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The owner of the all-you-care-to-eat sushi joint has some considerations that other restaurateurs don't. It must be suggested—and suggested gently, so as not to offend—that what the customer orders, he'd better eat.
If this were a buffet, as in the all-you-can-inhale Chinese buffets that dot the County and Metro East, there would be no need for diplomacy. As we all know, the buffet owners budget for gluttony and still manage to turn a profit. You can eat four pounds of crab rangoon if you're able, and the manager of the Golden Phoenix Feedbag might not even grace you with a look.
But our local all-you-can-eat sushi joints—Sushi Ai, Blue Ocean Sushi, and Sushi Sake—do not involve a buffet. Instead, the diner checks off selections from a paper menu with a pencil. It's the standard method of ordering sushi, just from a somewhat more limited menu.
On the occasion of Sushi Ai preparing to claim its sixth location in Clayton, at 4 N. Central, we idly wondered about this strange subculture, in which the diner is subtly encouraged to eat less, and thusly to eat less of the restaurants' profits.
All three of these restaurants share a set of rules, with small variations:
- You do not get to take leftovers home.
- You will, in fact, be charged for each leftover morsel of sushi.
- If you try to eat the fish off the top of the nigiri or the guts from the center of the maki and leave the rice, you will not be permitted to order more until you finish that rice, bub.
Complicating the matter, we've heard rumors about all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants using various techniques to limit the "food bleed." One is to use extra-large portions of rice in the rolls (rice being cheaper than fish). Another is to take their sweet time delivering the food, leading the diner to reach the point of satiety/bloat before he decides to order more.
It all starts to sound more like a battle than a meal, but then, we'd wager, anyone who has ever worked at any sort of restaurant would find that analogy apt.
The various Sushi Ai locations charge $13 for the AYCE (all you can eat) lunch, and $20 for the AYCE dinner. (Lunch and dinner include a hot bar with Chinese-American dishes like General Tso's chicken, lo mein and fried rice, and dinner also includes a cold salad bar). For every piece of sushi left on the plate, the diner is charged 50 cents, an employee said.
At South County's Sushi Sake, the AYCE lunch is $14 and the AYCE dinner is $19. There, the penalty for over-ordering is a bit more severe. If you leave more than three pieces of sushi on your plate, you'll earn an additional 15% charge tacked onto your bill. And a ninja will kill one randomly selected person at the table. Or not.
Blue Ocean Sushi in the U. City Loop has apparently made a study of the AYCE tendencies of the hungry human, as they offer a fascinating set of options and rules.
The options include three "levels" of AYCE. Level two offers more choices than level one, and level three is the deluxe mode. For instance, if you wanted a bit of smelt roe nigiri, you'd have to upgrade to level two. If you wanted shrimp tempura, or an AK-47 roll or a Dragon Roll, you'd be talking level three. The levels run $17, $23 and $29 at lunch; and $23, $29, and $36 at dinner.
The rules printed on the menu to slow down the diner with eyes bigger than his head are just as interesting:
- AYCE service ends promptly at 9 p.m.
- Don't even think about sharing your food.
- A maximum of two rolls and five pieces of nigiri per round is humbly suggested.
- Leftover food on your plate earns a charge of 50 cents (rolls) to $1 (nigiri and special rolls) per piece.
As far as that last bit goes, Blue Ocean Sushi owner Chai Ploentham claims that in truth, it is very rarely enforced – but if a customer sits down and tries to order a dozen rolls, the caveat about fines will definitely be mentioned by the server.
The offer of all-you-can-eat sushi definitely gets butts in the door. But if you decide to accept the deal, you'd best formulate a plan to get the most bang for your buck without the unwelcome addition of any extra fees (or indigestion). The restaurant has already made calculations of its own.