(Please read October 2018 update, can't be arsed doing yet another review of Makoto, but the news is good!) This hurts. For 15 years I've been enjoying that feeling of having a special place thats pretty much perfect. Where the guys knew me and the food was way above the rest. Makoto was the best Sushi Train I'd ever been to and it was fully 1 minutes walk down the road. So I went a lot, I mean at least 800 times. The value was there. My favourites were the tempura king prawn hand roll, the king prawn and omelette hand roll and the most basic of all, the salmon sushi. Thing was, all the offerings were fresh generous and delicious. Last year a new owner came in. You don't need to read anymore if you, like me, know what that always means. The first to go was James who had been there from the start. Most of the staff went because they put in the ubiquitous computer screen ordering system. Then they removed all the old prawn dishes. All of them. Now you are lucky if you get a pre prepared frozen crumbed prawn covered in a mayo mess. Then they reduced the sizes of every dish on the train so the salmon was much smaller. All my favourites disappeared or were scrimped. Then they put all the prices up. The next thing to go was the queue, then the regulars stopped going. Now there's barely anyone there at 12 noon when there used to be a wait for ten to fifteen minutes. I'll still go now and then because its still fresh and its still close. The really sad thing is that I see people there who never saw what it used to be - they probably think that this is a pretty good place, they don't know what it was like. Sigh. Update October 2018 The tempura king prawns hand rolls are back!!!! The other day they had the old cooked prawn and mayonnaise gunkan on the train, its not back full time but at least it made an appearance! The salmon sashimi is no longer scrimped upon. Its back to its old size. Back to 5 stars for the prawn hand rolls alone. Thank you God, I really missed those things. And they are still on the blue plates, which have been bumped from $3.60 to $3.80 - so what - 20c!! Two words - yaa. hoo. read more

This a big call but I think this is the best sushi train in Sydney!! Genrally I don't like sushi trains but this is certainly an exception. The seafood is always fresh and of a high grade. However this does come at a price and you will certainly be paying for it. They have great Salmon sashimi but my favourites come off the menu, not the train and they are the omelette and king prawn hand roll and fisherman's soup. The Agedashi tofu ain't bad either ! I only wish less people knew how good this place is as sometimes the queue is pretty long. read more

See all

Came here right after leaving Sushi Rio at Sussex street (as I was doing a sushi train crawl on the day). This place was clean and inviting, the quality and range of various sushi dishes was great, the atmosphere was good, the staff were eager to accommodate any requests. It was similar to what you would get in Japan. Only negatives were the staff never offered tea to us and there was no pickled ginger to be found around the tables or on the conveyor belt. read more

affordable and delicious. will always go here 100% fresh too. must have for sushi train enjoyers

Atmosphere, check. Busy, check. Convienence for solo dinners, yup. I had high hopes here from the other reviews and as I sat down I was stoked. The food however was mediocre at best. The salmon was chewy and lacked flavor. I did try some king fish and scorpion fish which were decent. Everything here is good but I just wish the food was better. It's simply ok. read more

Makoto - Scorpion fish. - Japanese Near Me - Sydney, NSW

Looking for a quick dinner in the city after work, this was a convenient choice! There was no queue to get in as got in early. Service was friendly and efficient. Offered to take drink order as soon as I settled in my seat. Lots of choices on offer, you can easily want one of everything from the sushi train. All the food looks fresh with the sushi chefs constantly making new items for the train and food to order. I went with a Teriyaki Chicken Udon. It was quite tasty. I especially enjoyed the mushrooms in it as it had quite a sweet taste to it. I also had the Teriyaki Chicken and Karage Chicken Hand Rolls. Both were nice and flavoursome. read more

See all

I have always wanted to visit conveyor belt sushi (or sushi train in OZ ;) since I was President of Japanese Club in high school (true story). Fast forward a million years later, a friend recommends Makoto. Thank you Oz Yelpers for confirming this as a worthy experience. Please check out my better informed Yelpers for their comparative reviews, because I am just going to gush silly on how fun the experience is for the uninitiated. Upon arrival, you are seated at a sushi counter with a literal conveyor belt circulating fresh made bits of sushi. Each plate are color coded for pricing and may only have 1-4 pieces. Prices range from 2-8AUD each. Make sure to keep track, otherwise you will have a costly meal! I kept an eye out for bits that are uncommon in the States, and plates that had just come out. Even if the plates have come around several times, it goes under a UV light filter each time to keep the buggies at bay. I noticed they do dessert (custards, mochi, etc), which meets my Sydney on a budget goals, but only seem acceptable if you are ok with conventional. FYI, they do lots of takeway platters, and surprisingly their website doesn't convey the conveyor belt goodness (harhar). I liked it, You should go :) read more

This might be a big call, but I believe Makoto may just be the best sushi train in Sydney (well, at least out of the ones I've tried!). The food is so fresh and even though I hardly ever eat sashimi (just not a huge fan of raw fish), I usually do when I go to Makoto. They have a huge variety, orders come quickly and the sushi rolls are bigger than in most other sushi trains. Be prepared to wait at least 10 to 15 mins for a seat, but you'll definitely leave with a smile on your face (and stomach). read more

If you feel like sushi & you're in the city CBD area, walk to Makoto (corner of Pitt & Liverpool), put your name down on the wait list provided & wait for name to be called. We love sitting at the bar & checking out whats on offer.. Super fresh & reasonably priced sushi. It is one of our favourite sushi spots in Sydney CBD. read more

See all

Overpriced for a sushi train, and so busy it was getting claustrophobic. Fresh ingredients and nice variety of nigiri but because of the crowds, they were out of a lot of fish and rolls I wanted to try. read more

Went to this place for dinner on a Sunday evening. Fish is good and fresh. I've had better sushis in my life but also a lot far worse than this place. The only bad thing is because it wasn't really crowded, the sushi train wasn't filled with great sushis and I had to wait for a few rounds to actually choose which ones I wanted. read more

My favourite sushi train place in Sydney so far! Very fresh ingredients. Piece of fish and sashimi is always huge. They usually have special catch of the date menu. Most of the time, it's crowded. read more

Makoto - Salmon nigiri - Japanese Near Me - Sydney, NSW

See all

Good food and friendly staff. The best place to have sushi near Town Hall station after a movie read more

Makoto - Japanese Near Me - Sydney, NSW

(Note: Review as a tourist...) Nay: If the Sydney Fish Market is still open (closes at 4pm), read no more. Walk or get there ASAP. Yay: Within the city core. Food is nay. ---- Food here was alright... But for a place in australia with such fresh seafood, it wasn't that fresh. Only would come here if you want to experience the conveyer belt, better seating, less crowds or don't want to walk to Sydney Fish Market. It almost comes closer to Toronto Conveyer belt places and we arn't even close to an ocean. Does not come close to same types of restaurant in Hong Kong or San Diego. Would say its closer to $$$ than $$. read more

Just to combat what other reviewers have said - this is definitely not the best sushi place in Sydney. I don't know if I've just been unlucky twice...but seriously there is no choice of sushi on the train. One experience I had there: I got there at 1.30pm and there was a few expensive plates and then a huge gap, then some desert (sushi?) and then the expensive plates again. I asked for a salmon avocado roll and they handed me it with hardly any avocado. I asked for a new one, they switched it out and the avocado was hard. Can't win. I left after that one plate and told them I was disappointed with my experience and both employees I told just laughed nervously. I thought maybe they would say something such as, "sorry about that." With such a good selection of sushi places around world square, I won't be returning here ever. read more

When the sashimi cravings take hold, you've got to give in. It was time to try Makoto at World Square, one of the busiest sushi spots in the area. After a fifteen minute wait for a table, which isn't unreasonable for a busy sushi restaurant in the Sydney CBD for dinner, we got our table at the bar. What struck us first was the fridges of fresh fish in front of us, too often these days there is the "show fish" up the front before the customers, whilst the dishes are prepared in the back. What we noticed next were the generous serving sizes on the mid priced plates. There's no reason to expect generous sizes or extravagant dishes at a high turnover sushi bar in this area, so we were really pleased by the discovery. The fish was fresh, the nigiri felt fresh and recently made, the soba noodle dishes were well seasoned and generously presented and the dishes were not drowning in sauce and mayonnaise. Overall, an impressive meal! We thought we were sitting down for an expensive and borderline satisfying meal and it's nice to see some generosity and precision in such a high turnover restaurant. read more

Makoto - Spot at the bar - Japanese Near Me - Sydney, NSW

the first time I have been there is almost 5 years ago, It was amazing food for the fresh sashimi and varies of sushi. the best food is hand roll. They always make two different food match together. however, it is not disappointed you. 2 years later, there are so many new sushi shop open which is nice and I thought maybe they changed their boss so the taste changed as well. I would like to try some different place. some of them also be very good. Makoto is good but it is not so amazing like the first time........ read more

3.5 Stars Nice, clean place with a simple sushi train revolving round and round. The sushi here trends towards more westernized sushi with sauces and random toppings (green onion, sesame seeds, seaweed, cucumber etc.) There are also a variety of rolls: salmon avocado, dragon, dolphin and some nigiri. The fish is fresh and prepared right behind the counter so it does have a good, fresh taste. read more

Great selection of sushi and awesome fresh products! Only issue, I just can't believe they don't sell wine! Anyway the dinner was good but with a glass of white wine would have been perfect :) read more

My kids and I loved this place! It's good and quick sushi with a good vibe too. There's typically a line, but it goes fast. Worth paying a visit if you like sushi. read more

Very disappointed. This was a great little sushi bar restaurant but it has gone down. Food has dropped in quality and the numbers of customers has dwindled. 2/5 . Get your act together Makoto read more

The hand rolls here are delicious. You get a 10% discount if you order takeaway rather than eat in. I like to order three hand rolls for lunch, takeaway, which works out to be less than $10 in total. read more

I just had lunch here and really liked it. Got there right at noon as they opened (on a Sunday) so there was no wait. The food was fantastic and I loved everything I ate, with the only exception being the spicy tuna, which was a bit different from the kind of spicy tuna that I'm used to, but still not bad. The unagi nigiri was absolutely fantastic, tender and reminded me so much of having pricey unagi in Japan! There were so many staff working there, when I needed water, ginger, or to order a miso soup (not on the train), I just had to look up and there was already someone there every time. My meal came to $30.70; I was really hungry before eating, but I don't know why some people have flagged this place in the "cheap" (under $10) category. read more

This is one of very few places in Sydney that make sushi the good old fashion way (I.e lots of fish and less rice). If you are in for some real sushi without breaking the bank, this is the place to go. read more

Great sushi. Fish is fresh and service is speedy and impeccable. I would highly recommend. With many different options and many types of fresh fish on the menu, you wont leave hungry! read more

Sushi train was fun and tasty. Pros: 1) loved loved hand rolls cuz the seaweed paper wasn't fishy which usually other places are. Had chicken karage hand roll , yum!!!!! Also, baked scallop was very tasty and flavor was perfect. 2) friendly service . Esp sushi chefs were attentive , happy, and nice. 3) fresh food and fresh fish 4) great environment . Casual , fun, happy, clean, and open and nicely lit. Good music , brought me back to the 80's and 90's. Good times. 5) the sushi train (conveyor belt) was nice and long so lots of people can sit at this sushi train bar. 6) raw salmon sushi was fresh and excellent. Cons: 1) some of fish was slightly tough. 2) would have liked more variety on sushi train. Would like to c more cut roll variety. They didn't have any smoke infused sushi, but not a deal breaker. There weren't any rolls that blew me away. 3) price is ok. A little on the pricey side. 4) fresh ginger should always come free and served with sushi but it wasn't. That's silly of them. Because of the number 1 and 2 cons that I listed above, I subtracted one star. I would definitely eat here again. Coming back for the hand rolls!!!! Yum!!!!! read more

Fun kaiten-sushi, but quality of sushi were ok and would not be inspired to be a repeater.

Absolutely amazing sushi train. ありがとうございます Satoshi! Great variety, fast service, awesome prices!!! 5Stars! Highly recommend if you are in the area. read more

Sushi is fresh and tasty. Good selection of sushis to choose from. Get there early to beat the queue.

Was good sushi and a cool spot, but we found a couple bugs in our food so it killed the mood. Probably just some first timer bad luck...

Food Poisoning for the SECOND TIME! My partner and I have come to this place at least a half dozen times in the last year since moving to Sydney. Two times we have gotten food poisoning from here. The first time we attributed it to a fluke, but the second time should've been SHAME on us! All you need is one food poisoning to learn your lesson and NOT return to the place. You've been warned! read more

The sushi here is really good, some of the best I've ever had. However, it's the most expensive sushi I've had here in Sydney. Definitely worth it to check it out read more

Seriously the best affordable sushi in Australia (unfortunately I live in Melbourne, or I'd eat here every week!) Everytime I go to Sydney I eat every lunch and dinner here.. and get take away sashimi for breadfast LOL. The food is EXCELLENT. Never had tuna that just melts in your mouth like this before. The quality of the raw fish is always consistent too which is important. There is a wait (you write your name down and take a number) but well worth it. The customer service is excellent.. Can't recommend this place enough. read more

Selected Makoto because of the latest review and was really quite pleasantly surprised how really delicious and fresh the food was. The staff were very friendly and totally accommodating. Extremely reasonably priced and highly recommended. Enjoy! read more

another season of scampi, super fresh and yum. really enjoyed it. a nice and authentic japanese restaurant read more

See all

Outstanding! We love the concept of the sushi train but it's not always easy with 2 little ones who don't eat sushi. We love that there is a menu that offers food for the kids (udon, tempura, and dumplings) This location has a few tables, so if you get there early enough, you can snag a table if you have kids. Then help yourself at the train and bring items back to your table. Everything we had was delicious. The only thing that was middle of the road were the rolls with tuna fish inside. Stick with the actual sushi rolls. read more

This is a good place if you love sushi and sashimi! The salmon is fresh , just make sure you go early to avoid the queue!