for our group looking for someplace different to eat.
I’m really interested to hear what other people think of this spot. Hope it does well and will be around awhile! I imagine they’d get a lot of traffic in there during conventions. :shock:
September 26th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
I went to one of these in Japan when I was there, the food was ok not great. Be kind of funny if this was better.
September 26th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
I imagine it might be. If they’re typically low-budget eateries in Japan and this one is a little more upscale, it may be better. 8)
September 27th, 2006 at 9:00 am
Well…I’m not sorry I went, but I won’t go back.
I thought sushi was mediocre at best, the unagi was ok. The satay we got was also weak (beef one and a minced chicken one.) The minced chicken is just that, teryaki flavored and comes out as two meat balls on sticks…and well the second one I cut in half and it was freakin raw in the middle…MmmMMmm RAW chicken…my favorite!
The music on the other hand I enjoyed - there was something eerily pleasant about listening to Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots at a conveor belt sushi place I think, lol. I liked the decor as well.
I guess this would be an interesting first date place or maybe a interesting place to entertain guests from out of town, but I could not sincerely recommend this place and as I said I won’t go back.
Just my two cents.
September 27th, 2006 at 9:01 am
p.s. Thank goodness for deserts and drinks at Hyde Park!
September 27th, 2006 at 9:51 am
Hrm… I had the chicken leg satay and it was fine. Didn’t get the minced chicken one. That’s crazy it was raw in the middle. Hope you told a waiter about it. :shock:
September 27th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
Yea, I had the tempura udon. I thought the portions were kinda small. The noodle bowl was quite large but was only half full of noodles. It did come with two large shrimp as well as some fried bell peppers. That along with two shared plates of crab stick filled me up though. I did like the decor but was surprised at the size of the place. It was much smaller than I thought it would be. While the waiters were pretty good, I felt like I had to ask for too much. Extra menus, napkins (my sons is quite the messy eater), straws, etc…. I don’t remember what Betsy got but I’m pretty sure she liked it. And I didn’t think the prices were unreasonable. I might go back there again for the novelty, but I’m not really a huge sushi eater. And I really like the tempura udon from Kooma.
October 5th, 2006 at 10:21 am
Mention you saw their ad in The Other Paper and get $1 off all conveyor belt plates Lunch & Dinner. Offer Expires 11/15/06.
March 25th, 2008 at 11:03 am
March 25th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
bummer! I’ve been there a few times and really enjoyed it altho it was never REALLY busy.
March 25th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Seems like businesses are suffering from the lack of life the convention center offers most of the year. If only it were lined with buskers and vendors. That would help make it more vibrant.
March 25th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Or it could do something with the fact that Giant Eagle made better sushi.
March 25th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Fact.
March 25th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
hehe….that is no exaggeration, Merc.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:23 am
I never ate there, but I heard the non-sushi items were good. But when you have “sushi” in the name you’d think that’s what they specialize in.
March 27th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I’m not sad to see it go. I hated it.
March 27th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
I never made it to their store, but I had their sushi often- they supplied the sushi to the cafeteria at Children’s Hospital & I wondered why I hadn’t seen it there for the past week or so. I really liked their soft shell crab rolls. I hope we get a replacement. Getting a pack of 8 tuna maki for under $3 made for a nice afternoon snack.
October 1st, 2008 at 11:35 am
Saw a sign in the window this morning, this will soon be ‘186 Asian Cuisine’.