About Hamazushi
Hamazushi is a well-known Japanese Chain of Conveyor Belt Sushi Restaurants with more than 400 outlets across Japan. They have 5 in Okinawa – Naha Furujima, Chatan Ihei, Itoman Shiohira, Nago and Nakagusuku.
During our Okinawa Trip and at our stay in the Vessel Hotel Campana Okinawa (American Village), we went to the branch over at Chatan Ihei which took us around 25 minutes of walking time from the hotel.
Joining The Queue
The whole eating place was theirs and it was big. As expected, there was already a sitting queue when we entered. Robot Pepper was there (supposed to help with the queue booking but he got no reaction that night) beside the Automated Queue Machine. We pressed on the Machine for 2 and took a number and waited around 20 minutes before we got two seats over at the counter area. This waiting time was considered short as most of the waiting crowd was an average a group of 4 and we opted for the counter seats.
We were given the two chit board with the Number 9 and 10. The number of plates we ate would be tagged to these two numbers after calling for the bill.
The Ordering Experience
To start eating, we could simply choose from the many sushi items on the conveyor belt. For special order or items not on the belt, we could order from the two iPads up in front of us.
— How The Special Sushi Items Were Served Different
Back in Singapore, the usual ordering practice was to have servers taking our special orders or having our special ordered delivered to us after entering them in the iPad.
Over here, the practice was different where your special orders would be delivered through the conveyor belt. We messed up on our first round of orders (our orders went past us) until we peeped from our neighbors that we would have to monitor our special orders from the iPad.
Their process was:
- After ordering on the iPad, the screen would show our items, quantity and the Status as ‘Ordered’.
- Once the item was ready, Status would change to ‘On the way’.
- We would have to keep our eyes on the conveyor belt, as our items would be delivered on a stacked black top.
- Once our order went past us, regardless if we had collected or not, the Status would change to ‘Served’
We were initially hoping to see our first round of orders again on the conveyor belt but this never happened so we went ahead to re-order again. Our fear was that we would be billed twice based on the iPad. Luckily we were billed based on the empty plates on our table. So if this happened to you as well, don’t worry and just order again!
The Eating Experience
— Taste
In general, many of the sushi tasted the same. But we liked two items from their menu – those with fats like Flamed Fatty Beef and Straw-Seared Fatty Tuna and they tasted much better as well as those with a bit of add-oms like the Squid with Salty Citrus which gave a tiny tinge of lemony taste.
There were also 5 different Soy Sauces to give a different taste to the sushi.
From left to right:
- Hokkaido Hidaka Kelp Soy Sauce (Green)
- Mild Ponzu (Orange)
- Hamazushi Original Soup Stock Soy Sauce (Blue)
- Sweet Flavor Soy Sauce (Kansai Style) (Brown)
- Sweet Flavor Soy Sauce from Kyushu Region (Red)
— Prices
Like most conveyor belt sushi restaurants, they have different pricing for different colored plates. Price starts from 90 yen (+ Tax) per plate on weekdays and 100 yen (+ Tax) per plate on weekends and holidays. Special item starts from 150 yen. Those in colored bowls cost between 100 yen to 260 yen.
The Paying Experience
Asking for the bill was as simple as pressing the button on the iPad. It took a while for them (big place and many customers) to respond and once they had counted the number of plates, we went to the counter with the chit board and made the payment.
Overall Impression
We had a nice experience eating sushi at Hamazushi especially on how we got the queue number (and meeting Robot Pepper even though he was not working that evening) and also how the special sushi items were delivered without having getting the staffs to be involved. Sushi, in general, tasted the same but those with fats and little add-ons made the taste slightly better and different. A must-try if you happen to be near to one of their branches and in the mood to join the queue, if any.
About Hamazushi Chatan Ihei
Address: 230, Ihei, Chatan-cho, Nakagami-gun, Okinawa, 904-0102
Opening Hours: 11:00 – 23:00 & 7 days a week
Website (For Branches & Menu): https://www.hamazushi.com/en/