A tiny locomotive rounds the bend carrying spicy tuna rolls, gives a cheerful toot, and suddenly everyone at the sushi bar is paying attention. That is a typical moment at Choo Choo Train Sushi, a wonderfully offbeat Japanese restaurant in Leonia where dinner comes with its own miniature railway.
Plates travel around an oval track built into the counter, letting diners grab whatever looks tempting as the train rolls past. The concept is undeniably cute, but this is no novelty restaurant surviving on whistles and wide-eyed children.
Fresh sashimi, elaborate specialty rolls, steaming bowls of ramen, Korean-inspired entrées, and playful desserts give adults plenty to get excited about, too. Even the dining room joins the fun, with colorful umbrellas, tiny buildings, and seating areas resembling miniature village huts.
Located at 374 Broad Avenue, this roughly 40-seat neighborhood spot transforms a regular sushi meal into something far more memorable without allowing the train to overshadow what is on the plates.
Choo Choo Train Sushi Brings Playful Japanese Dining to Leonia
Leonia is not the first place most people would expect to find one of New Jersey’s quirkiest dining experiences. The small Bergen County borough sits just west of the Hudson River, tucked between Fort Lee, Palisades Park, and Teaneck.
Broad Avenue functions as its compact downtown spine, and that is where Choo Choo Train Sushi has established itself at number 374. The train theme announces itself before anyone reaches the table.
The restaurant’s exterior resembles a railcar, complete with bright colors and windows that suggest a carriage waiting at a miniature station. Step through the door, and it becomes obvious that the name is not simply a cute bit of branding.
A working model train circles the sushi counter, carrying plates past diners while sounding its horn. Despite all that personality, the restaurant remains intimate.
It accommodates approximately 40 guests, keeping the experience closer to a neighborhood sushi bar than a sprawling theme restaurant. Counter seats offer the best view of the railway, while tables and small hut-like booths provide comfortable options for families and groups.
Because the train is central to the layout, even guests seated away from the track can watch it make its rounds. The operation has the personal feel of an independently owned local favorite.
Staff members guide first-time visitors through the setup, answer questions about unfamiliar dishes, and make families feel comfortable rather than hurried. The restaurant also offers takeout and delivery, though ordering sushi at home naturally means missing the locomotive.
Parking is generally available across the street, a useful detail in a downtown where curbside spaces can fill quickly. The restaurant traditionally closes between its lunch and dinner services and is closed on Tuesdays, so checking the latest schedule before visiting is sensible.
Once inside, however, the rhythm is wonderfully simple. Find a seat, watch the track, and wait for something delicious to come chugging around the corner.
A Horn-Tooting Toy Train Carries Sushi Around the Bar
First comes the sound. A small horn cuts through the dining room, heads turn toward the counter, and the miniature train appears with colorful plates lined up behind its engine.
It loops around an oval track built directly into the sushi bar, giving diners a moving display of rolls and small bites rather than leaving every decision to a printed menu. The locomotive is not merely decorative.
Guests seated beside the track can take a plate as it passes, much like they would at a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant. The difference is that the food here arrives aboard an actual toy train, complete with enough noise and motion to make its entrance feel like a tiny event.
Another selection comes around roughly every few minutes, so there is always a reason to glance back toward the rails. That format adds a little spontaneity to the meal.
Someone who planned to order only a California roll may spot salmon, yellowtail, or spicy tuna passing inches away and change course immediately. Edamame and other small plates can join the procession, creating an easy grazing experience for diners who prefer to try several things rather than commit to one large entrée.
Guests are not limited to whatever happens to be riding the train. The full menu remains available, and specialty rolls, sashimi platters, noodles, appetizers, and hot dishes can all be ordered conventionally.
That matters when the table wants something specific or when a favorite does not appear on the track. The train supplies the entertainment and impulse choices, while the kitchen provides the range.
Counter seating delivers the most immersive experience, especially for children or first-time visitors hoping to reach directly for a passing plate. Anyone coming mainly for the locomotive should request those seats when possible, particularly during quieter hours when there may be more flexibility.
The best moment usually arrives without warning. The horn toots, the engine rounds the track, and even diners who insisted the train was “for the kids” lean over to see what it brought.
Fresh Nigiri and Creative Rolls Make the Food More Than a Gimmick
A restaurant can earn one visit with a clever concept, but repeat business requires food worth craving. Choo Choo Train Sushi backs up its miniature railway with a broad selection of nigiri, sashimi, familiar rolls, and imaginative creations that range from restrained to gloriously over-the-top.
Traditionalists can keep things straightforward with tuna, salmon, yellowtail, eel, octopus, scallop, or live fluke served as sushi or sashimi. Toro, sweet shrimp, uni, and other premium choices may be offered at market price.
Combination platters simplify the decision further. The Choo Choo Sushi Plate includes six pieces of chef-selected sushi and a California roll, while larger sushi-and-sashimi combinations are designed for diners who want to explore several cuts of fish at once.
The regular roll list covers dependable favorites, including spicy tuna, yellowtail scallion, salmon avocado, shrimp tempura, eel cucumber, and the soft-shell-crab-filled Spider Roll. Prices for simpler rolls generally sit in the single digits, making it practical to share a few different combinations.
Then the menu leaves the station entirely. The signature Choo Choo Roll layers lobster, avocado, cucumber, bell pepper, and scallion beneath seared steak, jalapeño ponzu, and black tobiko.
The So Good Roll combines soft-shell crab tempura, lobster salad, spicy tuna, and spicy crab in soy paper, finished with three sauces. The Leonia Roll tops shrimp tempura and avocado with spicy tuna, crunch, eel sauce, and spicy mayo.
Diners who enjoy surprises can order the Whatever Roll, a chef’s special whose contents are intentionally left unexplained. The Happy Birthday Roll is nearly a celebration by itself, piling tuna, salmon, white tuna, lobster salad, avocado, fruit, and sauces onto pieces of crispy rice.
Smaller plates show the same playful streak. Spicy tuna crispy rice offers a crunchy counterpoint to the fish, while yellowtail jalapeño adds ponzu, sliced peppers, and tobiko.
The train may attract the first wave of attention, but dishes this specific are what keep the experience from becoming a one-note novelty.
Ramen Poke Bowls and Hot Entrées Round Out the Menu
Not everyone at the table needs to love raw fish. That is one of this restaurant’s quiet strengths.
Behind the sushi and toy-train spectacle sits a surprisingly extensive Japanese and Korean-influenced menu covering noodles, rice bowls, grilled meats, fried cutlets, dumplings, and vegetable dishes.
Tonkotsu ramen brings Kyushu-style pork broth and noodles for a rich, warming meal, while shoyu ramen uses a chicken-and-seafood-based soup.
Udon choices range from a classic tempura version to nabe yaki udon loaded with chicken, egg, and mixed tempura. Ocean yaki udon takes a different approach, stir-frying thick noodles with seafood and vegetables.
Diners who prefer buckwheat noodles can choose sansai soba with Japanese mountain vegetables. The rice bowls are just as varied.
Chirashi places chef-selected sashimi over rice, while tekka don and salmon don concentrate on a single fish. Katsudon combines breaded pork cutlet with onion, scallion, egg, and rice, and katsu curry pairs the same crisp pork with Japanese-style vegetable curry.
Lunch brings lower-priced poke bowls built around tuna, salmon, white fish, mixed seafood, or vegan ingredients, typically served with miso soup. Hot entrées move freely between Japanese comfort food and Korean flavors.
Tonkatsu and fish katsu arrive coated in crisp panko. Chicken, beef, salmon, and tofu teriyaki cover familiar territory, while bulgogi and Korean-style beef short ribs deliver sweeter, deeply savory marinades.
A grilled ribeye served with miso-pineapple sauce is one of the menu’s bigger splurges. The appetizer section makes sharing dangerously easy.
There are steamed or pan-fried gyoza, crystal shrimp dumplings, ebi shumai, vegetable and shrimp tempura, agedashi tofu, and beef negimaki wrapped around scallions.
The Choo Choo Hot Bun tucks bulgogi and scallions into soft bao, while the Eiffel Tower stacks spinach, tuna, avocado, salmon, cucumber, and white tuna with yuzu sauce. These dishes ensure that the train is only one route through the meal.
Colorful Train-Themed Décor Turns the Dining Room Into a Miniature Village
Look up, and the ceiling is dotted with Japanese-style umbrellas hanging upside down in bright bursts of color. Look toward the walls, and three small hut-like seating areas appear in yellow, green, and pink.
Look back at the train track, and the locomotive is passing miniature houses, a tiny station, and other pint-size buildings on its next trip around the bar. The dining room resembles a model village someone decided to turn into a restaurant.
Little details surround the track, including storefronts, homes, and playful buildings that reward anyone who takes a closer look. The scenery makes the railway feel integrated into the room rather than added as an afterthought.
Everything points back to the same cheerful idea of eating beside a tiny community connected by train. Because the restaurant holds only about 40 diners, the decorations do not disappear into a cavernous room.
They are close enough to inspect from the tables, and the track remains visible from much of the space. The compact layout also keeps the locomotive’s horn audible without making it feel like a sound effect booming through a theme park.
The three colorful huts give some parties a semi-private nook, while counter seating places guests directly beside the action. Families with young children will naturally gravitate toward the railway, but adults may appreciate the counter for another reason.
It provides an unobstructed view of plates as they pass, making it easier to spot an appealing roll before someone else claims it. There is plenty happening visually, yet the room manages to stay warm and approachable.
Lighting is bright enough to see the fish clearly, music does not overpower conversation, and the model-town touches create interest without turning dinner into sensory overload. Even the penguin-shaped thermos sometimes used for tea fits naturally into the scene.
The result is distinctive in a way that photographs cannot fully capture. The umbrellas provide the color, the miniature buildings supply the story, and the moving train brings everything to life one toot at a time.
Kid-Friendly Meals and Playful Desserts Make It a Family Favorite
For parents, the cleverest part of Choo Choo Train Sushi may not be the locomotive itself. It is the fact that the train occupies children while the adults eat food they genuinely wanted, eliminating the familiar compromise between an entertaining restaurant and a satisfying meal.
The kids’ menu accommodates cautious eaters without limiting every child to a plain bowl of rice. Chicken nuggets, tenders, waffle-cut fries, and regular fries are available, but there are also teriyaki wings and empanadas filled with cheese or bulgogi.
The Choo Choo Kid’s Set bundles a miniature hamburger with three chicken nuggets and fries, giving younger diners a little variety on one plate. More adventurous children can share beef or vegetable gyoza, chicken yakitori, edamame, shrimp tempura, or a California roll.
Ramune, the Japanese soda famous for its marble-sealed bottle, adds another hands-on novelty to the table. Meanwhile, the train continues to circle the counter, providing a built-in distraction that does not require a screen.
Dessert keeps the playful streak going. Mochi ice cream comes in flavors such as green tea, coffee, strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla.
Rainbow fried ice cream wraps a cold center in a crisp shell, while deep-fried Oreos lean fully into fairground territory. K-style shaved ice offers a shareable finish for the table, but the cotton candy machine usually claims the most attention.
Watching spun sugar gather into a fluffy cloud feels perfectly at home in a restaurant already operating its own miniature railway. The appeal is not limited to families, of course.
Birthdays, casual dates, and dinners with friends all benefit from a little harmless silliness, especially when the kitchen takes the actual meal seriously. Still, children experience this place with unmatched enthusiasm.
They watch for the engine, listen for the horn, choose a plate, and finish the evening with cotton candy while the adults quietly plan which specialty roll they will order next time.