Umai Sushi & Grill Shrewsbury — Restaurant in Shrewsbury

We have been several times to this restaurant and have enjoyed it in the past. The other day we went and had the sushi/sashimi platter and mixed tempura and they were fine. But we ordered green tea - and were served Jasmine tea. When I queried this with the server (not Japanese - no one who works there is Japanese) she said that that was all they had. I can assure you that Jasmine tea is not green tea and it is not good enough to put green tea on the menu and serve jasmine instead. The worst part of the meal was the beef ramen. Absolutely Horrible. In a creamy white soup with no flavour apart from cream / milk? Something insipid and white in any case. I think the server said that it had blended tofu in it or something like that? I have lived in Japan for a year and worked in Japanese restaurants after that for over 3 years and I can assure you that I have never seen, or tasted anything like that. The beef in it was stir fried for goodness sake! 3 minute noodles you cook at home have more flavour. I heard a neighbouring table ask if one of the 3 dishes on their table was actually beef teriyaki so maybe the kitchen was having a bad day. After watching them take down the 'CASH ONLY FOR SATURDAY LUNCH' signs and paying the added 10% service charge for 2 people at 1630 in the afternoon we will never return. I did feed back that the ramen wa not good enough as we left and the server said that they'd tell the kitchen. Just don't go, or if you do see if they're serving green tea instead of jasmine and just don't, whatever you do, order the ramen - or you can always try it at home by boiling milk and adding instant noodles to that. ...

The food is delicious but unfortunately my group, including myself, felt a bit uncomfortable around the staff. We were lead into the main seating area and were going to sit down at a table near the window when we were told that we couldn’t, we had to sit at the table they had reserved for us. There was no flexibility about that which felt odd. Soon after we ordered a couple came in and also tried to sit at that seat. The waiter told them to go back to the seat that had been reserved for them. There was nothing special about our reserved tables and no one ever came to that window seat. It felt uncomfortable for both my group and the couple with visible embarrassment shown by both parties. I’ve been here quite a few times with friends and family alike and have always picked up on the strict and rather forced/uncomfortable vibes from the staff. I would also like to say, as someone who has been studying Japanese for nearly 4 years, the staff are mostly if not all Chinese and communicate in said language amongst themselves at the cafe. I have nothing against it but as someone who has also studied bits of Chinese in the past the fact that I am constantly hearing Chinese speech takes away from the ‘Japanese’ vibes the venue tried to get across. The food is delicious and I love the katsu curry. It always feels fresh and warm and I continue and will continue to come back for...

Sadly we didn't end up eating here. I'm gluten intolerant and I'd been on their website and called ahead to check they catered for gluten free. They don't take table bookings so you have to chance it. We went for my sister-in-law's birthday lunch. When we arrived we needed to wait for a bit for a table, which was fine but the layout is very hectic and not much space so we were constantly moving out of the way whilst waiting. There was also a sign say cash for Saturday lunchtime, which if they accept card other times makes no sense why they then only accept cash on this Saturday lunch. I mentioned that I was gluten free and was told to pick what I'd like and they'd tell me if I could have it. Well..... I think I was on option 6 before the lady serving eventually said I could have a handful of starter items, something off the sashimi and then egg fried rice. It's an extensive menu so to be told how narrow and basic my choices were was very disappointing, and it was almost a game trying to pick something I might be able to eat. We ended up deciding to leave and went to La Mer Rouge for lunch instead. The lady serving didn't even acknowledge that we were leaving when we mentioned, just walked off... I wouldn't return and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with any allergies or dietary requirements, it's...