Umiya Sushi Seafood and Grill — Restaurant in Frisco

The single most affordable Japanese restaurant in the Frisco area that is sufficiently authentic. Everything you see in the photos I submitted were $33.95, plus tax and tip.

So I’ll start with some nitpicks, then end on a positive note. Thankfully, mine are few:

I had to ask to have a water refill. At the time of writing this review, this business is only about six months old, but at most every restaurant I have visited, my water was refilled at the waiter’s initiative. Call me spoiled, I guess. The music is a bit too loud and sort of distracting. I think if it were turned down to about half the volume it is, it would be perfect for creating ambience while also not competing for the voice of someone you may have brought here with you. The waiters here are friendly enough, but they give me an ‘I’m-just-here-to-do-a-job’ vibe. And you know, I can understand that, but even just a simple, “How are you today?” goes a long way. Ooh, I’m gonna have to coin that catchphrase. The rice, though quality, was somewhat undercooked on two of the sixteen pieces of nigiri sushi I had. I didn’t notice this with any rolls. The tempura isn’t really tempura, it uses panko crumbs instead of the traditional batter. It was still good, though. The sushi plates were made of plastic, but all the other dishes were ceramic.

Again, those are all nitpicks, things that I didn’t mind, but I think if this restaurant wants to improve and attract more customers (and I hope it does, because the all-you-can-eat deal is extremely worthwhile), those are things I’d focus on.

The atmosphere is quite unique, I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s decorations, framed images, murals, florals, and even a ceiling mural with purple LEDs depicting the night sky. It sort of reminded me of historical neighborhoods you see in Japanese villages, but given a modern taste to appeal to more people, especially the younger crowd, though the customers I saw were of all ages.

I’m not going to describe every single dish I tasted, but I will share what stood out. They were all good.

The white tuna and mackerel specifically, tasted great. The sashimi melts in your mouth, and the mackerel, a fish known for its pungently fishy taste, was actually not that fishy, it had just enough pungency to still be mackerel without making you gag. None of the fish tasted watery, meaning it’s fresh and not frozen. You can also tell by looking at the tuna; when frozen, it tends to be more uniformly pink, but fresh has a deeper red tint to it with specks of white.

The snow crab is actually cod (many restaurants and grocery stores do this). Actual crab legs aren’t that perfectly-shaped. Still tasted good, though.

The tempura cheesecake was a very unique dish, I’ve never had anything like it. To be brutally honest, it didn’t look all that appetizing, as you can see in the picture, and it was hard to eat it like you would a normal piece of cheesecake; the crust was hard to cut and I had to sort of break it apart, and it made a bit of a mess on the plate. It tasted fine, though. Definitely weird.

None of the spicy dishes were all that spicy (take that with a grain of salt because I have an insanely high heat tolerance when it comes to spiciness), but you’re given a little dish of wasabi (it’s actually green-dyed horseradish like what every other restaurant uses) and ginger to help give it more heat if you like. They give you a ton of ginger too, and for me, it lasted the entire meal.

One thing to be ready for is that you’re going to be waiting in between dishes quite frequently, some longer than others. There were multiple instances where I was simply sitting there, BUT, it is definitely worth the wait.

So if you’re going to come here, definitely try their sushi, sashimi, and rolls through the all-you-can-eat deal, and you’ll have a positive experience. I gave my fair criticisms, but don’t mistake that for a general dislike. I would 100% come here again and invite my friends and family, and I genuinely hope this business does well and sticks around...

My husband and I love sushi so much that it's hard to displease us. However, our first time experience at this place was extremely disappointing. We saw a review saying that for AYCE, both the food and service quality is "excellent" which is what brought us here because we were in the mood for a quick and affordable sushi fix. Wrong. The sushi chef (if they even have one in the kitchen) has no respect for the culinary or for the dining customers. The sushi was literally a joke- especially the tobiko sushi. Very dry rice sloppily wrapped in seaweed with tobiko thrown on top. This could've been easily made at home by a 7 year old. Service was absolutely terrible. We didn't expect 'excellent' service at an AYCE restaurant, but one would expect your waiter to come by at least once to ask if everything is okay or if we needed anything or even to refill our drinks, without disappearing almost our entire dining time. When we called for another waiter, he dismissed us saying he's not our waiter. When we finally found our waiter in the corner socializing with his fellow very young waiters, I waved at him to get his attention, but he was so busy in his conversation he took his time to come over to our table. We asked for spoons and he went back to his corner to socialize more and took his sweet time to simply bring us spoons. Waiters that ran food to our table would just drop a plate off at our table as they quickly walk by without a word, making it hard to ask anyone for anything since our waiter was absent almost the entire time. It was an extremely frustrating dining experience with bad food and bad servers. Not even a “thank you” when handing us the check. We felt scammed walking out of the restaurant seeing other full tables and people waiting outside. The restaurant is a nice atmosphere and a great location with some great reviews, but again, it felt like a hoax and it was such a waste of money plus waste of tip. Never giving this place a chance again and will be advising friends and family...

Umiya Sushi is a casual and inviting restaurant known for its fresh sushi and delicious rolls. It just recently opened last year. With its relaxed atmosphere and friendly service, Umiya Sushi is a great option for a casual meal with friends or family. We came in on Sunday at around 6 PM. We had a 15 minute wait, and the line steadily grew as time passed. They had a small area where guests can sit at.

Charlie was out main server for the day. He was really great and came around a lot to make sure we had everything we needed. There were also some other servers and bussers who helped pre bus our tables as well. Shout out to Charlie for doing a great job.

We got a variety of food from the extensive menu. Most of the food came out fresh and delicious. The salmon sashimi tasted especially good. I would say with the specialty sushi rolls that the portions of rice and dill were balanced, but anything with avocado in it was overkill. Some of the specialty sushis had a lot of avocado in it and on top of it. Some of the sweet sushi dishes were new to me, so I had to try them out. They were alright. The atmosphere is cozy and inviting, making it a great place for a casual meal with friends or family. The service is exceptional, with friendly and attentive staff who go above and beyond to make sure customers have everything they need. Charlie was exceptional. The food is fresh and creative, with a wide variety of options to choose from. There's way too much avocado in some of the specialty sushis. Overall, Umiya Sushi Seafood and Grill is a highly-rated restaurant with a lot to offer. If you are looking for a great sushi experience in Frisco, I highly recommend giving Umiya...