Wasabi

Ok, never had eaten @ a rotating sushi restaurant before, the experience was 4 stars, the food was average at best, maybe because it was a weekend and super busy, kids liked it. Would recommend for the experience but not if you are going to satisfy your taste buds,

Can’t say I would do this one again!
This place as some nice shtick going for it– its a sushi joint in the middle of the mall on a conveyor belt. Seems cool– right? Well that little bit of entertainment is the only reason I gave this joint 2 stars.
Wasabi promises approachable, «unexpected», convenient, and modern Japanese cuisine. I’m not sure I saw much of that here. The sushi was terrible. I figured the turn over would be great as they sushi chefs really seem to be cranking it out, and anytime I have walked by its always packed — man was I wrong. Some of the sushi pieces were so old and looked over that the top of the salmon sashimi was getting dry and had almost like a skin on top of it. The sushi was also warm which is just the epitome of nasty when it comes to sushi. The edamame were very dry as well. I did try a vegetarian roll called a Buddha roll which was actually pretty good.
Their payment system is very easy, and our meal was fairly inexpensive for Tysons. Also the servers were also very polite, and have very little to do with quality control as far as the sushi is concerned, so they are a plus.
We took a friend take away sushi that was literally falling apart and tasteless. Stay away!

Wasabi, a rotating sushi bar located in between two escalators at Tyson’s Corner Mall, is a pretty unique concept given the fact that there aren’t many rotating sushi bars that I know of in the DMV area. While roaming around the different shops, it’s hard not to notice this sushi restaurant in the middle of the mall’s ground level. My friend and I didn’t want to settle for the mall food court, so we tried this place out before starting our shopping spree.
It’s not very expensive, but your bill can add up quickly if you don’t pay attention and especially if you’re hungry! The plates are color coded, where each color is assigned a price. The prices range from $ 3-​$ 5 per mini plate.
I was skeptical at first because of the idea that it is mall sushi. The quality isn’t the best in the game, but it does the trick if you’re craving some sushi after a day of shopping. It’s leaning towards «grocery store» sushi quality, actually. It really isn’t impressive, unless it’s your first time eating sushi.
I got the salmon nigiri, tako (octopus) nigiri, spicy tuna roll, shrimp tempura roll, crunchy salmon roll, blue crab roll, and the scorpion roll. Out of everything, I really enjoyed the crunchy salmon roll. They were generous on the spicy mayo sauce and the crunchy panko flakes really did the roll justice. The blue crab roll was pretty good as well, but I feel like they were heavy-​handed with the Old Bay seasoning. The nigiri pieces I ordered here had a good fish-​to-​rice ratio. The octopus nigiri wasn’t tough and had a nice texture, which surprised me.
This restaurant is more of a novelty to dine at, so don’t expect anything spectacular. Be sure to watch out for discolored fish and avocados on the conveyor belt — it’s a sure sign of either a) the ingredients not being fresh or b) the food sitting out for too long. To avoid this dilemma, ask your waiter to bring out a fresh one.
Bottom line: it’s pretty cool seeing a rotating sushi bar in the middle of the mall, but I don’t think being gawked at like a zoo animal by mallgoers while eating low quality sushi is worth the trouble of going out of my way to dine here again.

I always love trying out conveyor belt sushi places, but they always seem to end up the same … fun, but in terms of food, it’s just mediocre «Americanized» sushi. Their salmon nigiri were actually quite good and seemed pretty fresh, but everything else did not taste as good. A lot of the rolls were falling apart on their plates as they made their way around the conveyor belt – they weren’t being wrapped tightly enough. It’s also quite amusing to see the PB&J «roll» make its way around.
There are definitely always a lot of plates on the belt, but there isn’t actually much variety of food – a few different types of sushi rolls, tuna/​salmon/​eel nigiri, spring/​vegetable rolls, and the occasional cake.
The waiters are very friendly and attentive. It’s just that the food isn’t worth spending your money on. Sure, maybe go for a quick bite just for the novelty of «conveyor belt sushi,» but if you want quality, authentic sushi, try your hand at the many Japanese restaurants in the area.

I went with my family we have on vegan and three semi-​vegetarians. The food vege stiff was really good, the waters were nice, however my family expected more cooked food and there was not a lot of cooked options. There is not a lot of chicken options eater but keep in mind that this is a sushi place and they serve raw fish foods. Most of their vegetarian options are good except for one spicy roll that did not attract my taste buds. Anyway, it was fun and new for my family come and enjoy the experience.

The idea is neat and a quick meal or snack. But the sushi is just your typical simple selection. Nothing great about it at all. The servers are okay, what you expect for the place.

It’s fast and not expensive when you are hungry for something different while in the mall. It’s located midway and is a novelty for out of town visitors.
They serve peanut butter and jelly rolls for those who aren’t into sushi. Quick stop!

We came hungry but we were good enough to limit ourselves. I wanted to try it for years but never got the opportunity to do so, so I did, heck yeah I took my seat. We got a few things such as the California rolls, Ugnagi (eel), noodles (I think it was soba), and crunchy tuna, all totaled up with tip to be $ 20.
Service was good, sushi tasted average, it looked fresh but like all sushi restaurants, it was kinda pricey. I just wanted to experience the sushi on the conveyer belt in the middle of a mall, where people coming up and down on the escalators stare at you while u eat. :D
Overall I would dine in again. It was fun!

This place is okay, not bad not great.
The way it’s laid out is kind of neat, it’s just place in an awkward spot in the middle of the mall.
Basically you sit around a conveyor belt that goes around and you pick up the plates of food that you want. Prices vary from the colors of the plates.
The sushi selection is very limited, and kind of expensive for what you pay for.

Food is mediocre, service is poor, the concept is cool but other than that I refuse to eat sushi here.

Alvin was an awesome server– he was fast and helped us get food that wasn’t yet on the converter belt.
The spicy sashimi and rainbow rolls are the best items on the menu.
Ps– it’s conveyer belt sushi so keep your expectations reasonable :)

Came here yesterday with my Pescatarian friend. I had always wanted to try the conveyor-​belt sushi! We went on a Saturday night so it was rather busy, but we were seated in about 10 minutes. Service was alright.
Basically, you pick your food from off of the conveyor belt. The plates are color coded by price, ranging from $ 3-​$ 5. You get only 6 sushi or 2 nigiri per plate so it’s kind of pricey. But I guess you are paying for the experience! And it was a good one.
The sushi was fresh, however it was apparent they were being made in a hurry because they did not look wrapped well and fell apart really easily. My favorites were the Tyson’s roll and Scorpion roll.
After reaching close to $ 30, we decided to stop since it was a little out of our budget, even though we were still hungry. I would come here again for a snack or light lunch, but definitely will not be returning for dinner.
Overall, a fun place to eat. However, if you’re looking for quality sushi I’d recommend finding a Japanese restaurant in the area.

Great concept! Fast/​Cheap.
I know there are a few Unilocalers complaining about it not being as fresh. Tip* You can request for it to be made instead of selecting from the conveyor belt and it’s still the same price.

Good cheap and fast sushi!
Stopped here for the spicy tuna roll which is only $ 4 and the spring rolls, both were fresh, full of flavor and delicious!
If you love sushi and your in the mall give this place a try, don’t know why it has such a low rating.

Rotating Sushi in the US
Food:
When first arriving at Wasabi I expected low quality sushi that had been sitting for a while. I was pleasantly surprised to find the fish was of decent quality and fresh. The price is a little expensive even considering New York prices for the same quality/​quantity of sushi.
The kazuyo roll was my favorite of the 3 rolls I tried. Shrimp tempura, cream cheese and smoked salmon worked together with this roll. I already enjoy all 3 separately (smoked salmon and cream cheese is already good together), and the sauce made it work. I don’t think 4 pieces is enough to justify a $ 5 price tag.
The blue crab roll was interesting to say the least. For the most part I enjoyed it, but the seasoning on top is a little overpowering. I wonder if it would be more enjoyable if it didn’t have it.
Spicy tuna for $ 4 is about right for the taste and quantity. It is pretty much the same as every other spicy tuna roll I’ve had except for the spicy mayo added on top.
The variety of sushi at Wasabi is decent. You will find an interesting combination of rolls you are familiar with and other rolls you will make you question what kind of imagination and/​or taste buds do the roll creators have.
Service:
The service is friendly, but it was hard for my fellow diner to receive a fork (yes I know I ate with a person who ate sushi with a fork… it hurt me deeply inside) to eat sushi with. The server had to be reminded 1 – 2 times to bring one over. The same thing occurred over our drinks (water and tea).
Ambiance:
The sushi revolving on the conveyor belt is a nice touch, especially since the restaurant is located in the middle of the aisles and not in your typical store location. As you are walking by you can see everyone eating and grabbing the dishes as they pass by. I saw this all the time in animé, so it was fun to try it out for the first time. It is a nice novelty, but probably gets tiring after a while.
Overall: 3 Stars
The prices are slightly higher than the average price for sushi. However, it adds up much quicker than you think, especially if you have expensive tastes like me (who would have thought 3 plates would total to $ 14).
The quality of the sushi is average. Nothing over the top or below normal standards.
Sushi is a bit small (less quantity) for the price.
Service is friendly, but a bit lacking.
Sushi Chefs are quick at replacing what has been taken.
If you don’t want to wait for a dish to pass by you can ask the server to have the chefs make it for you and bring it to the table.
If you are hungry for sushi Wasabi is an interesting place to visit as a novelty.

Some people may look down upon eating raw fish that’s made it’s round on a conveyor belt, I however have this to say:
If it wasn’t safe they wouldn’t be in operation.
The sushi quality may not be the best, but it is however a ‘for experience’ place of business. If you’re looking for a quick bite to eat after exploring the variety of stores at Tyson’s, this is just going to add onto the enjoyment of your day at the mall.
it’s a treat yo self experience.
How does it work? The sushi is made by chefs in the middle of the seating arrangement, they are surrounded by a moving ‘moat’ of sushi. once you have seated you can basically put the menu away cause everything comes around in front of you. the prices go by the different colors of plates so everything is pretty much standard. I would compare the pricing to be almost identical to what you would pay in a sushi restaurant, keeping in mind Quality vs Quantity.
On my latest dining experience I had Alvin as a server, he was very attentive with out interrupting us to much. I love a waiter that will give you the check and take it as soon as I have place my payment inside. I have eaten my food and given you my money, please give me my receipt so I can move on with my life. I love that quality in a server.

I visited Wasabi (that conveyer belt sushi restaurant in the middle of the Tysons Corner Center mall) hoping to eat one or two rolls at most. I mean, the most expensive conveyer belt sushi item is only $ 5, right? Well, my 1 or 2 rolls turned into 6 plates and a $ 23 bill, so it adds up quickly! Seriously people, even though many of the items are $ 2.50, it adds up faster than you think. What was supposed to be a snack became a full-​fledged meal for me. A word of advice — don’t visit this place when you’re hungry!
There’s bar seating or booth seating. Since I went alone, I sat at the bar and was seated right away.
As for the food, the rolls and fish were not fresh at all, but they weren’t awful either. I certainly didn’t get food poisoning. And the plates actually tasted better than they looked.
The options are somewhat limited if you’re looking to grab just what comes by on the conveyer belt, but you can also order straight off their menu (also that would likely make your food fresher too).
What I ordered:
–Spicy Tuna Roll with spicy mayo and scallions ($ 4). This was 6 tiny pieces of sushi. Spicy Tuna Rolls are generally my favorite simple rolls so I’m glad I tried it.
–Crunchy Salmon Roll with salmon, cream cheese, masago, and spicy mayo ($ 4.00). 6 tiny pieces again. I liked the crunchiness but not the fact that the roll contained cream cheese (which I detest). I always assume that only Philly rolls have cream cheese so it was a surprise to taste cream cheese in this roll.
–Baja Tuna Roll with spicy tuna, jalapeño, red pepper, cilantro, and spicy mayo ($ 4.00). I’m a sucker for all things California and seeing something called the «baja» tuna roll just warmed my heart on a very cold East Coast day. This was probably my favorite roll of them all. Perfectly spicy.
–Zen Soba ($ 2.50). These noodles were delicious and even slightly filling. Came with some veggies, like scallions, and sesame seeds on top.
–Tysons Roll ($ 5). This was unique and came with imitation crab and seaweed salad on top. This was probably my least favorite dish and tasted somewhat funky. Not sure if it was the ingredients or the fact that it had been sitting out.
–Inari Ngiri ($ 3). This fried Tofu skin came as 2 pieces and was tasty enough.
My verdict: not the most amazing or fresh sushi, but passable. It’s a fun experience overall that people should try at least once.
Service was alright. A bit too pushy for my taste.
And as other reviewers have indicated, people who are shopping in the mall really will stare at you as you’re eating, especially since there’s an escalator situated right next to the restaurant. You sort of feel like a zoo animal, but I honestly didn’t notice until the end of the meal and even then, simply found it amusing.

Although each plate doesn’t cost more than $ 5 each, those plates do add up considering that most plates don’t contain more than a few bites of food. The food itself is decent, but I didn’t get any wow-​must-​come-​again kind of factor.
If little plates of rolls/​sushi isn’t for you, you can also order a bowl for $ 7.50 — choose a base (rice, noodles, etc), meat, veggies.
I really wanted to enjoy this place more than I did because I love the concept of revolving sushi restaurants, and I was so happy when I found this one because I miss the ones I’ve been to back in California. I think I would have enjoyed this spot if I came here with a bigger group of people so that we could have gotten a table, which means more space. If it gets packed and if you’re sitting at the back/​far-​end bar area, there’s no space for any of your stuff other than the floor. The counter space for the food gets very tight, which is not good for those that are just slightly claustrophobic.
Wasabi has some of the traditional rolls, and a lot of «specialty» rolls uses the California roll base. They do have a decent number of vegetarian roll options. One of them is the sweet potato tempura roll, but it can get confusing because the label is «sweet potato tempura.» We may think it’s sweet potato tempura, and not the roll (fried sweet potato, avocado, cucumber & sushi sauce).
When I was there, most of the plates they had were the $ 4 and $ 5 plates, namely:
Rainbow Roll (cucumber & avocado maki wrapped in salmon, yellowtail & tuna)
California Volcano (crabstick, avocado, cucumber, eel sauce & spicy mayo)
Shrimp Tempura Roll (fried shrimp, cucumber & eel sauce)
Kazuyo Roll (fried shrimp, cream cheese, smoked salmon, masago, spicy mayo & eel sauce)
Baja Tuna (spicy tuna, jalapeño, avocado, red pepper & cilantro)
Each had 4 – 6 pieces, some bigger, others smaller. It gets frustrating when the plate you want is under the top plate as they stack them to put more on the belt.
I had some of their nigiri, such as the tobiko (the little red eggs) and the salmon. Both were my favorite things here, but they were $ 4/​plate or $ 2 each piece. It’s similar to some other restaurant pricing, but other restaurants have servers bringing you the fresh food on prettier plates with garnish. They also had ikura (the salmon roe), but there were not many pieces on top of the rice as I’m used it… I saw the white space of rice! AHH!
I don’t mind the concept of different price per plate, but the person that I was with does. He said that it impacted his decision of what to get. I guess he was used to going to a place in CA called Kula Revolving Sushi where each plate, no matter what it was, is $ 2.25.
As most other revolving sushi places, you can feel free to place custom orders and any plate that you don’t see on the belt. The food seems fresher if you go with this option, though they say that they have timers to let them know when a plate has been sitting on the belt for too long. This is also good if you want to order «hot» foods, such as spring rolls and dumplings so ensure that the spring rolls retain that crunch.
Yes, this place is great for a quick sushi meal, but it does add up to feel full. I had ~$ 30 of things here today, and I could have eaten a burger afterwards if I felt like spending the money for one.

FOOD
–Everything at wasabi is very cheap. The most expensive sushi plates are $ 5, but most are between $ 3-​$ 4.
— Being a sushi bar, you get to pick you’re sushi from a moving counter. Ive never had a problem waiting for a specific type of roll to come by. The chefs are very quick and are always putting out fresh sushi rolls.
–Taste wise — not the worst sushi I’ve ever had, but also not the best. Im personally a fan of the spicy tuna roll, the avocado salmon roll, and the blue crab roll.
–If the specific sushi roll you’re looking for hasn’t come, you can also order it from a waiter.
–Very kid friendly. There are plenty of desserts and kid meals.
ATMOSPHERE
–Smack dab between 2 escalators — great place for people watching
–service is very quick — you’ll be in and out within 20 minutes
–Does get crowded around lunch time, so there may be a wait
OVERALL
Great place to stop for some food after a long day of shopping. Not the best food option at Tysons but its still a good spot. However, make sure to go early to miss the crowds.

It might be the fact that I’ve grown lazy in my near middle age and it might be the fact that I am a bit of a futurist at heart, but I really enjoy the ease of choosing my food off of a conveyor belt as it passes me by. Being as I’m not a huge Japanese cultural junkie, this is especially important because I wouldn’t know what half the food was without seeing a visual representation of it first.
Unfortunately, as visually interesting as the content of all the little trays are (some are just labeled «Japanese treat» and contain some really weird candy), the food itself is quite average.
For example, even though the Zen Soba noodle dish was actually delicious as far as a salad goes, but my main course of Yasai Roll left a lot to be desired. The spicy mayo and red pepper cancelled out the taste of the avocado and cucumber just a bit too much. While their selection of vegetarian sushi on the conveyor belt was a bit lacking, they can make anything on the menu even if it’s not a conveyor belt selection. I got my usual avocado roll and it was just wrapped shoddily and the avocado didn’t pop enough.
Dessert, however, was amazing. The Mount Fuji cake was everything I hoped it would be as it passed me by multiple times. The strawberries, while slightly unripe, were delicious and the sponge cake was perfect. I wish more regular Japanese restaurants carried it.
At first this place seemed like a bargain, but the little trays (thankfully all color coded by price to avoid any real financial disaster) really add up as the pile in front of you. And despite adding up to almost $ 15.00, I left hungry. But I’m glad t I got to experience this place once. If only to get mesmerized by the convenience of the conveyor belt.