In shortSixty-year-old sushi house at Shimizu port, built on whole southern bluefin tuna — counter, tatami rooms and Crown melon to finish. Reservations run in Japanese and are hard to place from abroad, so our Tokyo desk requests the table for you, by phone and in Japanese.
Price
Courses from about ¥5,800 at lunch and ¥8,640–27,000 at dinner per a local listing; reviewers average ¥8,000–10,000 at lunch, ¥20,000–30,000 at dinner
Hours
11:30–21:30 through the day (a local listing gives last orders at 21:00)
Closed
Wednesdays, plus one consecutive Tuesday–Wednesday pair each month
Seats
83 — 11 at the counter, 12 at tables and 60 in tatami rooms, with private rooms
Payment
Cards accepted (Visa, Master, JCB, Amex, Diners); a local listing says cash only at lunch
Getting there
JR Shimizu Station, about 8 minutes on foot (one stop from Shizuoka on the Tokaido Line); parking on site
Children
Primary school age and over
Dress code
No dress code
Shimizu is the port where the bulk of Japan’s frozen tuna comes
ashore, and Suehirozushi is the house that turned that fact into a
reputation. Eiji Mochizuki, born in Shizuoka in 1941 and apprenticed
at fifteen, opened here in 1966 with the savings of a decade and a
contrarian idea: that the coming “age of toro” could be served with
southern bluefin from the Indian Ocean rather than the ruinously
priced domestic fish. He bought the tuna whole — one a week — and
used it head to tail. A food‑industry paper’s profile and a dancyu
feature both tell the story the same way; by the 1990s people were
changing trains to eat here, and Tabelog has listed the house on its
Sushi East 100 in 2021 and 2025. Today the second generation,
Yukimasa Mochizuki, is at the counter too.
What you eat
Southern bluefin in every cut — akami, chutoro, otoro, kamatoro —
from fish landed at Shimizu and handled by a single port wholesaler
the house has worked with for decades, plus seasonal Suruga Bay fish
and, to finish, a slice of Crown melon from Fukuroi. You book the
seat, not the meal: on the day you choose between ordering nigiri
piece by piece and taking the omakase nigiri course. A local
listing gives lunch courses from ¥5,800 (a bowl of nigiri with a
starter, chawanmushi and melon) and dinner courses from ¥8,640 to
¥27,000; reviewers report roughly ¥7,000 lunch courses and
¥20,000–30,000 dinners with drinks. The house has more than eighty
seats across a counter, tables and tatami rooms, and takes children
at all hours.
The booking reality
This is one of the least stressful bookings on the Tokaido line.
Reservations are seat‑only, by telephone (054‑366‑6083), and
diners in 2026 report getting in the day before, and once an hour
before. Ikyu and PayPay Gourmet carry a small number of seat‑only
slots on certain days, and the house says on those pages that dates
the sites show as unavailable can often be opened by phone. The one
thing to plan for is the eleven‑seat counter: it is where the
regulars sit, and a 2026 diner found it already full of them. If
you want to watch the tuna being cut, say so when you book, and book
early. The house closes Wednesdays and takes one Tuesday–Wednesday
pair off each month; check the month’s dates before you travel.
Our desk calls in Japanese, asks specifically for the counter or a
tatami room, and confirms the course price on the day. Cancellation
terms and reservation‑line hours are not published; we settle both
when we call.
Travelers on the Tokyo–Kyoto shinkansen who can stop at Shizuoka for
lunch — Shimizu is one local stop on — and anyone curious about
tuna at the port that lands it; families and groups, who fit easily
in the tatami rooms; and visitors pairing Miho no Matsubara and the
Mount Fuji views with a proper sushi lunch.
Free release-date alerts: the day before, on the morning of release day (08:00 JST) and about 30 minutes before when the time is known — or a weekly summary if the house opens a little every day.
Suehirozushi: common questions
Can you book Suehirozushi from abroad?
Yes, through our Tokyo desk. Phone in Japanese for seat-only bookings, often the day before; Ikyu and PayPay Gourmet list limited slots; ask early for the counter. We call the restaurant for you, in Japanese, and the ¥6,000-per-seat fee is charged only if we confirm your table — no seat, no fee.
Some of these links are referral links: if you book through them we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Restaurants never pay us to be listed or ranked. Editorial policy
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