Last time I donated blood in Altamonte Springs, I was feeling quite empty, so I decided to drive across the street and treat myself to an all-you-can-eat sushi lunch at Sushi Rock and Grill (https://www.sushirockorlando.com/), one of the many recently opened all-you-can-eat sushi spots in and around Orlando. On the weekends, lunch is the same price as dinner: $35, but I feel like I got my money’s worth. Plus, there are more options on the dinner menu than the weekday lunch menu, which normally costs $22. There is also an a la carte option for people who don’t want to eat all they can eat.
I started out with two of my all-you-can-eat sushi standards: some smoked salmon and mackerel sashimi, my tribute to Ashkenazi Jewish appetizing stores that specialize in cold-smoked nova salmon and pickled herring. I love mackerel sashimi, because it is usually lightly vinegary and slightly sweet, just liked pickled herring in wine sauce. You get two pieces per order of each, so I got two orders here.
On the a la carte menu, an order of smoked salmon is $7 and an order of mackerel sashimi is $5, so this along would cost $24 ($7 + $7 + $5 + $5). I’m going to keep a running tally so you can see what a great deal this is.
I followed that with some small plates from the Sushi Bar Appetizers menu. This is another dish I love at any Japanese restaurant, even though it was created in Los Angeles in the 1980s: spicy tuna crispy rice. These deep-fried mounds of rice are topped with spicy tuna, masago (the bright orange, salty fish eggs), scallions, and a sweet chili cream sauce. These are always perfect bites of food with so many great textures as well as flavors. 
On the a la carte menu, this would be $10, so everything I ordered so far would be a total of $34.
This was salmon passion, thinly sliced salmon in a mango-passion fruit sauce.
This isn’t listed on the a la carte menu on the website, but very similar appetizers like the salmon tango are $12, so I’ll use that as a guideline. Now everything I ordered so far would be a total of $46.
This is the spicy tostada: an order of three crispy wonton skins topped with spicy tuna or salmon (I think I asked if I could get a little of each), guacamole, fresh jalapeño curls, masago, sweet chili cream sauce, and eel sauce. These were more perfect bites of food.
On the a la carte menu, this would be $11, so everything I ordered so far would be a total of $57.
Then all four of my rolls came out at the same time. Hopefully I can remember them all!
This was the Captain America roll, which was labeled “BEST” on the menu. I’m not sure of the connection, but I couldn’t resist a roll named after my second-favorite Marvel superhero. This roll contains tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and avocado and was topped with “white fish” (probably escolar) and miso sauce. To paraphrase Steve Rogers, I could eat this all day. There is also a Spider-Man roll, so you could always have a sushi superhero crossover.
On the a la carte menu, this would be $14, so everything I ordered so far would be a total of $71.
This was the tropical salmon roll (also labeled “BEST”), with salmon, cream cheese, and mango inside the roll and topped with more salmon, sweet and tangy mango sauce, and “rice crackers” (those tiny round spheres, which added a really pleasant crispy crunch).
On the a la carte menu, this would be $14, so everything I ordered so far would be a total of $85.
This was the summer crunch roll, with spicy tuna inside the roll, topped with spicy salmon, jalapeño, eel sauce, and “crunch” — referring to the crispy tempura flakes. I loved everything about this roll.
On the a la carte menu, this would be $13, so everything I ordered so far would be a total of $98.
This was my last choice, the crazy combination they call the Buffalo jalapeño roll. It contains a deep-fried stuffed jalapeño with spicy tuna, escolar, and cream cheese inside the roll, and it is topped with eel sauce, chili sauce, spicy mayo, and more crunch tempura flakes. I love spicy food, but for me, this was delicious rather than challenging, uncomfortable levels of heat. 
On the a la carte menu, this would be $13, so everything I ordered so far would be a total of $111.
Since I didn’t get a good angle earlier, here’s a close-up of the cross-section so you can see all the good stuff inside.
So I paid $35 (plus tip, of course, always!) for what would be $111 worth of food, had I ordered everything separately. I was starving and regaining my strength after donating blood, so I came to play and played to win. But you can see what a bargain Sushi Rock and Grill and similar all-you-can-eat sushi establishments like Sushi Yama and Sushi Island are. How would I compare them? Even though everything was good here, I don’t think I enjoyed the experience as much because the restaurant was almost empty, and I still got seated right next to a really loud, obnoxious table, so that affected my enjoyment of the meal itself. But the sushi was super-solid, so I have no doubt I will return.
The Saboscrivner 