Review: Kura Revolving Sushi Bar
I’m a sucker for revolving sushi restaurants, so when Kura opened in Rockville three of us went for lunch. This turned out to not be the ideal number, but we coped.
Kura is set up for two group sizes: single diners, with seating at a long bar, or sets of four, which fit nicely into the booths. Here’s the clincher: there are two pieces of sushi on most plates passing by on the belt. This meant a series of decisions and negotiations each time we took one off, but we managed to work it out.
Kura has so much high-tech razzle going on that it’s hard for this old boomer and her friends to negotiate, but fortunately, a helpful human is assigned to each party to guide the perplexed. One orders drinks and special dishes by touch screen. Drinks and wasabi are delivered by a precious little robot. Special orders arrive directly to the correct booth by a supplemental conveyor belt above eye-level that zips along much faster than the main belt, and tends to startle the unaware. (“What was that? A bird, a plane? No, it’s super-sushi!”)
And as if the fish and tech weren’t enough to keep you entertained, there are rewards when your party deposits five, ten, and fifteen empty plates in the waste slot. Little videos play on your order screen for the first two, but for the Big Fifteen, a free toy is dispensed automatically by an outsized gumball machine mounted over your table. Fun!
And how’s the fish? Tasty. Sufficient. Slightly expensive but not outrageously so for lunch ($30.00 before tip for each of us, with no special orders). Kura’s selection contains nothing that would repulse the timid diner, assuming one is comfortable with eating raw fish – and in the 21st century, who isn’t? The adventurous eater (me) will be a little disappointed. Octopus and eel are as exotic as it gets. I did manage to snag the rare portion of ikura. (Kura also has a selection of noodles and cooked dishes, which we assumed are for said hapless uncomfortable one dragged there by a pitiless significant-other.)
Saving the Best for Last
And now for the cherry on the sundae: Kura’s restrooms are equipped with Japanese toilets! Yes, reader, one is greeted upon entry to the one-holer by a self-raising seat; one sits down to find it heated; one is briefly befuddled by the series of buttons labelled in brusque single words; and finally, one is grateful for the cheat-sheet posted on the wall. Built-in bidet! Warm-air drier! Temperature and pressure controls! One thing missing, which I remember from my experience of public toilets in Japan: no selection of white noise to mask your private “business” (see Step 1). Superfluous in a one-holer, but so much fun!
Here is a video I found online from the manufacturer. If you visit Kura, you can go prepared.
Note: Many of the pictures in this post were supplied by my friends Carolyn and Jim. Thanks, guys!
Kura Revolving Sushi Bar, 12266 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. Also locations in DC, Virginia, and points North.