Ginga Sushi Bar and Dining

Went here tonight for a quick dinner. The booths were full and they had put stock on the last two booths, so we sat side by side along the sushi train.
We had to remind them to bring our water and they brought me the wrong crab roll but that’s ok. All in all a tasty, filling dinner.

I went with a group of four on a Saturday night and got seated straight away — much quieter than I anticipated, but that was a plus for me. I like their booths beside the train because it makes for a better group seating situation rather than spread out in a line. The pork buns are like eating tiny little meat clouds. The gyoza could be better. The train was not very full but I think most people who go here order off the menu anyway?
For food it’s pretty standard but if you’re wanting to take a group of people out to dinner at Emporium at a moment’s notice then it’s a good option.

Ginga seems great because of it’s beautiful atmosphere and ideal location in the Emporium complex in the Fortitude Valley. It has a train, booths and more tables for al a carte dining in the rear.
However, the sushi is consistently low quality. The last few times I’d been I was sorely disappointed by the quality and variety of sushi available on the train. A la carte is very limited for vegetarians. Service is slow, and they don’t split the bill.
There’s much better sushi and Japanese cuisine available all over Brisbane, ginga just coasts by on their location and the aesthetically pleasing nature of the venue itself.

There’s a few Ginga’s around town, at Westfields and the like but there also happens to be one quite close by to where I work. To be honest, whilst I walk past Ginga every day, I’d never been inside. It has a large eat in area, ala carte and rice bowl menu, dumplings and sushi as well as a sushi train and takeaway. It’s really got all the bases covered and at Emporium at least, does a roaring trade during lunch time from the surrounding office workers stranded in the wilderness.
The sit down/​takeaway lunch menu has the typical selection of pork and chicken rice bowl dishes. I chose my favourite, Katsudon which is crumbed pork with lightly beaten egg and onion over rice with a variety of condiments. To order, you press a little button at the end of your table that’s marked ‘service’. I arrived early and was my order taken relatively swiftly but the staff are stretched so this could be a problem later in the lunch hour.
My Katsudon arrived in a reasonable amount of time and looked like a supersized portion. A huge bowl of rice, an enormous pork cutlet and all the fixings including eggs, onion, wakame and pickled ginger. I thought the ginger was pickled radish so watch out for that lest you end up with a mouthful of ginger. The dish was warming comfort food on a cool, wet day but had far too much rice for me so a lot of was left behind.

Ginga is a beautiful space, lovely décor and delicious looking very fresh sushi and treats. My all time favourite dish is all the squishy soft dumplings and gyoza’s. mmm I happily travel to a Ginga to eat a couple of shu mai’s. Service is always prompt and although their sushi plates a bit more expensive than some other ‘Train Sushi’ businesses, I always feel like the freshness and quality makes it worth the extra $.

Need a fuss-​free take-​away lunch but don’t want a burrito or burger? Fancy a dine-​in experience that’s devoid of drama and can have you on your merry way as quickly as the plates are replaced on the sushi train? Then Ginga at the Emporium is a grand option. I stopped in recently for lunch when my other half «had to have» a burrito. I was left to my own devices as I selected my take-​away options from the train and once my selections were made, I parceled my package up and off to the counter I went. There’s little I can fault on this experience — the salmon in my nigiri was fresh and buttery, my tuna sushi similarly so.

We went here for lunch because it is conveniently located in the Emporium across from my finance’s office building. We did the sushi train which was pretty standard, but left me unsatisfied enough to indulge in an ice cream dessert elsewhere. I cant judge a sushi train by the table service because the whole concept was created to remove the middle man.
I am willing to give it another try and order from the menu instead. Based on the reviews, the food can be quite good if it is made to order.

Average price. Average service. I had to ask for tea, ginger and wasabi. The staff did not ask whether there was anything required from the menu. Although the salmon was fresh, the mackerel and squid were not so much. The latter was a bit slimy and didn’t have the crisp bite that fresh squid should have.
However, the ambiance is good and I may come back again when it is a bit busier. It’s located in quite a good location up by the Emporium but it was quite empty for an early Sunday lunch.

My search for decent sushi in southern Queensland took me all the way to Ginga Sushi in Brisbane. Unfortunately, while my meal here was good, it wasn’t quite good enough to justify the trip down from the Sunshine Coast.
The high point of the night was the ‘crunch roll’, which was quite good, and the low point was the bbq eel, which was served just barely warm and was a bit rubbery and tough. Everything else was good; not spectacular, but not bad either.
The table service deserves special mention as well. At Ginga all the tables are equipped with a little pager device (similar to what you get on airplanes to call the steward/​stewardess). Want service? Just push the button and within maybe a dozen seconds a staff member will be there to tend to anything you need. Ready to pay? There’s a button for that too.
So the service here is quite efficient, but the setup also means that your food tends to come in an arbitrary, ad-​hoc kind of way. They just bring you whatever happens to be ready, whenever it becomes ready. Some people may find this irritating, but personally, I kind of like their pager-​based service system. It’s different from what you’ll see at most other places, at the very least.
I’m a bit torn between giving 3 or 4 stars. On the one hand, given how far out of my way I had to go just to get here I would have to rate Ginga at 3 stars. On the other hand, that’s not their fault at all, so I’ve got to give them the full 4 stars.
Ginga sushi is a decent option if you live nearby and enjoy sushi. If you’re coming from further away, however, it’s not really worth making a special trip just to dine at Ginga.

I have been to this Ginga restaurant twice now and I can comfortably say it’s one of my favourite Japanese restaurants. The only thing that makes this drop down to 4 stars is the price. It’s a little too expensive to eat here all the time — and if you see my review on Sushi Central in Redcliffe — there’s awesome sushi other places for a much better price.
I recently ate dinner here and ordered a Ginga Bento box. I fully recommend this option if you want to try a bit of everything or you’re unsure what to order. This particular bento comes with some dim sum (prawn dumplings and spring rolls), a delicious salad, some tempura vegetables and prawn, and excellent teriyaki chicken with rice. OH! And amazing miso soup that I could have happily had another bowl of.
They also serve a few varieties of sake, Japanese beer, and plum wine if you like to have a couple of drinks with your meal.

I really enjoy going to Ginga.
The food, the ambiance, the little booths with fairy lights above them, the food quality, the service. The only thing it’s losing a star for is the price. I won’t avoid going there because of price, but it will make me think twice about it.
I first came here for sushi a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t too busy, which was good. But there wasn’t very many options floating around on the sushi train. I know I can always order but I like to see them. We ordered some BBQ pork dumplings which weren’t the best I’ve had, but we ate them so they can’t have been too bad.
The sushi quality is really good. I’m picky with my sushi and I really enjoyed it. Full of flavour, unlike so many sushi train joints around. It’s just pricey.
Ginga also has a sit down restaurant, where you can order hot meals as well as sushi. A recent dinner, where my partner and I had bento boxes and a couple of beers each set us back $ 100. It’s just not something I can do regularly, when there are so many asian fusion places in Brisbane that we can both eat at for under $ 30.
That being said, oh gosh, it was good. The Ginga bento box starts with a miso soup which was incredibly tasty (not that I can pinpoint why), and also includes tempura vegetables and prawn, fried prawn dumpling, spring rolls, rice a salad and teriyaki chicken (or salmon or beef). It was good. And filling. And $ 32. I think that is a reasonable price, it just adds up when out for some drinks. The spring rolls weren’t great, the prawn dumpling was though! Salad cut through the strong flavours really well, as did the rice. And the teriyaki chicken was excellent. Mmm thinking about it now makes me want it now.
I think you should try it. It’s a really nice place to be in. Staff are friendly. There’s helpful service buttons. The food is really good. Put away some money, grab a few drinks while you’re there and really enjoy the experience.

I was on my way to visit a friend but I needed to really quickly eat before hand. I didn’t want to get traditional fast food crap so I decided on Ginga’s Sushi Bar as the sushi train obviously has things all ready made up for you.
I was quickly seated at the train where there were one or two vegetarian options. A quick scan of the menu and I found there were many more options for me (from your typical avocado, cucumber or asparagus rolls to mixed vegetarian and tofu rolls and my favorite inari), all at the cheapest menu price (the green plates). All I needed to do was press a buzzer next to me and a wait staff comes over to take my order! To my delight, even though I placed my own «special» order and wasn’t just taking things from the train, the food took maybe 10 minutes tops to make, yay!
What I like about this restaurants set up is that they not only have the train but also great booths and tables for those who want to stay longer and order actual full meals from their menu!
To be really honest I just think the little buzzers found on everyone table is just great and cuts out the awkward staring or hand waving exercises we all find ourselves doing when trying to catch a wait staffs attention!
Overall my food was quick and delicious (I was in and out within 20 minutes) so it hit all my criteria for the night!

It’s quite rare to find a sushi train restaurant that looks this nice. The only other one I can think of is Hanaichi in the Wintergarden. Most sushi train places are suitable for a quick bite but you don’t really feel like you’re having a ‘restaurant’ experience, if you know what I mean. At Ginga, the spacious, bright interior with it’s modern, sleek décor and the unhurried system means that you actually you feel like you’re ‘going out for dinner’ as opposed to ‘eating dinner and then leaving immediately’.
The extensive menu is very vegetarian friendly which is awesome because a lot of Japanese places insist upon sneaking fish-​based products into everything (I’m looking at you, Bishamon). The food is fresh and colourful and the service is friendly and quick, but not quick in such a way that makes you feel like they’re trying to get rid of you. Despite the central conveyor belt carrying sushi around the benches, Ginga feels more like a Japanese restaurant than a sushi train restaurant. The prices are fair and the ambience is very vibrant and chic. Definitely one of my favourite Japanese places in Brisbane!

After a disappointing experience with Ginga South Bank I was a little wary about eating here, however a friend of mine was about to fall over from hunger and I can always eat sushi, so we gave it a go.
Hooray! Much better! We ate at the sushi train (who doesn’t love a sushi train?) and the staff were lovely, very attentive and happy to order sushi for us when we were too impatient to wait for it to appear.
The salmon sashimi was of a good quality, and the addition of a small touch of caviar and spring onion moved it into a whole new category. My friend got a very odd sushi which had avocado, sundried tomato and cream cheese. Not awesome to my palate (I prefer traditional flavours) but he was pretty tickled with it.
I’m going to come back here to try the a la carte option, however I have absolutely no reservations in recommending the sushi train.

This is a great little sushi train with the added bonus of yum cha… some may even call it the Sushi Cha! Okay… not that you would but you could definetely call it that. On the menu displayed in front of every seat there is a vast array of sushi choices, dishes, and yum cha options! Now, I should tell you readers of this review out there that I’m not a big fan of seemingly posh restaurants (especially at Emporium) mixing their cuisines… I have always thought it somehow cheapens your food… but the yum cha menu does compliment the sushi train’s array of choice I must say in this case. There is quite a bit of technology happening in this joint… there is the buttons you press at each seated station on the train to ask for service, the bill… other things and there is always the convenient option of Pay Pass… with your credit card so there isn’t a wait on the way out.
For the fancy dinner people, there are cozy little booths on the left side of the restaurant as you enter with nice mood lighting (not fluoro lighting, always a good thing) and there are smaller tables all the way to the back of the restaurant… although it is a pretty long sushi train compared to others… so if you miss something you will be waiting a while until it comes back around.
Food is pretty authentic and the atmosphere is very el trendy. I would go back there for dinner or lunch purely for the choice of sushi and yum cha… or the sushi cha!