Umami Asian Cuisine — Restaurant in Utrecht

Had lunch here with only two other customers. Setting: it had a very comfortable feel to it, good use of colours. +++++

Food SUSHI: Fresh fish can be bought everywhere, but good rice cannot always be created. What seems to be lacking in most all-you-can-eat restaurants, is that their rice is either not tasty, squeezed too hard (no more individual rice grains) or a combination of both. Umami was delivered excellently here, probably the best sushi rice I have eaten for all-you-can-eat concepts so far. But as it is a fusion restaurant, it has a limited variety in sushi, so keep that in mind! +++++ Personal preference: Salmon sashimi was really nice, a bit more yuzu would make it even better!

Food warm dishes Seafood: for some reason, almost all of their non-sushi seafood dishes have dill. Though the dishes had a good taste, you always taste the dill in every seafood dish. This is not very umami like as it overwhelms the other flavours I wanted to taste in the different dishes. I fail to understand why it is done like this. There are definitely different ways to "up" the presentation without dill.

Food warm dishes others: Dim Sum dishes here are a no-go. In particularly Xiao Long Bao, it is juiceless inside. A big letdown. Their beef was nice and tender, but had a strange taste similar to that of a pan that hasn't been washed properly and still had fat on it from other dishes. Their rack of lamb was amazing! ++

Service: Very friendly and knowledgeable waiters. +++++

TL:DR: though I have many negative remarks (negative things always leave an impression), the overall dining experience was great. I think the price matches what you receive quite well. One of the best sushi for all you can eat, though limited variety. Seafood dishes are very nice except for using dill on everything. Meat dishes is not their strongest point except...

We visited Umami once again, but this time our experience was way different... Umami decided to change their menu since 2024. They removed the 5S lunch deal, which is fine with their new strategy. BUT... their quality also changed with this new shift.

We received many "old" dishes, some fried chicken or sushi were not crunchy anymore, and they constantly add too much salt in their dishes. Even the Edamame and sweet-and-sour cucumber.

Oh, WATCH OUT. The lunch deal excludes 9-10 dishes from the menu. Things like the Unagi roll, steaks, fried scallops and other eye-catchers. Nothing mentioned before until they explain it at the table.

This was literally one of our top spots in Utrecht. Since last Friday, we won't be eating here anymore soon... Such a waste.

This review was from 10 months ago: Their 5S lunch deal is spot on! It includes a great section of their menu (Sushi, salads, etc).

That deal is also better priced than the full menu, which makes the "What you get" way better. You still get their great sushi, the more refreshing salads, good soup choices and some fun side things. (Left out the steams, since that one isn't worth mentioning)

The service is also great. Friendly staff, acts fast and makes the overal experience smoothly. The location is also very convenient. In the city centre, next and on top of the canals.

The only thing I can hope is for them to add more variations in these 5 "S" categories. Such a...

sloppy...and, overall, mediocre... to begin with, they didn't have my reservation. i made it three weeks ago. the guy who answered said, 'please hold...' and put the phone down for around five minutes...i could hear it was very busy. when he gets back on i had to repeat myself three times for him to get the right date. and then i get there tonight and there's no reservation. luckily, the call was logged in on my cell. they seated me. the service was good/quick. one dish came that i didn't order but that's no big deal... the tuna sashimi was good...but both lamb dishes were flavorless, as far as the lamb goes...they were soaked in some sauce. maybe the kitchen knows the lamb just doesn't have that much flavor. then there was the shrimp. also flavorless. my guess is that they use peeled, frozen shrimp. overall, not a great experience...i go to the Tivoli for concerts about 6 or 7 times a year...it would have been good to have a place to eat at steadily. this won't be it... also...the person who i spoke to about the reservation also serves dishes...throwing them on the table sometimes...doesn't seem like a happy person. does the two second, professional flash smile...like i said, not a great overall experience. try places like tatsu in Haarlem or Leidschendam. or even Shabu Shabu...multiple locations...or Miyagi and Jones. not all you can eat, but enough. and everything i've had there was good. there's...