Sushirrito founder Peter Yen created the sushi burrito based on a craving.
Today, the restaurant chain has six locations in the Bay Area and one in New York's Flatiron neighborhood. There's usually a line out the door.
Ropes barricade the door, as if hungry patrons are clamoring to get into a club.
Inside, diners queue up in front of the food prep area. You can't customize what goes inside your burrito, unlike other quick-service chains like Chipotle or Subway.
The menu consists of eight varieties, ranging from $9 to $13.
It's mesmerizing to watch the sushi burrito come together in just seconds. Like a normal sushi roll, a plastic-bamboo mat is used to tuck the ingredients into a pinwheel.
I ordered three burritos. They came nestled in these neat take-out boxes.
I unwrapped the Geisha's Kiss burrito to find it really did look like a jumbo-sized sushi roll. It combines Japanese and Latin flavors, with yellowfin tuna, fish roe, chips made from lotus root, egg, piquillo peppers, cucumber, lettuce, and a ginger-infused guacamole.
Seaweed paper and white rice held together the tightly packed ingredients.
I sunk my teeth into glistening chunks of yellowfin tuna. Fresh and firm, the fish tasted like it could have been line-caught that morning. The lotus chips added a nice crunch.
Next I tried the Salmon Samba, which contains oven-baked salmon, tempura-fried asparagus, cucumber, lettuce, ginger-infused guacamole, pepitas, and wasabi dust.
My first bites into the Salmon Samba distinctly reminded me of eating a salmon burger. The cooked salmon combined with the pepitas created a nutty, caramelized flavor.
My favorite part was the tangy, pickled cucumbers. But the Salmon Samba paled in comparison to the Geisha's Kiss, in part because it didn't taste like traditional sushi.
Lastly, I dug into the Sumo Crunch, a combination of shrimp tempura, surimi crab, shaved cabbage, cucumber, ginger-infused guacamole, and Sriracha aioli.
Red tempura flakes coat the outside of the burrito, giving each bite a spicy kick.
This burrito screamed "California roll." I thought the mounds of crab would overpower the other ingredients, but the heat from Sriracha aioli kept it from being boring.
Each sushi burrito packed a generous amount of fish, which was good and bad. They tasted delicious (at a reasonable price), but several hours later, I still felt sickly stuffed.
FYI: I ate a few bites of each burrito, not three entire burritos.
Was it better than regular sushi? I don't think so. With a burrito, you lose out on the chance to try a few different rolls with your friends. But will I be back? 100%.
