Umi Sushi Bar & Grill

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jwdenmark

Joined 8 years ago

Good service, ok sushi, huge cup of sake. After living in Tokyo for 6 months, I doubted that I could ever find a sushi restaurant to truly satiate my cravings. Umi is the second place I've tried in Austin, and while I wasn't impressed by the quality of fish (the salmon was a little fishy and the tuna had little flavor), I did have a pleasant dining experience. Very good service, good tempura, especially the sweet potato, and their glass of sake was huge! Expensive for the quality (at $5 for 2 pieces), but I would certianly try it again on a Monday or Thursday (supposedly when they get their fish delivery).

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firehawkchick

Joined 8 years ago

Expensive, but worth it. Very nice place, very worth the money. The sushi is very good here and the atmosphere is classy-chic. It's a hip place for Austinites of all walks to dine. We go whenever the bank account permits and munch on sushi and are never disappointed. The wait staff has impeccable manners, is sharply dressed and aim to please. The sushi chefs are happy to accomodate your every whim and fancy and the menu is full of choices. The music is sometimes a bit loud and tends to sound a lot the same, though I do like the techno feel. VERY nice place, great food, would highly recommend to anyone.

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jahna

Joined 8 years ago

Excellent Sushi!. Fresh flavorful sushi, friendly professional staff, and calming atmosphere all lead to a wonderful evening.

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monkeygrinder

Joined 9 years ago

our favorite!. Umi has consistently remained our favorite restaurant in town. Not only have we had the best Cod there, but we were delighted with the newest additions to the menu. Several new appetizers which are fusion inspired keep us coming back. The prices are reasonable, the fish fresh, the music fantastic! The crowd remains eclectic, from dressed-up to go downtown to very casual.

If you haven't been in a while it is worth a re-visit!

Doesn't Recommend

wmarie

Joined 9 years ago

Umi has changed. I can confirm the other reviews that state that Umi has raised their prices. My husband and I always went to UMI for special events and to impress out of town guests so we are very familiar with the menu. Prices have gone up and the quality of some of the rolls, hot roll and spicy tuna roll, california roll and tiger eye roll, is not what we were used to. Usually the hot roll is one of the best items on the menu, lately this item has been sloppily made and almost flavorless. The spicy tuna roll stunk like old fish and the servers were cold and unavailable. I recommend that the new management sell while they can, to someone who cares.

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walterrustinghouse

Joined 9 years ago

Best Sushi in the South. I have been going to umi for about a year now. I happened upon some cheap peoples comments about how they had raised the price. Yes I went there the other night and the prices was up, Tuna is not $5 for two pieces and it used to be $4.95 just a few weeks ago. And the glass of house white is now $5 not $4.50! Please Umi still has the best little neighborhood feel of any sushi bar in austin and it still have the best prices. I say Hooray UMI!

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rbomer

Joined 9 years ago

Disappointed. This used to be one of our favorite restaurants. But the last couple of times we've been, we could see that big changes were afoot, including a completely unnecessary level of pretentiousness and much higher prices. We've decided to stop going there and to go to Seoul Sushi House instead. Umi is still an OK place, but it's too expensive and has lost its easy, neighborhood feel.

Doesn't Recommend

sushi_l0ver

Joined 9 years ago

What happened?. For some reason, Citysearch did not post my previous comment...so here it is again. I have been to Umi's several times since it has been opened and have never had a problem with it. However, when I went to eat there 2 weekends ago, I was shocked that they had raised the prices. By A LOT. I asked the servers and discovered that they had recently gotten new management. Well, that's too bad for Umis because the new "management" obviously does not understand that you cannot charge a premium price on mediocre food. At these prices, i think everyone would be better off visiting Musashinos or even Kenichi. But maybe thats what theyre doing already, since the restuarant was almost empty when I last came-on a Friday night! Its a shame, but I don't think I will be visiting Umi's again.

Doesn't Recommend

gratrat

Joined 11 years ago

New Management is Clueless. Yes, we were so excited when Umi first opened, good quality, reasonable sushi in S. Austin. Finally a closer more affordable alternative to Musashino.

Umi is close to AMD and other large S. Austin employers and we started going there for lunch regularly as the lunch special was quite a value.

Now the new mgmt has jacked up the prices ($10 for the lunch special plus $2) for a glass of iced tea!!) and we are no longer going to Umi for lunch.

Umi mgmt doesn't understand that they compete with other lunch places nearby (i.e. Texadelphia, Chilis, Rockfish, Quiznos, Texas Land & Cattle etc).

Needless to say, we aren't going to spend this kind of cash for lunch and we don't go to Umi anymore.

Umi is decent but not great. And definitely not the value it used to be. At the new prices you can do better.

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ubersnax

Joined 9 years ago

UMI Raised Their Prices. I have been going to UMI for quite a while now. I went there because the fish was good, and had an appealing price.

Now, I went to UMI last week and was horrible appauled by the price raises. The sushi tasted the same, the presenation was a little better - but it is not near with the extra money. It cost $80 for two people! For that much money I could have easily gone to MUSASHINO! The #1 Sushi place in Austin.