In just a few years, this Charlotte sushi chef has risen to James Beard heights
Charlotte’s most elite sushi chef strives for perfection in every bite, a passion that has driven him from a newcomer to the cuisine to Michelin Guide recognition in just over a decade.
Now, Robin Anthony has unlocked yet another achievement. He’s Charlotte’s newest James Beard Award semifinalist, listed among the region’s top culinary superstars in the running for Best Chef: Southeast.
He’s quiet and serious. And he keeps a fairly low profile, as there’s no spare time for talk when you’re working sometimes seven days a week to run three restaurants, each known for exacting standards.
But get him behind his snug, six-seat sushi counter at Omakase Experience by Prime Fish, and he’s in his element. He might even crack a smile or a joke now and then. And he’s always one to credit his team for his success in bringing top-of-the-line Japanese cuisine to Charlotte diners.
Robin Anthony’s pathway
With intense focus as he sliced a beautifully fatty winter Hokkaido yellowtail flown in from Japan, Anthony told CharlotteFive that he was a “spoiled boy” and “never worked” where he grew up in Indonesia’s East Java, watching his grandmother cook and trying his own hand at it, too.
Since then, he’s more than shifted that balance, floating between Prime Fish in Ballantyne and Omakase Experience by Prime Fish and the newly reimagined Prime Fish Cellar, which shares the same shopping center at the confluence of Providence Park and Foxcroft.
Anthony took a bit of a nontraditional pathway to becoming an executive chef. Upon coming to the United States 12 years ago, he simply helped out a friend at his restaurant, Sake House in Raleigh.
“That’s when it started,” Anthony said.
Upon moving to Charlotte a year later, he worked at restaurateur Birdie Yang’s YAMA Waverly for a couple of years before taking a break and digging back in at Red Sake. At one point, he was making over 1,000 pieces of nigiri a night, using leftover rice to practice getting the shape just right.
Opening Prime Fish restaurants
Anthony’s original concept, Prime Fish, opened in May 2021, offering a curated selection of high-quality nigiri, sashimi and rolls. The menu highlights the restaurant’s attention to quality fish with Prime Nigiri choices like unagi foie gras and toro imperial, and chef’s tastings such as the bluefin tuna option, which offers six pieces of nigiri or nine pieces of sashimi that show off three different cuts.
But it wasn’t enough. Striving for perfection, Anthony — who is also a Level 1 sommelier and a certified sake adviser — yearned to take his business to yet another level: omakase. The Japanese dining tradition translates to “I’ll leave it up to you,” where guests entrust the chef to craft a multi-course meal without a menu of choices.
“I was still not satisfied, because I taught myself to do omakase. So, I travel a lot around the U.S. — more than 50 Michelin-star restaurants already. And all the knowledge that I have, the skills that I build [are] actually specific for omakase,” he said.
Prime Fish in Ballantyne offers omakase a few times a month, and the waiting list skyrocketed, sometimes gathering a waiting list 200-300 names long. It was time to grow.
In 2022, Anthony opened Omakase Experience, with a twist on traditional omakase that makes room for French and Southern influences, along with a little wagyu beef, while keeping a focus on Edomae-style sushi that’s traditional in Tokyo.
The roughly two-hour experience tends to match the guests’ temperaments, with a quiet meal for those who are reserved and higher energy for those who are more loquacious.
Anthony is center stage in the intimate, modern space accented with art, bamboo plants and wood paneling. There, he shows off skillful knife work on enormous cuts of fresh fish, preparing each bite of nigiri with a gentle brush of soy sauce and a dollop of wasabi before encouraging guests to eat them quickly for optimal flavor.
Meanwhile, sommelier Terrell Johnson pairs each course with just the right wine or sake, leading from a progression of lighter fare to heavier bites and sips at the end.
In 2024, Anthony also opened and closed Nusa, Charlotte’s first Indonesian restaurant, at The Arboretum. He and his staff were just spread too thin, he said. But one day, he hopes to revisit the concept — if only for himself.
And if that wasn’t enough, what was once the bottle cellar for Omakase Experience has grown into Prime Fish Cellar. It originally opened in 2024, offering premium bottles of wine and sake, plus caviar and a few other gourmet provisions. But in 2025, it closed and reopened with a new mission.
“People kept asking, ‘Where is the sushi?’” Anthony said.
Now, the shop offers just that, plus a few specialty treats.
Guests there can make their own hand rolls, indulge in caviar service or sink into a reserve-selection jewel box of A5 wagyu, salmon belly truffle, fatty tuna, Hokkaido sea urchin and salmon roe, served with sushi rice, avocado and furikake. Sake and wine remains available by the bottle or the glass.
Luxury ingredients
At $175 per person for a 10-course lunch and $325 per person for a 15-course dinner, Omakase Experience is easily Charlotte’s most expensive restaurants. But Anthony’s exquisite — and rare — ingredients back up the expense, and his delicate treatments allow them to shine through.
In Japan, omakase is usually 20 pieces of fish in 30 minutes. But, here, with a longer timeframe and Anthony’s vision, it’s a little more varied.
Michelin‘s Omakase Experience entry is spot on:
“Chef Robin Anthony is the driving force behind this ambitious six-seat counter, located just a hop away from its larger, more casual sibling. The price point is undeniably lofty, but a bevy of luxury ingredients — truffles, foie gras, imported fish from Toyosu market — provides ample justification as the offbeat omakase unfolds. This maximalist approach is demonstrated by an indulgent signature dish of toasted brioche topped with wagyu tartare, uni and truffle, and even a hand roll of grilled eel is enriched with a bit of foie gras. When it comes to the nigiri, however, a more understated edomae approach is deployed, allowing the impressive quality of the seafood and finely tuned rice to shine. Thoughtful sake and wine selections are an added bonus.”
While diners can expect the Ferrari of ingredients at the other Prime Fish locations, they’re more akin to a Rolls Royce at Omakase Experience, Anthony explained.
Its short-grain rice is harvested only once a year from a farm in central Japan with a single paddy irrigated by melted snow. Not just anyone gets to purchase this rice, either — you have to know the family farmers. In the restaurant, the toothsome sushi rice carries the golden hue of brown rice, colored by five-year aged sake lees vinegar.
“Sushi just means rice and fish. There are so many variations there, but the best way to eat it is called nigiri. It’s just fish on top, and we have a rice ball underneath. And that looks simple, but actually it’s not,” Anthony explained.
“If you don’t have good rice, it doesn’t matter what you put on top of it. It’s not going to be good.”
That same sentiment goes for the A5 Miyazaki Japanese wagyu served at Omakase Experience. Only a Beef Marbling Score of 10-11 will do, where there’s enough fat for the tender cuts to melt in your mouth, yet the beef flavor still shines through.
Anthony freshly grates wasabi as he prepares the nigiri, as exposure to the air lessens its flavor and heat. He crafts his own soy sauce, chili oil and other sauces. He even goes so far as to work with a fishery to create an Omasake Experience caviar, perfectly flavored to match his creations.
The meal always finishes a crowning jewel: Yubari musk melon. The sumptuous Japanese fruit is grown one per vine, heightening its sweetness and juiciness well beyond any conventionally grown melon. The melt-in-your-mouth fruit is also sold at Prime Fish Cellar for $150-175, depending on the season.
“Because it’s so special, we don’t do anything to it. We let it speak for itself,” Anthony said.
That sums up Anthony’s approach in general. Take the leap and do it — and do it right.
“When I opened this place, a lot of people told me that Charlotte is just for steakhouses. ... People told me that I’m crazy to open this place, but I believed [in it] because when I did pop-ups, I saw all the data supported opening a new restaurant. So I did that. And then, now, we keep busy — very busy.”
Omakase by Prime Fish
Location: 2907 Providence Rd STE 101, Charlotte, NC 28211
Cuisine: Omakase sushi
Instagram: @omakasebyprimefish
Uniquely Charlotte: Uniquely Charlotte is an Observer subscriber collection of moments, landmarks and personalities that define the uniqueness (and pride) of why we live in the Charlotte region.
This story was originally published February 9, 2026 at 6:00 AM with the headline "In just a few years, this Charlotte sushi chef has risen to James Beard heights."
