Kula Sushi San Diego - Thirty Plates Later

/
0 Comments




There is a great irony in the concept of fast quality sushi, delivered on a conveyor belt, but only after waiting almost two hours.  Before diving into why I've been here four times, since they opened, let me first say, there are very very few things in life, worth waiting more than an hour for and I still don't believe that sushi is it. (Having dinner with Thor and the Avengers? Sure!)

BUT, if you happen to be in the Convoy area, and you have grocery shopping or errands to tend to, it's worth it to stop by, put your name on the list and come back later.  (late lunch on a Weds had less than a 15min wait. You can also put your name down, have a drink at the Shanghai Saloon next door, and order appetizers from Dumpling Inn. )

Why I've been back so often.

Most everything is $2.25 a plate, with a few larger items only a couple dollars more.  The food is actually quite good (they've been open for less than 3 weeks, so hopefully the quality maintains). The endless conveyor belt brings out a good variety of nigiri, sashimi, sushi rolls and other small bites.

There is a digital menu,  so if there is something you want but don't see, order it, and a second level conveyor belt will shoot it right to your table.

The customer service is really great.  They get that people have waited a long time to eat there, so they're incredibly nice, and take pride in providing a good experience.  If there are any issues with the food, they address it right away.

Kula has also managed to bring gamification to eating.  After you deposit your 5th plate into the cleaning tunnel, you'll see an animation on your screen where a character has a battle in Japan and pleads "help me defeat the enemy with more plates."  After 15, you get a prize and the character goes to another city to defeat another boss. We ate 30 hoping for another adventure, but it resets after the second city.

Regardless though, a prize for eating more? Yes please :)

Here are my favorite bites/highlights
 - UNI!!!! The sea urchin was quite fresh and delightful (they often run out though, I've only had it 1/4 times)
- The Tuna trio
- sesame balls (order this from the menu, instead of the conveyor belt, they taste better warm)
- The sunomono salad (lots of octopus pieces)
- Umami oil salmon nigiri
- Sweet shrimp nigiri (amaebi)
- they use real crab!

Here are some more #protips before you go. :D
- wait time during lunch hours are substantially less
- The wait time per page 1, seems to be about 50min - 1.15 hours (at night it's a little more)
- The shaved ice place next door (iceskimo) is REALLY good
- it's easier to find nearby street parking, the parking lot gets really congested.




You may also like