A new restaurant is coming to a familiar space in Dunwoody. Sushi Kingdom, a restaurant with one existing location in Greenville, South Carolina, has signed a lease to backfill the 7,400 square foot former Macaroni Grill turned Wild Wing Cafe in Ashford Place (4788 Ashford Dunwoody Road). The restaurant opened as a Macaroni Grill before becoming a Wild Wing in 2015. The wing joint closed last May and has been vacant since.
According to the Sushi Kingdom Facebook page, the restaurant primarily features an All You Can Eat (AYCE) menu but with the option to dine à la carte or get delivery, if preferred. The restaurant's menu suggests that there has been at least one across the board price increase since opening, but that the eatery still delivers on its value proposition.
An adult ACYE at lunch is $18.95 and at dinner is $28.95. Interestingly, the restaurant has two different kid prices, those age 3-6 are $8.95 at lunch and $13.95 at dinner while kids ages 7-10 are $11.95 at lunch and $17.95 at dinner. Apparently kids over 10...despite having likely just graduated elementary school, 11 year olds are deemed adults. The lunch menu is only offered during the week with the dinner menu offered all day Saturday and Sunday.
The Greenville menu further explains that there is a two hour dining limit for lunch and dinner and that the restaurant reserves the right to impose a surcharge for food waste. Sharing food with any non ACYE guest will also result in a surcharge but there is interestingly no mention of a restriction on food "to-go."
If Sushi Kingdom delivers on service and value, it will no doubt be a welcome addition to the community. Dunwoody is currently without an AYCE sushi option with the closest eatery likely Nori Nori at the corner of Abernathy and Roswell Roads in Sandy Springs. The Nori Nori pricing is considerably more expensive with weekend dinner topping out at $44.95. Curiously, child meal pricing at Nori Nori is determined not by age but by height.
These prices and policies are for the existing location so it's fair to say they will be similar, but it's not yet known what the situation will be in Dunwoody. It's also unclear whether birth certificates will be required for child pricing.
In Ashford Place, Sushi Kingdom joins existing eateries Chili's and 101 Bagel Cafe. A more than 7,000 square foot restaurant space that was most recently home to Memphis BBQ Co. remains vacant.
Sushi Kingdom will look to find greater success in Dunwoody than another Carolina import found. The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based concept, opened at Perimeter Mall in April 2016 but was closed by January 2019. P.F. Chang's marked their return to Dunwoody when they opened in the majority of the former Cowfish this past February.
What is currently your favorite place for sushi in Dunwoody? Do you think there is one AYCE sushi joint in metro Atlanta that is the best? What is your favorite type of sushi roll?
Please share your thoughts below.