Sushiro Tokyo: How to Order Conveyor Belt Sushi

By the time we got to Tokyo, it had been almost a year since we'd eaten real sushi. That was by choice. Sushi in Japan ruined sushi everywhere else for us, so we only eat it here now, and we'd been saving up the craving. On our last trip, to Osaka, we never even made it to a conveyor belt sushi place.

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So a few days into our month in Tokyo, we slid into a booth at Sushiro, Japan's top-selling conveyor belt sushi chain, and made up for lost time. One round turned into another, and another, until Cream declared the whole thing "lunch and dinner today."

That was the first of many Sushiro meals. We ate sushi about once a week while we lived in Shinjuku, and this became our spot. We walked out of that first visit feeling like pros, so here's how it works, what we ordered, and what it cost.

Watch Us Eat at Sushiro in Tokyo

Here's that first meal, plate by plate. Don't skip "the Bernie round," a surprise lineup I picked for Cream:

Sushiro Tokyo Review: My Quick Answer

Sushiro was our favorite sushi in Tokyo, and it earns a 10 out of 10 from us. The tablet speaks English, the fish is fresh, and your order rolls right up to your seat. Our first visit was 26 plates for two people for 4,970 yen. That's about $32, for one of our three favorite meals in all of Japan.

What Is Sushiro?

Sushiro is a kaiten sushi chain. Kaiten-zushi means "rotating sushi," the Japanese name for conveyor belt sushi. By Sushiro's own count, it has led every kaiten sushi chain in Japan in annual sales for 14 straight years, and it ran 948 restaurants worldwide as of April 2026.¹

In Japan you'll spot it by its name, スシロー, on the sign and on every plate. Ours had red-and-white checkered rims.

How to Order at Sushiro, Step by Step

Sushiro is one of the easiest restaurants in Tokyo for a first-timer. Here's how it went for us, from booking to paying.

Book Ahead on the Sushiro App

After that first meal, we switched to a Sushiro branch a little closer to us that always had reservations, and we booked every time. I could usually get a slot at the last minute, and we never had a long wait.

The official Sushiro app in Japan lets you check in remotely or reserve a time slot, and it's in English.² Our tip: with a US Apple account, the Japanese Sushiro app didn't work for us, but the Sushiro Singapore app did. We're not sure why, but that's what we booked our Tokyo reservations with in May 2026.

We guarded those slots more than I'd like to admit. Once it started to rain before a booking, and rather than risk the table, I booked us a taxi on Uber, the only cab we took all month. Riding in a Tokyo taxi is its own experience, but the trains are cheaper, and getting around Tokyo shows when a cab is worth it.

Sit Down and Find the Basics

Everything you need is already at the table: chopsticks, pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce. Cream liked that the soy sauce bottle drips out slowly, so you can control it instead of drenching the fish.

Order on the Tablet in English

Every table has a touchscreen tablet. It offers four languages, so pick English, then browse by tab: Nigiri, Gunkan and Rolls, Noodles and Soup, Side Menu, Desserts and Drinks, plus limited-time specials. Each item shows its price with tax included.

You can put in four items per order. We'd fill a round, press Order, eat, and do it again. Cream loved that rhythm, because four small picks at a time made it easy to try sushi we'd never normally order.

At our regular branch, Sushiro Shinjuku Yasukuni-dori, the small tablet is replaced by a big touchscreen on the wall above the table. It works the same way, just bigger.

Watch for Your Plates on the Express Lane

Your order comes down the express lane and stops right at your seat, so there's no guessing which plates are yours. Lift them off and start eating while you plan the next round.

⭐ Watch our order come down the express lane at Sushiro

Make Your Own Green Tea (and Get Hot Water)

This is the part people ask about most: how to get water at Sushiro. There's a hot-water tap built into the table and a container of powdered green tea. Scoop a little powder into a cup, fill it from the tap, and stir. The tea is free, and you can keep refilling it.

Check Out and Pay

When you're done, press Checkout on the tablet. It shows your order by plate price, so you can see exactly what you're paying before you confirm. Then you pay on the way out. We paid by credit card every time, and there's no tipping in Japan.

What We Ordered at Sushiro

Here's the Sushiro menu as we ate it, round by round, from the plates we'd order again first.

1. Yellowtail // Our First Plate and Our Favorite

We started with yellowtail, one of Cream's favorites, and his first bite set the tone: "It's so fresh and the rice is perfect." It was better than he expected right away, and with a little soy sauce it practically melted. He ordered it again at the end of the meal.

2. Premium Tuna and Bonito // The Round With Wasabi

Round two was premium tuna red meat and bonito. We'd forgotten the wasabi in the first round, so Cream fixed that, tucking it on the underside of the fish. The tuna was soft enough to melt, the wasabi added a little kick, and he settled back in his seat: "I'm going to be here all day."

The fresh tuna was my favorite of everything we tried. If you only order one thing twice, make it the tuna.

3. Grilled Eel and Fresh Shrimp // The First Cooked Plates

The grilled eel was the first cooked plate, and Cream loved the skin on it. The fresh shrimp came with the tail on. He took it off, then asked viewers in the comments whether they eat the tail or not.

4. Squid and Fish Roe // Mixing It Up

Once we'd had our favorites, we started trying things we don't usually order. The squid was very fresh and a little chewy, and Cream liked it. The fish roe popped with every bite. One gunkan came buried under so much mayonnaise that he scooted some of it off.

5. Flounder, Mackerel, and Tempura Shrimp // The Surprises

The flounder came with an herb neither of us could name, and its fragrance caught Cream completely off guard. The mackerel was good but very fishy, so order it only if you like a strong fish. The tempura shrimp fell apart on the way to his mouth, and he still called it unbeatable.

6. The Bernie Round // Egg and Kimchi Natto

Then it was my turn. I wanted to try the "weird" things on the tablet, the ones you might not order, so I placed a whole round without telling Cream what was in it. His reaction: "Bernie went crazy this round. I don't know what any of this is."

The seared plate was a hit. The egg (tamago) surprised him because it was served cold. And then the kimchi natto: natto is fermented soybeans, sticky and strong, and here it came topped with kimchi. His verdict: "It's unique, that's for sure. I'd probably just stick to the fish." He went straight back to yellowtail and octopus afterward. I'll admit it: my round was fun, but none of it beat the classics.

Sushiro Prices: What We Paid

At the Sushiro where we filmed, plates ran from 150 to 480 yen each, tax included. That's about $1 to $3 a plate. Most of ours were in the cheaper tiers, with one 480-yen plate as a splurge.

Our first visit was 26 plates for two people, and the bill came to 4,970 yen. That was about $32, and it fed us twice. Another visit cost us about $39 for two. For fresh sushi in one of the world's biggest cities, that's hard to beat.

Prices can differ from branch to branch, so check the tablet before you order.

What We Didn't Love

We never had a long wait, it was never too loud, and every visit was fun. Our warnings are small ones:

• It's easy to over-order. Four plates at a time goes fast, and "one more round" adds up. We turned one meal into two.
• Not every plate is for everyone. The mackerel was very fishy, the egg was colder than expected, and the kimchi natto lost Cream completely. Stick to the fish if you're unsure.

Who Sushiro Is For

Sushiro is for anyone visiting Tokyo who wants real sushi without the price or the pressure of a counter restaurant. If you've never had conveyor belt sushi, it's the easiest place to start: the tablet is in English and you order at your own pace.

It's also good for picky eaters, since you can stick to tuna and salmon, and for adventurous ones, since there's always something new on the tablet. When we had our weekly sushi night, this is where we went, and the fun of it was a big part of the reason.

Getting to Sushiro in Tokyo

• Our regular branch: Sushiro Shinjuku Yasukuni-dori (スシロー 新宿靖国通り店), 6th floor of the Adhoc Shinjuku Building, 3-15-11 Shinjuku, Shinjuku City, near Shinjuku-sanchome Station.³ We filmed our video at a different Sushiro on our first visit.
• Other branches: there are several more Sushiro branches around Shinjuku,³ so search "Sushiro" in Apple Maps or Google Maps if another is closer.
• Booking: the Sushiro app, in English, for a check-in or a set time slot.² With a US Apple account, we used the Sushiro Singapore app.
• What we paid: about $32 for 26 plates for two on our first visit, May 2026.
• Payment: we paid by credit card. No tipping.
• Getting there: we usually walked or took the train around Shinjuku.

Sushiro Shinjuku Yasukuni-dori, 3-15-11 Shinjuku, Shinjuku City, Tokyo

This map comes from Google Maps.

Open in Google Maps

Our Verdict on Sushiro Tokyo

Sushiro is a 10 out of 10 for us and the sushi spot we returned to week after week in Tokyo. Book a slot on the app (the Singapore one, if you have a US Apple account), switch the tablet to English, start with yellowtail and tuna, and make your own green tea while you wait for the next round.

Next Steps for Your Tokyo Trip

• Matsuya, the $3 beef bowl we kept going back to
• Tendon Tenya, tempura without the price
• Ichiran's solo ramen booths, and how to order
• Where to stay: the suburban branches are cheaper and quieter than the tourist ones, which is worth knowing before you choose where to base yourself