EATS AND DRINKS,  NORTH CAROLINA

All You Can Eat Sushi in Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill

Hi, friends! Sushi is one of my favorite foods, and naturally eating lots of sushi is one of my favorite activities. While I appreciate high-quality sushi, I enjoy eating sushi in large quantities too. I have tried all three All-You-Can-Eat Sushi restaurants in the Triangle area and I am excited to share my thoughts with you! I am also sharing some tips to maximize your AYCE experience at the end of the post.

FYI, all of these places have recently increased their price by a dollar or two due to the high cost of seafood.

Special Rolls @ Orchid
Sashimi and nigiri @ Orchid

Orchid Japanese Restaurant – Raleigh

Price: $19.45 for lunch & $28.95 for dinner. You can do the dinner option during lunch hours, which includes sashimi and more variety of specialty rolls to choose from.

How It Works: For AYCE, you will have two laminated menus–one for sushi only and one for appetizers. You use a dry erase marker to indicate your selection for each round. They have a push button at every table so you can alert the staff once you have made your choices.

My Thoughts: Out of all the AYCE sushi places in the Triangle, Orchid has my vote! It is the priciest out of them all but they have decent quality sushi and I love that you can get sashimi as part of dinner AYCE. You can build your own rolls if that’s your thing. They also have the largest appetizer menu to order from and green tea/red bean ice cream for dessert!

Special rolls @ Mr Tokyo

Mr Tokyo Japanese Restaurant – Chapel Hill

Price: $14.99 for lunch & $22.99 for dinner

How It Works: Similar to Orchid, they will give you a laminated AYCE menu to mark off.

My Thoughts: Mr Tokyo is a good option and I would put it right between Orchid and Rockin’ Roll Sushi. Since Chapel Hill is pretty far for me, I don’t see myself going here over Orchid unless someone else is suggesting it but I would be fine with going again. I suggest staying way from the fried rolls because they literally taste all the same. More of their special rolls are deep fried in comparison to Orchid.

Deep fried rolls at @ Mr Tokyo are pretty but taste bleh

Rockin’ Roll Sushi Express – Durham & Raleigh

Price: $13.99 for lunch & $17.99 for dinner

How It Works: Unlike the first two places, Rockin Roll Sushi has a conveyer belt that delivers the food throughout the restaurant.

My Thoughts: To be honest, I haven’t been here in the last couple of years after a few consecutive visits that were very mediocre. The last couple of times I went, the conveyer belt had only two or three different kinds of sushi by the time it got to us which is not what you want from an AYCE experience. And the rolls here just fall apart… You really can’t beat the price but I would probably go to a hibachi buffer over Rockin’ Roll for unlimited sushi. If you do go, definitely try to go for lunch!

My Tips for AYCE Sushi Experience:

  1. Go with a group – This way you can try more variety from the menu.
  2. Order one roll per person at a time – Every AYCE place I have been to has a fine for leftover sushi and you don’t want to pay that on top of the AYCE price! You also don’t want to be miserable finishing a mountain of sushi so pace yourself by ordering just enough rolls. One roll per person is a good rule of thumb since people can generally commit to finishing one roll even if they are “almost getting there.”
  3. Stay away from deep fried rolls – I have nothing against deep fried rolls because some of them are really tasty! At AYCE sushi places though, I typically find them to be really big with a ton of rice and not particularly delicious. Save room for your stomach by skipping or saving the deep fried rolls for last.
  4. Try some appetizers – While I like to save my room for sushi, the appetizers are usually really solid at these AYCE places. Coconut shrimp and crab rangoon are a couple of family favorites.

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