Sushi Sakura Express

The people are nice and the sushi is also… Though to much fried food I’d like to see more sushi on the invisible conveyor belt!

Pretty good for conveyor sushi. It reminds me of my childhood watching TVB soap operas and seeing people eat sushi like this in Hong Kong. I have been to another place in town that does the same thing but the sushi is far from impressive.
I have to say the place here is very clean, nice, and organized. The sushi looks appetizing which helps. The fish tasted fresh and you cannot beat the price. Although I just realized it now but they also have a Groupon. I can’t wait to go again.
Only thing that I was not super happy about is that it is a Pepsi establishment. :-(

From my experience, the atmosphere seems very intriguing and spinning. Looks very fancy. For a small restaurant like this, you don’t really expect it to look this nice, especially at night. There were all sorts of amenities to keep you entertained, like TVs and a moving sushi bar. But the food here is a little disappointing.
Most food here is fried. The moving sushi bar does look very nice, but offers more desserts than sushi. And when there is sushi around, it is not fresh. (I saw the chef make it on the bar, most ingredients were packed in plastic containers then poured out into plates) When I pick up a sushi (maki) they break off. (I am a frequent chopstick user)
The service is slow, since there were only like 2 actual waiters doing most of the jobs. Had to wait a little (like 15 minutes) for an order to be ready and served. But waiters were nice.
This is my opinion. I have eaten in sushi bars like this before. If you’d like a not-​so-​fancy but filled moving sushi bar, try «Sushi Choo Choo». It’s good, affordable, and fast.

This is my favorite sushi bar in the Houston！Sometimes i order some sushi for my GF. She likes the Volcano roll and salmon sashimi！

It’s OK. It’s better with a Groupon. But like someone else said, I couldn’t use it the first time because I didn’t bring enough cash for a tip and a minimum credit card charge was pretty high $ 15. So I came back the following weekend, used it (hey it covers alcohol, that NEVER happens on a Groupon) with cash and it was all good.
It’s OK. It’s not great. It’s not bad. It’s just OK, but I’ll settle for «just ok» if I am not paying out of the nose and it’s better than supermarket sushi. I don’t like their sauce for the eel rolls (it’s weird tasting). And I have to choose very carefully. I get bummed because they never have uni or anything else really exotic. Tuna is OK. Salmon is better. It’s hard to decide what to pick up since you don’t know how long it’s been out. I usually stay away from tempura anything since it’ll probably be soggy.
Service has been OK, slow and inattentive to the solo person at the bar, but never rude.
It’s OK. And who doesn’t love sushi on a conveyor belt?

compared to sushi choo choo, this place is much better-​both quality and price.
The mackerel, the super-​white tuna, and the tuna are very fresh.
The waitresses are very attentive, check up and refill without prompt.
Lose a star because of insufficient cooling conveyer and lids for most of the items.
Better than most cheapo fast food sushi but not premium. So for the price, i think it is fair.

Ambience: Nice.
Service: Great
Choo Choo Experience: Amazing
Price; Good for the price
Tips: Sushi is great; I am not sure I liked the entrée dishes.

If you want a casual ambience with pretty good sushi, this is the spot. They have a few tvs, a variety of sushi that is put out on a belt that goes around the food bar and the restaurant décor is really nice.
Sushi and sake is very reasonably priced… I love coming here!

My husband and I LOVE this place!
We take advantage of the Groupons they are currently running.
We like to come here either during the week or on weekends around times when they are not crowded (i.e. during the early day.)
We really like the assortment of sushi that is made fresh. If you want something that is not on the conveyor belt, you can ask for it to be made for you.
It’s a great concept restaurant and they play relaxing music that makes you feel as though you want to stay awhile…

So I read all the reviews about the Groupon, and came prepared. I brought $ 15 cash along with my Groupon voucher, and I didn’t tell them about the voucher until the end. So as far as Groupon goes, it was a great experience. I tipped in cash, no one came after me or event mentioned a tip. So that was an awesome experience.
The atmosphere was also really awesome! What I’m assuming is magnets under the moving sushi plates made the experience magical – at least for a first visit. It was very, very cool. Lighting was great as well.
There sushi, however, left something to be desired. The best menu item, in my opinion, was their Salmon Nigiri, which was fresh, and wonderful, but expensive at $ 1.50 per piece. The same quality is available at Kirin II sushi buffet. That wasn’t a huge issue though. It was the rest of the sushi. 90% of the pieces available were made with imitation crab as a «filler» in the sushi. It was either on top, inside, or somewhere in it. Which made good sushi, mediocre. We did not realize until the very end, that you could pick up the cards and place them at the edge of your table for the special orders. We might try that if we come back.

This is a typical conveyor belt sushi spot — it’s affordable so long as you watch what you’re picking off the belt. The plates are colored based on price. The sushi is mediocre, but I’ve definitely had worse sushi at traditional «sit down» restaurants. Service was pleasant (the reviews really scared me before coming here).
Some of the items on the belt were not on their menu — the sushi chef had to tell us after watching us struggle to match the dishes to the pictures on the menu, hah. I did ask one of the chefs about a dish (it was fried so I couldn’t see inside) and he shrugged and responded with, «I dunno!» Lol… k
There is a $ 15 credit card minimum, so if you’re dining w/​the groupon like we did, make sure to bring cash!

Awful awful service. The sushi chef was so rude.
We come back because the kids love the sushi boat! But man the food is not good and the waiters are jerks.

The modern/​contemporary décor matches with the new style of conveyor belt sushi, as this «conveyor belt» makes it look like the dishes move on their own! The variety of rolls on the menu looks good, but they wont all be represented along the conveyor belt, which looked to be mostly the «basic» rolls and sushi and other small dishes. Our waiter told us he could «suggest a roll» to the chef, but not necessarily order one specifically for our table. I can see this plan going awry: even if the chef does make your requested dish, there’s no stopping the other tables from taking your dish off the conveyor belt before it even reaches you.
The wait staff are very friendly, and someone who I think is either manager or business owner came to chat with us at the end of our meal.
For the Houston area, I prefer Sushi Choo Choo for my conveyor belt sushi needs.

The manager/​owner of the this restaurant is a jerk. We went there with a groupon for $ 15 for $ 30 worth of sushi. At the end of our evening our bill was $ 40 and after the groupon we owned $ 10. We presented our card and the manager came over and rudely and LOUDLY explained that he had a $ 15 credit card minimum and he needed us to pay cash. We explained that the groupon did not say that nor is it displayed anywhere in his establishment and he wanted us to drive 3 blocks to Wells Fargo and BofA to pay cash. My fiancé told him we were planning to tip and that would be above the minimum and he said no that he would be charged credit fees. I told him that we were not going to go get cash and come
Back so he needed to accept our card and he refused and THREW our credit card on the table! So we left feeling humiliated.
On another note the bathroom had the funk of forty thousand years in it. The consider cleaning it. I would not go back.

CAN I GIVE THIS PLACE NEGATIVE STARS?
DON’T COME HERE ANYONE.
First time i came here, everything was ok, they were nice. Today, I bought a group worth $ 60 and decided to put it to good use.
We came in at 8:45, they don’t close till 10:30 so basically that’s a good hour and a half if not more before they close. Don’t say I came in too close to closing time that this is all normal.
We went in, asked for a table for 3. We finally got seated after waiting for a bit and they had spots opened up.
We ordered drinks and waited for our food.
Now this is when everything went left really quick.
We waited for 20 minutes and the same things kept going around and around. (Another family came in sat across from us and waited as well). We weren’t sure if there was any food coming so we asked the waiter if we can order things from the menu. Guess what he said? «wait. It will come» Really??? We just want to order YOUR FOOD on YOUR MENU so we can eat.
After another 10 minutes we saw no changes, as the family across from us. We finally decided to call him AGAIN. AND AGAIN HE SAID WAIT. IT WILL COME TO YOU. WHAT??? NOTHING HAS BEEN COMING FOR THE PAST HALF HOUR. Guess what the funniest thing is. The family next to us ordered the same thing we tried to order and HE HAD IT MADE FOR THEM??? ARE WE NOT VALUABLE CUSTOMERS TO YOU THEN???
WE WERE FED UP AND WANTED TO LEAVE JUST LIKE THE FAMILY ACROSS FROM US BUT BECAUSE WE HAD THE $ 60 GROUPON WE HAD TO SPEND IT.
THATS NOT EVEN THE BEST PART.
We paid for our food and was about to leave. The guy went to our table, pointed at the check and said are you ready? We told him we already paid. So he told us no and finally after a few confusing verbs he finally spit it out. DID YOU GUYS TIP? IT’S NOT INCLUDED.
Well duh, we’re not that big of an asshole. I’m pretty sure they didn’t deserve any tip but I still gave them a 10% tip as a parting gift.
THANKS A LOT FOR THE WORST EXPERIENCE IN MY WHOLE LIFE. NEVER BEFORE HAVE A BEEN TO THIS DREADFUL PIT CALLED A RESTAURANT, TREATED LIKE I WAS BEGGING FOR FOOD AND BLUNTLY ASKED FOR SOMETHING THEY DID NOT DESERVE BUT I WAS NICE ENOUGH TO STILL GIVE IT TO THEM.
Guys.
Run.
Run far far far far far away.
If you made it this far down my review,
You really should tell all your friends to save them and you money and time.
PLEASE Unilocal CAN I GIVE THEM NEGATIVE STARS???

Houston’s got a cool revolving sushi place! Don’t expect top-​notch, Uchi-​level sushi here, but come for the unique experience of having sushi literally flying across your table for your choosing. In fact, come at the happy hour and you can get one of Houston’s best sushi deal on the top of this experience!
Named «kaiten-​sushi» in Japan, the conveyor-​belt sushi is a cheaper, quicker alternative to the conventional sit-​down restaurants. Certainly the trade-​off is that the sushi isn’t made immediately for your consumption, but they are still made on the spot when placed on the belt. After all, not everyone can spend a buttload of money if you have frequent sushi cravings like me!
At normal hours, Sushi Sakura Express’s sushi dishes are color-​coded by price: the appetizers are the cheapest $ 1.50 level, most of the conventional 2-​pc nigiri are $ 2.50, and rolls can be up to the highest $ 4.50 level. However, at happy hour, ANY plate is $ 2!
Colorblind people like me don’t have to worry about grabbing the wrong plates during HH. Jokes aside, at happy hour, each nigiri sushi would be only $ 1 and the more expensive rolls would be cheaper as well! I think only Oishii can match that deal in Houston and both places’ sushi quality are about the same.
Anyway, I recommend trying Sushi Sakura Express for a different sushi experience especially during happy hour. Out of all the kaitensushi places I have been in US and Japan, this place is actually the coolest because of its clean environment and futuristic seamless «belt»! After all, isn’t it true paradise to literally have sushi flying past you anyway?
—
HAPPY HOUR
M-​F 2:30−5 PM
Sun-​Thurs 9 PM-​Close
—
tl;dr version:
1) Cool, unique conveyor belt sushi experience in Houston
2) HH of $ 2 any plate is one of the best sushi deals in town

Last night, I came here for dinner at 7:30 p.m. Once, I walked in it was fairly a good amount of people eating here. The waiter sat us down at the sushi bar. The sushi was a-​ok. I can’t tell if it’s better or worse than Sushi a choo-​choo. The waiter asked us what we wanted to order and I wanted an order of Peppercorn Tuna and the chef nodded and said that he will make it for us. So we waited… 5 minutes later — nothing. He starts cleaning the sushi station area.
Then the waiter comes by and asked «Are you ready to close the tab?» Uh… what? We haven’t gotten our order of Peppercorn Tuna. At this time, they are speaking in Chinese and well I understand what they said and basically the Chef forgotten it and the waiter just says «oh, we don’t have anymore.» Hmm…
I don’t think this place is good for people who likes to order the sushi off the menu. It’s basically whatever you see on the conveyor belt is what you get. There’s no special order.
As per the sushi, the quality isn’t swell. The salmon was okay but for the rest of the rolls, the sushi meat was warm. I was afraid to get food poisoning from the sushi. I guess I am a sushi snob. If it’s an order where my sushi is cooked — I like it to be hot and if the rolls are meant to be cold then I would like it to be fresh and not warm. I saw a sushi roll passing by a few times over and over. I was worried on how «fresh» it will be if someone else had eaten it.
I wanted to like this place since it’s close to my work place but the sushi and the service was just 2 to 3 stars. I’m not sure if it was an off night but there wasn’t anything that I was impressed about to make me come back here.

Come here for the fun experience, not for mindblowing sushi. The sushi here was mediocre, but it was really fun to pick the plates off from a conveyor belt! This was my first time at a conveyor belt sushi place in the U.S., and although it can’t compare with the prices/​quality of the ones in Japan, it was still a good time.
The variety of sushi here is pretty standard: california rolls, salmon/​tuna rolls, shaggy dog, etc. There wasn’t anything that really jumped out at me as being unique. The plates range from $ 1.50-$ 4.25, depending on the color of the plate. Most of the good stuff is in the $ 3.75-$ 4.25 range, so it can add up pretty quickly. What’s good about this, though, is that you can get a small sample of a few different rolls/​other dishes to try. It’s fun to pull things from the conveyor belt, but you can also order off the menu, which is pretty extensive.
Out of the dishes I tried, my favorites were the shaggy dog and godzilla rolls. The tempura was not very good– the batter was too thick and almost doughy. The chicken katsu was also meh– it seemed like they just used a piece of frozen fried chicken and then squeezed some katsu sauce on top of it.
The owner and waiters here were really nice and seemed to care a lot about their restaurant. I hope that they can increase the quality of the sushi so that they can be successful :). Houston is missing a good conveyor belt sushi restaurant, and I hope that this can be it.

Wow honestly I wanted to like this place so much. It was very nice inside, sleek and modern. The whole concept reminded me of Sushi Choo Choo with the conveyor belt but sorry to say the sushi at Choo Choo is WAY better. I don’t want to be rude but this was the worst sushi I ever had in my LIFE and I’ve ate at plenty of places. I was also starving so that says a lot that I wouldn’t even like this place. Service was ok, the old man who seems to be the owner was quite nice and stopped by to check on us and talked a little
First off the rolls were all old, they had a fishy smell, crunch flakes on top were stale, I wish they gave description of what was inside the rolls moving around. I had the fire roll (¹⁄₅) which I think had crawfish inside cuz I could taste the stinky smell of it not being cleaned properly. Crunchy tuna dragon (²⁄₅) taste old and so did shrimp tempura roll (¹⁄₅). Crunchy crab roll (²⁄₅) and black pepper tuna (³⁄₅), also had mochi and it was ok. The sushi roll pieces are TINY. They’re the size of a quarter I’m not even kidding. I’m really upset I even came here. Will never ever come back or recommend. The sushi at HEB is even better than this

From the outside I thought this was some sort of fast food sushi place, but I was wrong… Very wrong. This place totally rocked. The staff was very attentive and accommodating. The décor and rotating table are amazing. The food was outstanding, very fresh. This time we tried the philly roll, the red roll, and the spicy tuna. All were fresh and nicely done, but the red roll and spicy tuna were incredible. We left wanting more. Another thing I liked is that the rolls are small so you have the chance to try different things, and if you do not find the roll/​sashimi you want on the rotating table they just make it for you.
Looking forward to our next visit!