UMAMI — Restaurant in Loulé

We had decided to spend a romantic evening with my wife at this restaurant, after an incredible difficulty with the reservation, involving phone calls, emails, and credit card requests. Unfortunately, due to a serious health problem that occurred to my partner, we had to cancel. I tried to contact the phone number several times without receiving any response, even hours before the scheduled dinner time. At this point, I thought of sending a cancellation email and the great surprise was that I was shamefully charged €30 on my credit card. I have never in my life in sixty years received treatment like this. I should point out that I have been frequenting Portugal for 10 years and live here in August and December. In addition to frequenting the best restaurants around the world, it was a disgusting experience and I hope that the owners of this company realize that taking €30 from a couple who have suffered a health disaster is also a moral affront. I repeat, shame on you now and forever for this scandalous gesture!!! Small note... the manager of the place called me back. I tried to clarify with him, and he laughed at me again on the phone... at which point I told him that our conversation could end there, furthermore for the €30 that I was robbed of, I was not even issued an invoice or a receipt to justify this disgraceful...

A beautiful restaurant let down by how they prepare their rice. I ordered the ten pieces of Nigiri, a personal favourite of mine that I have eaten all over the world. The first one I tried instantly tasted wrong - it was sweet! Nigiri should not be sweet. It's just raw fish on a small pillow of rice. I tried two more different fish bites. All tasted the same. You can't taste the subtle variety of each fish if you can only taste sugar. I asked for the manager and he told me that their rice is cooked with sugar. What?! That's insane. He couldn't provide me with any non-sweetened rice, because it was all made that way. So I asked for sashimi instead. The fish itself was of a high quality, and without the sugar tasted great. I've eaten at high end Japanese restaurants where the chef is personally offended if you dare ask for soy sauce, because he wants you to taste the subtle differences in the food he prepares. Great Japanese food is about subtlety of flavours, however, you cannot experiment with flavours if the baseline is sweetness that overides...

I wanted to share my wonderful experience dining at Umami this evening with a friend. We started with the edamame with kimchi sauce and the milk bread, which was incredibly fresh, felt very homemade, and the flavour was elevated by the miso butter.The sushi was amazing, and Nikita was very helpful with adjusting some portions on the gunkan. The bluefin tuna tataki was simple yet delicious. For our main courses, the beef tenderloin was flavorful, though a bit chewy for my preference, while the shrimp ramen was perfectly served.For dessert, the cheesecake and pumpkin cream were unique and absolutely delicious!A special thanks to Rafael and Nikita for their exceptional service and making us feel at home. The sake and wine matched very well with the chosen food. My only small suggestion would be not to place empty wine bottles upside down, though it's just a personal opinion.Overall, we had a fantastic experience and will definitely recommend Umami and return in the future.~...