Sushi Yama

Great service and personal attention to detail. I always come here for sushi. I live in sammamish and I drove here just for their wonderful service. I grabbed ahi salad and began eating, but sushi chef bothered to replace it with fresher one that he just made! And, the tea was served in a pot with strainer. Love the salmon skin, no one makes it like him. Just order or ask for another one made if they don’t look too fresh. They do care!
If you are wanting a sushi, skip Sushi Maru, come here instead. They pay more attention to you and sushi buyers know they buy the picks instead of left overs like Sushi Maru across. The salmon skin roll here is special.

Sorry sushi yama. You didn’t make it in my books.
1) Your sushi isn’t fresh. Nothing is served warm (not even the fried sushi).
2) Your selection stinks. Serving California rolls — with 5 different sauces. is not a selection. Its just sad.
3) Your prices aren’t very cheap, and your colored plates are actually pretty tricky.
Upside. They have a pirq deal. So they are helping support a good cause. The only reason why I tried it in the first place. So unless this place turns itself around. I won’t be going back. I’m always into finding awesome hole in the walls. but sadly. the fish in this wall has been out of the water for way too long.

I loved it, cheap food great price all fresh. Can’t beat it!

This place didn’t wow me or give me food comma… I was already bored at the selection at lunch from the 2mins I was sitting there deciding on what to eat. The fish quality was not great and presentation looked bland.
Not what I thought it would be for a kaiten sushi place… came out of that place with a sad face. :(

I used to frequent this place with my husband and they’ve seem to be letting us down even more every time we visit.
What Sushi Yama used to be: A small joint that had fresh fish and affordable prices.
What it is now: An empty restaurant that has spoiled or flavorless fish.
I really hate writing negative reviews for places I once loved, but I can no longer support this type of establishment. :(

So this place was average. It was a Monday night and there weren’t many people inside but because there was only one server he seemed really hurried and stressed.
There was an okay variety of sushi going on. Although there was a fair amount of different rolls going around they all kind of looked the same. Almost every roll had krab in it or was tempura battered. Also! There was no menu key of the rolls that were going around. The menus are what make it for me at conveyer belt sushi restaurants because I want to know whats in my roll!
Very delicious sushi. The seared salmon was sooo delicious, probably one of the best I have had.
Price was okay.
Overall, it was okay.

This is a tough one because I used to love this place a whole lot when it first opened. I went the other day for the first time since moving back and it was a let down.
Why? It’s not because the sushi itself isn’t good. The issue is the chefs make way too much sushi when they don’t have many people in the place. The result: The sushi ends up going around on the conveyor belt for way too long. Also, they have a bad attitude when it comes to making «to order» sushi. I wanted some fresh rolls because I could tell the food had been sitting out. They didn’t listen to me and at one time handed me sushi that was already on the belt.
In the end, between my friend and I, we had ¹⁄₃ of our sushi be too old, warm and icky that we couldn’t eat.
Overall, I think if they fixed this issue, this place would be my pick over the slightly cheaper Sushi Land. I say this because this place has a great variety and just better looking sushi in general.

My opinion of Sushi Yama has changed a bit in the few years I’ve been going there. Their service is good, they make good sushi, and it’s not that expensive and I’ve always been a fan of conveyor belts. The thing is, though, the stuff they have going around on the belt changes a lot. Besides the staple california rolls and such, the cool stuff that you actually would go there for switch around a lot. So I can go there once and have awesome eel on rice that won’t be there the next time. Same goes for a lot of the actual good stuff that makes me want to go back. They always have good music playing, though. Also, one thing to look out for with conveyor belt sushi places is that some things tend to sit out for a while before being picked up, so sometimes the stuff isn’t totally fresh.

We came here based off the good reviews here on Unilocal and our crazy urge for sushi, and to try a new sushi joint.
We should have left after we walked in and only one guy was in there.
The first plate we grabbed off the belt, tasted pretty darn fishy. Should have left again after that.
The second and third plates were actually really good. Wished there were more plates like that on the belt.
I have a feeling though, if you walk into a place like this and there is no room on the belt to add anything else, that’s probably a bad sign. There was so much to choose from and it became hard to tell what was what, and which one was fresher than the next.
We normally like to order a few things straight from the chef, but we were basically ignored the entire time. It’s not like they were busy.
Ordered the seared salmon and it was just ok. Rice was burnt and it had a strong taste of gas on it. However they seared it gave it some unwelcomed flavor.
The last plate we grabbed, was what got us to finally walk out. It had some crab meat of some sort in the middle and it was awful. We wanted to go get a burger or something just to get the taste out of our mouths.
One thing every business should have, is a website. Something Sushi Yama does not have. Come on Sushi Yama! It’s 2011. I should have known better, I believe if a place does not have a website, then they’re not worthy of my money. Even a simple blogspot, anything. an email address. Where is the customer service? No website now days, means your business will likely slowly fail in this economy. Get with the social networking times if you want to thrive.
I will not be returning to this place. It was not a great experience for us.

Sushi Yama is much smaller, more personable, and cheaper than Sushi Maru which is located right across the street. If truth be told, I wouldn’t go to either one of the restaurants for sushi (because I am such a sushi snob…) HOWEVER, Sushi Yama happens to be my boyfriend’s favourite restaurant because it is cheap, quick, and friendly.
I don’t like krab (yuck!), and I don’t think mayonnaise should go anywhere near my sushi. Not every item (especially salads) on the conveyor belt was covered at Sushi Yama, which, to me, is a major no-​no.
I must say that people who work at this restaurant are pretty nice and friendly, which may convince me to go try my luck at Sushi Yama again in the future…

This place used to be great. They USED to have a great selection of sushi cheap!
I just went there today at 12 and I have to say the selection there was pretty bare. There were the usual fried calamari, sea weed salad, chicken katsu, and sashimi on the conveyor belt, but what was missing? Oh that’s right actual sushi which I came by for.
I was lucky enough to scrounge up a seared salmon roll and some sort of fish maki but that was it. It was some what pathetic for a sushi restaurant.

ICKY!
This is another one of those kaiten conveyor belt sushi joints. I was excited when this place first opened because I thought, ‘yay! Another place like Sushi Land!’ Unfortunately, you will leave this place hungry and sad.
The sushi here is not fresh. Fish isn’t cut properly, rice is hard and sticky, and rolls are mouthfuls of mayo. This isn’t authentic sushi!
I’ve had the agedashi tofu here, the only saving grace here, most likely.
Skip this place.

Sushi Yama was awesome. My friend and I came here on a Saturday afternoon, it was rainy outside, but surprisingly it wasn’t uncomfortably packed. We were seated immediately.
The belt was completely stocked with different plates of sushi and non-​sushi items. It was awesome to be able to grab things right away and not have to wait 10 – 15 minutes, they constantly filled the belt.
The hot plate items were actually hot! We were there about an hour and the entire service we ate fresh, hot, food. It was also delicious. There were generous amounts for very little. As another Unilocaler pointed out, most of the plates were $ 1.00-$ 1.50. I think I ended up spending $ 4 and I was satisfied and full.
I would recommend this place over Blue C any day.

Below average conveyor belt sushi place. Not enough nigiri option and too many rolls that are filled with the same ingredients.
Fish was not fresh and ‘dried’. I would much rather go to Sushiland then here.

I don’t know if I was either smoking something when I tried this place before, or maybe they’ve changed a lot of things since then, but based on my more recent expereinced, I find myself having to do a major downgrading of my rating of Sushi Yama.
Food/​Ingredients = NOT fresh or remotely flavorful (e.g. salmon roe had a vaguely cloudy/​white shade & gone bad) .
Service/​Sushi Chef Expertise = non existent (he managed to not understand my order, mess up my order, and then forget my order all in one sitting, and the place was almost empty).
I have a thinig for sushi/​Japanese places run entirely by non-​Japanese. It’s not that everybody needs to speak Japanese, but at least have somebody there that understands the language please. I have to give it to Sushi Land in Redmond (Bellabotega strip mall) — where you find much better quality of food, a real Japanese sushi chef (most of the time).

Sushi Yama will never be the same, New Owners have taken this place to a different level… down down down. I hate to say this by Sushi Maru down the block is the new kid in town.
One day I will visit you once again Sushi Yama, I wish you luck.
If the Orignal Owners read this, I want to thank them for their great service with Sushi Smiles. I conclude this Unilocal Review by providing a Youtube link to a Jay Sean — Down (ft. Lil Wayne) —

Microsoft Prime 2009 – 2010
Ambiance: 2
Food: 4
Value: 3
Please please get a bigger place. Your food is too good.
This tiny conveyer place is home to some very good sushi and Japanese eats. Their jalapeño tempura really hits the spot. With fairly reasonable prices and a prime discount, this is one of the best values in Bellevue (much better than Blue C)
One of the key factors in their success is that they basically have a rectangle cooking area with the conveyer going around it and people sitting around the three sides (the other side is the back kitchen side where they load up the tempura stuff. This arrangement produces one of the smallest conveyer distance per customer ratio. This helps keeping the food fresh and updated constantly.
The drawback is that this is quite possibly the most crammed restaurant in Bellevue. With people crammed next to you and standing around (especially now that the weather is colder) waiting for you to finish, it can be a bit weird.

The sushi on the belt goes round & round, rOUNd & round, rOUNd &– ok, haha.
I noticed they have their unique different plate offerings compared to «the others». If only I can LEARN all of the names for these plated pieces of art. The place seemed decent enough in condition. I kind of liked the wood shelf with the alcohol on it, which was behind the oh-​soooo-​cute waitress when she sat down on that side. ^o^ When she came by, her eyes just sparkled! *ahem* was I writing a review?
They def had alot more variety than what i’m used to seeing circulating around the belt — katsu, cucumber salad, a cupcake, watermelon, the rolls… i did find it strange that there was such huge selection going ’round when there was hardly anyone there. before i left, a buncha people started coming in.
Great sushi (although, I try too not eat the imitation meat ones), and nice service. If you get ice cream and don’t finish, just take the handy container it comes in.

Hm. Went for three visits before posting as very strange mix of reviews that go beyond personality issues… however, we like.
On 2 visits, we all ordered Sashimi plates for 9.99, and I chose Hamachi only. The fish was fantastic and fresh, and my lemon was cut to look like a feline. bonus.
We did not do much sampling of the variety plates traversing the racetrack, but from the generic types we each had, all were fresh and prepared well. (Ika/​salmon/​maki maguro/​tako)
The only complaint was one of my pals took a cake, and it tasted like licking the interior of his fridge. Who gets cake off a belt when there is buttery Hamachi… really.
On the last visit, we took small humans, and they LOVED the choochoo of food, and there were no complaints from the one that is an occasional picky palate. There seemed to be many sets of parental units with offspring during the lunch hours, and they all enjoyed themselves as much as we did.
Another great note about Yama — the owners are kind and have incredible taste in music. In fact, I used many tracks suggested to me by the owner on my downtempo radio show.
So I hum along to perfect soundtrack with my sushi gathering.
Try it, and have an open mind.

I have been going to Sushiland for years but I think I am now converted. Sushiyama Japanese Restaurant is just plain better! More authentic, nice people, and they definitely have Sushiland beat with more variety and better quality.
I had gone here when they first opened and it was awful… mainly because there was no food going around the belt! So we waited and waited for the meager portions to hit the belt. Well that has changed drastically… There were few people in there yesterday, but the belt was full of great things to eat… and NOW I am full too.