Ume Grill Onigiri House — Restaurant in Eugene

There are two places called Ume Grill. "Ume Grill Snack Bar" at the Amazon Pool, and "Ume Grill Onigiri House" food cart about two blocks north in the Humble Bagel parking lot.

I'm not sure what their relationship is to each other, but I ate at the food cart yesterday. I got the kalbi plate (Korean style short ribs), a "baked egg" (which was actually a fried egg and delicious), and two types of onigiri (Japanese grilled riceball) - tuna furikake (tuna based rice seasoning) and kimchi sesame (Korean style spicy fermented cabbage with sesame).

The short ribs were delicious, but seemed more like a one person portion rather than for two people as mentioned on the menu. Along with the short ribs were salad, small portion of grilled veggies, generous amount of rice (which was cooked perfectly), a container of toasted sliced almonds, and some yummy tahini dressing.

The onigiri were excellent - much better than the ones at Meiji Izakaya. The were huge, generously filled, and grilled in miso butter. Probably the best onigiri I have ever had, including when I lived in Japan.

The Japanese woman taking orders and cooking spoke really cute broken English. There was also a man in the back of the cart who I'm guessing was her husband.

While the food was excellent, I think the plate meal was a little overpriced and the service was slow. I don't mind that it took so long since I think it was due to her putting so much attention into each dish she...

I ordered Ongiri at the swimming pool. The girl who made my order entered the kitchen by climbing over the food service counter with her shoes on instead of using the door. To my surprise, the worker was then given my onigiri order. Before she started my food, she played with her hair for two minutes while trying to put it up and didn't wash her hands, as far as I could tell. She then went to the rice station and started making my rice balls. While she was pressing my rice into her hand, I saw that she was wearing a taped bandage over most of her hand that came into direct contact with my food. When I asked her to put on gloves, she told me that "I don't have to wear gloves and if you worked in food service , you would know that." Her attitude was just as nasty as what I saw happening in the kitchen. She then offered to make a new one but I didn't want to deal with her any longer. The woman who worked the cash register put on a single glove and began to help with order but didn't understand that I was asking for the girl to put on gloves. I don't know how well a bandage can get washed, but I was completely grossed out. They...

There is one employee here who always holds you socially hostage and says very inappropriate things. There have been ongoing problems with rats and as that last employee I was talking about will tell you “it smells terrible pretty sure there’s something dead under the floor”. The food has gone down hill severely, and is often rushed, and I have even seen that same employee mentioned before, drop something in the trash or on the floor then pick it up and serve it to someone, or mess up someone’s order and when they ask for it to be re-made he refuses. The cart is often under staffed as well. The owner doesn’t care about the business and wont try to do anything about the issues. There are lots of places in Eugene that have the same menu items but do it much better and I would recommend going to any of...