Umai — Restaurant in Dhaka Metropolitan

Last week, I checked out Umai, a Japanese spot that's been around for almost a decade. I was there to try their new bento boxes, but I got sidetracked by their awesome half-portion menu. It's a super cool idea for a fine dine place like Umai as it's more affordable.

Here's what I tried: 🔴 SalmonTartare (1800 full): The fresh salmon was perfectly seasoned and mixed with just the right amount of avocado. I found the sauce bit more tangy to my taste. Easily could be shared between 2. It doesn’t have the half-portion option.

🔴 Maguro Kuruma Ebi Salad (1150/half): This was the best salad I ever had. It was very refreshing, crunchy and flavourful and perfectly balanced. Could easily be sgared between 2. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

🔴 Umai Special Crunchy Salmon Roll (1325/half): The 4 rollS were generously filled with fresh salmon and other ingredients, and the crispy texture added a delightful crunch. The half-portion was still quite substantial and provided excellent value.

🔴 Crispy Prawn Tempura Roll (900/half): This was another delicious option. The prawns were perfectly cooked and the tempura batter was light and crispy. The half-portion was a great way to sample this dish without overindulging.

🔴 Spicy Tuna Roll (875/half): These 4 rolls had a good balance of spice and flavor. The tuna was fresh and the rice was well-seasoned. The half-portion was a good size for a light snack or appetizer.

🔴 Salmon Sushi Sandwich (1900 tk): This was a unique and tasty dish. It doesn’t have any half option as it comes with 4 pieces.

🔴 Squid BB8 Bento (1200 tk): This bento box was a great value for the price. It included a variety of dishes, including Prawn Tempura, Chicken Karaoge, Harusame Salad, Squid BBQ, Steamed Rice and Mashed Potato. Everything was scrumptious. A perfect meal in a good budget.

🔴 Matcha Misu (Desserts) (300/ half): The matcha flavor was strong and the cake was too good to be true. A MUST HAVE.

🔴 Coconut Ice Cream (Desserts) (500 TK): This 2 Scpops of ice cream was rich and creamy with a strong coconut flavor.

🔴 Frozen Margarita (Drinks) (350 TK): This drink was refreshing and perfect for a hot day. The margarita was well-balanced and not too sweet.

🔴 Cucumber Gimlet (Drinks) (350 tk): This drink was a unique and refreshing option. The cucumber flavor was subtle but delicious. Overall, I had a great experience at Umai. The food was delicious and the prices were very reasonable for the quality. I highly recommend trying the half-portion option if you're looking for a more affordable way to enjoy Umai's...

Recommended BUT...

**would have given it a 5 ⭐ if it wouldn't have been for their POOR SERVICE REGARDING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION. We were given a two seater small table, which seemed inadequate for the order we made. On asking TWICE for a change, one of the waiter directly said NO very impolitely whereas the whole restaurant was deserted till then. However, as we wanted to speak to the manager about this issue, once we were done dinning and was about to leave, another waiter apologized and said we would have been provided with another table if we only had asked! 😆 **

AMBIANCE: Separated into three dining halls of different sizes from cosy to moderate. Beautiful instrumental music played at the background which made a great pair with the continuous white sound of flowing water from a fountain installation. Height of the dining halls are quite low but impressively handled by open ceiling exposing the service conduits. JAPANESE STYLE MINIMALISTIC INTERIOR.

FOOD: The food was too good. Authentic taste with fresh ingredients. Salmon sashimi, bamboo shoot ramen noodles soup, grilled squid was ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Even the wasabi relish and sweetened ginger complimented the dishes beautifully.

PORTION SIZE: Small to moderate

HYGIENE: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Toilets were clean. They threw away the soya sauce which they served us after we were done, how it should be.

PRICE: Upper range but...

This is my second time going to UMAI . The first time was a good experience however this second time was quite different . The food was okay. The Salmon Carpaccio was fantastic . The sushi rolls could be better but it wasn’t bad . The entree’s were good too.. My husband and I liked ours can’t really vouch for the others.

Our dinner however was ruined by awful music . It was around 10:30 when a Happy Birthday song comes on the sound system on repeat followed by random nursery rhymes and it goes on for a while .

After a while, we repeatedly asked them to stop playing the songs but they didn’t . I eventually got up to go to talk to the waiter and He says sorry I cannot ask them to turn it off , they are the owners and they are very powerful Gulshan club members . I m like what? Who cares ? This is a restaurant with paying customers, why does it matter ? He is like toh ki? Apnara chara aar kono group nai. How rude . We are still paying customers aren’t we ?

After a good 30 mins, their activities that required these songs were done and random Japanese music began to play again. The waiter then made it a point to come to my father and say dekhen gaan change kore disi as if they did it just because we asked them too. Anyways, it was an highly unusual experience which I really didn’t expect from a...