Genki Sushi

The pure novelty of automated sushi cuisine fascinates me. Machines that cut perfect sheets of rice, conveyor belts that serve as a moving feed trough, and Japanese animatronic robots that creepily sing and dance for you like in your childhood nightmares, all of these listed can be found at Genki Sushi. Well, maybe I went a little bit overboard there. No robots.

The setup at Genki is simple.  You have your option of sitting at a booth and ordering from a menu, or you can sit at the rectangular bar, where a large conveyor belt snakes around with plates of various plates of sushi.  Each plate has a specific color, which corresponds to its price.  The prices vary, but remain much lower than any place I can think of having eaten on the mainland.

Every sushi dish here isn’t going to be the most amazing roll you’ve ever had, or something that completely blows you away…but the rolls they do serve here are definitely palatable for anybody that loves their sushi in copious quantity.

And I do mean copious.

There aren’t too many options here for vegetarians, unfortunately.  From what I saw on the menu, there were only two rolls, the avocado roll and the inside out vegetarian roll, that someone Jen could eat.  Luckily for her, she wasn’t terribly hungry that day…and luckily for me, I was.

The best part of Genki?  It’s GOT to be their logo.

I mean really. WTF is that?  Other than completely awesome. I want my own angry face logo.

The service here is friendly and accommodating, and we didn’t have to fight for a table for lunch.  It turns out that Genki, with over 150 restaurants in Japan, is one of the largest sushi chains in the land of the rising sun.  The chain has nine restaurants spread out over the Oahu, Kauai, Maui, and the Big Isand, as well as a restaurant open in Seattle on the mainland.  With steep prices for restaurants being the norm at most places you’d find yourself eating at in Hawaii, this is one place you simply cannot miss out on.

See Genki Sushi in Kapolei on a map here.

Recommended For:

• Frugalistas
• >:(
• Sushiwhores
• Pescado Aficionados

Not Recommended For:

• Vegetarians
• Paleoheads
• Zone Dieters
• Carbaphobes