Sushiro opens in New York with $5 sushi and no tipping

Sushiro New York opens this October, the chain's first US restaurant, taking over a three-floor former McDonald's on Eighth Avenue and 42nd Street in Times Square.

The Japanese chain, run by Food & Life Companies (F&LC), is the world's largest kaiten-zushi operator, with 331 stores across Asia as of August. New York is its first stop outside the continent, aside from an izakaya it opened in Boston in 2024.

The 9,000-square-foot site seats about 150 people across its first two floors. Plates travel on the conveyor belts that built Sushiro's name in Japan, and diners order extras through digital touchscreens rather than flagging down staff.

The world's largest city and a place from which information spreads globally.

Pricing starts at $5 a plate for bigeye tuna or shrimp nigiri. Bluefin otoro runs $10, and a shrimp double-cheese roll designed for American tastes costs $14. Most of the roughly 200 items on the menu sit between $5 and $10.

No tipping, no exceptions

The restaurant will not add a tip line to the bill, a rarity in New York dining and a sign that F&LC wants to import its Japanese service model rather than adapt it to local habits. Staff take special orders through the touchscreens while the belt does most of the delivery work.

F&LC president Masahiro Yamamoto called New York "the world's largest city and a place from which information spreads globally," framing the opening as a marketing move as much as a commercial one. The chain will judge success on repeat visits, not just opening-week queues.

Part of a wider overseas push

The debut fits a bigger target: F&LC wants overseas markets to supply 55% of group sales by 2035, on the way to 1 trillion yen in total revenue. Rival kaiten-zushi chain Kura Sushi already runs dozens of US locations and has fresh investment behind further expansion.

New York's fine-dining scene keeps growing too, with Daniel Humm's return to the West Village among the season's bigger openings. Whether $5 nigiri finds an audience in a city with no shortage of $300 omakase counters is the real test Sushiro has an October date to answer.