I told the server (Bailey) about my celiac when she came around the first time to greet us. She said she was pretty new so didn’t know much about what had gluten, but that the tempura and kimchi have gluten. She said she’d bring her trainer out so I waited but she didn’t bring her trainer out. I asked if they had a gluten free menu and Bailey said they didn’t. The menu didn’t have gf marked and it was hard to tell what items had gluten. She said I could order and she’d make sure it was gluten free before she put the order in. I asked again and Bailey pointed to 3 sushi rolls and told me they were gluten free. I was hiding it but frustrated that I couldn’t tell what was safe and that the server wasn’t very helpful til I asked her multiple times. When the sushi came out, I asked for gluten free soy sauce and the server brought me some.
I am a huge sushi fan and heard lots of great things about Billy. However, I never got the chance to visit before they added their Japanese Fried Chicken to the menu, which is one of the only menu items containing gluten.
As a result of their negligence to get another fryer, all of their tempura is now off limits for celiacs (or for anyone who cannot have CC). Extremely disappointing menu decision from them. I would love to see them get another fryer that they could dedicate to the fried chicken. Huge bummer.
The sushi is extremely high grade though and dining there is fun. Drinks are solid. There is a reason why this has been one of the hottest restaurants in the city for a while. The GF sushi is still great, but the disappointment in having most of the menu now off limits due to CC combined with the steep price made this not as enjoyable of an experience as it could’ve been.
Their website is extremely misleading: they say they could make almost anything on their menu GF, but when we got there, it just wasn’t true. I think it was five appetizers, three fancy rolls, and two regular rolls and that’s it. I really enjoyed the yuzu tuna, having never had anything quite like that. And I also liked the Nolo Yolo roll, but wasn’t as fond of the Fancy & Furious (they share my husband’s obsession with all things super-spicy including sriracha—which I don’t share!). So, flavors were okay. It didn’t FEEL super-safe as we sat at the bar watching them make things (nothing flagged or even acknowledged as GF as they handed it to me, although they did, at least, put it on my own plate) but I didn’t get sick, so that was a successful night out (which won’t be repeated—sooooo not worth the steep prices!)
This was the best sushi I have ever had. We sat at the sushi bar and I was able to watch the sushi chef clean the area. My husband had one roll that couldn’t be made gluten free and it was served separately. I felt very confident. However it was my worst glutening ever. I suspect there was a mix up with soy sauce on the counter. It clearly said gluten free but I wonder if it was refilled with the wrong soy sauce. It took me 7 months to try any sushi again. I may try them again but bring my own gf soy sauce.
The staff were very helpful in talking through my options. They even called back to suggest an alternative item to be safe.
I had an excellent experience at Billy Sushi. It states on the menu that all sauces and the sushi rice are gluten free. Basically everything on the menu is gf, except for fried items and anything with “crunchy” pieces. They can make basically any roll gluten free by removing or replacing any crunchy pieces or tempura in the roll. Gluten free soy sauce is available on the table. They also served my rolls on a separate plate for me - the rest of the table was served together on a big wooden boat, but they separated mine to ensure no cross contamination. Excellent food.
Their menu states all sauces, sushi rice, and soy sauce are GF. GF Soy sauce was provided on the table. Almost every roll can be made GF if requested. Sushi was delicious! Make sure you ask for your sushi on a separate plate!! My table order a lot so they brought everything together on a “Sushi Boat” and while a fun experience, my rolls were next to ones with tempura/gluten ingredients so there was concern for cross contamination.