Umai — Restaurant in Boston

My overall impressions was a nice place with decent sushi, but just a little pricey, probably because of its location. The atmosphere was interesting because it felt like it was a sushi place built in someone's home and had a very westernized feel.

I ordered the Chef Special Unago Don, which is a bowl of mixed sashimi with sushi rice inside as well. It came with a surprising amount of fish, including unagi, salmon, tuna, tamago, and a few more. I would say it was a decent amount of fish to rice, and it was enough to feel full. The salmon was tender and large chunks of unagi were satisfying as well. I kind of wish they cut the salmon in larger pieces rather than the small cubes they had, but it's a minor issue. The dish also came with a blended dipping sauce, as well as a standard miso soup.

If you're on Newbury and craving sushi, Umai is the one to go to!

Update: I came here again and ordered the Tuna Don. Unless you're really craving tuna for some reason, I wouldn't recommend. The bowl is mostly rice and there's not a lot of tuna on top, maybe five pieces? The tempura was just okay too and there was only one shrimp. The miss soup also didn't have much on it; there was maybe one piece of tofu... All in all not worth the price and you're better off getting...

Great food and okayish service. I ordered veggie tempura and a Newbury Maki. The tempura was the best I’ve had in awhile with Umai putting a variety of veggies in the appetizer. The Newbury Maki was good, a decent size, rice nicely cooked, and the whole thing tasted good. Loved the play with textures from the tempura pieces, salmon, avocado, and small roe.

I was surprised miso nor a small salad was served after I ordered, but maybe those are only given alongside bigger entrees, like bentos.

Service was a bit slow when I visited in the late evening (not too many customers). When I was brought the Toast machine to pay and tip, the waitress stood next to the machine watching how much I tipped, which seemed a little off to me. I’ve found most waiters will turn their heads when customers decide on a tip or aim the machine more towards the customer, so having the waitress stare down at the machine felt somewhat rude to me.

Overall, Umai was good for my first experience. I’d probably visit again only after trying a handful of other sushi places in the...

I usually don't write reviews, but I think I have to this time.

It happened when I was paying at the restaurant. The server clicked the tip button themselves and showed that the payment was completed, including a 20% tip. I've been to many restaurants in the U.S. and have also worked as a server, but this was the first time I experienced such an absurd situation. The server was a middle-aged woman. I wanted to click on the percentage tip button myself, like in other restaurants and cafes. When I asked if the amount was correct, she pretended not to understand and insisted that it was. I didn't feel it was worth asking or questioning further. It really made me feel upset.

I know working as a server is not easy, but this is just NOT acceptable. Because of the attitude of this one server, this restaurant's reputation has been damaged. I really don't want to go...