By Beau Hurst

Photo credit: Yelp user Arcadia S.

Located in Short Pump, Sushi Kingdom describes itself on its website as “your go-to all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant.” They promise that you can “indulge in an exquisite culinary experience as we offer an extensive selection of delicious sushi, expertly crafted by their talented chefs.” 

According to SCA Co-Chair Finn Dooley (‘26) Sushi Kingdom is a “must,” as it features cheap meals at only $26 for an all-you-can-eat plunder, but also top-notch quality sushi. You might be wondering: How is it possible for an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant to have clean or safe food items? That was exactly what my friends asked when I suggested Sushi Kingdom for our weekly dining excursion. Henry Wootton (‘27), Andrew Everett (‘27), Teddy Cunningham (‘27), Freddie Reed (‘27), and I were simultaneously discussing over the phone about where our next spot would be. Someone in the group suggested that we pursue a restaurant that is more niche than our typical outings to El Cap or Tres Machos. That is when I thought of Dooley’s recommendation. Reed stated that his initial conception of Sushi Kingdom was that it might be “crummy, dirty, and overcrowded.” However, it was the complete opposite. 

As you walk into the restaurant, you are greeted with a warm welcome from the staff as you are immediately seated in your booth. You walk past a fountain with a statue of what looks like a baby and a man at the same time. Underneath the baby-man is a fountain with smoke oozing out and onto the floor of the restaurant. The restaurant was decorated with Japanese-style flags and hanging ceiling decor. Instantly, the sight of the furnishing and cleanliness of Sushi Kingdom came as a shock to us, due to our original misconceptions of what an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant would be like. 

Under the “All You Can Eat Rules” section of the menu, it states that “all you can eat is for two hours limit only,” and you may “not waste any food,” or else you will be charged for it. Even though it seemed like plenty of time, it came as a setback for us because of our hearty appetites after a long day of school and athletics. 

The menu ultimately has four extremely important sections for your dining experience. “Soup and Salad” consists of items such as miso soup, seafood soup, and even salmon skin salad. The second section was appetizers, where I spent quite a bit of my time. It consisted of items like spring rolls, calamari, shrimp, and my favorite, edamame.

Below those two sections is where you get to the reason as to why you are there. With over 30 different types of rolls, Sushi Kingdom has whatever you could possibly be craving. Each roll came with either five or eight pieces, which was the perfect amount to experience many different rolls. There were rolls with all sorts of fish, crabmeats, shrimp tempura, cream cheese, eel sauce, avocado, and many more toppings that one would likely have to Google before eating. Lastly, the menu offers a “Kitchen Entrees” section, including teriyaki, fried rice, hibachi, and noodle items, as well as dessert. 

Upon reviewing the hefty menu, we all decided to start with the appetizers and miso soup, which was a warm, but not warm enough, earthy-tasting soup. The miso soup had the perfect amount of seaweed, as it was not entirely overflowing in each spoonful of soup.

Snow Crab Naruto Roll. Photo credit: Freddie Reed.

After the reasonably satisfactory soup, I went straight to the sushi rolls, starting off with the Godzilla Roll, which contained “spicy crab, jalapeno, cream cheese inside; deep fried; topped with crab; and served spicy mayo and eel sauce.” Each piece was absurdly large, although that was exactly what I wanted. The roll had the perfect crunch with each bite and plenty of crab flavor. However, the menu only mentions “spicy crab,” meaning that I am not sure if it was real crab meat, or some kind of imitation. 

On the other hand, Cunningham had previously told me that he had been “saving his appetite all week in order to go crazy.” When I looked on the other side of the table, I saw one of the largest rolls of sushi I have ever seen. The roll he picked was the Dynamite Roll: a giant roll with spicy snow crab, cream cheese, cucumber, salmon, avocado, eel sauce, and wasabi sauce. As I watched him take his first bite, his face lit up. Cunningham stated that it was “lowkey alright, but not bad.” I politely asked if I could sample one of his rolls, and its quality was exactly as described. Reed’s roll of choice was the snow crab naruto roll, which contained “snow crab, mango, and avocado rolled in hand sliced cucumber wrap.” He stated that “I prefer the more traditional rice wrap, but the avocado was equally as good.”

Before it was time to go to the next roll, I ordered a plate of steak teriyaki. When the plate came out, it was the size of my hand, with what looked like five bite-size steak pieces. I was shocked by the let-down of a portion, because the serving size sure didn’t match my appetite. However, I understand the policy; it is an all-you-can-eat restaurant, and you can keep getting more.

Short Pump Roll. Photo credit: Beau Hurst.

The steak had a rubbery texture, as it was overcooked entirely. It was one of the worst bites of meat I have ever had. It had a mysterious sauce that wasn’t even mentioned on the menu. Eating that piece of meat surely made me tense up. I quickly ordered the Short Pump Roll, which contained “shrimp tempura inside; topped with salmon and avocado; served with eel sauce and spicy mayo.” I would say it was just about average. The salmon was a great touch due to its savory taste. However, the other ingredients were more on the bland side.

The final roll I tried was the LSU Roll. Its ingredients were shrimp tempura, snow crab, cream cheese rolled in soybean paper, and eel sauce with spicy mayo. I was instantly shocked by the size of this roll. The LSU Roll had a pink color from the soybean paper, which was my favorite part, as it gave a softer texture. The other ingredients were up to par as well, with the crab meat and cream cheese being especially tasty. 

A few fried Oreos successfully finished off my meal before it was time to call it quits. Overall, I would rate my experience as successful, with plenty of tasty food items I would for sure enjoy trying again. I ultimately think the restaurant deserves a 7.9 out of 10 because of the low quality steak but high quality sushi. I think they truly do an excellent job with their sushi rolls, giving maximum flavor on the level of other, more expensive restaurants. Most importantly, my friends and I got to try something that we had significantly doubted at first, and ultimately we proved ourselves wrong.