Paul Lim knows what it feels like to try to find Japanese food on a budget. “When I was poor, I wanted to eat sushi, but it was very expensive,” he said.

Now Lim, 39, manages the House of Sushi & Noodles, 1610 W. Belmont Ave., a Chicago restaurant that has served $11 all-you-can-eat sushi for seven years.

The House of Sushi attracts mostly young couples or students, Lim said. With seats for 50 and walls covered with color snapshots of past eaters, the restaurant is a perfect Dirt Cheap place to take a sushi-loving valentine this weekend.

The buffet begins with miso soup, progresses to bean tempura and then moves on to a parade of sushi.

Customers order two rolls at a time. Each roll contains at least six pieces. Some, such as the Chicago Crazy Maki, have 10.

Under a glass pane on the table, the buffet menu offers anything from the conservative tuna roll to the tempura-fried Miami Maki, a hot conglomeration of shrimp, crab, cucumber, avocado and oozing cream cheese.

The sushi arrives on a platter, with slivers of cucumber and bright green lettuce sticking out of the rolls’ end pieces. Each new round of rolls comes with a fresh dollop of wasabi and heap of ginger.

A plate of orange slices and a few tempura-fried ice cream balls round off the meal.

Chicago resident Nausheen Zaidi, 26, said the food at the House of Sushi brought her back for a second visit.

“It tastes fresh,” she said. “I’m picky, and I like it.”

Zaidi said she always gets spicy tuna. She usually eats three rolls and sometimes gets as many as four.

But some say the rolls’ taste matches their price.

“They put a whole lot of fish in whatever rolls you get, but the fish is not very good,” said Brian Magerko, 27, of Chicago.

Magerko and his two friends ate eight rolls together.

A laminated set of rules at each table warns of a $5 charge for any food left on customers’ plates.

“Wasting food is no good,” Lim said. “Some customers order a roll only to pick at it.”

The rules were posted four months ago, but Lim said he has never fined a customer. The threat alone cut his daily food waste from a full trash can to just a quarter of a can by the end of a night, he said.

In addition to the $11 option, the House of Sushi also serves a $20 special buffet. This upgrade includes a salad, Dragon maki and five pieces of hand-rolled sushi. A regular menu offers Mongolian beef for $8.95, Pad Thai for $5.95 and other Chinese and Japanese noodle dishes.

The price will increase to $12 on March 1. Lim already has printed new menus.

“Everything is up — the rent is up, the fish is up and the dollar is weak,” Lim said.

During busy hours, a minimum of two people must be at the table for someone to order the buffet.

When business is slower, Lim makes sushi birthday cakes for customers who want to surprise their friends.

The House of Sushi takes reservations on weeknights, but not on Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights, Lim said.

This Monday get to the House of Sushi early to avoid a wait. Although Lim usually accepts reservations during weeknights, he said Valentine’s Day is too busy. The restaurant most likely will be packed from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m.

Stuffing a loved one with sushi may take a sense of adventure, but regulars say it is worth it.

“If you like sushi and you need to get your fix, you need to come here,” Zaidi said.

The House of Sushi & Noodles is open Monday through Thursday 11:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday 3:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The buffet is available until a half hour before close.

Send any other Dirt Cheap ideas to Daniella Cheslow at [email protected].