Umi Hotpot & Seafood Buffet — Restaurant in Freehold Township

Gosh…. What started off as such a great experience went so wrong :( my friends, family and I went to have a special birthday celebration together for our highly anticipated first trip to Umi. The selection of food was vast, with crab legs, shrimp, sashimi and many Japanese and Chinese offerings. We had a great time trying different foods and our favorite bites. We were one of about 5 other tables in the very large restaurant, so it was a quiet evening. Here where things went wrong. Around the hour and 30 minutes mark, the staff decided we were done and brought the check . There is a two hour limit to each table which we were not at. I eat a bit slow due to health reasons and we were chatting and celebrating, so I hadn’t even started my dessert yet. The staff circled our table waiting for the payment, so I had to rush my dessert which was meant to be a celebration. We were not notified about any type of credit card fee as it isn’t stated clearly on the receipt and the server didn’t verbally tell us, but when the receipt returned we were charged $5-6 extra for using a credit card. Had we known about this, we would have brought cash with us instead. Unfortunately, our server was not satisfied with the tip we had left after having this extra credit card fee, and confronted my friend by pointing at the receipt repeatedly in front of everyone making us very uncomfortable (as I was already choking down my ice cream). I have worked in the restaurant and hospitality industry for 8 years and never once experienced a server in one of my restaurants telling the customer to leave more money. It was very unprofessional and leaves room for improvement for the staff to make guests more comfortable. This truly ruined our entire dining experience and my birthday meal :( we felt forced out and then discomfort about the tip. With such minimal service of only clearing plates, and such a high credit card fee we did not feel tipping upwards of 15-20% at a buffet to be customary. We had talked about returning because we found the food so tasty and I live locally, but I sadly don’t...

We just went here on a Saturday night early dinner time, since this new location opened up right here in our town: We usually go to the East Brunswick location, but I feel looking back I always felt a belly ache after going there. Do we wanted to try this one since it’s new. Right off the bat, we noticed that East Brunswick is much bigger giving more items to offer for the same price which is expensive anyway per adult. It was also very hot as the AC was not working well. The desserts were oddly separated in 3 sections around the buffet. The soups weren’t even on the buffet area they were more off to the side that u could miss them if u were not sitting on other side because they were next to some of the desserts. I never got to try them. The prawns were over cooked and soft like. The snail was salty like and so was the oysters. U can tell it wasn’t fresh. Some of the baked fillet of fish just looked so dry. Not that juicy buttery texture. The sushi section I didn’t try many of because again, there wasn’t as many choices as East Brunswick. Hubby did enjoy the crap legs as usual. The hot pot mushroom broth is our favorite. The broth was still good but again the choices to add to it was not as many as East Brunswick location. I think did like the sauce bar here at freehold more. Seemed the bar was more spacious the sauce bowls were larger or maybe they didn’t have as many choices. I didn’t get to try the ramen. I wish I had but I was full by then. I did try the mango bubble tea this time. It was pretty sweet. The deserts are meh lol They didn’t have our fav graduated sugar coated fried donut thing. Idk what they call it but it’s usually served warm on the buffets. We liked to dip it in ice cream. They did have ice cream cups. Glad we got to try it, but Unfortunately we are not coming back to this location either. Umi may just not be...

The food quality has significantly deteriorated. The color of the raw seafood appeared unhealthy, unhygienic and unsafe. The other dishes we attempted were either overcooked or undercooked, deviating from their intended flavor. Regrettably, we were unable to identify any dishes that we could recommend. Even the simple soy sauce offered by the sushi station was so diluted that it lacked saltiness. We had visited the establishment twice, once during its grand opening and again during a busy Mother’s Day weekend. During both visits, I was thoroughly impressed with the food quality and consistently praised the establishment. I shared my positive experience with my family, friends, and colleagues at work. However, this time, we visited on a regular Monday and were concerned that they might be serving leftovers from the previous weekend. Since we only stayed for 30-40 minutes and had a few bites, we began to feel unwell and nauseous. Despite our hunger, we were unable to consume the entire meal due to its poor quality. Overall, our experience was severely compromised by the subpar food quality. It is disheartening that a new business can deteriorate so rapidly. I had high expectations for this establishment, as it would have been my preferred choice for all-you-can-eat style dinners. Unfortunately, I was so shocked and left the place hungry that I forgot to take any...