The AYCE service is built around ordering food to the table. In an October 5 firsthand account, a diner described marking selections on paper menus with a pencil. Appetizers and sides arrived in small portions, entrées were approximately half-size and sushi rolls were full-size. The account also reported a two-hour dining limit.
That mix is critically important for people who come to AYCE restaurants to sample. A smaller appetizer leaves room for another choice, while a full sushi roll asks for a little more commitment. The pencil may be the smallest piece of equipment on the table, but it has considerable influence over the rest of lunch.
A separate lunch review shared in Asheville Foodies describes specialty rolls, kitchen appetizers and hibachi dishes, with the diner putting lunch at about $20. The figure is a rounded customer account, offering an early sense of the lunch price rather than an exact published rate.
Together, the lunch accounts describe a restaurant where sushi is the main attraction and hot kitchen selections give the table more ways to build a meal. The portion details also help explain how to approach it: start with a few choices, see what arrives and let the next order follow what you actually want to eat.
The Citizen Times photographs give the setting more definition, too. Red upholstered booths and wood tables sit beneath round hanging lights, with patterned decorative panels dividing parts of the room. The long sushi counter puts the working chefs in view, while the dining area includes both booths and freestanding tables.
The opening follows a development documented last year. An August 2025 retail report from Dewey Property Advisors listed a 5,804-square-foot Sushi Kingdom lease at Westgate Shopping Center.
The space was previously associated with Oriental Pavilion. That restaurant’s official website identifies its former Westgate location and its new address at 50 North Merrimon Avenue, Suite 101. Sushi Kingdom’s arrival gives the old site a new dining format while Oriental Pavilion continues its own story elsewhere.
For Asheville’s AYCE audience, the opening brings a concrete new option: a staffed sushi counter, ordered-to-table variety and a dining room already in use. The next round can be decided after the first one arrives—a small luxury familiar to anyone who has ever wanted to try just one more roll.
