Unusual Sushi Restaurant in S.F.
 

About 15 years ago while in San Francisco for the first time, I went to a sushi restaurant where you sat at a large circular counter and the sushi dishes were delivered via a little boat in a waterway. You picked the dishes you wanted and at the end of the meal they added up the dishes to determine the cost. I have no idea where the restauramt was or if it is still in existance. Can anyone tell me if it's still around and the address? Many thanks.

Was it in China-Town on Grant street... your description reminds me of one restaurant... maybe corner of Bush?

I think Google helped :) There is a Sushi Boat restaurant 389 Geary @ Mason Union Square area

"Sushi comes around on different colored boats, tiered into a price system."

http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3710220587

We've had the conveyor belt sushi a number of times in SF. There's the one in chinatown mentioned, also one in Japantown, in the mall there.

we did the conveyor belt sushi in chinatown in SF. it was awesome.

Sushi Boat is a chain. Other independently owned Japanese resturaunts have boats too. We have one Kobe in the South Bay (Santa Clara) which has the boats. :-)

They're called <i>kaiten-zushi</i> restaurants, and it can be a conveyor belt, little boats, model trains, whatever. Quite a few in many cities.

We went to a place in San Jose with the trains. Keep in mind, some of the conveyer sushi places are fresher than others.

The poster above makes a good point regarding the freshness of the sushi in this type of place. I've been to a few of their ilk. There are always a few pieces that make the circuit over and over, losing their appeal with each round. To me, if it's raw, I want it the moment it leaves the cold case and the chef's knife. The boat and conveyors are novel, they're amusing, but not my favorite way to eat sushi. Just my two yen worth.

I ate at a similar place in Toronto where you actually ordered the sushi, it was made fresh, and delivered on the boats for the novelty effect.

I ate in a restaurant in Toronto, too. And of course, there's one in SF Chinatown, as well as in a Japanese restaurnat in a mall somewhere in the East Bay (if I recall correctly).

To me this is more of a novelty than delivering quality sushi. Sushi are meant to be made-to-order. For instance, some of those sushi on boats circle all night until some unsuspecting customer comes in and grabs them.