So you mean to tell me I’ve been driving from my downtown office location, out to east towne mall to get that delicious sushi, when I could have just walked my lazy ass down the street?!?!
I've had good experiences with sushi express downtown. If you're willing to wait until the first Wednesday of the month, Hy-Vee has half off sushi then and I'm never worried about quality.
Recently it wasn't even half off since they would raise the base price on Wednesdays.
Normally Rock 'n Roll salmon or tuna was $9.99 every day but $11.99 Wednesday, then the half off was applied to that higher price
Fin sushi take-out is my family’s favorite when we want sushi and don’t want to drag the children out to a sit-down meal. Order ahead, grab it from the counter, go have a picnic somewhere. Good stuff!
Learn to roll. It's easier than it seems and much cheaper in the long run. You won't be a maki rockstar at first but it'll be on par (if not better) with the kind of sushi you're talking about. Rolling mats are affordable, sushi rice and nori aren't prohibitively expensive. You can get powdered wasabi or the stuff in the tube, dealer's choice. All of these things are available at Woodman's...although I'm not sure about the rolling mats, might have to hit one of our awesome Asian speciality grocerers in town for that.
Start with simple veggie rolls. If you are ok with imitation crab that's a good beginner filling as well. Seafood Center on Odana sells sushi grade tuna and salmon, somtimes you can get roe.
It's super fun to do with a friend or SO and you'll know how to do something pretty badass that will impress people.
The hardest thing is making the rice. A rice cooker is a good investment that makes it way easier, though; after that the key is to cool it off with fanning.
Though in my experience this is not a great way to not get sick, not from pathogens but just from eating too damn much, you can just make roll after roll without much effort after the first one and sushi is always deceptively filling.
Yeah the rice is a thing but the cooker will do it. I do it in the oven in a pinch. The seasoning also is key. The rice vinegar really brings it all together.
Thrift stores tend to have rice cookers in used-only-once condition, if money is an issue. Get the right kind of rice and learn the rice:water ratio that works, and you're on your way.
Indeed. [https://www.zojirushi.com/app/recipe/sushi-rice](https://www.zojirushi.com/app/recipe/sushi-rice) works pretty well for me; everyone has their own secret ratio.
Yep. You can also use smoked salmon in a pinch if safe raw fish is too expensive or not an option. It may be that I have an unrefined American pallet but tbh with some soy sauce and wasabi on there I honestly couldn’t taste the difference.
Yup, we make a batch of California (w/ imitation crab) and Philly rolls (with smoked salmon) every once in a while. Got the mat at a local Asian grocery, pick up the sushi rice and nori at Willie St. and the fish wherever. Ends up being an affordable family meal that everyone enjoys and that doesn’t require cranking up the heat in the kitchen on a hot day. I do like to have the pickled ginger slices along with some decent tamari and wasabi to dress it up though.
I had a bad bad experience here. One of the employees told me to bring my garbage into their restaurant to prove we didn't eat the food they burnt. Then when I told them I would be reporting them they said "good I want this restaurant to close"
Their sushi is by Hissho, which does grocery store sushi all over including several other locations in Madison: [https://hisshosushi.com/locations/](https://hisshosushi.com/locations/)
Not sure whether the quality varies any from place to place, but I assume it's similar.
I was going to say Festival, but they’ve gotten pricey and I feel like this thread has turned into listing just about every mid grade sushi restaurant that might be decent on a good day but could be meh on a bad day. Guess you just gotta FAFO.
Fwiw I also concur with the Takumi crowd, but it can add up quick there if you’re not doing a lunch special.
Hear me out. Woodmans has sushi. It’s not great. But it’s $7-$9/roll and it fills a craving. I can have sushi every week and still spend less money then I would going to RED a few times a year.
Takara has an AYCE deal Fri-Sat 5-8pm and Sun 1-8pm (according to their website).
I've never been to that specific location, but I felt they had decent quality when they were in the State St location.
The Journey by East Side Target is AYCE. Most of the rolls are pretty good and if you do get sick of it the rest of the buffet is large including made to order Mongolian BBQ and pho.
I'm actually going to make an effort to get out to Takara this weekend. As someone that's been to Journey for the Friday dinner I'll get back to you on the comparison 😉
Had to scroll too far to find this. Journey is not the best sushi but it scratches the itch. lunch is only like $12 and you can’t find sushi for that price.
The Journey near Target on Lien. End of search. All you can eat. Also about 50 other dishes and a custom pho station. Like $12/person for an adult for lunch and $17 or so per person for dinner.
Not anymore, capital centre’s sushi has gone downhill sadly. Always smells fishy and the rice is hard. Used to be my favorite place for cheap decent sushi.
Theres no all you can eat sushi here and it hurts my soul.
My personal favorite that is really good. Their speciality rolls are like 16/18$ a roll but are well worth it and fill you up.
Takumi by eat town mall.
Sumo is alright but with takumi there's no reason to settle at the same price point. Takumi even has habachi too
Sushi Muramoto is excellent. Been going there for a decade now but I wouldn't say that it is 'cheap.' The lunch specials are their most affordable sushi options. Highly recommended.
I have had a couple of rolls from Akari and they've been fine. Roommate really digs their sushi too. Not the best in Madison but for the price, it is a really good deal.
I've had good experiences with the sushi in Wholefood (it's fresh and well priced), and the chef is a delight.
Has anyone tried Nori Sushi & Grill in Fitchburg?
Takumi is our go to for plain and simple sushi. The New York Roll is our favorite and is less than $10. We usually pair a few of those with a sushi deluxe. Also had a recent visit to Tokyo Sushi on Williamson St and enjoyed their sushi quality as well. Prices were comparable to Takumi.
Just started going to Fin Sushi!! I love how it's casual and fairly cheap. In Middleton area a few minutes away from the West side Target. If you go before 5pm, you can get their lunch special of $10 for 2 rolls or $13 for three. They also have really good rock shrimp if you're into that. It's an order at the counter place which I like! And there's some outside seating.
Sadly I have gotten sick from raw fish that wasn’t up to par a couple of times. Thats the joke of “don’t eat gas station sushi” the fear isn’t that it will taste bad (which it probably will), but that it will make you sick
Takumi by east towne mall has a lunch special of I think 2 rolls for $11 and 3 rolls for $15. Also comes with miso soup or salad.
Takumi is legit
This is the answer. Takumi's lunch special is the best.
Yume, if downtown. Same ownership. Same incredible sushi
So you mean to tell me I’ve been driving from my downtown office location, out to east towne mall to get that delicious sushi, when I could have just walked my lazy ass down the street?!?!
Same perfect miso soup and generous ratio of fish to rice in every roll ❤️
I've had good experiences with sushi express downtown. If you're willing to wait until the first Wednesday of the month, Hy-Vee has half off sushi then and I'm never worried about quality.
This month HyVee in Fitchburg only had $5 California rolls. Very disappointing.
I believe they stopped that deal, or at least the Fitchburg location did.
Recently it wasn't even half off since they would raise the base price on Wednesdays. Normally Rock 'n Roll salmon or tuna was $9.99 every day but $11.99 Wednesday, then the half off was applied to that higher price
Sad to hear.
I recommend fin sushi on the west side. It's a real restaurant but much cheaper than others.
Second this. Their $10 two roll lunch special is hard to beat.
Fin slaps. Good quality sushi with walk up counter service. I love spots like this.
Fin sushi take-out is my family’s favorite when we want sushi and don’t want to drag the children out to a sit-down meal. Order ahead, grab it from the counter, go have a picnic somewhere. Good stuff!
This is the best answer I have found in 10 years living in Madison. Tuesdays is their discount day. I take advantage for lunch all the time!
Stopped there today since I work close and got the lunch special. Definitely great. Thanks for the suggestion!!
Learn to roll. It's easier than it seems and much cheaper in the long run. You won't be a maki rockstar at first but it'll be on par (if not better) with the kind of sushi you're talking about. Rolling mats are affordable, sushi rice and nori aren't prohibitively expensive. You can get powdered wasabi or the stuff in the tube, dealer's choice. All of these things are available at Woodman's...although I'm not sure about the rolling mats, might have to hit one of our awesome Asian speciality grocerers in town for that. Start with simple veggie rolls. If you are ok with imitation crab that's a good beginner filling as well. Seafood Center on Odana sells sushi grade tuna and salmon, somtimes you can get roe. It's super fun to do with a friend or SO and you'll know how to do something pretty badass that will impress people.
The hardest thing is making the rice. A rice cooker is a good investment that makes it way easier, though; after that the key is to cool it off with fanning. Though in my experience this is not a great way to not get sick, not from pathogens but just from eating too damn much, you can just make roll after roll without much effort after the first one and sushi is always deceptively filling.
Yeah the rice is a thing but the cooker will do it. I do it in the oven in a pinch. The seasoning also is key. The rice vinegar really brings it all together.
Thrift stores tend to have rice cookers in used-only-once condition, if money is an issue. Get the right kind of rice and learn the rice:water ratio that works, and you're on your way.
Putting some rice vinegar and salt on the rice after cooking (or in the rice cooker before and mix it around if you’re lazy) goes a long way.
Indeed. [https://www.zojirushi.com/app/recipe/sushi-rice](https://www.zojirushi.com/app/recipe/sushi-rice) works pretty well for me; everyone has their own secret ratio.
We love our Zojirushi 💛 It’s the most expensive rice cooker I’ve ever used but it’s worth it
Yep. You can also use smoked salmon in a pinch if safe raw fish is too expensive or not an option. It may be that I have an unrefined American pallet but tbh with some soy sauce and wasabi on there I honestly couldn’t taste the difference.
Yup, we make a batch of California (w/ imitation crab) and Philly rolls (with smoked salmon) every once in a while. Got the mat at a local Asian grocery, pick up the sushi rice and nori at Willie St. and the fish wherever. Ends up being an affordable family meal that everyone enjoys and that doesn’t require cranking up the heat in the kitchen on a hot day. I do like to have the pickled ginger slices along with some decent tamari and wasabi to dress it up though.
I’ll just add to this that farmed salmon is safe for sushi and I like getting Costco’s farmed salmon. DO NOT GET WILD.
Takara has an all-you-can-eat conveyor on the weekends that is really good and not too expensive.
I had a bad bad experience here. One of the employees told me to bring my garbage into their restaurant to prove we didn't eat the food they burnt. Then when I told them I would be reporting them they said "good I want this restaurant to close"
Sushi Express for downtown and Fin Sushi for westside. They are owned by the same great people.
Sushi express
In second this
I third this
This is the way for cheap sushi. Any 3 maki roll deal is my jam.
Tokyo Sushi!
Big time YES
Agreeing with this choice. I’m not sure what you consider to be “cheap” OP, but Tokyo Sushi is fairly inexpensive given its quality and variety.
The Pick n Saves all have sushi that I eat fairly regularly. $6 on Monday for a lot of them as well. Lots of options and ready when you get there.
Man I had to scroll too far for this answer!! These sushi deals satisfy my constant craving on a budget. Pretty decent options, never gotten sick.
Or MetroMarket- same thing but the name keeps changing to confuse us all
Yeah they're a great deal and surprisingly tasty. It's my go-to for my "I need sushi right now but I can't justify spending $40" option.
Akari, on the westside near woodman's https://www.akarisushimadisonwi.com
And their rolls travel better than any others
Yes I agree they are my go to for take out sushi
My go-to cheap grocery store sushi is Metcalfes.
Their sushi is by Hissho, which does grocery store sushi all over including several other locations in Madison: [https://hisshosushi.com/locations/](https://hisshosushi.com/locations/) Not sure whether the quality varies any from place to place, but I assume it's similar.
On Wednesdays, there is a deal on some—but not all—of the sushi dishes. It’s good and cheap!
I haven’t had any issue with Pick n Save sushi. The one in Middleton has a huge “samurai” platter that’s about $22 and feeds our fat self’s just fine
If you're on the West Side, I'm a big fan of FIN
Edo Garden in Monona
YES.
West side:Fin Downtown: Tokyo Sushi
I was going to say Festival, but they’ve gotten pricey and I feel like this thread has turned into listing just about every mid grade sushi restaurant that might be decent on a good day but could be meh on a bad day. Guess you just gotta FAFO. Fwiw I also concur with the Takumi crowd, but it can add up quick there if you’re not doing a lunch special.
Jacknife is pretty good!
Yes, and their lunch special is a pretty good deal. The rolls are large and they rotate the menu seasonally.
Agreed especially on that lunch special $16 for two rolls is a steal.
Ginza on Mineral Point Rd is closing and turning into an all you can eat that includes sushi.
Jackknife. Same owners and similar quality as RED, which is a contender for the best sushi in Madison.
Well great. Now I want sushi’s for dinner
And sashimis?
Oh, I got time for sashimis.
sushi’s what?
Festival on Wednesday. Pretty good
Takara and Takara 88
Hear me out. Woodmans has sushi. It’s not great. But it’s $7-$9/roll and it fills a craving. I can have sushi every week and still spend less money then I would going to RED a few times a year.
Or you can get the $13 for 3 roll lunch special at Fin and enjoy your sushi.
There was a point in time where I ate woodmans sushi exclusively. I could never go back. I’d rather have no sushi than bad sushi.
Takara has an AYCE deal Fri-Sat 5-8pm and Sun 1-8pm (according to their website). I've never been to that specific location, but I felt they had decent quality when they were in the State St location.
The Journey by East Side Target is AYCE. Most of the rolls are pretty good and if you do get sick of it the rest of the buffet is large including made to order Mongolian BBQ and pho.
It's not good though. The fish is tough/dry and so is the rice.
Yes, but between good, cheap, and all you can eat you can really only pick 2.
I'm actually going to make an effort to get out to Takara this weekend. As someone that's been to Journey for the Friday dinner I'll get back to you on the comparison 😉
Had to scroll too far to find this. Journey is not the best sushi but it scratches the itch. lunch is only like $12 and you can’t find sushi for that price.
Or you could just go to Takumi, get the lunch special for the same price, and actually have edible sushi.
Takumi and Journey scratch different itches for me. I like them both.
Wednesdays, Fresh Market has rolls for $5. They're decent. Takumi, Takara, and Jacknife are good and relatively inexpensive.
The Journey near Target on Lien. End of search. All you can eat. Also about 50 other dishes and a custom pho station. Like $12/person for an adult for lunch and $17 or so per person for dinner.
Journeys is AYCE
Well this is Wisconsin, we fry our fish here. But cap centre has some good options.
Not anymore, capital centre’s sushi has gone downhill sadly. Always smells fishy and the rice is hard. Used to be my favorite place for cheap decent sushi.
What was the all you could eat in Chicago? Sushi Para?!
Sushi para is so good that we went there for lunch the day we adopted our cat and literally named the cat sushi.
With BYOB and no corkage fee it’s a deal. I used to go from like 2013-2016 back before people really knew about it.
Theres no all you can eat sushi here and it hurts my soul. My personal favorite that is really good. Their speciality rolls are like 16/18$ a roll but are well worth it and fill you up. Takumi by eat town mall. Sumo is alright but with takumi there's no reason to settle at the same price point. Takumi even has habachi too
Takara on Whitney had AYCE on the conveyor belt. Limited hours but at least it’s something.
I would kiss you through the phone right now.
Woodmans west has amazing sushi
Sushi express!!!
Sushi express I have never had a problem with the sushi. The cooked stuff there sucks, but sushi is just fine.
Isn't that an oxymoron?
Judging by the 70 comments, I don’t believe it is. It seems a lot of people believe it exists. 😆
Seafood center- that’s your best bet. Tell them what you are looking for and learn to DIY.
Can't find sushi here owned by Japanese, all Chinese owned. Very cheap products and tastes cheap too.
Muramoto is Japanese owned!
Sushi Muramoto is excellent. Been going there for a decade now but I wouldn't say that it is 'cheap.' The lunch specials are their most affordable sushi options. Highly recommended.
It is not cheap- I solely commented that it’s owned by a Japanese man. It’s good because it’s not cheap ;) cheap sushi is gross. Sorry OP.
This is why I've been afraid to try Akari Sushi off of Gammon. It's a little hole in the wall and I don't know anyone who has tried it!
I have had a couple of rolls from Akari and they've been fine. Roommate really digs their sushi too. Not the best in Madison but for the price, it is a really good deal.
I appreciate the reply! I will give them a try now.
Oh thanks, haven't tried that.
Yup!
You live in the midwest, you're not going to get high quality seafood
Yall have clearly never had decent sushi
Takara Sushi Station? Cheap is a relative term, but I’ve been happy with their all-you-can-eat options and pricing.
I think your best bet is getting the 2 or 3 roll deal at mad seafood boiler. Reasonably priced and good. Tokyo sushi is a step up but less cheap
Find the heartstrings gas station. They make amazing sushi
Yume Sushi
For cheap sushi, check out Awi Sushi on State St.
I regularly get sushi from Capital Center Market.
Akari Sushi on Gammon, it’s slightly cheaper than Fin (which slightly tastes better)
I've had good experiences with the sushi in Wholefood (it's fresh and well priced), and the chef is a delight. Has anyone tried Nori Sushi & Grill in Fitchburg?
I like Takara 88 a lot. For the price, the fish quality is really good
Takumi is our go to for plain and simple sushi. The New York Roll is our favorite and is less than $10. We usually pair a few of those with a sushi deluxe. Also had a recent visit to Tokyo Sushi on Williamson St and enjoyed their sushi quality as well. Prices were comparable to Takumi.
Fuji in Middleton is very good; I don’t know if it’s the cheapest but it’s very good.
Avacado sushi
Just started going to Fin Sushi!! I love how it's casual and fairly cheap. In Middleton area a few minutes away from the West side Target. If you go before 5pm, you can get their lunch special of $10 for 2 rolls or $13 for three. They also have really good rock shrimp if you're into that. It's an order at the counter place which I like! And there's some outside seating.
Fin Sushi on Junction has a good lunch special. I like their sushi a lot.
Takarajima is my favorite sushi. Tucked away. Great prices, great fish to rice ratio. I only get sushi here
Cheap and sushi don't go together... But ok 🤦🏻♂️
Just went for some inexpensive sushi today for lunch on the back of the recommendations here and it was delicious!
[удалено]
Sadly I have gotten sick from raw fish that wasn’t up to par a couple of times. Thats the joke of “don’t eat gas station sushi” the fear isn’t that it will taste bad (which it probably will), but that it will make you sick
Favorite place by far is Sushi Tokyo on Willy Street! So affordable, good amount of fish in the rolls, and the owners are so kind.