Kula Revolving Sushi Bar - Cupertino

Poke box with rice, imitation crab, mayo, slices of assorted sashimi, and tobiko

Getting in line for food seems to be a regular occurrence for me lately with my assignments to review GEN BBQ, Din Tai Fung, and The ByWater. Sometimes I do it of my own choosing though, like last week when I waited 2.5 hours in line for Kula Revolving Sushi. Social media has made it so easy to hype up something. 

Kula is a chain restaurant. The concept of conveyor belt sushi is from Japan. There is the belt with dishes or pre-made rolls that make its rounds through each diner's station. You can grab what you want. This has become ubiquitous in America. It's also done with a boat floating on a trough of water. 

Kula adds an option to order extra items through a screen at the seat (pictured above). These orders arrive quickly through a second conveyor belt above the first. It runs quickly and stops right in front of your seat. Used plates are deposited through a slot at the seat and added up by the computer. A waitress still needs to confirm the count, especially of items with plates too large for the slot.

I don't remember the price of each item, but the total of all the dishes you will see below was about $19. It's quite affordable.

Sunomono - pickled veggies and cold items. The cucumbers were not pickled here. They just put slices in a quick vinegar. 

Uni roll - sea urchin gonads (for those who don't know)

This was gross. I'm a big fan of uni so this is not coming from someone who just hates the thought of gonads. There was just something not so fresh with this particular pair. Very iodiney and briney.

Red Dragon Roll - like a California roll with tuna and srirarcha mayo on top. This one was ok.

Spicy Scallop Hand Roll - This was one of the better rolls of the night. Everything tasted good. The scallops at least didn't taste old.

Tuna Yukhoe - cooked egg yolk and some spicy tuna. It was rather plain. Looks cooler than it tastes.

NOT PICTURED: 

Some terrible Beef Yakiniku roll. Just don't get any of the beef items. It's dry.

Strawberry and Mango mochi - Probably prepackaged. Also the best thing we ate all night.

PROS:
It's cheap sushi. Service doesn't matter since it's a conveyor belt. It's something interesting (read gimmicky)

CONS:
The sushi is basic at best. Bland/dry/stale at worst. The wait is very long.

OVERALL:
It's not worth the wait. Maybe in a few months (after people read my review, hehe) the line will die down, then it's worth a try for fun. But only once. This place is fine if you just want cheap basic rolls for a quick lunch or something once the hype settles down.

Kula Revolving Sushi
Address: 19600 Vallco Parkway, Suite 160, Cupertino, CA 95014
Phone: 408-861-0155

Sun.-Thu.
11:00am-10:00pm
(Last Seating, Last Order 9:45pm)

Fri.-Sat.
11:00am-10:30pm
(Last Seating, Last Order10:15pm)