Sushi Umi (Markham) — Restaurant in Markham

Our overall experience with Sushi Umi was smooth and beautiful. I've been looking for an omakase experience for a few years now, but I was always taken back by the price (It can get expensive). Luckily, Sushi Umi had a Winter Promotion that brought their prices down to $98.00 for their dinner menus, and because of this, I decided to book a table for two.

EXPERIENCE PRIOR TO OUR DINNER: I booked through their website. It was very straightforward and easy to navigate. They do ask for your credit card information as they will charge your card for any late cancellations.

As your reserved date approaches, you will receive multiple reminders through email as well as through text. I appreciated the text reminders as they were very informative.

DAY OF RESERVATION: We arrived at the location 10 minutes early as we didn't want to miss any of the menu items. When you enter, you will be waiting for the dining area doors to open in the small hallway. Although you won't be waiting long, I think it is significant to mention that the waiting area was clean and had calming music playing, which made the 10 minute wait not as unpleasant as it would have in an unwelcoming area.

We were let in by party. As you enter ,hey will ask for your phone number to confirm your reservation and then lead you to your assigned seats. The staff was very kind and attentive. We sat, reremoveur coats,and waited for everyone else to be seated. A few minutes pass , and one of the waitresses asks if we'd prefer for our coats to be hung in the closet, which we said yes to. They grabbed our coats from behind us and took them to the closet. Right after, they help us push our chairs closer to the counter. Everything was done so calmly and respectfully that it definitely made you feel like an important guest. They asked us if we wanted any drinks; cold water, hot water, or tea, we chose tea. The tea was served, it tasted good,and it was very comforting to sip while waiting for dinner to begin.

THE DINNER: We were seated on these very comfortable high chairs facing a wood high counter. On the main counter us we have our place mats, chopsticks, and our drink/s (not included in the dinner price). Approximately a foot away from us is an attached raised counter where a rectangular plate with ginger on the corner is designated for the individual sushi pieces that will be served to us.

We were excited. The chefs were bringing plates and trays of something we were expecting to be good.

The 1st thing we were served was a Seafood Crab Soup. This soup was GOOD. You know how normally, when you have anything seafood, all you taste is seafood. There is no separation of the ingredients whatsoever. Not in this soup. When I ate this soup, my first thought was "earthy and sweet." I had mushrooms, which made it earthy and crab meat which made it sweet, but what was surprising to me was the pieces of mussels that gave you the seafood taste, but only when you ate the mussels. I was impressed and slightly burnt my tongue because I couldn't wait to finish it 😅. I'd advise you to take your time with the soup so you don't burn your tongue like I did 😅👍.

All the sushi on the menu were delicious and beyond expectations. My favorite will have to be the full fat tuna and the uni sushi (YUM). After the sushi, we got a hand roll, tamago (egg), soup, and dessert. The tamago and dessert were delicious! The flavours were an unexpected surprise!

The entire menu was delicious 😋  and by the time the waitress came to ask if we were done with our final plate, I realized that they placed our coats back on our chairs without us noticing 😅. When your meal is over, you stay seated until they come up to you with your bill. You then can leave and enjoy the rest of your night.

All in all, this experience was great! You feel like such a guest of honor in the simplest ways. We will definitely come back for both the food & service ❤️.

Oh! there are no washrooms, so pee before you go...

What a terrible experience at Sushi Umi. I went there for my birthday yesterday with my family and was met with disappointment.

When dessert was served as part of the Omakase course while my entire family was just starting to eat it, a Blue Haired female server stuck my birthday cake into my face with the candle already lit. We were all dumbstruck as we hadn't informed the server to serve our cake yet as we were still eating. But I didn't think too much and said thank you. The Blue Haired server then proceeded to advise me to blow out the candle, and she'll pack up the cake for me to consume at home. I was like, "WHAT?!?" I asked her why I can't eat the cake at the restaurant and she says customers don't typically eat their birthday cakes there. Are you kidding me? Who would go there to celebrate a birthday bringing a cake and not eating it?! I find this explanation really ridiculous.

Not only was this gesture a total buzz kill and extremely disrespectful, when I insisted I would like to consume the cake at the restaurant and wanted a knife to cut the cake, she refused to provide one because knives were sharp, she says. No duh knives are sharp! Otherwise how do you expect this instrument to cut items?!.

I was like, "WHAT?!?" The buzz kill at this point was through the roof with this lady. Is she assuming that I've never held an instrument in my life and that I'm not aware of how to use a knife?! I was mixed with shock and frustration and insisted that she brings me even a plastic knife or butter knife for me to cut my cake. She says they don't have such utensils and still refused. After some back and forth, she finally agreed and came out with a serrated knife which I was allowed to make one quick cut, and she quickly snatched the knife and cake away from me.

When she came back out with my plated cake, I said, "Can I make a quick suggestion? I'm sure I'm not the only person who celebrates a bday here. I would highly suggest your restaurant to have a cheap, dull knife for customers to use if you're worried about knives being sharp to avoid such disappointing situations from happening again." Instead of accepting this suggestion, this lady proceeds to argue that this is a reasonable policy that knives are dangerous. This really frustrated me, and I simply told her how poor her service skills are and that she absolutely needs retraining. Not only should she listen to the customer, understand the customer and be respectful to their feedback, her action of bringing the cake out while we're still eating our meal is already a sign of her lack of service. Then she proceeded to ask me to blow out my candle and then packing my cake away before allowing us to eat it was also the MOST outrageous thing I've ever heard in my life. And then ptoceeding to refusing to provide a knife for us to cut the cake. Whereas when we mentioned this to her other server colleague, she was much nicer and said she would bring a knife, plates and forks for us to use for the cake (prior to this lady stopping her and refusing to give us a knife).

Not to mention my family and I all had really bad diarrhea after eating this meal that makes me question also the quality of the food served. My family's reservation was made for 8:30 pm, and my husband had to go back home to get the bday cake and so we couldn't start our Omakase until 8:43. So if the restaurant's comeback for the poor food quality is that we started 13 minutes late, this argument is pretty lame and hard to believe.

So as you can see from above, I had a terrible experience here with my family and would advise everyone to NOT step foot in this terribly overpriced, poor quality, zero service restaurant.

If you're the restaurant owner reading this, I would definitely reevaluate the appropriateness of employing this blue Haired lady, reassess your "company policy" and consider retraining your staff for better...

A stupendous, wow-worthy ‘quality+value’, ‘Highway #7 stretch‘ Omakase experience.

Despite recent and continuous closing of some badly missed, long standing Canto-food icons, along the popular Highway7 ‘food stretch’. O’Mei, Richmond Court, John’s BBQ, Golden Abalone etc…..to name a few. I was glad, bringing to light, a few newly uncovered and excellent establishments to fill the void. Their additions are more than worthy enough to uphold and sustain the reputation and popularity of this Richmond Hill food destination. Albeit, these gastronomic replacements are all Japanese Omakase restaurants!….Sushi Gin, Sushi Taki, Sushi Umi.

It is a well practiced Chinese custom to have a family gathering dinner the day after Chinese New Year’s day. Tonight, for this celebration, we decided to follow a recommendation made to me by a trusted Nipponophile foodie friend. Instead of braving the New Year crowd and having run-of-the-mill, ‘production-line’ quality restaurant food at some packed Chinese eateries. Our family gathering was held at this obscurely located Omakase Sushi-Ya close to Markham’s ‘Whole-foods store’. What a spot-on recommendation!

For an incredible price of only $98, we were offered the following well crafted and outstanding delicacies by the friendly, communicative and skilled Chef:

A couple of delightful and tasty otsumami appetizers that included marinated Japanese seaweed and an amazingly delicious and rare ‘ Shirako in a delicious sweet ponzu sauce ‘. 10 Nigiri pieces, each individually crafted and dressed and hand delivered to us at the Sushi Bar. These include Hokkaido Scallops, Suki, Amaebi, Shima-Aji, Bontanebi topped with Bafun Uni, Chu-Toro, Soy marinated Ikura, Aburi Sea Trout, Aburi Otoro, Hokkaido Bafun Uni Handroll of Maguro and diced pickles…..creative and good with appealing textural contrast Tamago, flame torched top created a delightful crispy layer Fish Bone and Tofu Soup; Delicate and packed with sweet umami flavor Homemade dessert of Macha and Coconut Panna Cotta. Refreshing, aromatic and with just the right sweetness

A few of us, with larger appetites, decided to order a few special extra a-la-carte nigiri pieces on the side. These included the Aburi OToro and flame torched Foie Gras with Maple syrup glaze sushi…..the latter, so R@#%&^$ing good!

Overall, we find the choices for the Neta varied and well chosen, super-fresh and of fine quality. The Shari, well textured and the taste profile balanced to our liking using red vinegar.

Service was super attentive and friendly.

In this day and age of high inflation and cost of living. It is totally amazing and unheard of to find such an enjoyable, standout quality and awesome value Omakase meal! Maybe the presence of nearby competition helps to play a part?

Do head over there ‘pronto ‘ and give it a try before the HST vacation is over!! Well...