The First Thing You Should Do Before You Eat At A Sushi Buffet

Sushi has grown from a fringe food that only the most daring would eat, to a more ubiquitous cuisine, with multiple sushi restaurants thriving in most cities. One type of restaurant where patrons can get the most bang for their buck is the sushi buffet, where long platters full of California, Boston, and dragon rolls (among many others) are set out, ready to be plated up by hungry customers. But, before you race out the door, you might want to put your chopsticks down and have a think.

It's a good idea to do some research before you step foot in a sushi buffet. It also doesn't hurt to do a little reconnaissance, checking for red flags in the handling and assembly of the sushi, and the general presentation of the restaurant. Sushi is made with raw fish, which could contain bacteria or parasites, so it's best to exercise some caution when choosing a place to eat.

If sushi is left to sit out at room temperature (as it might be in a buffet setting), the risk for bacterial growth increases exponentially, including the strain Bacillus cereus, which is found commonly in rice. Doing a little research and recon can help mitigate the possibility that you'll end up with a sushi-poisoning horror story to tell.

To survive an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet (especially one you've never been to before), your research should start online. Peruse restaurant reviews on Google or Yelp, or even look at the restaurant's Facebook account. Watch out for both extremely positive and extremely negative comments, as overly positive reviews could come from the restaurant itself. In the negative review column, do people regularly complain about the fish tasting old? Are there comments about how often the sushi gets replaced? Finally, ask friends and family, or put feelers out on social media.

There are also things you can look for once you enter the buffet dining room. First up is crowd size. If you're visiting during a typically busy hour, like lunch or dinner rush, and you're the only one dining, that's not a great sign. (If it's busy, you can bet the sushi gets replaced more often.) Most sushi restaurants — yes, even buffets — will have chefs preparing food behind a counter or glass partition where they can be seen, rather than hidden away in the kitchen. Not being able to see the sushi preparation is a red flag. Finally, if you can find an all-you-can-eat restaurant where the sushi is made-to-order or you see it being regularly restocked, this is a safer bet than a restaurant where the food is sitting out for a long time with no sign of servers going near the buffet table to replace items.