one plate is icho, what's two plates?

[dingchoiwong]

i'm at a kaiten sushi restaurant in japan, asked the sushi chef for two plates of uni sushi... said "Uni wa futatsu kudasai"... i'm sure the point was across as i got my good, but i heard then say "Ja, uni wa nimai"... Don't you use the counter -mai for flat objects like a ticket? I heard others say "icho" knowing that means one plate of something, but what's the correct way of saying two plates of sushi?

[Bueller_007]

i'm at a kaiten sushi restaurant in japan, asked the sushi chef for two plates of uni sushi... said "Uni wa futatsu kudasai"... i'm sure the point was across as i got my good, but i heard then say "Ja, uni wa nimai"... Don't you use the counter -mai for flat objects like a ticket? I heard others say "icho" knowing that means one plate of something, but what's the correct way of saying two plates of sushi?

I generally don't hear people say 丁 ("chou") a lot for when they order. To me, it seems like iIt's more often used by the person who takes the order when passing that order on to the chef.

Plates are counted with 枚 ("mai"), because they are thin and flat (like a piece of paper or a ticket). Since most plates of sushi have two pieces on them, and the "-tsu" counting system doesn't specify the unit of counting, saying "futatsu" is ambiguous. It could mean "two pieces" (one plate) or "two orders" (two plates). "Ni-mai" on the other hand, quite specifically means that you want two plates. Using the "-mai" system is better.

[dingchoiwong]

soo desu ne,　domo ari