While many people enjoy sushi, most don't know the names of the different styles or what they include. Therefore, a sushi website should highlight the food by offering clear menus with short descriptions of each dish and high-quality images of the sushi. Customers will also want access to online ordering and the location and operating hours of the business.
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Zarla checks that sites meet basic web standards for mobile and desktop. We also use Google's PageSpeed Insights, and WAVE, a service that evaluates accessibility for individuals with disabilities. PageSpeed scores and accessibility are important factors for search engine rankings. PageSpeed scores may not match user experience and can vary substantially.
New York, New York, U.S.
Nami Nori is a temaki bar in New York that offers customers a casual elegant aesthetic. The site complements this design style with a sophisticated color palette and high-quality images of the food and location. The menu on the site and the online ordering section offer short descriptions of the items to help customers with ordering.
Customers can easily find the business's contact details, locations, and operating hours on the site. I also enjoyed the addition of news articles from popular sites that highlight the skill and quality of this restaurant.
WAVE notes only a handful of empty buttons on the site. The website design is elegant and minimalist, highlighting the information customers need to know without overwhelming with large blocks of text.
accessScan reports that the site is only semi-compliant with assistive technologies. Navigation of the site is not as intuitive as other sites, with the menu only appearing at the top of the page. There is no footer menu or back-to-top button, which leads to a lot of scrolling.
The desktop site shines with enticing images and a unique menu layout that is arranged around the business name in the top banner. The short text blocks and strong use of white space ensure the legibility of this site. While PageSpeed Insights reported slightly slower loading times on the site, it scored 83/100 for performance and scored exceptionally well in both accessibility and best practices.
The mobile site is well-optimized for smaller screens, but the resized hero image does lose impact some on the mobile site versus the desktop site. The menu, hidden behind the hamburger icon, has a more traditional layout that eases navigation.
My real-world tests showed that navigating to the individual locations' reservation and online ordering software was slow, and this was confirmed by PageSpeed Insights with a performance score of 44/100.
Riverwood, New South Wales, Australia
Sushi Izu is a sushi retailer in Australia that operates within one of Australia's largest supermarket chains, Woolworths. The site is clean and minimalistic, with high-quality images acting as backdrops for CTAs that invite customers to learn more about the different types of sushi on offer.
The site leads the visitor through viewing the menu, finding their nearest store, or viewing the catering options. Customers also have the option of downloading the app and ordering online. However, online ordering seems to be unavailable unless you create an account.
High-quality, enticing images dominate the site, and the menu shows customers ingredient lists, allergens, and nutritional information for each product. Social media links and contact details are prominently displayed.
The site is not compliant with assistive technologies and WAVE reports a number of contrast errors, missing alternative text, and missing labels. The online ordering system in not accessible unless the customer creates an account.
The desktop site features a hamburger menu, rather than the traditional menu bar, but the logo is small and could be more prominently displayed, especially with the menu tucked away. The CTAs are well-placed to entice customers to view the menu or find a store to shop at. On PageSpeed Insights, the desktop site received a strong performance score of 81/100.
The logo is a touch more prominent on the mobile site and the images retain their high quality and enticing nature. However, it's not as obvious that the middle images contain links to the menu, as the visitor has to tap on the image to see the sushi name and the menu CTA.
My real-world tests revealed slow loading times on the mobile site, and this was confirmed by PageSpeed Insights. While the mobile site received high scores for accessibility, best practices, and SEO, it only achieved 38/100 for performance.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sushi Yugen offers visitors an omakase (dishes selected by the chef) sushi experience at an eight- or twelve-seat dining area. While the site is fairly text-heavy, with a small font that is sometimes difficult to read, visitors can find clear contact details, operating hours, costs, and social media links.
The site is also unique in that is highlights the various points and interior design elements within the restaurant that embrace Japanese culture. While the reservation system is intuitive and runs smoothly, the extensive list of do's and dont's for your booking may discourage some customers from making the booking.
WAVE reported only a single image missing alternative text and some contrast errors. The site highlights the high-end aesthetic of the business and the importance of Japanese culture within the business.
The site is only semi-compliant with assistive technologies and is quite text-heavy, with only some images in the hero banner and background images on the other pages to offer some visual relief.
Although the site is text-heavy, the desktop site makes good use of the available screen sizes by organizing the information in such a way that most of the pages don't need any scrolling. Some of my real-world tests showed slow loading times on the desktop site, which was noted on PageSpeed Insights, but all-in-all, the desktop site scored exceptionally well, with a performance score of 93/100.
The mobile site welcomes visitors with beautifully resized images and the CTA for reservations prominently displayed. The menu is hidden behind the discrete hamburger icon, but some of the pages are still quite text-heavy. PageSpeed Insights reported slow loading times, with a performance score of 60/100 for the mobile site. However, my real-world tests were smooth and the pages loaded fairly quickly.
Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Nuri is a sitdown, takeaway, and delivery sushi restaurant based in the Cape Town area. The site uses large, high-quality images to showcase the sushi and poké bowls on the menu, and prominent CTAs encourage visitors to view or download the menu.
Visitors will also find plenty of opportunities to contact the business to place their orders, from WhatsApp links to social media links. The menu is also helpfully divided into categories and includes short descriptions of the menu items.
WAVE reported only a handful of errors on the site, including some contrast errors and an empty button. The site is clean and simple, perfectly fulfilling the function of encouraging customers to order delivery.
The site is only semi-compliant with assistive technologies and would benefit from more images of the food to entice. The lack of an online ordering system and a list of the business's operating hours stands out.
The desktop site features an enticing video banner that shows a person taking a piece of sushi, making the viewer feel like they can reach out and join in the meal. Great use of white space helps with the legibility of the site, particularly in the menu. The desktop site scored exceptionally well on PageSpeed Insights, with 92/100 for performance and 95/100 for accessibility.
The video in the hero banner doesn't have as much impact on the mobile site as it does on the desktop site, as it hasn't been resized well. However, the images have been nicely resized, and the mobile site maintains good use of white space for easy legibility and keeping the focus on the menu.
WhatsApp links are much more useful on a mobile site, as they link to the mobile App, so visitors should find it easier to contact the business to place their order on the mobile site. The mobile site performed well in real-world tests, but PageSpeed Insights noted slow loading times and awarded the mobile site a performance score of 75/100.
Cardiff, Wales, U.K.
Tenkaichi was the first Japanese restaurant to open in Cardiff, specializing in sushi and noodle dishes. The site makes an impact by referencing the colors of the Japanese flag, with the added benefit that red both captures attention and whets the appetite — perfect for a restaurant's website.
The site is geared toward encouraging customers to visit the restaurant, with plenty of well-placed booking CTAs. However, online ordering is available and the menu here includes short item descriptions, while the menu on the site shows the different styles of sushi and noodles available.
WAVE reported less than five errors on the site, including a missing label and some contrast errors. The use of bright red to highlight the CTAs and social media links is a great idea, as it draws attention. The site includes customer reviews, FAQs, and news articles.
The site is not compliant with assistive technologies and the site doesn't load Google Maps correctly for the business location. The site menu lacks details; it only provides visitors with information about the styles of sushi and noodles that customers can order.
The desktop site is quite text-heavy but cleverly uses the available white space to provide some visual relief. The site performed well on PageSpeed Insights, with 92/100 for accessibility and 87/100 for performance, despite reported slow loading times. On the other hand, my real-world tests ran smoothly.
The mobile site has been well-optimized for smaller screens, but the text-heavy blocks are more noticeable than on the desktop site, leading to a lot of scrolling with no back-to-top button or bottom menu. My tests showed some slight delays in the loading of the pages, which was confirmed by PageSpeed Insights. The mobile site received a performance score of 62/100.
There are a range of website builders available online that provide templates and examples of sushi websites. For inspiration, try a range of different builders when you're designing your site.
If you have little to no design experience, a website template is the perfect solution. Try a website builder like Zarla's, which will create a site and add AI-generated content for you.
We've curated a list of great sushi websites for you to browse and gain inspiration from.
