This is the best sushi place in town! I initially started going here for the great sushi buffet but even with it being a buffet, they provide tasty rolls that are actually big! Service is reliable and you always see the same faces when you go. The lunch buffet is such a good deal and it's a great laid back atmosphere. However, I will say do not go towards the end of the buffet....you risk getting all the fried rolls that were not eaten by the lunch crowd. read more

The wait was long, the service was slow and forgetful, and the food was gross and made us sick. I know people love this place, but I won't be back anytime soon. I also didn't appreciate that they didn't enforce the no smoking (signs were everywhere). Wait staff saw people smoking all around us and didn't say anything. Overall a really bad night. read more

Decent sushi for a decent price. Huge selection of rolls, I had some decision issues when the waiter finally came around. I'm usually good with choosing rolls I want, but after 2 beers and 2 sake bombs, I was having issues with everything. Quality of sushi wasn't the worst I've had in CLT, but def not the best either. Space was large and well lit. Atmosphere was lively with the sushi chefs shouting greetings at everyone and cheering on any would be sake bomb drinkers. TVs are aplenty, which is nice if you want to watch a game whilst eating your face off. And parking is ample. The Ru San's in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta is better and has more selection, but the chefs share the same enthusiasm. I'll have to come back for $10 sushi buffet. read more

Great buffet. Amazing to be honest for $11.09. I bought my first beer as a 16 year old here back in 1998 before the bastards at ALE busted these fine folks. Great for parties and birthdays to those of drinking age. Sake bomb races are epic here. Just stick to the main menu. Had explosive diarrhea from here more than once by ordering oddball stuff off the extensive menu. Too much on the menu to keep it all fresh I guess. read more

My favorite sushi place in Charlotte. 11/10 recommend the grinch roll, fun environment, quick service, and great food!

I decided to visit Ru San's after reading the reviews here. Having eaten sushi 2 or 3 times a month, I can say with a doubt that the sushi here is just 'eh'. The nigri was OK, nothing special. Something wasn't quite right, maybe the rice was off. (missing enough vinegar) They had the usual standard fair of fish offered at most general sushi places. I always look at the menu to compare whats available to my home town sushi house. Ru San's doesn't compare. The 2 rolls I had were best described as bland. Not real flavor to mention. The tiger shrimp appetizer was nice to look at, but turned out to some sort of mexican/spanish combination. I mean tomatoes, onions, and avocado.. This was more Thai perhaps, but to me, didn't fit what I expected or wanted. read more

I have spent my past 3 visits here telling myself "Meh, its just an off day". After my last trip, im just done. Done and done. Yea, at one point it was good but that was years ago(like, before they expanded). Now its crap food with crap service. On my last visit the waiter dropped sushi in my lap, when it was finally replaced it was awful and then we had to wait 25 minutes for the check(and no, it wasn't very busy). Ru Sans i am so over you and i will have a hard time trusting food advice from anyone that isn't. read more

Came here for the lunch buffet. now granted, I know that the quality is most likely a lot different than the dinner plates (i hope). If I wasn't so hungry, I would have walked out after the first plate. Everything tasted mushy and all the same. Little to no flavor and nothing was labelled, so you had no idea what you were eating, even though all the rolls tasted about the same. There were some tempura items, but again, with the batter, you had no idea what is was since there were no labels. Only labels said: "Out at 11am, Take away by 3pm". Eww, let's hope it hasn't been sitting out since 11! Some tasted old, some tasted fresher. Nothing tasted especially good at all. I will never waste another dollar on the buffet here, but might give them a chance on dinner ala carte sushi. I hear good things about the sushi here, but I just did not get anything good. I wouldn't rate anything I got over a 4-5, on a scale of 1-10. Wish I had just skipped this place. $11 for that buffet food was a rip-off. As far as the service, I had a server ask me if I wanted something to drink when I got there, then I had to chase someone down to get a check. I had to ask 2 other servers, and still nobody came. Finally, I got lucky and saw mine walk by. Blows my mind how this place can be so popular and busy. Let's hope dinner is better. I am definitely not a food snob, and I can appreciate good food in a crappy hole in the wall spot, as long as the food tastes good. Im not even scared of sanitation scores. But the buffet food here was virtually inedible. read more

This place is awesome! Go here for the lunch buffet it is amazing! Sushi is very fresh and they have really different roles. Prices are very reasonable I could eat here every week! Never been disappointed here. read more

I had my last RuSan's experience last night. I've eaten there before, and it's been tolerable -- that is to say, loud, but with decent cheap sushi, and good Japanese-style soups and entrees, prepared and served, ironically enough, completely by people of Hispanic descent. My wife and I ate there last night. She ordered sushi, I had soup. Her sushi arrived about 15 minutes after ordering. She started eating and we waited for my food. (Not a big deal, she eats slowly anyway.) So I waited. And waited. And waited. My wife finished her food, and just about as she ate the last bite, the soup arrived. About 40 minutes after her food. Nearly an hour after ordering. No explanation was offered for the delay, and the place was not busy. I'll be going somewhere else from now on. Inability to have the entrees come out within 5 minutes of each other is just inexcusable. Especially sushi. Were they afraid it was going to get cold? read more

It has been years since I have had such a poor experience dining out. Unfortunately I took my family to Ru San's to celebrate by sister's birthday Friday night and had a very pitiful experience. After a short wait we were seated in the back of the restaurant which suited us just fine because it was a little quieter than the rest of the restaurant. The ambiance was nice and the sushi we saw coming out of the kitchen definitely had our attention. We waited about five minutes before a nice busser came by and filled our water glasses. We then waited another five minutes before the server came by and took our drink order - 3 Cokes. We saw the timing going on and also took the opportunity to put an appetizer order in. We wouldn't see the server again for 10 minutes, returning with 3 coke cans just as the appetizers hit the table. Still, with the majority of us having worked in the service industry we excused the tardiness and proceeded to order our sushi rolls without complaint - all together 11 rolls for the table. There was a food allergy at the table and the waiter's uneasy responses prompted us to ask a manager if the food we had ordered was ok - turns out had we not done this my brother's fiancé would have been in serious trouble. We thanked the manager for his help, and then proceeded to wait for our food. After 30 minutes we began to get a little concerned, especially as the tables on both sides of us who had ordered after our table received their sushi rolls - having worked in multiple sushi restaurants my sister and I knew that sushi is generally prepared FIFO style so after ten more minutes we began to wonder what was going on - we were also down to the last bit of ice in our glasses for some time. After another ten minutes, now 45 in total, the waiter came over to let us know our food would be out shortly and refill our waters. 10 minutes later the manager comes to the table to inform us that the server had only been there 2 weeks and that the food would be right out. I guess the fact that this restaurant cannot adequately train their staff justified the wait. Then, an hour after we had ordered, our food arrived... well some of it. A total of 9 rolls came out - two of which were different than the ones we had ordered. We had ordered the special pork belly roll, firecracker, Godzilla, and the rich and famous roll, but instead we received some disaster of a roll with asparagus in it. We were skeptical when the rolls came out and asked the server to name the rolls but he didn't have a clue, so we asked to send someone who did. Hungry as we were we decided to at least eat what we thought were the appropriate rolls and hope they brought out the remaining rolls. When the server put down two additional rolls in front of us we were relieved, only to have another server angrily remove them from our table informing us they belonged to the table next to ours. At least that group got some good looking rolls! Finally a manager came over and pointed out which rolls where which, and only a few switches needed to be made. At this point he asked if we wanted the rolls that didn't come out and we informed him that we did not and just wanted to pay and leave. After another 10 minutes, two hours in total at this point, the server brings a check with every roll that we had ordered, even the ones we had NOT received - $30 more than it should have been if we paid full price for the meal. I took the bill to the manager, who seemed aggravated (probably with the server but really is that my fault?), who removed the items that did not come out with the meal. He then proceeded to insult me, a person who never tips less than 20%, and add automatic gratuity to our party of 5. Adding insult to injury, we missed the movie we wanted to go see - overall completely wrecking one of the few opportunities our family has to get together and enjoy a meal. I am not one to stomp my feet and make a scene, but I do expect decent service, accurate orders, and at the very least some accountability for the completely unacceptable service we received. read more

"Nigiri" means 'two cuts' and this is two pieces of sashimi on rice.....everywhere on the planet. I don't care how you price it. Of the menu says 'nigiri' then I expect two pieces. The Saba smells. read more

I am not a buffet girl and yes of course I have tried Ru San's lunch buffet it's a great deal but I still have no desire to go back for the buffet. However I think Ru San's still has some of the best deals out there for sushi, and the sushi is good and fresh. 5 pieces of Sashimi for $7 and these are not skimpy that is an awesome price. For someone who likes to indulge in sushi a couple of times a week this place is great! You can also get Nigiri pieces from $1 to $2 a piece. This place is busy and stays busy for a reason it is great for groups if you can get a table. read more

Came here recently for lunch and it was worth the money. For a little under 12 bucks, you can have an unlimited amount of sushi plus other items like salmon and fried rice. It's a little tight in there, but other than that, it's a great little lunch spot. read more

Always fresh very kid friendly sushi buffet is awesome deal for families, my go to place.

I come here often, I can usually tolerate the bad service because the food is so good but this time was probably my last time coming to this location. We sat immediately and waters were later brought to the table as usual. Our server was so uninterested in his job as a whole. We ordered our food, two sushi rolls and two teriyaki fried rice balls, which are our favorite. Our rice balls came in a timely manner, we finished those pretty quickly and waited for our other food patiently. Being that the host sat us right in front of the sushi bar we were able to see our food come up in the "window" ,we also sat and watched our food sit in that window for atleast 10 min while we watched serval servers and other employees walk by it countless times. There was other sushi rolls waiting in the window along with ours and those were taken to their table by who I thought was the manager (bald guy), while ours continued to sit there. Finally our server, who we haven't seen since he dropped off our rice balls, walks by the sushi counter and I think "yes! Finally!" But what does he do? Takes a look at it and continues on his merry way. At this point I'm tempted to go up there and grab my own food but I refrain and continue to wait patiently. After a few more minutes and more than a few hangry glares our server manages to bring us our food. He never comes back after this, not to refill our waters, not to make sure everything is okay, not to bring us or pick up the check, or even to give us the change for the bill, he never came back, NOT ONCE! This place is too good to have such poor service read more

Great sushi, cheap prices .. love sitting at the bar for the free cucumber /crab salad ! Not the greatest of atmospheres , but it's a Charlotte sushi staple ! read more

Again food was ok. Now talk about getting take out not eating at the restaurant calling up for an order to go.. This us the only place that adds a tip to your take out bill. THAT IS TOTALLY WRONG!!!! read more

As a relative newcomer to Charlotte, I try not to visit many restaurants more than once because there are so many places to try in this city. Ru San's is a little different though. My husband and I have been there about half a dozen times and we will continue to return. Ambiance is strange. Several have commented on the loud techno-ey music they like to blast and I will just say that its not exactly charming. Somehow, we always manage to walk in and get seated immediately, only to turn around 5 minutes later and see a line out the door waiting for tables. I guess we are lucky but we have never had to wait. It's very fast moving (I literally watched a waiter running back and forth across the restaurant on a Saturday night) ...but let's be honest here, you do not go to Ru San's for a quiet romantic relaxing evening. You go to Ru San's for cheap cheap cheap food that is actually pretty tasty. If you do as I do and stick to the page of $1-$2 offerings and just order a few little things, you can easily walk out of there with a bill under $20 for two, drinks included. Okay if you want more than one drink each, make that $30. Still a very reasonable night out! Please do yourself a favor and order the fried rice ball. Do it. First of all, its filling and cheap. Second of all, it might be the most delicious little creation ever. I also usually get a couple of tempura veggies (their sweet potato and zucchini are delish) and a couple of their $1 dollar sushi rolls (3 pieces.) That is more than enough food! Their sushi is definitely not the best you have had in your life but you cannot go wrong with 3 pieces for a dollar and it is relatively decent. They have yummy skewers too if you want to mix and match. My husband had the scallops and could not have been happier. read more

The best Sushi in Charlotte....loud and rowdy but the food is outstanding. Eddie the manager is awesome...always finds a place for me even when they are packed...You can't go wrong at Rusan's..Charles H. Jones read more

Yummy yummy yummy! Best sushi in Charlotte for sure. No one else compares to the range of options with rolls

Fast, inexpensive great tasting sushi... they have some really great creations. Always welcome you when you walk in the door

I love me Ru Sans. Its like crazy hibatchi meets sushi. People are yelling and things are just a blast. Also, their menu is pretty big which is actually a good thing for once. The appetizers are decent here especially the mussels. The sashimi is good and oh did I mention they have a mofoin $1.50 menu?! You get 3-4 pieces of sushi for a 6 quarters. As with this, you might think the sushi is trash. No, actually the sushi is better than some more expensive places in the area. The drink selection is great and for the price you just can beat Ru Sans. read more

I am going to preface this by admitting, I have never been to Ru San's for anything but the Saturday $10 lunch buffet. That being said, it's one good buffet! The sushi is pretty good for buffet and the other food on the buffet is pretty good, too. I am not going to say it's the best sushi I ever had, because obviously, at $10-- why would it be? But it's is one heck of a deal for pretty good all-you-can-eat sushi that doesn't make you sick afterward. read more

Great Sushi lunch place. Fast pace buffet style Sushi but with quality choices. Regular Sushi menu is also available. Friendly staff. Very busy at lunch but because of the buffet you can be in and out in no time. read more

Very good lunch buffet! Price seems to have gone up lately which may push it out of my frequency.....Kenneth.....wish they would put names on the buffet so you know what you are eating.....or maybe we don't want to know what you're eating....I would recommend! read more

This place is great for inexpensive and tasty sushi, but the menu is huge. If you liked what you ordered then make sure to remember the name, otherwise u might have a miss during your next meal. read more

I have been here quite a few times and each time there is a line out the door!! They do not take reservations and will not sit your party until they are all present. The sushi is fresh and delicious. My husband gets the Soba bowls, which are gigantic and delicious. The worst part of this restaurant is that so many people know it is so good! read more

Very good sushi. Enjoyable. The wait was shorter than we were told. Extensive menu. A ton of choices. Would go back.

I've never been to Ru San's for anything other than their lunch buffet, which is to say in few words - an experience. However, I have made the pilgrimage from my office in Pineville more times than I like to admit to take part in the great sushi gathering. All in all, the overall experience is always a positive one. It is always busy, but the staff always does a good job with drinks and turning tables to handle a mounting crowd. The advantage of not having the sushi made to order is you can get in and out with a sizable crowd in a decent amount of time. Also it allows you to try a lot of different sushi pieces. I will say that it is difficult at times to know what you are eating as nothing is labeled. Also many of the rolls tend to be simple or are deep fried. In the end, you can always expect decent sushi in high volumes for lunch. Also try to show up early to avoid a wait. read more

Delicious rolls. A little bit loud and crowded. Very respectful and welcoming. The reason I'm giving a 4 is the loud environment.

Best Sushi in Charlotte. Lunch buffet is spectacular...go early...there will be a line every day of the week. read more

Ru San's is my default, dependable sushi spot in town. Their prices are good and the quality is consistent. I like their power builder plates. It's easily enough for two people to share. Ru San's won't knock your socks off but you'll leave happy every time. Avoid coming during peak times because the wait can get scary long. read more

Ditto Annie - decent sushi for a decent price. Service is quick and the place is always jammed at lunch. I love the unlimited buffet but could you please label the plates so I know what I am picking up? I am not too picky but geez some of it you dont want to waste the stomach space on. I will definitely be back but I will also keep an eye on your sanitation rating Ru Sans! Dont let me down again!! read more

The Sushi Review Ru San's Despite the fact that this secluded corner-style-deli type sushi restaurant Has become the trendy place to "see and be seen"; this spot is still hands down my favorite sushi place in all of Charlotte. Even before a much needed renovation in the dining area this locally owned hangout spot was notorious for hosting gatherings of local "D List" celebrities, DJ's, filmmakers and underground multimedia kingpins (AKA the F List) such as yours truly. I'm not even going to try to deny it, the first time I went there I was trying to "hang face" and see what the entire buzz was about. Well, I soon found out. You have to understand, most actors are servers, most DJ's live with their moms and most indie filmmakers are starving artists. This isn't exactly the disposable income crowd. The prices on the sushi menu reflect that need for value. The quality at such a low price is unmatched. They have a great selection as well. Try and remember that these reviews are all about the "Maki", baby. This was the first place I tried the now infamous "tempura philly" (soon to be known as a soundboy roll); a maki roll with salmon and cream cheese that is battered and flash fried in peanut oil. If you don't see it on the menu, ask for it - you will thank me. Ru sans is the best affordable sushi I have had thus far, including some trendier hipper spots in LA and Miami. Don't get me wrong, I was as shocked as anyone else to find great sushi in Charlotte, regardless of the price. They are centrally located on the upper end of Park Road so afterwards you can take the long stroll over to SouthEnd for drinks or maybe catch the train uptown. In any case Ru Sans gets a total thumbs up from me and I would recommend it to anyone. Just remember that it is small, so get there early. The service could be little better, but "this aint the ritz" so to speak. Go for the sushi, go BACK for the price. read more

This is the best sushi place I have found in Charlotte. It's reasonably priced especially for their lunch buffet! Staff members are cool and interact with you. Sitting at the bar is a lot of fun you can watch them make your sushi! Did I mention it's delicious!?! You gotta try the California Sunset it's my favorite! read more

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Arrived in Charlotte and were eating here within the hour since our daughter said this was the best sushi. Since we were just back from Japan, it was good but not Japan worthy. I did like the huge number of selections available but the service is a bit on the slow side. The pork belly fried rice was good but not worth it and some of the rolls were good. I was most impressed by the Sea waves since the mussels were good and the spinach with it was excellent. The tuna tatami was nothing special at all- wish I could get my money back for this dish. read more

Great Sushi, always fresh and friendly. Can get very packed on weekends. Great rolls and dollar sushi. Great place to take sushi lovers and sushi novices as there is so much to choose from. The sushi chef Sam is my favorite. read more

We've been coming to Ru San's for many years now, and it's always a good time. The service is usually pleasant, and quick. And the sushi and rolls are always very delicious. Nothing fancy. Consistently good. Shout out to Dee who was our delightful waitress last night. read more

Best sushi with great presentation of the sushi. Also, amazing service and I've even made a couple of friends with orders which makes the restaurant a 100x more fun to go to. Tampura fried Oreos are bomb. read more