With this deal, the sushi won’t be the only thing swirling around the room.

These days it seems like the price of everything is rising at an alarming rate. But at the same time, this is a prime opportunity for businesses to really turn heads by offering shockingly cheap deals against the tide of inflation.

One such business is Koma Sushi, a chain of conveyor belt sushi restaurants located in Kanagawa and Tama, Tokyo. They have an amazing offer of all-you-can-drink alcohol for 90 minutes for just 550 yen (US$3.82) and no strings attached.

To check it out we sent our reporter Ahiruneko, who always enjoys a nice drink as long as it isn’t with Mr. Sato. Upon entering the restaurant, he was taken aback by the number of people inside, and it seemed nearly all of them were there for the all-you-can-drink deal.

As mentioned before, there are no special conditions to ordering the booze buffet, but the time limit is strictly enforced. The last drink must be obtained by the 75-minute mark and the table must be relinquished at 90 minutes exactly, so no lingering and no extensions. As long as you can play by those rules, then it’s a free for all.

The alcohol here is completely self-serve and all the standards are lined up along the counter.

Unfortunately, the only beer option is Clear Asahi, which is a “class 3 beer” making it more of a beer-flavored alcoholic beverage than an actual beer.

Still, considering what he was paying, it was understandable and Ahiruneko was more than happy to get  a frosty mug of it.

▼ Ahiruneko: “Yayyyyyy!”

Although Koma Sushi is a revolving sushi restaurant with a cheap all-you-can drink deal, it’s actually more of a high-end restaurant compared to chains like Sushiro. Single dishes, like this cucumber platter, are in the range of 200 to 300 yen ($1.39 – $2.08).

It’s all prepared by a chef working in between the lanes so you can tell everything is fresh. Luxurious little spreads like this sashimi set for 1,298 yen ($9) are also available.

The quality was definitely much better that other revolving sushi chains and Ahiruneko was tempted to buy a five-piece bluefin tuna plate for 1,265 yen too.

For his next drink, Ahiruneko went to the soda dispenser that was retrofitted to make cocktails. First, you need to choose either a shochu or whiskey base and then add whatever flavor you like such as cola, grape, tea, or Calpis.

There are also four flavors of shochu straight from the bottle: barely, sweet potato, soba, and shiso.

And there’s a choice of white wine, red wine, or sangria.

Finally, sake is dispensed either hot or cold to suit your mood.

Since it’s all self-serve you can also mix and match if a certain combination catches your eye. There’s a wide variety of glasses tailored to the various drinks, but Ahiruneko was confused by the glasses for hot drinks.

Mixing shochu and hot water is not unheard of, but there did seem to be any hot water at all at this bar. Already a little tipsy, our writer repeatedly scanned the counter but found nothing. It took him longer than he cared to admit to realize that the hot water faucet was back at his table.

Most revolving sushi restaurants have this feature, but it’s typically to make glasses of tea. It didn’t occur to Ahiruneko that they could be used to cut his drinks too.

He then remembered that he was on the clock and had wasted far too much time thinking about hot water. He stepped things up and got a oolong tea highball, followed soon after with a grape sour.

In the meantime, he grabbed a type of yukhoe made with flounder for 440 yen.

And he also got a very delicious seared salmon sushi plate for 385 yen.

As his time neared the end, he settled down with some chilled sake. The kind offered was Ozeki, known for their One Cups at convenience stores and supermarkets. It often gets a bad rap as cheap sake brand for this, but is actually quite good. Ahiruneko was really able to appreciate this fact when it was served in a proper cup.

And for his last dish, he got an unusual sushi roll called Saba Gari Maki for 275 yen ($1.91). It was the first time he ever ate this combination of mackerel, pickled ginger, and shiso, but was very impressed with it.

There wasn’t anything to criticize about Koma Sushi, and Ahiruneko summed it up as a total paradise for drinkers. Hanging in the store was a sign that reminded him: “We rely on positive word of mouth about our restaurant from our customers to keep the all-you-can-drink prices as low as possible.”

As luck would have it, Ahiruneko’s got one of the biggest mouths around being one of our writers. So be sure to check out Koma Sushi for great food and lots to drink. The all-you-can drink offer is available pretty much all day and at all locations except for the one near Narayama Station.

Restaurant information
Koma Sushi (Hachioji Octore branch) / 独楽寿司(八王子オクトーレ店)
Tokyo-to, Hachioji, Asahicho 9-1, 9F
東京都八王子市旭町9-1 9F
Open 11:30 a.m. – 10 p.m.
All-you-can-drink: 11:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Website

Photos ©SoraNews24
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