Bloomington-Normal has a revolving door of restaurants, but co-founders of the new Kobe Revolving Sushi Bar in Bloomington are hoping their joint venture will stay put.
It’s the first of its kind for the area, replicating a conveyor belt delivery system for small plates of sushi that was originally developed in Japan during the 1950s. In Japanese, it’s known as “Kaiten-Sushi,” which translates to “rotating sushi.”
“It's [a] very unique, totally different experience of eating,” said Eric Chen, owner of Kobe Japanese Steak House and co-founder of the new revolving sushi restaurant. “Your eyes get fed first, like nonstop.”
At the sushi bar, a two-level conveyor belt wraps around the restaurant, with booths lining either side. Clear plastic domes sit on the first level of the belt with plates of Nigiri, Maki, Edamame and other Japanese cuisine inside. Patrons can watch as the food approaches the table and grab whatever piques their interest. Chen said that’s been one of his favorite parts of the experience so far — watching others enjoy it.
“We see a lot of smiles on everybody's face,” Chen said. “People can't stop themselves, like looking all around, watching what's coming on the belt.”
At almost any given second, there’s bound to be a plate of food for the taking.
It’s akin to a buffet but with direct service.
“You basically sit down and… even before the server even gives you silverware, you can start eating,” said co-founder Vivian Kong Doctora, who also owns and operates Bao Destination.
For those who want to join the experience but aren’t big on sushi, Kong Doctora said the restaurant has them covered. Kobe also has a full menu of ramen, sushi, bao and desserts that can be ordered via tablets at each table. Staff plates the dishes and sends them over via a small, artificially intelligent car, which stops at the table and returns itself to the kitchen once people grab their food.
The tablets are also a great option for people who aren’t seeing anything they like come by — or perhaps, are seeing lots of empty plates of things they might like — Kong Doctora said.
Pricing for the small plates is a flat rate of $3.50, and a chute at the table for plate disposal helps calculate the bill. Anything ordered on the tablet is automatically added.
To make the experience more exciting, there’s a “Lucky Dragon” game, so when a table orders a certain number of plates, an option to draw their lucky number will appear on the tablet. If they hit play and a certain, top-secret lucky number — which Kong Doctora assures is real — is pulled, it will trigger a small toy to release from a mechanism above the conveyor belts.
“That has probably been the most exciting part [for] a lot of people,” Kong Doctora said.
There’s also a boba bar, with a window for people to take orders if they don’t want a sit-down meal and just need a sugary drink fix.
Doing their homework
It’s a lot to combine in one space, but Chen said he, Kong Doctora and their other business partner — also the kitchen manager — had a lot of time to think it over. They’d been planning for this restaurant for over a year. Chen even traveled to find the best conveyor system and other equipment to help the operation run smoothly. He pointed out that that’s part of being a small business.
Most of the other revolving sushi restaurants in the U.S. are chains. For example, Kura Revolving Sushi has dozens of locations across the U.S. and has another dozen coming soon, according to its website. Their location in Aurora is now the second-closest to Bloomington.
Meanwhile, in Central Illinois, Kong Doctora said they had to build from scratch.
“The people who work in the city or health department have never seen something like [this],” she said, adding that it took a lot of educating and learning across the board before Kobe could open.
Doing this locally was important to her and the other founders, though, Kong Doctora said. She added that she feels more local, small business is “something that Bloomington-Normal [residents] definitely are craving for."
But the learning process continues. In the first few weeks of operation, Chen and Kong Doctora said they’ve already figured out that rolls are more popular than edamame or squid salads, and there are still other kinks to be worked out.
The groundwork has been set, though, Kong Doctora said.
“We kind of started, [and] in some way, opened the door, maybe for other people [to do this here], but maybe for us to replicate [Kobe] in other cities like Peoria, Champaign, Springfield and what have you,” she said.
When asked if another Kobe Revolving Sushi could be expected nearby soon, Kong Doctora and Chen both laughed.
“It really depends how soon we can get this place straight," he said, pointing out that they’re still training and hiring kitchen staff and trying to set a good pace. Plus, their sign hasn’t even arrived yet. (Kong Doctora said the first one arrived broken and they’re hoping to get a temporary banner up next week).
Once that’s all worked out, Kong Doctora said they’ll revisit the idea.
“But we’ll let you know as soon as possible,” she added.
