I wasn’t quite prepared for how much I would enjoy dining at Watami, presently Ohio’s only kaitenzushi, or conveyor-belt sushi restaurant. Within seconds of parking the car, we were removing plates from the passing belt and smashing sushi rolls. It’s a level of instant gratification that manages even to eclipse the glee felt when the chips and salsa hit the table at a Mexican restaurant.
Located in Parma, Watami (7426 Broadview Rd., 216-232-1161) is small but efficiently arranged so that all the dishes that snake their way through the dining room pass within arm’s reach of every table, every diner. It’s mesmerizing to stand at the threshold and watch those colorful plates glide in slow, steady orbits around the room. They begin their path at the open kitchen in the rear of the restaurant, where a trio of sushi chefs work nonstop to feed the infinite beast.
That first bite, for us, was a bowl of kani salad, a refreshing mix of faux crab, cucumber and flying fish roe, all tossed in spicy mayo. Items are color-coded, with green, yellow, pink, red and black dishes corresponding to the price. They start at $2.50 for vegetarian items like edamame, seaweed salad or an avocado roll and climb to $3.75 for raw nigiri like salmon, yellowtail and snapper or cooked items such as shrimp or eel nigiri or spider rolls.
We moved onto the spicy crab rolls, an airy faux-crab salad reverse-rolled, with the nori on the inside and the rice on the outside. I love that rolls like this come in pairs as opposed the typical six-piece arrangement, allowing diners to sample many more items in a single sitting. Every dish travels with a lid so there is little risk of other diners touching or tampering with the food before it rolls by. Most are labelled as well, though not always.
Despite a surprisingly rich and varied selection of items like California rolls, shumai, tomago, spider rolls, pink lady rolls and many more, others need to be ordered from the kitchen. In Japan, most kaitenzushi places have tablets for placing orders or at least buttons to summon a server. Failing that, diners can raise their hand and call out “sumimasen!” In Parma, you can go that route or simply raise your hand.
Within minutes of placing an order, plates of salmon, yellowtail and tuna nigiri arrived. The rice beneath was appropriately sticky, lightly vinegared and right-sized for the fish above. The fish was fresh, firm, glossy and perfectly draped over the rice. The fish comes without any wasabi on it or the rice. Tables are equipped with soy dispensers and squeeze bottles filled with wasabi. We also netted plates with surf clam, salmon roe and snapper.
Diners in search of more robust hot fare can order dishes like bowls of udon, ramen or shrimp tempura dinners, which hover in the $14 range.
It’s easy to be a snob when talking about sushi, but Watami – and most conveyor-belt places around the globe – are designed to be quick, delicious and affordable alternatives to the Nobus and Ginkos of the world. Over the course of an hour, two of us racked and stacked 22 plates. The total was $82.50 – an average of $3.75 per item – before tip. Granted, Watami doesn’t sell booze, so we didn’t blow another $40 on sake.
We snuck in without a wait at noon on a Thursday, but watched as the dining room continued to fill up during our stay. Since that early visit, I’ve heard reports of hour-long waits or more at peak times. The restaurant is in the process of setting up a reservation system through OpenTable.
Because we surpassed the 15-plate club, we were gifted a token for the capsule toy machine at the front of the restaurant. With a few turns of the knob we snagged a lighted spinning top that, much like Watami itself, managed to elicit more joy than we had anticipated.
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This article appears in Mar 8-21, 2023.