Ben Gui Sushi

Go about 3X a year. Went Sunday & Sushi guy new to us. Got soup, Sushi rolls. Rice bland w/​an after taste. Sushi flat not very good –only flavor was soy sauce/​ginger. Thought it was me but hubby agreed food was not the usual. I got ill in evening, burped, stomach rolled all night/​AM. Hubby throwing up badly at 5AM! He worse than me, ate 4 sushi rolls. I believe it’s FOOD POISONING and it’s doctors this PM! Tried to phone Ben-​Gui, CLOSED today! Paid over $ 100 w/​no alcohol/​salad plus tip! Be awhile before we go back!

Nom nom nom nom nom.
I’ve been a fan of Ben Gui for several years. I moved away from Roanoke to Virginia Beach in 2007 and always try to come back to Ben Gui whenever I’m in town (though it doesn’t always work out).
Stopped in for dinner after hiking Dragon’s Tooth with my two best friends and my gf from home who came in town with me. Most of us got sushi of some kind or another and a few appetizers. The tempura veggies (which two of my friends ordered) looked delicious. Fresh and large sizes veggies which came out piping hot. One friend also ordered a tofu app. and really enjoyed that.
I ordered the Miss Allison roll (my name is Alison so I had to) and the Volcano roll. My volcano roll was absolutely delicious — huge sizes so one was more than enough. I REALLY enjoyed the Miss Allison roll which was a spicy crab roll with salmon, avocado and white tuna on top. YUMMMMMM. I’m going to ask them to make that for me here locally.
Our servers were friendly and personable — the group doesn’t get together as often anymore since I moved away so we were joking and having fun and they played right along.
Yum!

The sushi is always excellent. Ben Gui serves the best quality and tasting sushi in the Roanoke area.

I really wanted to like this place based on the reviews! However I split three different rolls; avocado, California, and shrimp tempura and they all tasted the same. While they are similar rolls I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference with my eyes closed. Very bland flavor. Heavy reliance on rice over filling in the rolls. The Shumai was decent. I’d rather have a Wasabi’s roll since they seem to be filled with more ingredients.

Love this place! We go every Tuesday! Hands down the best sushi I have had in Roanoke. Owners are as sweet as can be! I highly recommend this place!!!

Love it! Best Friend Roll and Black N’ Blue Hand Rolls are a must! Great Sake selection as well!!!

Like other reviews, I do not live in Roanoke. I have sampled sushi from Tokyo to New York City, and this is with a doubt a solid sushi joint in an unlikely place.
Prices are what you would expect, and there are some really good deals– Tuna Lover special roll substitute spicy tuna for shrimp tempura (you can thank me later) $ 9. Staff is extremely friendly and knowledgable. And it is a very clean establishment, not that any of this factors into my scoring or review.
The quality and freshness of fish surprised me for Roanoke, VA not being on the coast or what you might consider a large city. There was no need for any soy or wasabi. The sashimi and nigiri showed quality knife skills and perfect ratio of fish to rice with the nigiri. The rice was excellent; texture spot on and perfect amount of rice wine vinegar.
The highlight of the meal were the speciality «Trust Me» rolls of which I had four and sampled from four more. All of which were layered and had depth of flavor, not like some «special rolls» at other places where everything is just kind of a squishy mess. I have to recommend the Tuna Lover (nix tempura shrimp and add spicy tuna), the Hokie, & Nama Mama. There is one more but I can’t remember its name, it had crab on top of a tuna type of roll.
Bottom line if you’re traveling through or live in Roanoke you need to check out Ben Gui.

FANTASTIC! I’m from DC so I’ve had my share of good sushi and this is probably in the top three of my all time best sushi anywhere list. Anyone gave them a bad rating because they think it’s too expensive or the portion sizes are too small? Ignore it because they should just go get fast food. Very high quality fish, great service, and a VERY knowledgable sushi chef and staff. Just sit at the bar and have them bring you whatever is good and you won’t regret it.

Best sushi bar in SWVA and definitely best in Roanoke. Always fresh, no frills sushi in a usually quiet, clean atmosphere.
Ben and his wife, who own the place, do an awesome job of making your sushi experience friendly, fresh and flawless while staying authentic and classic.

My friend lived in Japan for a while and is particular about his sushi. He found this small piece of heaven right here on Unilocal!This is truly the best sushi place I’ve been too in the states yet. Not only is the sushi positively amazing, (and I had about 5 different kinds!) But I love that when you walk in there is no «fishy» smell that some sushi bars are known for. The lighting is perfect and you are not overly hot or so cold that you cant eat. This place is absolutely amazing and worth every dime you spend. Its incredibly clean and the sushi is truly fresh and prepared to perfection. Chef Ben Gui is a man who puts his heart into his craft and you can truly feel it in every aspect of his restaurant. From the ambiance to the service to the delicious sushi and flavorful green tea, this place will definitely be seeing my friends and I many more times!

Very friendly atmosphere! Excellent sushi and service!
When they say «trust me» I promise that you will not be disappointed in your dinner!
A must for the Roanoke Valley!

One of the best sushi places I’ve ever been to. If you’re in the area, you must stop and eat here. Super friendly, very fresh sushi and amazing food

Growing up in Hawaii I have tasted some of the best sushi and Japanese food, so believe me when I say Ben Gui sushi is amazing!
They have everything I look for in a restaurant;
Family owned, check
clean, check
consistent quality food, check
friendly, welcoming staff and owner, check
I have tried some of the other sushi places in Roanoke b.b. (before Ben’s) but they all pale in comparison to Ben Gui.
Like any great work you must start with a strong base otherwise no matter what else you put on next everything will fall apart. Well the foundation here is the rice, good quality sushi rice (yes it does make a difference). Then it has to be seasoned just right too little seasoning and the the flavor of the fish will not be enhanced too much and the fish is overwhelmed. Like the baby’s bed in the story of the of the tree bear the rice here is «just right»
Both chefs take great pride in creating some of the tastiest roll from the more basic to the most elaborate they are a delight for the senses. We usually start with the combo # 1 a spicy tuna, a California roll and a white tuna roll a combo # 2 a shrimp tempura roll, a California roll and an avocado roll then we add a New York roll (salmon skin with green onion and eel sauce) an extra shrimp tempura roll and a Boston roll (white tuna, avocado and cucumber). Ben will put this all on one plate so we taste all the different flavors one after another, until we are floating on a heavenly cloud of flavor and taste sensation. We have tried a number of other rolls and nigiri sushi here and have never been disappointed. One of the great things about Ben’s is if you have a taste for something different, if he has the ingredients he will create something that will blow your taste buds away. I love all things salmon so I asked about a roll made with salmon skin, fresh salmon, and salmon eggs and he created the Daniel roll with all of this plus a little sriracha mayo eel sauce and green onions. The taste is beyond description! If you are looking for great sushi go to Ben’s sit back relax and let them take you and your mouth on an amazing journey of taste sensations. And you will come back again and again.

Best place for sushi in Roanoke! I would pick Ben Gui over Wasabi or Café Asia any day! They have the freshest fish and a variety of sushi rolls that other places do not have. Pair that with some sake and it’s a winner! I have not had a bad experience at Ben Gui yet!

BEST in town Sushi. Fresh, wonderful staff, always so friendly. The menu offers creative Maki choices as well as fresh sashimi options. From the kitchen are great choices for the less adventurous toward sushi: o)
Thanks Ben for always making it a pleasure for my family.

AWESOME! The food, appetizers, entrées, and sale! Service is incredible! Good times, great taste! Not enough exclamation points to describe this place!
Fish was fresh, sauces were fantastic… Definitely coming back for more

Nice place, great place for sushi and sashimi but do go in there with a BIG wallet. I dropped $ 55 dinner for one.

Tempura was good through I wish it came wish rice instead of the crusty bread crumbs from the deep frier which aren’t very good.
Sushi was sub par. I visited on a busy day which mat explain the bad experience. I will revise this review if I visit again.
Atmosphere was very nice and so was the staff.
One thing I must alway pay close attention to for Japanese food in America is value for price and I would rank this restaurant as too pricey for what it offers.

This is the best sushi place I have ever been too in the lower 48. Great service by the sushi chef and owner ben gui. He really took care of us. Everything from sushi to saki he had it covered. Fish was super fresh. Try the uni. He serves it with quail egg. Amazing. The scallop was great too. I wish this place was in raleigh.

We ordered the sushi, sashimi & roll boat for 2 for $ 49.50 and it was quite disappointing. It has 10 pieces fresh sushi, 18 pieces sashimi, 8 pieces of each California and spicy tuna roll. Let’s start with the sushi. It had more rice than it should. I wouldn’t mind if the rice was actually good but the rice texture was wet and a bit mushy. Totally not how sushi rice should taste like. I wanted to just eat the fish and not the rice. The sashimi was so thin! I felt robbed. The rolls were so small. It said 8 pieces, but instead of cutting it into 6 pieces, they cut it into 8 pieces. Again, the rice really ruined it. Also, the boat comes with one salad. Yes, just one. Usually you get two. When we got the check we noticed an extra $ 4 charge for 2 hot tea. They charge for tea. I’m from NYC visiting Virginia and I’m just not use to mediocre rice and a tea charge.