Sushi Hotaru

If you want nice, tasty sushi and are short on time, do not come here! Sushi Hotaru is a great place for a cheap bite of below average tasting sushi if you’re willing wait up to 30 minutes to get seated on a busy night. Most of the sushi that run down the conveyor belt are seared or deep fried. It is quite easy to note that most, if not all the dishes on the train were prepared in bulk and have been left there for a long period of time.
Most of the sashimi were cuts from frozen fillets evident by the terrible sogginess and chef defrosting fish in the open kitchen.
Atmosphere is meh. Loud and quite impersonal.
Miso soup was good.

If you want some nice, tasty sushi and are short on time, come here! Went here with a colleague for lunch. Besides the never-​empty sushi train, you also have access to an iPad to order other kinds of food or sushi that’s not on the train. (Yep, they also have iPads on the counter.)
The sushi was really fresh, which was awesome. And all the sushi was $ 3.30!

Left after two minutes… This is my version of culinary hell — loud, industrialised, as impersonal as it gets… The Horror…

Lots to choose from. Each dish is above average you could say. At $ 3 for most plates, it was well worth it.

Don’t be tricked into believing this is Japanese food. Sitting watching the sushi train go by, normally makes me hungry, but the burnt salmon and sad looking sashimi don’t appeal to me. There are lots of other great Japanese places to eat just nearby. Go try one of those.

Good sushi train — 3.30 $ per plate. Sushi are fresh and some interesting/​original options
You can also order from an iPad on your table.
Be prepared to wait as it is quite popular. They have quite a few sittings but I would not come as a large group (more than 4) as it is mostly tables for 2.

Our favourite place to stop for a quick lunch. Quality is generally very good, the iPads for ordering stuff you don’t see on the train is a very good idea as its a narrow restaurant. Would be uncomfortable with waitresses constantly stood over people’s shoulders to take their orders.
Excellent value with so many options for $ 3. Recommend to pretty much everyone I meet who wants to get some sushi cheaply

One of my favourite go-​to sushi trains! Lunch time gets a bit hectic but just write your name down and grab a number the wait isn’t too long.
It’s one of the longest trains I’ve seen with every plate being $ 3. Not finding what you want? You can order straight from the screen. Nigiri, sashimi, hand rolls, side dishes, vegetarian options and dessert.
Quickly ask someone for water or ginger which is upon request.
One disappointment is that their «flame torches» dishes taste like propane so I would avoid!
Card minimum is $ 15
Stack those plates!!!

It’s OK for a sushi train, mostly because what you can order off the menu is an OK range and nice and fresh, and actually resembles sushi.
Everything on the actual train is blow-​torched and/​or mayoed within an inch of its life. If you like that, great.
The wasabi is that crap in the plastic sachets, and I didn’t spot any pickled ginger.
Better than Hero Sushi, and that’s really it.
$ 3 for each standard plate.

You know you’re in a good sushi place when you can’t tell what’s on the train.
The fusion stuff here is out of this world and always a lovely surprise.
As per most sushi places, you can order off the menu, but what’s the point in ruining sushi train random fun? Pick something that looks interesting and try it! If you have someone with you sharing the excitement of sushi lotto is even better.
They offer lots of tea’s and other drinks here too. What’s even better is that if you do want to order off the menu, there’s a tablet in front of you where you can choose your food, drinks and deserts and it is bought out to you instead of trying to flag down the wondering staff who are always rather busy with seating people.
If you haven’t been to a sushi place before you should definitely go to this one. They impressed me because they have a magic zapper thingy that the sushi goes through every cycle to ensure that bacteria isn’t growing on your food. Awesome right? Right.
Go. Go eat. All the nom!

Food is always fresh. Good variety. Very modern ordering pad.
Will recommend to anyone. Alway my first choice to eat around Townhall. When they are too busy, take away is the second best thing.

This is my favourite sushi place in Sydney! I come from Reno– the land of fresh, all-​you-​can-​eat-​Sushi (oddly enough. But if you didn’t know that about Reno, now you do… go there and feast!) — so when I moved to Sydney, I wanted to die when I noticed how expensive sushi places were! What, I couldn’t just pay $ 20 and pig out on 10 six-​piece plates of Godzilla rolls? The first time I went out to sushi in Sydney, I was shocked that I paid nearly $ 30 and only ended up with six or seven pieces of sushi. Insanity!
Anyway, Sushi Hotaru is great. Most of the plates (and even sides, like calamari, soup and egg rolls) are $ 3. The sushi is served on a «train» (conveyor belt) and there are plenty of things to choose from. If you’d rather order something not on the train, you can order from the iPad menu. Everything is VERY affordable and VERY delicious. I eat here once a week and I’m always happy with the food, price and service.
It does get very busy during lunchtime (typically from 11:30 — 1:30), as well as dinner (6:00pm-8:00pm) and the bar isn’t very big, so you might feel crowded and rushed. If you can try to get there between 2 – 5:30, I find that’s the best time for service– nearly no one there, lots of elbow room at the bar and you won’t have to wait long for freshly made rolls.
Try the eel and cream cheese roll– it’s my favourite! :)

Great place for a quick lunch during your work day. Has most of the general japanese dishes you’d expect at a sushi train. It’s usually packed with young office workers — it ain’t great for large groups though.

Nice sushi train, not too pricey (about 15 AUD per person)
The place can get a bit crowded but the food keeps on coming.
The fish is nice and fresh, the salmon had the right balance of fat.
Could do with more original sushi’s on the menu
Not worth a trip specifically but if you are in the area its a good choice

It’s a small small world, it’s a small small world and at Sushi Hotaru it’s a small small sushi.
I had high expectations for this place with all the raves and great reviews. however, I was slightly dissapointed. Everything was generally tasty but it was just so tiny like polly pocket tiny.
Everything is only $ 3 so it’s not the biggest deal if you order more but to feel full you would need at least 7 plates. Also they close the sushi train at 8pm, which is just ridiculously early.
I left $ 20 poorer and not feeling very full. Come here if you like sushi and have a lot of money.

Liked it. didn’t love it. It’s decent for the value, I suppose but definitely did not wow me. I like the self serve ipad though! That seems to be picking up around here.
The dishes are $ 3 each which is fine. Some of the nigiri is TINY. Like. half the size of my pinky tiny. They had some decent ones, like the scallop and the tako. Those are worth it. Gyozas are also on the small size.
Will I come back? Probably. But nothing to write home about.

This place is my favourite sushi train in Sydney.
I can’t even explain why I love this place so much… you can get higher quality sushi at Makoto, you’ll get seated quicker at Sushi Tei, you can get cheaper dishes at its cousin Sushi Rio, OK wait on second thought I can; none of them have the glorious fun of touch screen goodness!!!
There’s usually a queue here during peak times during lunch or dinner, but fear not you won’t wait long. If you manage to snag a seat with a touch screen get ready for sushi awesomeness. Nearly everything is $ 3 a plate so you can easily get full on $ 20, or if you’re a cow like me $ 30.
The train goes the length or the restaurant and service is great since you can call people with the push of a button… and also get in trouble with the push of a button… something the other sushi trains don’t have.
Yeah… Sushi Hot-Ar-U…I wasn’t before but I am now.

So I had never called it a «sushi train» before coming to Australia, but I’m kind of liking the name (in other parts of the world it is called kaiten sushi, sushi boat, conveyor belt sushi, etc. :D). And I also gotta say I rather like this particular sushi train.
First off, the interior décor plays up the neon-​lit, hyper-​stimulating Tokyo streets of your DDR dreams, and the booths have touchscreens (aka iPads) for customized orders to your table. Um, can we say FUN?
Be advised there are no iPads if you sit at the counter, though.
As for the quality of the food, I’ve certainly had both better and worse kaiten/​conveyor sushi boat/​train, but I really didn’t have anything *bad*. In fact, I tried grilled scallop nigiri for the first time here, and let me just say it was AMAZEBALLS! A new favorite.
Be advised that the grilled scallops can be ordered via touchscreen ;)
Finally, for the price – $ 3/​plate for most plates – you probably won’t get a better deal for sushi in Sydney CBD, just saying. Even if all those little plates DO end up adding up.
Be advised that the sashimi plates are DEFINITELY not 3 dollars. They are something like 8 or 9. Different color plate.
I would go back. Maybe twice a year.

Great place for quick sushi lunch or dinner.
Always very busy but you won’t be waiting in line for long time. They also have express lane– 30mins which is enough time to grab some cheap stuff as almost all plates cost $ 3 so not bad for quick and fresh meal.

There is a nice variety of sushi and sashimi dishes. Most of the items are $ 3 each. But there are special items like the fairly fresh sashimi that is called the Golden Plate and it’s $ 7.90 each. Also the calpis drink are at $ 5.50 each which I thought was really expensive.
There is usually a queue during lunch but the wait is not too bad.