There’s seating for 100 here, in a bright expanse in the upscale Natick Mall. A grove of faux-willow trees rustle in a ventilator breeze, while shoppers stroll by with curious glances at the robo-restaurant.
The Natick location is the company’s third and largest. Soon to come: South Shore Plaza in Braintree, and five new outposts in Los Angeles. None will match Natick in size.
The fish served at Wasabi is, in general, as fresh and flavorful as you can find at any lower-cost sushi bar. The variable becomes the skill of the sushi chef, and at Wasabi, it is indeed variable.
On some nights, sushi is correctly cut with respect to the grain of the fish, and maki rolls are pleasantly precise. With luck you will arrive on such a night. At other times, maki rolls are comically misshapen; sashimi chopped to a grisly fare-thee-well. The skills of the chef-on-duty seem to vary dramatically.
Through it all, the simplest salmon ($3.50), tuna ($4), and flounder ($4) nigiri - just a slab of fish on a pad of rice - are consistently excellent. These three fish are shipped fresh to the restaurant. Other varieties arrive flash-frozen, but these can also shine in simple preparations. Among them, escolar (called “white tuna’’ here, $4) and Japanese yellowtail ($4).
The five varieties of melamine plates you can grab off the conveyor are color-coded according to price, from $2.50 to $5. When you’re done, stack the plates, and pay at the end. In Japan, such kaiten-zushi restaurants are often regarded as tacky, even unseemly. Abroad we can have fun. In California, elaborate boats bring the plates to you in a water-filled canal. In Australia scale trains chug by. In England, it’s little double-decker buses.
