Oregon Sushi Restaurant Review

MarinePolis Sushiland
4021 SW 117th Ave. Suite C
Beaverton OR 90775
503-520-0257

Sunday, June 1, 2003

There's not a lot to say about conveyor belt sushi restaurants, or kaiten-zushi. As of this writing, I've only been to two of them (Marinepolis in Beaverton and Sushi Track in Wilsonville), and so far, they seem pretty much the same. I may discover differently, however, as I try more (there are several in the Portland area).

The main thing going for kaiten-zushi -- and it's a big thing -- is convenience. Restaurants like Denny's and Pizza Hut may tout "lunch served in five minutes," but you still have to wait for someone to take your order, and even at Chinese dim sum, you have to wait for someone to wheel the cart past your table. (Yeah, I know, how jaded and spoiled we've become if five minutes is too long to wait for food.) With kaiten-zushi, you simply sit in front of the conveyor belt (or train tracks, or water-filled moat, whatever the restaurant's particular gimmick happens to be) and pick up whatever looks good. Service is therefore nearly instantaneous: it can take longer to separate your chopsticks than to select your meal.

The other thing going for kaiten-zushi is price. Depending on where you go, most plates are under $2, and very few are over $3. Tonight, I had eight different items (including three pieces of California roll and a pair each of tobiko, unagi, tamago, maguro, sake, and negitoro) for $10.50. To be honest, none of it really "sang" to me, but I wasn't expecting it to. While not the best sushi I've ever had, it was worth the price. Where else can you get a pair of unagi for $1.50, or uni (when they have it) for $3.00?

Another thing Marinepolis has that I'd like to try is their Party trays. In the display case under the cash register, they have trays and platters ranging from $6.50 to $30. The latter is so full of sushi you can barely see the bottom of the platter. I know they're only plastic models, but they look tempting.

For sushi-lovers in a hurry, or people looking to find out if they like sushi, places like Marinepolis are a nice place to eat. And if you're worried about how long something has been sitting on the conveyor belt, you can either sit next to the chefs and grab it as soon as they set it down, or you can ask them to prepare it for you fresh while they watch. If you're polite about it, they won't be offended.