About a year and a half ago, I was able to eat at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant when I was in Osaka. Months after that trip, I learned that Manila would be bringing in its own version of the conveyor belt experience in the form of Genki Sushi. However, I hadn't been able to drop by since I don't get to frequent Bonifacio Global City, where its first branch is located, all that much.
Two weeks ago, though, they opened another branch close to my home. So I was finally able to check it out together with some members of my family.
Located on the ground floor of UP Town Center (tip: it's near the mall entrance closest to H&M), it's best to head over to the restaurant before its peak hours. There are a number of chairs outside the restaurant for diners on the waiting list; and yes, midway into your meal, you really will see a line of people waiting to be seated inside the restaurant.
When you enter, you will see two "columns", if you will, of tables arranged by booths.
On one side of each table, you will see a menu, an LCD screen, and two different levels of the "train tracks".
There's also a hot water faucet for each table, along with plastic cups, for hot water. You will also notice a small container on the table with green tea powder, should you want to make green tea for yourself (waiter's tip: two teaspoons of green tea powder, plus hot water, equals green tea!).
Here's a closer look of the "train track". There are two levels that serve your orders on these tracks. The upper track runs along the level where the LCD screen is bolted on.
To place your orders, you will have to go through the different selections on the LCD screen; just swipe left and right as you would any tablet or smartphone. As soon as you've decided on your order/s, tap on the dish and press "Go!" If you want to consolidate more orders, just keep tapping until you reach your fourth dish, then press "Go!"
(Pardon the slight blur in this photo; this was taken from a video. Stupidly, I forgot to take an actual photo of any of our orders as they arrived.)
From left to right: California Roll (PhP 160), Seared Salmon Skin Nigiri (PhP 120), and the Fried Salmon Cheese Roll (PhP 160). We ordered other dishes after we wiped these ones out, but I failed to take a picture of each of them. Just imagine several other plates of various dishes.
Some notes:
- Once you are seated, the waiters will orient you on the ordering process. It's easy to use their LCD screen ordering system, especially since most of us are familiar with tablets and smartphones.
- Their ingredients are very fresh, and unlike a lot of family-friendly Japanese restaurants with limited sushi/sashimi offerings, Genki Sushi has a very extensive range; even featuring dishes like eel and octopus.
- Their service is fairly quick. At most, it would take 10 minutes for your order/s to arrive. But generally, each of our dishes arrived in under 5 minutes.
- For non-sushi/sashimi lovers, there's a very limited menu featuring rice meals and the like.
- Not all of the dishes will arrive via the trains. For things like beverages, you will have to ask the waiters to bring them to you.
- Perhaps this is specific to the UP Town Center branch, but there's not much noise control inside the restaurant. You'll really be able to hear the music, the chatter from nearby tables, and the clanging of spoons, forks, and chopsticks. Thankfully, however, the trains that carry your food are quite silent as they make their way towards and away from your table.
- The dishes are quite pricey (i.e. P90 to P200+ for four to sometimes even just one piece per dish). Choose wisely and if you're under a strict budget, make sure to hit "View Bill" on the LCD screen every now and then to see your running balance.
- For the quality of the food and the childlike thrill of seeing it arrive on a little train, it's a worthwhile experience.
"Oh! Wed twain!!! Hi, wed twain!!!" ("Oh! Red train!!! Hi, red train!!!")
Needless to say, my two-year-old nephew had the best time EVER seeing the orders arrive by our table and leave. He was also fond of pressing the yellow button to send the train/s back.
Japan and technology are quite synonymous with one another, and I wonder if, in the not-too-distant future, a world without human service will really be the way to go. It's not too hard to imagine with restaurants like Genki Sushi (and other similar restaurants in Japan) allowing for self-service. Kudos, however, to Genki Sushi's staff for being helpful in explaining the system and for being really accommodating by doing things like providing a high chair for my nephew (without us asking them to); I don't think technology is anywhere close to being that hospitable as of now — at least, not yet.
G/F Phase 2, UP Town Center,
Katipunan Ave, Diliman, Quezon City
(+632) 958 5010
