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Mon-Thu. 11:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Mon-Thu. 4:30 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 4:30 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
Sun. 3:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
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Ru San's has to be one of the most-reviewed places in Charlotte (not that really tells you much), and I'm not a big eater of sushi, so I probably won't be adding a lot here.
The restaurant itself is tucked into a nondescript strip mall off Park Road - and not likely the Park Road that you're likely to have seen towards the South side of Charlotte, but up near the center city instead.
If you happen to find it, you might be surprised by how large it is once you're inside, and apparently the menu is pretty good-sized as well. I've actually never looked at it, as I've only been once, and that was for their lunch when I met friends there.
The lunch is a decently-priced $10 for all-you-care-to-eat sushi, but not being an expert on the cuisine, I can't say if it's particular good. I actually ate a decent sampling of what was on the buffet, meaning it probably isn't that great. I didn't really care for most of it, just because it didn't seem that fresh or tasty, and the fact that I took it at all means to me that it doesn't seem that great. Take that to mean what you will!
During lunch there is also a small Chinese section to the buffet where you can get fairly standard Chinese fare too, but again, it's not that great.
Also, be warned that the place is simply packed. Go early or late!
After many people asked me if I have tried Ru San's, I finally went! We were welcomed by all the sushi chefs yelling greetings. The staff were very much sports fans and would celebrate when a good play was made.
The portions were large and the sushi pieces and rolls were inexpensive. The menu is slightly overwhelming because of all they offer. The service was good, the selection was plentiful, but the quality of the food was lacking (I guess you get what you pay for.)
The restaurant itself was big, open, and bright. The music was loud and seemed a bit "club-esce." It would be great if the place was packed, but it seemed a bit off when there were only 3-4 tables filled and it was daytime.
Not bad for something quick, but definitely not a place I crave. And as you leave, all the chefs say goodbye too. I think the greeting and the salutation was awesome.
This place would get five stars for price and three for food. Let's split the difference and call it a four.
It's really cheap. let's just get that out of the way and move on.
While there, I ordered a few different rolls - spicy tuna, california, spider, etc., and found all of them perfectly edible,and even tasty. Missing from these rolls was that sensation that everything was "jumping" fresh or cut just right. You might get a chewy piece here and there.
Just for fun, I got some of the a la carte tempura items, including a really off-the-wall tempura quail's egg. Essentially, they fried a quail's egg sunny side up, then dipped it in tempura batter and voila!
Apart from the food, this place is nothing if not unwieldy. The menu is preposterously large and involved, the service is no help in sorting through the chaff on the menu, and the physical space is large with strange clutter here and there. The AC was blasting our seating area during our last visit, maybe as an attempt to keep the sushi from losing its last bit of freshness while on the table (joke).
Still, somehow, this is a fun place to eat. If it were more expensive? Not so fun.
Practically an institution, I've been to Ru-San's at least a dozen times, always for lunch. The self-serve buffet of sushi isn't the absolute best quality, but there are usually a few good finds. They usually have salmon or tuna sushi as well as several of their creative and innovative rolls. At least half are fried, which is always an interesting option. This is, after all, the South. :-)
You can easily avoid the fried stuff and focus on the raw fish. Plenty of options, even on the slower days, the stuff doesn't sit out there for long. On the back table (you didn't know there were two?) are usually a steam tray with lo mein and egg rolls and sometimes fried chicken drumsticks and wings. I've spotted big trays of tuna and salmon sashimi there on occasion.
You can't beat the price. $10 with water or $12 if you get a soda. That's a deal and a half!
I love it. One of these days, I'll have to return for dinner.
went to Ru Sans for the first time yesterday for dinner with a friend. I was starving.
He's asian, I'm not, he said the place was really good, and I've heard mixed reviews. All the typical 'it's cheap, but okay' reviews, etc. It's just up park road from me.
He ordered some fried tofu appetizers and to my surprise they actually had Zaru Soba there also. It's under the section of bowl and soup noodles but it's served chilled and not in a bowl. Instead it was served on pieces of lettuce, which I had never seen before. The Soba was good (Musashi's was much better, but this was still good), and the Fried tofu was delish also. The tofu order for $6.00 is great to split between two people.
After I had the soba, a couple pieces of the tofu, I was ready to order. Their sushi there is inexpensive. I wont use the word cheap because that has negative connotations with it when referring to food. I ordered from the nigiri $1/$1.50 menu. 2 Freshwater Eel, 2 Tuna, 2 Salmon, 2 Octopus. The eel was FANTASTIC. It was the perfect temperature when served. The octopus tasted just slightly funny, but wasn't bad by any means. The tuna was delicious and the salmon was delicious. I was VERY impressed.
I will definitely be back. My friend said they open at 4, so a $2-5 round of nagiri for appetizers in the early afternoon I could see being a routine.
I have been here twice for dinner and I like the place a lot. Maybe it's not the best sushi, but the value you get on the price is amazing. Don't fall for their Titanic roll. Supposedly you can find a treasure which turns into a gift certificate, but it's not a tasty roll.
I recommend the Midnight Club roll and the Volcano roll. Both are excellent. Also, try the teriyaki ball. Get some yakitori/tempura/maki rolls for $1-3 each. End up with a full stomach after spending around $20.
The best way to order is family style where everyone shares. That way you don't end up eating a whole roll you don't like and have more variety. Honestly, both times I ordered so much food, and never spent more than $30-35 after tip.
Also, it's a nice looking restaurant with a pretty fancy decor, but it's a casual atmosphere, although I hear on the weekends it's pretty bumpin.
I waited a while to write this review, so that I could at least try it more than once before giving my opinion.
Many people rave about Ru San, but I'm afraid I don't share the same enthusiasm about this place. I think if you go in with the mindset of having some fun non-traditional sushi and having lots of alcohol, you'll have a good time. For me, I think I can appreciate semi-Americanized sushi, specialty rolls, etc. but Ru-San's didn't quite hit the mark.
I do enjoy the concept of their $1 sushi menu, buried within their vast menu; it's a great way to get a feel for their style, sort of tapas style. Their Ceviche is good as is their Rock and Roll (or something like that). I love that it's cheap, small portions, and kind of no-commitment (if you don't like it, hey it was only a buck). The teriyaki rice ball is a crispy rice ball with rich teriyaki sauce and is pretty tasty, more in an appetizer/dessert sort of way.
If you veer off the $1 items, Ru-San's falls short. While I respect that someone said the Firecracker Roll is "delicious like a donut," that is only true if donuts taste like a$$ (I say this not to be mean, but purely to make a point). I have to warn the rest of you. I love donuts, but I did not love the Firecracker Roll. It is deep fried where the fish becomes tasteless and then they douse it in red chili sauce that is absolutely overpowering, unappetizing looking and I am reduced to a one-syllable adjective - yuck. Sometimes a child's vocabulary describes it best. It's not the heat, (there wasn't much heat) it's the taste that turned me off. It's like they took a good steak, cooked it well-done and slathered it in A1 steak sauce. I wanted to rinse my mouth out with sake. I just don't get the appeal of the Firecracker Roll.
Unlike the others, I thought the service was good. No complaints from me on that front.
I think it's a fine place for a non-traditional sushi lover, but I'm not a fan.
This place seems overrated by yelpers because the food is very Americanized. They try to stuff you up by deep frying the sushi and stuffing it with cream cheese. The service had no room to be terrible because it was very minimal. The waiter never got to us so we had to ask two random waiters there twice for drinks. No greeting or good bye.
I do like how the sushi is very fresh and it's cheap.
8.50 sushi buffet, your expectations can't be that high.
But! The sushi is actually pretty good, and they even have sashimi. You can tell not all the sushi/sashimi's not fresh, but I guess that's why it's 8.50.
Place is pretty crowded but kept clean for the most part!
This place is not only a good sushi joint, but nonstop fun as well. In the 4 years I lived in CLT this was one of those places I kept coming back to.
You have a great dollar sushi menu (try the fried garlic maki), allowing you to sample a wide variety of flavors without breaking the bank. During the week there's a killer buffet that's always mobbed. Go early or late to avoid the rush. Even at the end they're still on top of refreshing the buffet.
Dinner there is always good. If you decide to do a sake-bomb the entire restaurant cheers you on. The plum sake if delicious if you want a little sweet in your alcohol. The tempura is great with a light minimally greasy batter. Green tea ice cream is a perfect finishing move.
The entire staff (even the chefs) is friendly and attentive. I can't say enough good things about this place. My girl and I became regulars early on.
The one bad thing about restaurants in Charlotte is that you have to be told about the good ones. You really can't drive down a road and "stumble" upon it. Thankfully our Charlotte "connection" let us in on the Ru San's secret when we first moved there.
Fun, relaxed atmosphere. Delicious food with a huge selection. Incredible artwork (made by the owner himself) hanging on the walls. What more do I have to say? Get your ass over to Ru San's and have a sake-bomb for me ;)
I love Ru Sans! The prices are good and the dishes are tasty! Definitely go for lunch, because there is a buffet and it's discounted if you go later. I've been about 5 times and have always had good service and good food. Definitely recommend, especially over Nikko's and other overrated Charlotte sushi joints.
The only reason to go here is if you want cheap sushi, in both price and quality.
The service is absolutely appalling, to the point that I don't know anybody who's gone there who hasn't complained about it. Orders get mixed up and the staff gets upset that you bother them asking for something. In the middle of trying to figure out why our bill was wrong, our waitress came by, declared "these need to be stapled together!", tore the papers out of our hands and stapled them!
The sushi quality is passable and mostly fresh, though one gets the impression the only reason their bare minimum is above most terrible restaurant chains is that serving raw fish forces it to be.
The buffet is a bunch of plates flung onto a card table with a sneeze guard in a crowded section of the building, and the selection when I was there on the weekend was all scary-looking maki.
You can do way better in Charlotte than eating here.
Like others have said in their reviews, don't come here expectings the most traditional sushi or even the best quality sushi - come here expecting funky rolls you won't find anywhere else, and you'll love it. The Dr. Zhivago roll is great, as is the Punk Rock and Roll (and a ton of the other rolls I've tried, too, but they have crazy names I can't remember). Order some yakitori skewers as an appetizer - the scallops wrapped in bacon are the absolute best I've ever had. The lunch buffet is cheap and plentiful, but again, don't expect the best sushi ever. Last time our server was mediocre at best, but every other time I've been there the servers have been pretty average, so I'm not holding it aghainst them.
I've been to Ru Sans a few times, and I've always left stuffed. Although I don't eat fish, Ru Sans has a variety of vegetarian sushi options. The prices on their rolls are excellent, and the food is always great.
It's a little tight inside, but I went with a big group and we still were able to get seated. It wasn't ideal, but it was good enough. I've been in with a kid as well, and the staff was friendly with him and helped the mother get him situated and fed.
Overall, it's earned its reputation as one of the best sushi spots in Charlotte. It's not pretentious, the food is good, the service is friendly, and the prices are great.
I was very unimpressed with this place. Its cheap sushi which is red flag number one and they also have an all you can eat sushi buffet red flag number two. My fiance and I went here during the all you can eat buffet and I could not even eat my sushi. It was warm and smelled fishy. I guess if you are a person who is not the biggest sushi fan and enjoy cheap fried sushi this place could work for you.
I'll admit that when I first dined at Ru San's at few years ago, I left feeling as though I had an average sushi dinner. However, after returning there only recently a few times in the past year, my opinion has changed drastically. They've doubled the size of the restaurant and offer so many sushi choices and sake drinks that I almost feel overwhelmed. And by overwhelmed, I mean that I order and order and order because everything sounds good and then I walk out of there feeling like a stuffed sushi roll myself.
For sushi, there are about 10 pages of items that you can order. I have no idea what they are, but all that I've "sampled" have tasted fantastic! I've even tried items off the $1 and $2 menu that were tasty. Ever try peanut sushi? It's a good "starter" item if you've never had sushi before.
For a special treat, try a specialty sake drink. Ru San's offers several different concoctions for $4.95 (formerly $4!). I started with the Lady Killer (insert joke here) which was a sweet, fruity sake with kiwi juice. I then got hooked on the Kamikaze and haven't been able to try anything else. What is it, you ask? Sake, lime juice, and a splash of tabasco. Yes, it doesn't sound too appetizing, but it is oh-so-good. You primarily taste the lime...and then it's followed by a little "kick!" It's not terribly hot, but it does have that "kick." YUM. I'm craving one right now.
The atmosphere is a little loud with lots of energy and music, but with enough open space that you won't feel claustrophobic. The service is a bit slow, but maybe it's just because we've always sat at the sushi bar? Thankfully, that slower service is only for the drinks. If you sit at the bar, you order your sushi directly from the sushi chef in front of you and you get served immediately after he's prepared it for you. No waiting!
Go here if you plan to go deaf while eating terrible sushi. It is obnoxiously loud, the service is terrible and the food is on par with the service. Our waitress was running around like a jackrabbit without paying attention to anything. She messed up not one but three of our dishes (luckily we were at the bar so the guy who was making our sushi fixed it right away). The so called 'Japanese' food is made by mexicans who look to one white guy for guidance on how to make stuff. Yeah..not exactly authentic.
This was a big waste of time and money. It gets a star because they had Sapporo beer.
If you like your to eat your sushi in a trendy and LOUD spot then Ru San's is definitely your sushi spot.
The atmosphere of this restaurant is more bar-like than anything with its overly loud music and there to be seen clientele. It is the place you go for trendy sushi not where you go for good Japanese food.
The service was terrible. Yes they were busy but we sat much too long before a waitress even greeted us and offered to get us drinks or take our order. We ordered one tamago nigiri, a tamago maki, tofu tempura maki, spicy yakiudon, an onion yakitori, agedashi tofu and two beers. Our waitress completely f*cked up our order - either it was because the music was too loud or she's just stupid. She wrote down that we ordered tuna maki, 2 tamago and octupus nigiri and she forgot to note down the yakitori. She only got the agedashi tofu, yakiudon, tamago maki and beer right.
The food was average at best. The agedashi tofu had egg in its batter which makes it much too heavy. The yakiudon had a good taste but was too saucy. Both of the maki were ok but the tamago was subpar - it was a disgusting color (weird greenish yellow) and was much too "eggy". We ordered the onion yakitori the waitress forgot - I forgot to specify shioyaki and so it was drenched in teriyaki sauce which I don't care for. We also ordered onigiri - it was ok but the chef hadn't put any salt on his hands when he molded it so it was bland.
We waited a long time for the waitress to bring us a check and we had to ask the sushi chef to call her to pick up payment. The bill was $31.00 which is actually good for the amount of food we ordered.
Based on the food I would've given Ru San's 3 stars because it wasn't bad food it was just very average and its menu is full of options including a large selection of veggie friendly dishes BUT the crappy service dropped it down to two.
**there is some really cool artwork on the walls which I really enjoyed checking out.
Walk through the sweltering heat of the parking lot, listening to the cicadas hissing, i pull open the glass doors and enter Ru San's. Seems like this place plopped down from the sky in the middle of a corn field. I'm exaggerating here.
Sit down, order saki and tuna tataki and miso soup.
It's not loud like everyone says.
Waitress is rushed but easy going. Soup has spaghetti in it? Huh?
Tuna was overcooked...and not enough sauce. Overuse and abundance of daikon is compensating for quality, similar to small man buying fancy car.
Firecracker roll was delicious like a donut is delicious.
Unagi was pretty good.
Spider roll also delicious.
Kirin and a $60 dollar check for 2 stuffed middle aged people.
I wiil be back for sure because the menu is sixteen pages long.
Love the buffet! If you want really traditional, expensive sushi - move on. If you want a fun experience to share with friends and get some serious rolls with crazy names and some sake cocktails that you've never even dreamed of - then COME ON! The menu is so big, you'll want to keep ordering - but once you find your favorites, rest assured that they'll be there waiting for you when you come back. Love you, Ru!
I am a huge sushi fan and for my birthday, that's what I wanted. I got my best girlfriends together and told them all that I had heard great things about Ru San's. We were all expecting a great meal and I was incredibly disappointed. The menu is huge and overwhelming. It probably took us 30 minutes to figure out what we wanted. The service was lacking and my friends were quite irritated. I spent about $35 dollars on food alone (on just myself) and only got $10 worth of sushi I liked. I am very open-minded and adventurous when it comes to sushi but this time it was to my detriment. I have not been back to Ru San's since but I heard about their buffet which is supposed to be good and very cheap. I am always skeptical about buffets but apparently this one is delicious. I would recommend trying the buffet before going for dinner, at least you can try things without wasting a lot of money. I hope to have a better experience when I go back for the buffet but I am not expecting too much.
Hip, industrial-chic sushi restaurant with oodles of choices on offer. The mood is young, fun-loving, and a little wacky--not at all uptight or pretentious. As my brother, a Charlotte sushi-lover, says, you come to Ru San for the rolls and go elsewhere if you're in the mood for nigiri.
We absolutely loved the tuna tataki (piles of perfectly seared tuna atop crisp vegetable filaments with a side of pure heaven as a dipping sauce). Other winners included the Olympic Five Ring Roll, served with yet another divine sauce, this time a spicy aioli, and the Firecracker Roll, quite possibly the most delicious roll I've ever had. As another reviewer pointed out, their specialties tend toward the deep-fried and saucy, but that's ok by me. Just add edamame and Asahi for a nutritious, balanced meal.
Apparently Ru San plummeted in quality when chef and owner Ru left town, but now he's back and has restored the place to its former glory.
As a young sushi eater i fell in love with Ru San's. There is a lot to love about this place- they have a huge and creative menu, they have a large selection of dollar rolls, and they have a high energy staff that is entertaining. However, as the years have passed I have fallen out of love with Ru San's. The main problem I have with this place is that their health code rating has fallen (more than once) into the 70s and that is just gross. One time they were reportedly docked points because food had been picked-up off the floor and then served. I have also been there before and seen that they weren't refridgerating all of the fish (I'm talking stacks of crab sticks just sitting out on a table, and they weren't about to be used). If this doesn't dissuade you, my friends have gotten sick several times after eating at the Nashville location.
EDIT: They have recently remodeled and I was quite impressed with the lunch buffet. I checked and the health code rating was above a 95.
Who knew North Carolina could have awesome sushi??
The white tuna here is really FRESH! My friends & I got a plate full of it... literally.
We also got what looked like a tuna martini (forgot the actual name of it) and it had 3-4 types of tuna on skewers in a big martini glass. Very nice! Two of my favorites were seared tuna & sesame encrusted tuna.
I also ate this sushi with three eggs: quail, tobiko & tamago. I wanted to spit it out.
I don't think this place is meant to be super fancy; it was a hole-in-the-wall feel but it's still pretty good for it's price.
Wonderful place with a great environment - The food is like the decor - bold and graphic with much love. Extra plus is the banter between the Japanese waiters and the Mexican cooks.
If you're looking to dine in a high-energy environment, go to Ru San's, where the chefs are often yelling and greeting you when you walk in. Ru San's has good sushi and Japanese food. Plus, it's pretty affordable. I'm not a sushi fan, so I tend to get vegetable tempura or teriyaki chicken, both of which are delicious at Ru San's. My sushi-loving friends love the place too.
Voted 'Best Sushi' in 2007, and for good reason. They had such a variety of sushi, and it was very, very good. Unlike the normal California Roll like most sushi places (although this was on the menu, too), they had all kinds of different raw and cooked foods. There's $2 Bud Lights on Monday and Tuesdays. 50% off wine bottles on Wednesdays, The Patio is opened with a new menu for summer and there's special sushi for $1 every day.
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.
"A Night at the Roxbury" of Japanese restaurants. The music is so loud, unfortunately it's the main take-away. Perhaps it's not as bad on any night other than Friday or Saturday for dinner. It's a beautiful space and the food is pretty good. I would give them another try if it weren't for fear of leaving deaf and hoarse again.
Ru San's Ru San's Ru San's.....Go for the food, not for the service. I'll give them the shadow of a doubt since it was a busy Saturday night when we went which is why they still get 4 stars. I was a waiter myself for a few years back in the day. So yeah, the service did have something to be desired but the food by far made up for it. The menu is amazing. I don't think I've ever seen so many different and unique roll combinations in one place before. Even if you're not a huge sushi nut like I am there's plenty of traditional cooked dishes to choose from as well. The food itself really was great. I had the Seven Color Rainbow roll as well as a couple of pieces of Unagi, I like the variety. The fish tasted fresh and the BBQ ell had alot of flavor. I also saw while we were there that they have a lunch buffet from 11:30 to 2:00 that I need to check out sometime. All and all a good place for sushi that's a great value for the price. I will be back, just maybe not on a Saturday night.
Ru-San's was my favorite Sushi spot in Charlotte, and the other day I went with a group of friends to give it a second chance, and well it was better than average. The night we were there it was very slow .(Monday night) but the service was good, the beer was excellent and the sake bombs were flowing freely. In other words Ru-San's is back. The Salmon and Tuna Nigiri were very fresh and the tuna was sliced so thin it just melted in my mouth. We got the house sake' and dropped shots of it into the Kirin Ichiban and the Sapporo Gold to enjoy the sake Bombs. But the highlight of the meal, and the reason Ru-San's will always have a place in my heart is the FIRECRACKER, if you go to Ru-San's this is a must, its a lightly battered and fried tune and rice roll with an amazing spicy dipping sauce, oooh it is soooo good, gotta get the firecracker.
Ru San's is a lot of fun -and noisy! Be prepared to be greeted by a lot of yelling when you walk in the door - and again when you leave! The lunch buffet hosts a fairly standard sushi line-up and is a great place for a quick, tasty lunch during the week. For dinner, the rolls are way more creative - try the punk rock and roll (my favorite!) and the Jana Moon. I have found ordering the chirashi at a sushi restaurant gives you a good idea of the quality of the fish, and I have to say the quality here is not the greatest. Stick to the rolls and shy away from any sashimi other than tuna and salmon. Would be a great restaurant to bring out of town guests to!
Just take a look at the servers wearing the "Got Sushi" shirts (think "Got Milk") and you know that Ru San's is in the mix. With a 6-page sushi menu and reguarly-changing specials, ordering sushi can be a nightmare for the indecisive orderer, but it's all good here. I think there is better-quality fish in Charlotte, but the rolls here are fun and different.... Though the really tasty ones (Flying Kamikaze and Rising Sun) tend to be fried and saucy, there are a bunch of healthier rolls like the terriyaki eggplant, ceviche shrimp, and ginger-simmered tuna. The yakitori is good, too.
Can be a bit busy, but really great food. Many types of sushi in this place's huge menu.
Neighborhood: Dilworth
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Elizabeth
Category: Sushi Bars
Neighborhood: Downtown
Category: Sushi Bars
Charlotte, NC
Category: Sushi Bars
Neighborhood: Elizabeth
Category: Sushi Bars
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