KuruKuru Sushi: Background Information
When I first took the opportunity to review a restaurant, I wanted to go to a place that is local to Bellingham. The reason why is because SO many people either don’t know about these places and live in Bellingham, or they are new to the area and would like to know more about local restaurants and areas other than the usual easy, and often boring Fast-Food Restaurants that we always see. I had thought for a bit on what restaurant to write about – there are so many wonderful cuisines in Bellingham that people should go visit and try, and I’d enjoy bringing spotlight to many of them. But the one that caught my attention was KuruKuru Sushi.
KuruKuru Sushi is along the harbor of Bellingham, on Bellwether Way Street, right by the Bellwether Hotel. KuruKuru Sushi has a total of 4 stars on TripAdvisor and 3.3 stars on Yelp. The reason I was so interested in dining and reviewing this place was because of my past experiences there. I remember loving the place when I was in Elementary School, so it felt only fair to give it another shot years later. Quick disclaimer though, I have dined at this place BEFORE, so my opinions will be different to someone who is less familiar with the restaurant, although in this review I try new menu items that I have never had before.
Review
Me and a friend went on a nice early afternoon on Friday (when we had a 3-day weekend). When we made it up to the restaurant it didn’t seem all that busy at first, as they just opened less than an hour ago. I recommend visiting near opening-time, as there is less of a wait. We were seated almost immediately as we entered the restaurant – which was a pleasant surprise, as they can be pretty busy during lunch. We were sat over by the kitchen, right on the corner of the table, but we still had a nice view of the place overall, even if our spot was a little cramped as other people were seated beside us – but that wasn’t something we could have controlled.
When we sat down, we were instantly given large glasses of water, a large menu, and some chopsticks. We pondered over what to eat for a few minutes – as there are SO. MANY. OPTIONS. While the restaurant does have a conveyor belt, you don’t necessarily have to take the food off of it: you can order it from their menu that they give you once you sit down. Unfortunately, we could not try all of the things on the menu nor the conveyor belt, but we tried our best to eat new menu items.
My usual go-to for KuruKuru is their California Rolls. They are savory, and taste fresh and nutritious with their crab, fresh cucumber, and avocado. It is also a safe option for someone who is picky about their sushi. You can get them deep fried – which I had also tried, making them even better as they crunch in your mouth, and their homemade sauce that they put on the deep-fried sushi makes it twice as good, and more filling for some with a big appetite.
There was another menu that had that same idea of California Rolls, but with a more unique twist. It’s called the ‘Lion King’. This was my first time ever trying it, let alone hearing about this menu item, so I decided to give it a try.
I find the name fitting because it was MASSIVE. It was basically three California Rolls piled together, with spicy crabmeat mixed on top of the rolls, topped off with their house special bake sauce, with a total cost of $4.45. (See Photo 1) It was delicious and very filling, which is always a plus.
The last item I had at KuruKuru Sushi was something sweeter, that I haven’t tried before. I’ve always desired to try macarons, because they’ve always sounded so appealing to me. So, I decided to take the opportunity to try them once I saw them going near me on the conveyor belt.
There were multiple plates of macarons going past us, but I decided on this one (See Photo 2). From what I remember, the red one was a red-velvet type flavor, the brown one was chocolate, and the orange was pumpkin pie flavored. I adored the pumpkin pie flavored one, it was sweet, and the meringue base had a nice, soft feel in my mouth.
The total was around $31.00 for two people, so around $15.50 – $16.00 dollars total, which I personally thought was reasonable with how many plates we ordered.
Final Thoughts + Rating
Overall, I really enjoyed my visit to KuruKuru Sushi. I liked the variety of menu items, the taste and execution of various flavors of dishes, and the experience overall. I wasn’t too fond of the area that we were sat at, only because it felt awkward and cramped being so close to other people (around arm’s length), even if the conveyor belt was right beside us.
Rating: 4.5/5 – Highly recommend if you are fond of sushi, or if you want to try something new!
Other small details I wanted to point out in bullet point form:
- The servers were super nice and really polite, asking often if we were enjoying our food and doing alright. It really made my experience better seeing the workers so willing to help customers out!
- If you cannot use chopsticks (like me), you’ll have to grab a fork or ask the servers for one, as the waiters will automatically give you chopsticks.
- There are also drinks on the conveyor belts that you can get instead of water! You’ll have to pay for them, though.
