A note on the words: omakase is a chef-selected multi-course meal, here delivered to the table by automated serving robots. Sakizuke is the opening appetizer course, featuring hamo (pike conger) and bonito. Gindara saikyo-yaki is sablefish marinated in sweet white Kyoto miso and grilled. Maki are sushi rolls, and the “Minato-ku roll” is the shop’s own oversized roll, and the tuna one is built with the fish on the outside.
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SUSHIROKU Roppongi Tokyo on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Now then, this time I checked out a sushi restaurant with a rather amusing concept: “SUSHIROKU”. Apparently the concept is to keep costs down through automated robot service, offering delicious sushi at more reasonable prices, which sounded intriguing enough that I booked a table and went. If I had one thing to say, I do wish you could reserve online instead of only by phone! It sits on the fourth floor of a building right in the middle of Roppongi, with an atmosphere that feels nothing like a typical sushi shop!
Stepping inside, you are handed a plate showing your seat number. You place your orders via the QR code printed on it. Although I had already asked for the course when reserving by phone, they explained that I needed to order it once more through the QR code, so I headed to my seat! Once again, it really is a very stylish space that does not feel like a sushi restaurant at all, and watching the rumored serving robots gliding about looked like fun!
Omakase course — 5,800 yen
So with that, I ordered the omakase course and things got underway!
To start, I ordered a beer, and there it came — the robot! ha.
Not bad at all, ha. If there is a drawback, it always stops in the exact same spot, so the person sitting closest to the stopping point has to take on the heavy duty of grabbing and serving dishes for everyone at the table. You want to take a seat as far from the stopping point as possible!
First up was gari, and is this zha cai pickled mustard green? Some kind of mysterious pickle.
Next was the sakizuke appetizer: hamo (pike conger), bonito, and something citrusy! Having no explanation of what anything is might be one of the slight weak points of robot delivery, ha. But everything was delicious. Looking closely, it seemed the sushi chefs were working hard preparing dishes at the edge of the floor, handing them over to the serving robot.
The grilled fish was juicy, sweet, and delicious.
Tuna, squid with sea urchin, mackerel, cutlassfish? I am not entirely confident about the latter ones, but all of them were delicious. Genuinely solid, delicious sushi.
Marinated tuna, salmon, shrimp, and perhaps anago conger eel? All of them were thoroughly delicious, and the shrimp in particular was sweet, tender, and practically melted away — I thought it was a really good piece. That was the end of the nigiri. Eight pieces in total; it might feel a little lacking.
Noodles with plenty of chew, in a clear, gently savory broth of the kind Okinawan soki soba is served in.
It really did feel a bit lacking! So looking at the menu, I spotted something called the “Minato-ku roll,” ha.
There were three kinds of Minato-ku roll, and I ordered two of them! I think each one was around 2,000 to 2,500 yen.
First, the tuna Minato-ku roll! It looks like the sushi rice and tuna are reversed, ha! Great visual impact, and delicious!
The shrimp mayo Minato-ku roll. The shrimp were plump and luxurious; a shrimp mayo roll feels a bit unusual, but it was delicious.
So all told, the 5,800-yen course alone might leave you wanting a little more. Robot delivery aside, it was a genuinely delicious sushi restaurant. Having to serve yourself from the robot at the end, or wondering “what was this dish again?” are things you encounter, but on the flip side, without waitstaff hovering about, it has the benefit of letting you focus fully on your food and conversation. It was a spot well worth visiting casually for a reasonable meal! I would go again.
SUSHIROKU Roppongi Tokyo (Sushi / Roppongi Station, Roppongi Itchome Station, Azabu-juban Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.2
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
