Umi Japanese Steakhouse

Reviews 3

PA

Paul Cicotta

I have always been a huge fan of Umi, mainly for how beautiful the interior of the restaurant is. I developed a good rapport with the owner Jason who made leaps and bounds on improvements to Umi since the restaurant first opened. It was amazing going to the restaurant, and being treated like a VIP. My date and I got seated immediately at the next hibachi table to get the dining experience started. Like I said before, the interior of Umi is SPECTACULAR, like an modern NYC flashy nightclub feel with a Umi Bridge/River. Now as usual the service is not that great, where getting a hold of your server always seems to be challenging. So I know better to order something ahead of time, even though I want to order it 10 minutes later. DRINKS: top notch cocktails at Umi, they had a DRAGONS BOWL for $12.00, split for two. The Dragons Bowl then gets lit on fire underneath ( of course I had one, and your date will be impressed too by the special effects of it). Other top cocktails are the Umi Special, and Umi Punch ( all tasted amazing, well balanced with liquor and juices). The Sake is equally amazing, both hot and cold. Plus my hibachi chef was VERY generous at shooting saki in my mouth at dinner. Ask for a Sake Bomb ( sake dropped in ginger beer, comes with its own show!!) APPETIZERS: ALL of Umis Appetizers really meet the mark for me. The Ika Naruyaki BBQ Squid tastes amazing, and I never had squid before in my life. Its sauteed so well with the BBQ sauce, I did not even think for a second I was eating Squid. Shrimp Shuma- Steamed Shrimp Dumplings were so tender that I wanted more, the sauce to dunk them in seals the deal...sweet and savory. SUSHI: Now Umi does have its own dine-in table area which is extremely elegant/fancy. Specializes in just kitchen/sushi orders. Were nice wooden chopsticks are the only utensil on the table (forks are asked for). There is also a sushi bar where you can see them make the sushi in front of you. I always order the Specialty Sushi, because each one comes with its own art design with flashy lights on your plate by the Sushi chef. Top ones are the- Baja Roll: Eel, Spicy Shrimp Crunch, Avocado, with Soybean Chef Special Sauce, Super Man Roll: Soft Crab Tempura, Spicy Tuna Crunch, Lettuce, Soybean with a Two Flavor Sauce, Umi Roll- Spicy Yellowtail Crunch Topped with Tuna, Salmon, Seaweed, & Salad Tobiko. ALL there sushi is made with top quality ingredients, and fish from the local Asian food markets. HIBACHI: Alright on to the MAIN EVENT. For starters, 10 STARS for having an AMAZING/EXPERIENCED Hibachi Chef. The show not only impressed my date, but it impressed me as well. It comes with Onion Soup, BUT ask for the Meso soup cause it tastes ten times better. You can get the standard onion soup like that anywhere. UMI HAS THE BEST ASIAN SALAD DRESSING--thats right I said it...THE BEST, I can eat that stuff by the bucket. A balanced blend of ginger and sweet potato, compliments any salad. I ordered the Land and Sea: filet, chicken, and shrimp. The filet tasted amazing, and was extremely tender..the ginger sauce that came with it really complimented the steak. The chicken and shrimp, were equally juicy/moist which was complimented by the shrimp sauce. My date even caught the shrimp in his mouth by the Chef!! I missed a million times. The Fried Rice had a lot of flavor and seasonings, the egg in it does the trick. Here is where Umi looses a STAR, they DOWNSIZE and DOWNSIZE their portions for EVERYTHING every-time I come there. Its a shame because I still felt hungry after leaving the Hibachi table. The prices keep rising, and their portions keep getting smaller and smaller to the point as much as I love the restaurant, I might not be back. I can over-look the slow service of the wait staff, but not the under- portioning of the food.

SH

Shasta Louise

We went to UMI’s Japanese Steakhouse last night for our son’s 18th birthday. We were late because his scout meeting went longer than expected. I did not think they would serve us because we were that late. We were all on edge for a variety of reasons – end of the school year and general work stresses. To our surprise, everyone at UMI’s was more than accommodating – not only did they seat us at a hibachi table, but they served us as if it was the beginning of their dinner service – they did not rush us at all. Jenny and another hostess seated us and before I knew it, thanks to their pleasant nature and calming conversation, everyone was relaxed, at ease, and enjoying a wonderful family dinner. I started with a martini – it was delicious – and everyone else had soft drinks that Jenny and the other hostess never let get empty! Jason came out to do the hibachi cooking. He was extremely skillful and his banter was easy, funny, and very enjoyable. We thoroughly enjoyed the cooking show that Jason put on for us – flipping utensils, chopping food, and making dramatic fire displays. It was absolutely awesome! The owner came over to our table to make sure we were enjoying ourselves and to wish our son a happy birthday. We felt very special to have had such wonderful attention, service, entertainment, and exceptional food. We had shrimp, steak, chicken, and filet mignon – all were excellently prepared and mouth-wateringly delicious! And the icing on the cake was when they brought out a dish of fried ice cream in a procession drumming the drum and singing happy birthday. It was the most enjoyable birthday celebration that I can remember!

GR

Gregory North

My daughter has a life-threatening allergy to citrus (lemon, lime, oranges among others). The waitress was told of the allergy and initially said my daughters meal would be prepared in the back, which made sense so it could be prepared separately. Communication was difficult with the server and the chef. They understood she had an allergy, but were careless and clearly not trained in avoiding cross-contamination. The first mistake was serving her sashimi on the same platter with sushi that was over lemon rice. We ordered an additional, separate plate for her. The second was when they handed her a salad with dressing, which we had already been told she couldnt have (she didnt eat it and the server realized the mistake and fetched another dry salad). Then the chef prepared fried rice, and told us it was okay because he wasnt using lemon. We were a little surprised they didnt prepare hers in the back, as they said they would do. Then he cooked shrimp, and gave her two, before squeezing a lemon over the rest right in front of her! Her allergy includes aerosol exposure. Then he cooked chicken on the same grill and tried to give her some. At this point we explained she couldnt eat it because he had put lemon on the grill and we just refused any additional food for her. She was too terrified to eat at this point. The rest of us finished our meal (it was a birthday celebration) and left. They took her meal off the bill, but charged us for the extra sashimi order and the fried rice (even though she ate none of the rice). Fortunately, she didnt have a reaction, but we will never return to UMI, with or without my daughter.