Convey Sushi

One of my favorite things to do in Tokyo is go to sushi-jins with conveyor belts. The chef puts assortments of different sushi on plates and as the conveyor belt rolls you grab the sushi that appeals to your hunger. It's good for a quick bite or can cause you to get a wee-bit out of control if you're like me and just impulsively grab, grab, grab!

Convey Sushi is run by a half Japanese and half Greek guy named Kevin. His restaurant is located at 801 Congress St. Parking is downtown is always a horrible bitch, but Bryce and I got lucky and found parking just a minute away. When you walk in, it seems there is confusion as to whether you wait to be seated or seat yourself. There is no sign, however, you're supposed to seat yourself. You have the option of sitting around the conveyor belt or at a table. You can tell that the place isn't 100% finished. It seems like a rough finish. It can be made a lot nicer. The bathroom was quite shocking to me because it was so simple with the toilet paper holder/dispenser(?) positioned in an awkwardly position in the middle of the bathroom. Needs major work.

The owner was very nice and welcoming from the get-go. Asked where we'd heard of the restaurant. He took our drink orders, Blue Moons, and offered us hot sake on the house. Sweet!

The plates range from $5, $4.5, $4 and $3 (I believe). The way you know is how it's colored. Pink plates are $5. You can grab off the conveyor or place an order. BUSINESS IS TOUGH! Kevin's normal waiter was out sick, so he was scrambling around the restaurant trying to keep up but failed on a few occasions. They were out of cucumber, asari (clams) and I believe out of something else because I kept getting "we're out of that, too" response. They need to better stock up on Saturdays!

The same white fishes, plate of tempura and a specialty roll went around on the conveyor for about 20 minutes. I got to the point where I was pretty pissed and told Bryce that after I was done with my beer I was asking for the check unless other sushi started getting added the the belt. Especially since he went around getting everyone's requests earlier, but nothing was appearing! He was very apologetic when he asked me if I was "still good?" and I told him that I was just still waiting on other items, since the same things had been going for 20 minutes. We'd placed an order for a specialty roll, which we'd not received either.

Maybe 5 more minutes passed and finally there was more salmon, eel, tuna, and seared tuna. The cuts were generous. I love salmon. Even though it wasn't the absolute BEST, it was still pretty good. Bryce enjoyed his eel. We ordered spicy scallops and squid. The rice was undercooked. Bryce liked the spicy scallops however. The squid was good, but slightly dry. I'm guessing the squid sat for too long. I ordered agedashi tofu, which was pretty good! I liked how they were cut into smaller, bite-sized pieces, because normally they seem to be served in two large blocks where everyone just breaks bits off. Seared pepper tuna was delicious. And so was our specialty roll. I was extremely impressed by this roll! It was called the Congress, I believe. It had garlic, asparagus, daikon sprouts, seared rib-eye beef, avocado and scallions. WOW, was this delicious or what! It was very "green" tasting. The beef did not take away from the fresh tasting veggies in this roll. The daikon sprouts really made this dish, in my opinion. I'll definitely be ordering this every visit.

The owner gave us the hot sake and agedashi tofu on the house and our beers at happy hour prices since he was sorry for the "kinks" that needed to be worked out.

-Needs a faster kitchen. There were 5 men back there, it was inexcusable that the same fish was on the belt for about 20 minutes.
-They need to pay attention to what items have sat for too long. Those same unwanted fish were on the belt when we left, about an hour and a half plus. Bad.
-Need to make sure they have everything in stock on Saturdays.

There were many shortcomings with Convey, but they have been only open for 6 weeks and I believe that they're going to work on the kinks and I hope this restaurant gains some success. We'll be going back in about a month to see if it's progressed and HOPEFULLY the waiter will not be sick! Poor boss.