Waiting a long time for food can be incredibly frustrating. It’s even worse when all the food keeps getting eaten by other customers at an all-you-can-eat revolving sushi restaurant.
While TikToker Mae (@maeze.7) and her friend are sitting at a booth in Kura Revolving Sushi Bar, she films the conveyor belt, which is covered with capsule plates of sushi on the other side of her. When it passes an older couple, they pluck sushi off the plates with their chopsticks. Then, the empty plates arrive in front of the duo. “Getting stuck behind greedy people at revolving sushi,” she expresses in the on-screen caption to 2.2 million viewers. As the camera shifts to reveal Mae, she side-eyes the couple and looks the other way, waiting impatiently.
Mae vents her outrage in the caption, “save some for the rest of us also YES we ordered off the screen it just took forever.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Mae via TikTok direct message as other methods were unavailable. It reached out to Kura via email.
Viewers were empathetic
Most could relate to Mae’s feelings. Others were angry on her behalf.
“I THINK I WENT TO THE EXACT SAME ONE UR AT AND ME AND MY BF WERE AT THE END OF THE LINE AND WE GOT NOTHING GOOD,” one viewer recalled.
“This was us a few weeks ago. after a half an hour of not seeing a single entree, I went up to the front and demanded another table,” a second shared.
“Sigh guess I will enjoy the essence of the food that used to be there,” a third wrote.
“[Expletive] leave some for the rest,” a fourth remarked.
A self-reported revolving sushi employee chimed in, “I guess I’ll expose myself then lol I work in a revolving sushi bar and no we can not switch for the belt to go back and forth, most people grab food off belt and waste a lot of food.”
How much food does a revolving sushi bar waste each year?
Because of this style of service, some of it ends up in the trash. Although there isn’t a specific number, many sushi bars in Japan are reducing and even eliminating the style of service. The restaurants that removed this practice and delivered food to the customers directly saw a reduction of 1,000 tons of waste each year, per VN Express. However, those who kept it are implementing AI to assist in customer preferences, and saw a 3% decline in waste.
@maeze.7 save some for the rest of us also YES we ordered off the screen it just took forever #kura #sushi #revolvingsushi ♬ original sound – 0n1ka.Supremacy
Sushi bar etiquette
At a sushi bar, the conveyor belt only moves in one direction. Touching a plate that doesn’t belong to you or isn’t what you wanted is disrespectful, according to Yahoo. Once you touch it, the plate is yours. If you return it, this can upset both customers and the chefs. Before swiping that plate, make sure it’s actually something that interests you and you know the prices. Most sushi bars charge by the plate.
If you have an experience similar to Mae’s, speak up.
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