Rock N Roll Sushi going up in Macon. It’s the 3rd Middle GA location for this couple

Tim and Alisa Prussia left their jobs and home behind in California to open the first Rock N Roll Sushi in Middle Georgia.

Today, just 16 months later, the Bonaire couple is about to launch what will be their third Rock in Roll Sushi location at 5801 Zebulon Road in Macon.

In California, Tim was an insurance agent, and Alisa was a tax accountant.

“So we sold our house in California, kinda switched gears, did a 180 and now we’ve got successful restaurants, which is great,” Tim Prussia said. “It’s an amazing business to be in, and we have a real passion for owning our own business.”

Their first Rock N Roll Sushi opened in September 2020 at 794 Ga. 96 in the Bonaire community of Warner Robins.

The popular restaurant known for its atmosphere and tasty food consistently remains among the top performers for the restaurant chain that was founded in Mobile, Alabama, in 2010 and now has more than 50 franchise locations across the southeast.

In May, the couple opened their second Rock N Roll Sushi at 3010 Watson Blvd. in Warner Robins. Alisa runs this location, while Tim handles the Bonaire store.

With a target opening in March, their third Rock N Sushi will be located in a 10,000-square foot building under construction in front of the Lofts at Zebulon across the street from the Sonny’s BBQ under construction.

The new building will also house a Tropical Smoothie Cafe. The remaining building space to be developed could house a sole or multiple tenants.

The building is owned by their Rock N Roll Sushi business partner, Eric Robison, whose sister is married to Tim’s brother. Robison has seven Rock N Roll Sushi locations in Georgia, including the three he’s in partnership with Tim and Alisa in Middle Georgia.

A native of Griffin, Tim first met Robison when they both went to what was then Lake Dow Christian Academy in McDonough. Years later, Tim moved to California for 12 years, where he met Alisa. The couple now make their home in Peachtree Estates in Bonaire not far from their first Rock N Roll Sushi location.

The Macon location was chosen for their next store in part because Robison, who once had a successful Verizon store in the area, was familiar with it. The location also appealed to the couple because of its proximity to the Lofts at Zebulon and Interstate 475.

Sushi Amplified

“Our huge neon sign in each of our restaurants is, ‘Sushi Amplified,’ “ Prussia said. “So, in kind of like going with that theme, Rock N Roll Sushi … basically, we break all the traditions of your typical sushi restaurant …

“When you think of a sushi restaurant, you kind of think of a mom and pop operation, and we are completely different from that.”

With lively lights and rock and roll music videos on multiple screens and the music heard over a surround sound system, customers can rock on as they look over menus placed inside rock n roll albums.

Many of the sushi rolls have rock n roll names and the restaurant’s full bar serves up specialty “rocktails,” cocktails with a rock ‘n’ roll theme, along with other mixed drinks, beer and wine.

“It’s just a lot different atmosphere that you’re not going to get at your typical sushi restaurant,” Prussia said.

The food

Another reason for Rock N Roll Sushi’s popularity is likely the mix of offerings for the consummate sushi lover and for the one who doesn’t like sushi.

“We also serve full hibachi as well,” Prussia said “Obviously, we don’t cook it in front of you. We do have a grill in the back. So, we have chicken, fillet, shrimp, lobster.”

A popular roll is the VIP.

The roll comes fully baked or fried and includes shrimp tempura, crab stick, cream cheese inside with a topping of Cajun seasoned crawfish, baked imitation crab meat, jalapeno, spicy mayo, sweet chili, eel sauce and crunchy flakes.

“Because there’s nothing raw at all in the VIP, I believe that’s why it’s our No. 1 selling roll,” Prussia said. “For me, I love raw sushi myself. But I love that roll as well.

“It’s just there’s so much going on. It all comes together. It’s an amazing combination of flavors.”

The restaurant’s No. 1 appetizer are the crispy wontons.

The wontons are stuffed with an imitation crabmeat and cream cheese filling “with a little bit of green onion, a little bit of jalapeno and some species,” Prussia said.

“You’ll definitely wonton encore,” the menu reads.

One of his wife’s favorites, Prussia said, is the Crowd Surfer Roll.

“It’s an amazing roll, too, that’s fried shrimp tempura on the inside and also spicy tuna and then it gets topped with red tuna and jalapenos and then it has kind of like a lovely mixture of our sweet chili sauce, spicy mayo, eel sauce and crunchies,” he said.

“It’s a great roll for those who want the best of both worlds. If they want raw with that kind of crunchies with the fried shrimp, it’s a great roll too.”

For those who aren’t sushi fans, the most popular hibachi dish is the filet mignon.

“I have a lot of people come in the restaurant for our filet hibachi,” Prussia said. “It’s not precooked steak that we warm up. It’s actually something that we cut in house every day and then we cook to order on the grill.”

The entree comes with hibachi vegetables, fried rice and yum yum sauce.

What about an entree for the consummate sushi lover?

“Well, of course,” Prussia said. “Our die-hard sushi lovers will love what we do with our yellowtail, or Hamachi.”

The Hamachi comes either traditional sashimi, where it’s rolled up raw into the shape of a rose for presentation, or nigiri, where the raw yellowtail is placed on top of a small amount of sushi rice, Prussia said.

“For the people who really, really love raw sushi we can always do a simple tuna roll or a salmon roll,” Prussia said.

The restaurant also offers the classic rolls.

“The rainbow rolls, the volcano rolls, all that kind of stuff,” he said.

A kids menu also is available with options such as hibachi chicken with a teriyaki flavor or chicken nuggets that are cut up in house and fried.

Prussia noted that all of the Rock N Roll Sushi restaurants are currently running a special that kids eat free on Tuesdays. That’s one free child’s meal with every adult entree ordered. The restaurant also features daily specials.

The menu also lists the calories beside each option and includes notations for spicy, gluten-free and vegan dishes.

Operating hours for all the restaurants are from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The restaurants offer dine-in, takeout and third-party delivery via DoorDash, Grubhub and Urber Eats.

“We are a lively restaurant,” Prussia said. “We have people who hang out in our restaurants one, two, three hours and just listen to the rock videos. It kind of just gives a really, really great vibe and the sushi is excellent as well.

“I just say people come for the atmosphere and they come back because of the food because it really is amazing sushi, hibachi and everything else.”

This story was originally published January 26, 2022 at 5:00 AM.