Updated October 2026. A quiet weekday lunch for two at Blackfish Rotary Sushi in Buffalo Grove, without the kids this time. The bill is at the bottom.
Vika and I wanted a quick sushi lunch on a Wednesday, close to the house. That is the whole reason we ended up at Blackfish Rotary Sushi and Bar again, on the corner of Dundee and Buffalo Grove Road. It is not our first time here. We have been a handful of times, and if I am honest, never because we were dying to come here specifically. We come because it is close, it is quick, and there is a lot of variety going around in front of you.
So is it good sushi? I would say it is okay. On the drive home we agreed on almost everything: the robot train is fun, the fish in the hand roll and the gunkan was generous, and the kids would love it. But the rice had no flavor, there was too much of it, and the spicy rolls lean on tempura filler. It is a convenience pick, not a destination.
Blackfish is a rotary sushi place you would see on TV
If you have never been to a rotary sushi restaurant, picture one of those places they show on TV when they film Japan or Korea. Plates go around on a conveyor belt past every table, you grab what looks good, and anything you order on the tablet at your table comes out on a little robot train that runs on its own track above the belt and stops right in front of you.
It is gimmicky, and I mean that in a mostly good way. The room is bright and modern, there are giant sushi plushies by the host stand, a salmon nigiri mascot by the door, and a full bar off to the side, which we skipped at lunch. On a weekday at lunchtime it was quiet, and there was enough going around on the belt.
How ordering works, the belt, the tablet and the robot train
Every plate on the belt has a little picture card in front of it that tells you what it is, so you are not guessing. You take what you want, and you do not put plates back on the belt. The sign right above it says “Please don’t put plates back into the belt!”
For anything you want made fresh, you use the tablet. Our spicy kani salad, the hand roll and two orders of gunkan all came that way. The screen on the robot train says “Your food has arrived. Please take and enjoy it.” Vika did exactly that.
Every color plate costs the same, whether it is two pieces of nigiri, three pieces of a specialty roll or four pieces of a regular roll, and that makes it very easy to keep track of what you are spending. The actual number, and what lunch for two came to, is at the bottom.
What we ordered at Blackfish
We ended up with ten plates, plus two things off the tablet. I went heavy on spicy salmon and tried it three ways: as a roll, as gunkan and as a hand roll. We also got seared salmon nigiri, Vika got a tamago nigiri, and between us there was eel nigiri, masago gunkan, a couple of specialty roll pieces, spicy tuna gunkan and the spicy kani salad.
The spicy salmon was the best thing we had
The spicy salmon was tasty, and it was the thing I liked most. The sauce they used on it was not their spicy mayo, which I think is part of why it worked.
Here is the part I did not expect. The spicy tuna and spicy salmon gunkan had a lot of fish on them, and the hand roll did too. At some places you get the fish on top, and as soon as you are on your second bite you are just eating seaweed and rice. That was not the case here. There was fish all the way through, right down to the last bite. Vika noticed the same thing.
The catch, and this is Vika’s complaint first, is the filler. Their spicy salmon, spicy tuna and spicy crab are mixed with a whole bunch of tempura crunch. Neither of us likes a lot of tempura in there, and you could definitely taste it. We ran into the same thing at Wu’s House in Kildeer, where the spicy scallop was heavy on tempura too.
The rice is the problem, plain and too much of it
If I had to pick the one thing that holds Blackfish back, it is the rice. There was no flavor to it. It was like, okay, you are eating rice. Vika put it in one word: plain. It was not memorable at all.
And there is a lot of it. Vika would say the nigiri and the gunkan are on the over rice side of things, and I agree. They put a hefty amount of rice in each piece, to the point where you have to take two bites, and normally you don’t. For me it was a real mouthful. The rolls themselves were fine. We have run into a rice problem before, at Furinkazan in Des Plaines, and this one is a different kind: not bad rice, just plain rice, and too much of it.
Their spicy mayo is the thin kind
I am picky about spicy mayo, and theirs is the style I don’t really like. It is the Thousand Island dressing kind of spicy mayo, very liquidy, with no thickness and no consistency to it.
It is the same complaint I had at Black Pearl in Glenview, and that is a restaurant I loved otherwise.
The seared salmon and the tamago missed for us
Neither of us was crazy about the seared salmon nigiri, and I usually love seared salmon. The sear was not as deep as I would like. The whole reason I order it is that smoky flavor, and it was missing.
The tamago is a funny one. Vika actually likes tamago nigiri, and she was the one convincing me to try this one. It turned out to be different from the usual tamago: lightly seared, with spicy mayo and masago on top. She did not like it at all. I think that one is a taste preference, so if you like your tamago dressed up, you may feel differently.
The rest of the table was just okay. The eel nigiri, the masago gunkan, the specialty roll pieces and the spicy kani salad were all fine, nothing we would warn you away from and nothing we would go back for.
Ten plates got us a toy
At the end of lunch, our ten plates got us a toy. It is a little capsule toy, and I always like getting those. I don’t know why, I just do.
This is definitely a place you could bring the kids. The kids will enjoy it, and the kids will also enjoy the toy.
Would we bring Josh and Emily to Blackfish?
We already have. Josh and Emily have been here with us before, and they liked it. It is an easy place to bring them, and they get to pick what they want off the belt.
Where Vika and I disagree is what a family lunch would cost. I think the whole bill for the four of us would come in under a hundred dollars. Vika thinks I am wrong. Emily would have a few things, sure, but Josh would go wild on nigiri, rainbow rolls, California rolls and then just one more roll, to the point where he could probably eat as much as the two of us combined.
Our verdict on Blackfish Rotary Sushi
Blackfish is not a place to run to. It is a place you end up at because it is close, it is fast, there is a ton of variety, and everybody gets what they want. Vika said it best: convenience, proximity and hunger would bring her back, and she likes the variety. I feel the same way, with one question I keep coming back to. If you are having a lot of something that is not great, is it worth it? But to Vika’s point, when it is close and you are hungry, I think it is.
We will be back, probably in a few months. What I would never do is order takeout from here. As Vika said, there are too many other places nearby.
There is another conveyor belt sushi place down the road in Buffalo Grove, Taste of Tokyo. I used to go years and years ago, back when they briefly did all you can eat before COVID. Now it is a regular conveyor belt with a regular restaurant side, and it was very tasty. It is more expensive, and Vika would say it has a little less variety in the specialty rolls, but something there feels more authentic than here. We have not written it up yet. If you want to see how another rotary sushi spot compares, we also reviewed Sushi Plus Rotary Sushi Bar in Chicago.
What lunch at Blackfish cost
Lunch for the two of us came to $55.40. That was ten plates at $3.79 each, which is $37.90, plus the spicy kani salad at $6.95 and the spicy salmon hand roll at $4.95. Our two orders of gunkan came off the tablet and were counted as plates. That made a $49.80 subtotal, plus $5.60 in tax.
We did not order any drinks. The hand roll is the one tablet item that costs a little more than a plate, about a dollar more than the gunkan.
The $3.79 is posted right above the belt, and it applies to every color plate. Their website listed a slightly lower plate price when we checked it, so go by the sign in the restaurant.
Blackfish Rotary Sushi location, hours and parking
Address. 686 S Buffalo Grove Rd, Buffalo Grove, Illinois 60089, on the corner of Dundee and Buffalo Grove Road.
Phone. (224) 481-3138.
Hours. Sunday through Thursday 11:30 am to 9:00 pm, Friday and Saturday 11:30 am to 10:00 pm.
Parking. The strip mall lot right out front.
The phone number and hours are from the sign on their front door. Our other Buffalo Grove pick for a family meal is Lou Malnati’s, with its new patio.
How much is a plate at Blackfish Rotary Sushi?
Every color plate on the belt was $3.79 when we went, per the sign above the belt and our receipt. A plate is two pieces of nigiri, three pieces of a specialty roll or four pieces of a regular roll. Our spicy salmon hand roll was $4.95 and the spicy kani salad was $6.95.
How does ordering work at Blackfish Rotary Sushi?
Grab plates off the conveyor belt, or order on the tablet at your table. Tablet orders come to you on a robot train that runs above the belt. Do not put plates back on the belt.
Is Blackfish Rotary Sushi good for kids?
Yes. Our kids have been and liked it. The belt and the robot train are fun to watch, everyone can pick their own food, and our ten plates earned us a capsule toy at the end.
What are Blackfish Rotary Sushi’s hours?
Per their front door, Sunday through Thursday 11:30 am to 9:00 pm, and Friday and Saturday 11:30 am to 10:00 pm.
Is Blackfish Rotary Sushi good for takeout?
Not for us. The fun of the place is the belt and the robot train, and the sushi on its own is just okay. With so many sushi places nearby, we would not order takeout from here.
Is Blackfish Rotary Sushi worth it?
For a quick, easy lunch close to home, or a fun outing with kids, yes. If you are driving out of your way for great sushi, I would say no. The fish portions were generous, but the rice was plain and heavy and the spicy rolls use a lot of tempura filler.
More sushi from the northwest suburbs: Black Pearl in Glenview, Kaido in Arlington Heights, e Sushi, our all you can eat pick in Mount Prospect and Wu’s House in Kildeer.
This article is not sponsored. Nothing was comped by the restaurant, and we didn’t tell them we were going to write about them. Prices come from our itemized receipt.
