Sushi Banzai

So the husband & I are driving down Tropicana to get our oil changed and I see a sign, «AYCE lunch $ 10!». Holy crap! We change our lunch plans to accommodate Sushi Banzai in what we thought would be a steal. First, I Unilocal the joint, and most people say it’s pretty decent sushi with a bit too much rice.
When we get there, only the owners, and one other family is there at 1PM. We probably should have ran while we could, but decided to take a seat and take advantage of this deal. We ordered about 7 rolls total, and the rice to fish ratio was literally 5:1. We weren’t able to taste any fish because the rice overwhelmed it so much. When we finished our first roll, we actually asked the waitress for less rice, but she said that is the only way they can make it. We tried to avoid the rice, but there’s a sign on the table that says that we have to eat EVERYTHING including the pound of rice that comes on every roll.
Overall, absolute worst sushi I’ve ever eaten. I prefer buffet sushi to this place any day. I will never eat here again and I have made it my mission to tell everybody not to be deceived by their AYCE lunch.

Tried this place for lunch, they have an AYCE special for 10 bucks. Didn’t have high expectations but you never know. For the ten you can get basic rolls and nigiri; spicy tuna roll, california roll, etc. I normally don’t order those types of rolls, which was fine because most special rolls were just 3 or 4 dollars more. Which is a great idea get them in the door and then up sell your better rolls. So I made my order, a spicy tuna roll and one of their special rolls. It wasn’t busy at all yet it took some time to get my order. The waitress was attentive and it’s a very clean and nice place. When my order came I sat there and looked at it trying to find the sushi. You see this in lower end AYCE sushi houses, they make the rolls where the rice is a half of an inch thick if not thicker, and the center where the fish should be is smaller than half an inch in diameter. So your mainly getting filled with rice which means you eat less and they save money. Ultimately they lose money because who wants to go back? They get you that first time and then they wait for the next person to see the $ 10 AYCE sign and the cycle starts all over again. Which if you read other reviews or tips that’s exactly what got them to come in. Its sad because its not that hard give the customer what they want.

The sushi pieces just keep getting bigger and bigger… And that salmon — wow, where do they get such tender salmon!
They keep changing the frequent diner program so often I can’t keep track. But I can’t hold that against them, they have such good sushi, and in bountiful proportions!

Worst sushi place I’ve ever been to. I’ve even had better sushi at a casino buffet. This place is only recommended to those people who enjoy fish that is not fresh, tasteless and surrounded by massive amounts of rice. First of all, there isn’t the traditional glass sushi refrigerator that allows customers to observe the freshness of the fish (that was my first clue that I should have walked out immediately). The sushi refrigerator is probably missing because the fish isn’t fresh at all. As far as I could tell the fish could even be pre-​sliced.
Second of all, the AYCE sushi is only the cheap fish and it’s only served as an inside-​out roll. This reason is obvious, a traditional roll has the fish and rice on the inside. The seaweed sheet that wraps it being on the exterior limits the overall size. With an inside-​out roll, the fish is in the middle; the seaweed wraps around the fish, and the rice wraps around the seaweed. As such, this allows the sushi chef to make the roll as big as possible (limited to the size where the mass of the rice overcomes the sticky or adhesive properties of the rice causing it to fall apart when lifted from the plate). In this sushi bar, that means the thickness of the rice is a very tightly packed ¾ inch thick with a piece of fish about the width of the number 2 pencil. The over all width of a piece of sushi is at least 2 inches. It’s impossible to eat a whole piece without breaking it up into several pieces. To use a chicken McNuggets analogy, each piece is like having three chicken McNuggets only the meat is only about the size of a dime with batter consisting of the rest. I deconstructed several pieces, and I ate the fish and rice separately; it was the only way to actually taste the fish. In all cases, the ratio of the volume of fish to rice was 1 to 8 – 10.
Third of all, they do try to up sell you to buy nigiri sushi at a $ 1.00 to $ 3.00 per piece. I had a few of these. Again with the massive amount of rice, and stale tasteless fish. The chef didn’t even know the proper technique for assembling a nigiri sushi, or maybe the proper technique doesn’t work well when using insane amounts of rice.
I can only imagine what a piece of gunkan-​maki (battleship) style sushi would look like. It would probably be stuffed with rice to within a tenth of an inch from the top. Followed by a thin layer of the good stuff being spread out as thin as possible. Any gaps that would expose the rice is covered with mayonnaise (BTW, they don’t use Japanese Mayonnaise, it tastes more like Miracle Whip).
When you consider the base price for the lunch special, $ 9.99, and the up sell price, $ 1 to $ 3, for nigiri style sushi, it quickly ends up costing the same or almost the same as a reputable establishment. I would recommend passing on this place and going to either Oyshi sushi or 808 sushi (must try Hamachi Kama, grilled yellowtail collar with ponzu sauce) if your on this part of town. You will have actually eaten real sushi and won’t be left feeling like you were ripped off. I suspect that any positive review for this establishment will be from those who have a vested interest in its success or those who are very price sensitive. Those who honestly believe the sushi here is good, are newbies that need to get out more. They should try my recommendations above before engaging in any ad hominem responses.

Man, I’m super sorry Sushi Banzai, but you must get 2 stars. The service was excellent. The waitress was nice and tried to funny with us. That was the only really good thing.
We went on Sunday for their Sunday 10 AYCE sushi. Well, I can say it’s worth it for the price but geez, they put so much rice on the sushi rolls, it’s like they wanting you to get full. Smart strategy but it doesn’t leave the customer very happy.
So if you want AYCE for a cheap price, this is your place… Remember the selection is smaller than other AYCE places and the rice overflows from the roll. REMEMBER!

Tried this place the first time for their dinner AYCE. Service was horrible, took forever for the food to come out, way too much rice on their rolls. Just a horrible experience. Decided to give this place another chance for their lunch AYCE. it’s only $ 10 for lunch, so I figured I could at least get that money back in customer service. The food did come out quicker for me (mind you, I arrived late and my party was already there for half an hour) the selection for AYCE lunch was limited, and nothing very impressive. Our waitress was still horrible, my boyfriend had ordered a soda when she initially asked for their drink orders and never received it. Their rolls still lacked substance, mainly just rice AGAIN. We definitely won’t be coming back to Sushi Banzai.

I have only gone in the for lunch AYCE for $ 10 and it is exactly what was expected. There weren’t many selections of rolls and they came with a lot of rice, but you get what you pay for in this case. The quality of the fish was really good, and the service was excellent. I would definitely go here again if I am looking for a cheap place to eat AYCE sushi.

Ok since I am a sushi addict and I always look for new places to try, I decided to stop in for their lunch special because I saw their sign for ayce for $ 9.99 I definitely didn’t expect much and figured ahead of time that it would be a limited selection and of course it was. I’m not sure when those pictures were taken but they are definitely misleading. This place packs SO much rice into a single roll, it’s enough rice for almost 3 rolls and that is not an exageration. I guess I wouldn’t mind as much if the the filling (fish) was a lot too but it was almost empty. I’ve seen more filling (fish) inside a roll at the grocery store LOL. All 4 rolls I ordered were like this too.
The 1 server though was very very nice and she constantly asked me if I was doing alright and I never waited for more then a few minutes for my next order, so service and timing was just fine.
The décor was also quite night and had a nice modern japanese sushi bar feel to it.
The ultimate question is would I go back even for the cheap lunch special? Unfortunately no. We all love large stuffed rolls but a good sushi place doesn’t have to over do it, and this place does. No one needs THAT much rice, a good roll (cut roll, nigiri or handroll) is all about balance.

I went one time before today, and the sushi was alright. However, the lady was on my friend’s case about finishing his all you can eat sushi roll. My friend was very surprised, she kept insisting.
In an attempt to give it a second chance, I decided to go again today with my mother. She was eating her all you can eat meal, and she wasn’t even done when the one server came to her and told her to eat her rice. She wasn’t even finished! I interrupted and said, «yes we know, but just so you know there’s so much rice we told the sushi chef to put less rice, don’t worry we’ll finish it.» Then we asked for another roll again, and asked the chef to go easy on the rice, and he had to confirm with the server and had a discussion in Japanese all in front of us. I found that a bit rude. She comes back to tell us to keep eating, or we can just order from the regular menu.
How do you expect me to enjoy my sushi? when you’re basically rushing me. The sushi is packed with rice and it’s not that impressive. Need a new server for sure!

Tried this all-​you-​can-​eat sushi place with a friend. I was a little skeptical because the place was EMPTY when we went, but I was pleasantly surprised by the yumminess of the food. Everything on the menu is included in the all-​you-​can-​eat option. The fish was fresh, the service was attentive, and everything was gooood! It’s a little far for me, but I would definitely go again if I was on that side of town.

We went on a Tuesday night and were the only diners. Which meant good service from the 1 waitress. Ordered some rolls, soup, tea. All was good and as expected. Fresh, relatively quick, tasted good– but not mind-​blowing. The stand-​out was the Rainbow Roll, which looked pretty neat and tasted on-​point. We also got a nice, fresh cucmber salad before she brought out our other stuff. Nice meal, but nothing too special.
On the way out we noticed on Sunday from 4−10PM (I think) they have their all-​you-​can eat for $ 9.99. So, we tried to come back on Sunday around 5:30PM. Place was full but had a couple of tables. Same (only 1) waitress as previous night. Stood waiting to be seated for about 5 minutes, then she came over and asked us to have a seat as she got a table ready. 10 minutes later, she hadn’t even looked our way again and was told to cancel an order from a table nearby as the patrons couldn’t wait any longer. Seemed to take a long time for anything– seating, ordering, food, check, etc. Maybe they need more help on $ 9.99 Sunday.
We left and went to Kai Sushi on Durango and Flamingo.

This place has gotten ridiculous from the first time I went. If you want to skip to my horrible visit just read up on my last experience. My first experience was pretty good. For AYCE, my favorite dishes are:
Superwhite Tuna
Garlic Tuna
Uni (one order)
Sweet Shrimp (One order)
Sashimi Platter (One order)
Baked Mussels
They also have hamachi kama but the size of the freakin thing is a like a whale and has an extreme fishiness to it.(yes i know it is fish but the smell on this one is a bit too much).
Came a second time for lunch. My first thought, 9.99 for AYCE !!! what a freakin deal. Of course there had to be a catch. The AYCE menu for lunch is limited to crappy california rolls to more variations of a california roll. You can practically get NOTHING with fish in it. They do however let you have the option of ordering your normal sushi for 1.00 an order, not a bad business idea i suppose but it definitely does not leave you satisfied.
MY LAST experience was for another dinner AYCE. Let me first start with my first order. I began to list out all the items that I wanted. «3 super white, 3 garlic tuna, 3 salmon 3… BAM interrupted. The waitress said she’ll put this order in first and just walked away. In my head, «aren’t you writing this down? is it that hard to remember» Then she comes back and tells us that we should take our time since its the AYCE is not timed. ok, I get it, we shouldnt hurry, fine. So we wait and wait and finish our first plate which was very quick. Then attempt to order again. Same thing again, but this time, we only ordered 2 items.
Ok, i think i can gauge how much i freakin eat lady, i understand that business is bad since no one was there but you can you NOT tell me how much food i can freakin order since its AYCE.
THE WORST PART, and on top of everything, each piece of sushi, and including the roll i ordered was PACKED with rice. we order a yellow tail jalepeno type roll with some sauce which essentially was LARGE AMOUNTS OF RICE WITH SOY SAUCE, and a itty bitty piece of fish. I would not be complaining if the amount of rice in the roll WASN’T OUTRAGEOUS.
After eating my meal i just wanted to scream, STOP BEING SO CHEAP !@#J!K@#!@, unfortunately i may have to come back here to get my mayor-​ship/​dukedom back on foursquare and Unilocal *sigh how sad…

All you can eat sushi for around $ 25. Some of the best sushi I’ve had. Nice atmosphere. Super friendly service. Go with a group of friends so you can taste a variety of items from the menu. They have nice variety of desserts too. I had the Fried Banana Ice Cream. Delicious!

I’ve been using Unilocal for 8 months going to Sushi Banzai tonight just encouraged me to finally write my first review.
My two small children and I wanted sushi. Most AYCE do not offer a children’s menu besides bento boxes. So paying for children @ an AYCE would not be worth it. So, I thought this place would be excellent since you can buy sushi al a carte which was also 50% off! That deserves a star, perfect for a small appetite whether a child or an adult.
We walked in, were greeted right away and sat at a table. We waited about 10 – 15 mins before our server acknowledge us again to take our drink order. Finally after about 25 mins of being there I get to finally give my sushi order. She looked at us weird because I ordered my children sushi, whom like I’ve mentioned were under 5. The wait time was ridiculous being that their were only 2 other tables besides us. I never got my beverage refilled my entire meal. The sushi was OK, I’ve had better. The spider roll was average the crab wasn’t fresh, pre-​cooked before ordering. Yuck! So there was no crunch. The tempura roll tasted exactly the same. My children ordered Ebi Nigiri which took 15 mins to come out, I have no idea how hard it is to slap shrimp on rice?! Anyways, when you tasted just the rice there wasn’t any flavor as other places I’ve gone too.
Toward the end of my meal they ran out of rice and was told I’d have to wait 25 mins before I can order my next roll. I gave up! Ordered some yummy mochi ice cream, which of course were store bought, no big deal.
So overall, I’d come back again if it were just me and the kids and we want cheap sushi. I don’t think I’d be bringing my husband for AYCE here.

Ok, this review is long overdue… I’ve probably been to Sushi Banzai at least a handful of times and I never thought to review it. The service is 5 stars. The hostess always remember me everytime I come in and I sort of feel that I get extra service from her. We came here as a large party for my brother’s 18^th birthday. They have this awesome happy hour deal that everything on the all you can eat menu is 50% off, but since there was 8 of us, 3 of us decided to still get the AYCE. Everything was pretty good, except for the rice. My dad who I didn’t think had a fine palatte commented on it first. Other than that, everything was pretty good. They didn’t have enough Unagi defrosted so that bummed my aunt out. The sweet shrimp didn’t come with a deep fried head which was a first for me, but I guess I can live without that. As I stated earlier, the hostess has always been really friendly so when it was time to bring the cake out for my brother, they played some techno version of Happy Birthday with the lights turned off and everything. My poor brother was probably mortified, but I thought it was pretty funny. I’m sure he won’t ever forget his 18^th birthday now. Overall, this place is decent and the service is excellent.

Still my favorite sushi restaurant despite some issues. I’ll give them one more chance to address the issues, otherwise its time to search for a new place.
@ Uni — First time getting to taste it. I got it when they were barely pulling it out the box. Nice creamy golden yellow color. Delicious.
@ Amaeba — I like shrimp, but shrimp is just shrimp to me. The first time I got this they put a dot of hot sauce on it, not sure why. On the revisit, they swapped it out for fish eggs instead. A much better choice that doesn’t overpower the flavors of the sweet shrimp.
@ Shrimp heads — Originally they fried just the shrimp heads. The issue with this is the heads of the meat gets dried out if you’re trying to crisp up the outside we’re you can eat the shell and all. On the revisit after my recommendation, they dipped it in shrimp tempura batter before frying it. Much better, and the meet wasn’t dried out from the frying. Nothing left, including shrimp eyes! Be sure to request it this way if they’re not going with this methodology from now on.
@ Sashimi platter — The sashimi platter includes 2 cuts of tuna, salmon, and yellowtail. Fish was fresh and good.
The above items are limit 1 per AYCE order and uni & amaeba is for dinner only.
@ Unagi — The first 2 visits were excellent. The last revisit was disappointing. it was one of the few times I couldn’t eat anymore of the eel. It just had the slimy and almost mushy texture. Why couldn’t they grill it properly like the previous times.
@ Baked Mussels — Again 2 visits were excellent, but the last revisit wasn’t so good. It just wasn’t baked fully through, so I didn’t get the awesome baked taste of the mussels.
@ Mackerel — The first revisit the mackerel came out a little too dry for my liking. The last revisit was much more juicy and had more flavors. Delicious.
@ Shumai — This time they had pork. Again, they fry it so there isn’t much left to the item.
@ Fish Cutlet — They’re fishsticks. Nothing special about them. It does remind me of the South Park joke:
Jimmy: Do you like fishsticks?
Cartman: Yeah.
Jimmy: Do you like putting fishsticks in your mouth?
Cartman: Yeah.
Jimmy: What are you, a gay fish?
@ Calamari Rings — These weren’t so good. It was way too chewy, even for squid to eat.
@ Cheesecake — It seems like the chef was experimenting with it. First time she made it it came out in a tart like shape. The cheese was way too hard. Second time it was actually a slice of cake. It had way too much crust on it, so you couldn’t even taste the cheese.
@ Mochi Ice Cream — This was good.
Consistency of good food is one of the most important things to me. It doesn’t matter if you can deliver great food once, but if you can deliver great food time after time. This place does have some quality control issues, which I suspect is from the sushi chef in training, Daniel. I’m told he works Friday & Saturday nights. So you know which day to avoid if you can.
Everything from the previous review not mentioned in this one is still applicable.

My fiancé, daughter and I visited this restaurant on a Sunday night. When we first walked in we were the only table which was nice because the rolls came out really quick! The servers were so nice and were playing with my daughter and teaching her how to use chop sticks (awesome!). The price is fantastic for all you can eat. $ 25, includes drinks and dessert. Rolls were excellent, my favorite being the 007 which had an apple sauce — great!
As the evening went on more guests started showing up. I don’t believe the restaurant was prepared for this as there was only one person making sushi. It started taking about 15 min for the rolls to appear. That would be the only complaint. From a business standpoint I understand why there wasn’t a lot of staff. At 8:00 p.m. on a Sunday night there usually isn’t people knocking over the door to come in.
Overall, it was great. I’m not sure I would drive the 40 minutes again to get there but I would recommend this to anyone on this side of town!

The spicy ya yam scallop roll has a kick to it.
Hands down the friendliest service I have ever received.
Delicious fresh sushi. We ordered a la carte and received free desserts.
We will be back for sure for the all you can eat.

I am a sushi lover so when I drove by Sushi Banzai at first I was not too convinced to eat there since I had bad experienced about small sushi place.
I went in there 3 days ago and I truly love the friendly service from staff and unbelievable «fresh» sushi. So many appetizer to choose from as well as special rolls and deserts.
The price point is also excellent since around $ 20 for lunch and $ 24 for dinner, you can order sweet shrimp and sea urchin for dinner just like other AYCE places. The food serve really quickly.
I think the décor is acceptable for the small space, bathroom is clean (which is very important for me)
Overall…I love this place more than Sushi Mon, Oyshi sushi on rainbow or Kobe Sushi.

Unbelievable new sushi place on the west side of Las Vegas. The service is 5 stars, fantastic host and waiter that will make sure that you will have a very enjoyable experience. The sushi offered great Nigiri as part of their All You Can Eat Menu, as well as fresh Sashimi and some of the best rolls you’ll ever taste… plus, ALL YOU CAN EAT DESSERTS… Woo hoo for Mochi!
Only reason for 4 stars, is because the décor and restaurant was just a very boring space… but the food and service is top notch!