Where to Eat Sushi in Faenza: Sushi Yo Yo for Sashimi, Uramaki and €25.90 All You Can Eat
Sushi Yo Yo sits at Via Emilia Ponente 13/A in Faenza, with a contemporary dining room and a menu that moves freely between Japanese sushi, Chinese dishes and broader Asian-fusion cooking. The restaurant is family-run and offers both à la carte ordering and an All You Can Eat formula, with lunch and dinner menus built around sashimi, nigiri, uramaki, tartare, carpacci, grilled dishes, dumplings, noodles and fried plates.
The sheer size of the menu could easily encourage the usual AYCE mistake: ordering everything that photographs well and discovering halfway through dinner that salmon, Philadelphia, teriyaki and fried onion have somehow taken control of the table. Sushi Yo Yo is much better when approached with a little discipline. Start raw, move through nigiri and tartare, add one or two creative rolls, then use the Chinese and grilled sections to change the rhythm.
That was the clearest lesson from our 2026 meal. We ate very well when the fish remained visible and the combinations stayed sharp; the more overloaded rolls were enjoyable in smaller doses but quickly became repetitive. For an All You Can Eat restaurant, Yo Yo’s real strength is not how much you can order, but how much variety you can build without losing sight of the ingredients.
Sashimi Is Where We Would Begin
The 20-piece sashimi mix costs €16 à la carte, with the selection changing according to availability and the possibility of shellfish such as scampi or red prawn appearing outside the standard menu.
This is the right place to take the measure of the kitchen. Raw fish has nowhere to hide behind frying, mayonnaise or teriyaki, so slicing, temperature and texture become immediately apparent. Salmon provides the familiar fatty sweetness, tuna brings a firmer bite, while shellfish can add a more delicate marine note when available.
Before ordering elaborate rolls, give the fish a chance to speak on its own.
Nigiri Sake and Maguro Keep the Test Simple
The salmon nigiri costs €3.50 for three pieces, while tuna nigiri is €4.50.
These are small details on a huge menu, but they matter. Rice should hold together without becoming dense, while the fish needs enough thickness to remain the dominant element. Soy sauce is useful; drowning the piece in it is not.
The seared versions, finished with teriyaki and pistachio, are richer and more immediately crowd-pleasing, but the plain salmon and tuna tell you more.
Amaebi Adds a More Delicate Texture
The raw-prawn nigiri costs €4.50 for three pieces.
Amaebi has a softer, sweeter character than cooked prawn and benefits from minimal seasoning. It is one of the better choices for breaking up a sequence dominated by salmon.
This is also where the AYCE format can become genuinely interesting: the table can move between familiar pieces and slightly more delicate seafood without committing to an expensive standalone platter.
Ura Sake Is Familiar for a Reason
The Ura Sake costs €8.50 à la carte, combining salmon, avocado, Philadelphia and sesame.
There is nothing revolutionary here, but the combination remains popular because the textures align so easily: fatty fish, creamy cheese, soft avocado and nutty sesame. It is accessible, generous and very much part of the modern European sushi-bar vocabulary.
We would order it once, then move on.
The mistake is not liking Philadelphia rolls. The mistake is allowing every roll on the table to become one.
Ura Ebiten Gives the Meal the Crunch It Needs
The Ura Ebiten also costs €8.50 and brings fried prawn into the mix.
Tempura gives the roll a hot, crisp centre against cool rice and toppings, creating a useful textural shift after sashimi and nigiri. This is where a little teriyaki makes sense because sweetness plays naturally against fried prawn.
One fried roll can wake up the table.
Four begin cancelling one another out.
The New Roll Shows Yo Yo’s More Playful Side
The New Roll costs €6.50 for four pieces, combining salmon, tempura prawn, Philadelphia, gazpacho, teriyaki and kataifi.
This is fusion without apology.
There is a lot happening — raw fish, fried shellfish, creaminess, sweetness, acidity and crunch — yet the smaller four-piece format keeps the idea from becoming exhausting. Kataifi adds the crisp texture, while gazpacho brings enough acidity to stop the richer ingredients from merging into one flavour.
It is not traditional sushi, nor does it pretend to be.
Fried Hosomaki Are Better as a Diversion
The menu includes fried hosomaki with combinations such as salmon and strawberry, salmon and mango, or salmon with spicy sauce, teriyaki and kataifi, generally around €6.50.
These belong firmly to the playful end of the menu. Fruit, fried rice and cream cheese can be entertaining, but they also push the meal furthest from the clean character of sushi.
A shared plate between several people is enough.
Their role is contrast, not foundation.
Poke Sake Gives the Table a Reset
The Poke Sake costs €8.50, with salmon, avocado, seaweed, edamame, fried onion, sesame and house sauce.
After several rolls, eating the same ingredients from a bowl changes the experience more than it sounds. Rice and fish become easier to separate, while edamame and seaweed add freshness and texture.
The Poke Maguro, also €8.50, does the same job with tuna.
These are especially sensible choices for anyone who likes sushi ingredients but tires quickly of sauce-heavy uramaki.
The Grill Section Deserves More Attention
Yo Yo is not only about raw fish.
The teppanyaki section includes grilled prawns at €7.50, salmon and sea bass at €6.50, squid at €6.50 and prawn skewers at €7. Most arrive with teriyaki or sesame, keeping the flavour profile accessible.
The grilled salmon is particularly useful halfway through dinner. It brings warmth and a firmer texture without resorting to another fried course, while grilled prawns retain enough sweetness to stand up to the sauce.
This is where the menu starts feeling broader than a conventional sushi AYCE.
Korean Rice Cakes Are an Unexpected Detour
The griddled Korean rice cakes cost €5.50.
Their chewy texture is completely different from sushi rice, raw fish or tempura, which is exactly why they earn a place in a long meal. They also underline that Yo Yo operates as an Asian-fusion restaurant rather than a Japanese purist address.
You do not come here for a rigid lesson in regional authenticity.
You come for range.
Chinese Dishes Give Non-Sushi Diners Plenty to Work With
The menu also extends into spring rolls, prawn toast, dumplings, soups, noodles, rice dishes and other cooked preparations.
That breadth matters for groups. One person can stay almost entirely with sashimi and nigiri while another avoids raw fish altogether without feeling relegated to three token alternatives.
The cooked side is most useful when treated as contrast rather than as a second complete dinner layered over the first.
A couple of dumplings, one hot dish and something from the grill are enough to change pace.
What to Drink
With this kind of menu, a cold Japanese lager is often more versatile than an ambitious bottle of wine. It handles tempura, teriyaki, spicy sauces and raw fish without demanding that every plate move in the same direction.
For a meal centred more heavily on sashimi and nigiri, a dry sparkling wine or crisp white can work well. Once fried rolls, mango, spicy mayonnaise and sweet sauces enter the equation, beer becomes the easier companion.
Green tea remains the simplest option of all.
The All You Can Eat Formula Is the Real Value Play
At weekday lunch, the AYCE menu costs €14.90 plus €1 cover. On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, lunch is €17.90 plus €1 cover. Dinner is €25.90 plus €2 cover every day.
Those prices make the restaurant particularly competitive at lunch, but dinner offers the broader opportunity to explore the menu without watching every extra plate raise the bill.
The important thing is not to confuse value with volume. A disciplined sequence of sashimi, nigiri, one creative roll, something grilled and a cooked dish produces a much better meal than ordering every fried uramaki simply because the formula allows it.
Takeaway Makes Sense for Larger Groups
The restaurant also offers a six-dish takeaway formula at €26.90, while mixed sushi boxes start at €22 for 34 pieces and increase in size up to a 72-piece box at €40 through the restaurant’s direct takeaway offer.
For a group at home, those boxes make obvious practical sense.
At the restaurant, however, the broader menu is the attraction. Being able to alternate raw fish, grill, fried dishes and Chinese preparations is what separates the experience from simply buying a large sushi tray.
A Modern Room Fits the Concept
The dining room follows a contemporary Asian aesthetic rather than a heavily themed Japanese one. It is polished enough for dinner but relaxed enough for families, groups and casual weekday lunches.
The space suits the menu. Yo Yo is not presenting an omakase ritual where silence and counter seating are part of the performance; it is a social restaurant built around choice, repeated ordering and dishes arriving across the table.
On our visit, that informal rhythm suited the format well. The meal felt easy rather than rushed, and the restaurant worked best once we stopped treating the menu as a challenge to complete.
Service, Atmosphere and Value
Yo Yo opens daily for lunch from 12:00 to 15:00 and dinner from 19:00 to midnight. The restaurant also accepts à la carte orders, making it possible to eat much more selectively than the AYCE format might suggest.
Service is naturally geared towards repeated ordering rather than formal table choreography. That makes speed and clarity more important than ceremony, and the format works particularly well for groups with different appetites.
The €14.90 weekday lunch is the obvious bargain, while €25.90 at dinner remains persuasive given the breadth of sashimi, nigiri, rolls, grill and cooked dishes available.
Useful Information
- Name: Sushi Yo Yo Faenza
- Address: Via Emilia Ponente 13/A, Faenza
- Cuisine: Japanese, Chinese and Asian fusion
- Style: Family-run contemporary restaurant
- Service: All You Can Eat and à la carte
- Main categories: Sashimi, nigiri, uramaki, tartare, carpaccio, poke, teppanyaki, fried dishes and Chinese specialties
- Weekday lunch AYCE: €14.90 + €1 cover
- Weekend and holiday lunch AYCE: €17.90 + €1 cover
- Dinner AYCE: €25.90 + €2 cover
- Children 5–9 weekday lunch: €8.90
- Children 5–9 weekend lunch: €10.90
- Children 5–9 dinner: €14.90
- 20-piece sashimi mix: €16 à la carte
- Salmon nigiri: €3.50 for three
- Tuna nigiri: €4.50 for three
- Raw-prawn nigiri: €4.50 for three
- Ura Sake: €8.50
- Poke Sake: €8.50
- Poke Maguro: €8.50
- Grilled prawns: €7.50
- Takeaway six-dish menu: €26.90
- Opening hours: Daily 12:00–15:00 and 19:00–00:00
- Telephone: 0546 622834
- Best for: AYCE sushi, mixed groups, sashimi, creative rolls and casual Asian dining in Faenza
Our Rating of Sushi Yo Yo Faenza
Food: 8.7/10
The restaurant is strongest when fresh fish and simpler combinations remain at the centre of the order.
Sashimi: 9/10
The mixed platter is the most convincing way to start and the clearest test of the raw ingredient.
Nigiri: 8.9/10
Simple salmon, tuna and raw prawn outperform many of the more decorated pieces.
Uramaki: 8.7/10
Plenty of creativity and crunch, though selective ordering produces a better meal than maximum variety.
Cooked and Grilled Dishes: 8.6/10
Teppanyaki and Chinese preparations give mixed tables much more range than sushi alone.
Creativity: 8.9/10
Kataifi, mango, strawberry, gazpacho and fried combinations keep the menu playful without defining every dish.
Service: 8.7/10
Informal and appropriately geared towards the quick rhythm of repeated AYCE ordering.
Atmosphere: 8.7/10
Modern, comfortable and well suited to groups and casual dinners.
Value for Money: 9.3/10
The weekday lunch in particular is extremely competitive, while dinner remains strong for the breadth available.
Overall Rating: 8.8/10
