In Asia, there's a restaurant concept where plates of sushi are placed on a conveyor belt that delivers food directly to the customer. It's been a popular format for decades, and it's finally made its way to Las Vegas.
Freddy Hwang is the owner of the recently-opened Sapporo Revolving Sushi near Spring Mountain Road and Decatur Boulevard. He says that he loves the concept because it's a convenient way to eat sushi.
"As soon as you sit, you can immediately start eating," said Hwang. "That's the beauty of conveyor belt sushi."
Sapporo is the first revolving sushi restaurant in Las Vegas, and Hwang says that's because the Southern Nevada Health District has strict guidelines for how long food is allowed to sit out before it's consumed. To make a revolving sushi restaurant work, Sapporo needed to come up with a reliable solution to keep track of the time that plates spend in front of customers.
The restaurant came up with a high-tech solution that earned the Health District's stamp of approval - each plate has a sensor at the bottom that tracks how long the food has been on a conveyor belt. After a certain amount of time, a robotic arm knocks the plate off the conveyor belt, where kitchen staff can dispose of the food properly.
Aside from the revolving sushi, Sapporo also lets you order food a la carte, which is then delivered directly from the kitchen by a robot that rides on a monorail.
