Genki Sushi - Queen Anne

Sometimes you get a craving for sushi, but you don’t want to pay the high prices commanded by the good stuff. So you go to places with decent, cheap sushi and eat to your heart’s content.

Seattle is full of kaiten (revolving) sushi establishments which feature inexpensive specials to entice sushi-hungry patrons, and Genki Sushi is no exception. Located in the QFC on Mercer, Genki is a kaiten sushi chain similar to Blue C. Most of Genki’s US locations are concentrated in Hawaii and the chain recently migrated over to the mainland to Seattle.

My initial impression of Genki was that it was a modern, bright and clean kaiten sushi bar, albeit a little lacking in customers on a Sunday during lunch. They had typical rolls with cool sounding names and the more traditional nigiri; one difference was that I saw hand rolls making rounds on the line. There were also some interesting cream puff and coffee jello desserts. I even saw the much maligned natto making periodic appearances, untouched during our entire visit.

Sushi making the rounds.

Even better were the $1 yellowtail nigiri specials – I mean that’s 50 cents per piece - unheard of! I got several of those and a couple salmon nigiri plates. Both were surprisingly fresh. The yellowtail was buttery, although not as soft as I would like. On the other hand, the salmon was very soft and buttery. I also liked the size of the nigiri – not too big and not diminutive. The rice was pretty standard, if not a little too vinegary, but at least it wasn’t stone cold as in other kaiten places I’ve gone to.

We all know the name of the game at kaiten sushi is to compete with your fellow diners to see who can create the largest stack of plates. While I only ended up with maybe 5 plates, and Tom’s friends had around 7 each, Tom clearly took home the award with 9 plates. Apparently, he claimed that his record was double that, but I’ll believe it when I see it!

The aftermath.

For decent, fresh and cheap nigiri, I would definitely make my way back to Genki again – but next time I’ll come on an empty stomach and see if I can up the ante on who can stack the most plates.

Genki Sushi
500 Mercer Street (between N 5th Avenue & N Taylor Avenue; inside the QFC)
Seattle, Washington 98109
(206) 453-3881