Sumo Steakhouse & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Madison

We recently had the experience of coming out here to celebrate both my birthday and my girlfriend's.

Well, our visit was lackluster and left us frustrated.

To start our service we decided to eat at a booth. We were served our drinks with glass cups but they were riddled with hard water stains. Realistically, that's just dried water and that's fine, but the lack of attention to detail left me feeling indifferent. The establishment had a wonderful environment, the prices were above normal, above average ratings.

Why are our glasses any different?

We ordered our dishes, I decided on the Sumo Deluxe plus a dragon roll. My partner settled on the vegetable hibachi entrée, but she wasn't allowed to order more rice than vegetables, for whatever reason they couldn't adjust the portion.

Should we see if they offer some birthday treats for ourselves? Like a free dessert most places have?

No, they offer a 5 dollar birthday dessert.

We were served the soups and salads, as usual for most hibachi restaurants, they were yummy.

Sushi came out quickly, it was presented wonderfully and the quality was exceptional.

After finishing our appetizers I was excited to try my meal since, it was advertised as deluxe, multiple types of meats and vegetables.

It was far from deluxe.

My meal was presented again nicely but the way my meal was prepared it was yucky. To elaborate... The scallops were awful... extremely underseasoned, and didn't taste right, very fishy. One was enough. My vegetables weren't cooked long enough, everything was on my plate but nothing blended together. The vegetables and protein wasn't cooked long enough in the sauce or wasn't cooked properly to allow the flavors to release. The meal felt as if someone tossed the ingredients together and then took a spoonful of the artificial sauce they had in a big pot and drenched it over before serving it. Yes, it actually felt like I was eating a pre-frozen meal.

I powered through, sometimes food can turn out like this and I guess I was unlucky this time.

My girlfriend was met with a similar experince except the sauce she had with her meal was somehow more unappetizing and it was making her feel sick from the overwhelming artificial taste it had. She politely asked if she could replace it with fried rice.

We get the bill, they charge her for each individual item, soup, salad, and fried rice but skip the vegetables, then charge us for her replacement, the extra fried rice. All together, comparing the price they ended up charging us the same as her original meal.

I ended up having a discussion with the manager to which she said it was was a misunderstanding, she reprints the receipt. Same price? I kindly ask her to remove the extra fried rice since they didn't offer any discount in price. I thanked her multiple times for her patience and we left, again informing that we were greatful, despite internally feeling jipped.

Regrettably I don't think we will be visiting again.

Whatever the case, it was insulting to me we weren't offered any compensation. They instead replaced the main portion, and then charged us for the rice that was meant to replace it and everything else that came with the meal.

Upsetting experince, thank you for reading. I hope you can have a better time then us. Their...

I had an extremely disappointing experience at Sumo, and I will never be returning. I made a reservation for 7:30 PM a week in advance, yet my party wasn’t seated until after 8 PM, which is completely unacceptable. The hostess, Anna (or Hanna), provided terrible service from the start—she rarely checked in with our group and didn’t even apologize for the delay. When I asked when we would be seated, she simply stated that we had to wait for everyone to arrive, even though we were only waiting for one person. My boyfriend also inquired, and she gave a different excuse, saying they were “cleaning the table.” The lack of communication and professionalism was frustrating and set a negative tone for the entire night.

Once we were finally seated, things only got worse. We waited an outrageous hour and a half before the chef even arrived at our table. Keep in mind, my reservation was at 7:30, and the chef didn’t start cooking until almost 9:30 PM, which completely ruined my birthday dinner. While the chef’s performance was decent, he repeatedly forgot that it was my birthday, mistakenly assuming it was someone else’s, which added to the frustration and lack of attention to detail.

To make matters worse, our waiter, Haysir, was rude and unprofessional. When one of my friends expressed frustration about the wait time, he responded with a dismissive and unpleasant attitude instead of addressing our concerns appropriately. When we finally finished our meal, we wanted to order dessert, but Haysir informed us the kitchen was closed, despite the fact that our seating and meal service were delayed due to no fault of our own. Instead of making any effort to accommodate us, he rushed to bring the bills, making us feel unwelcome and as if we were being pushed out the door.

Overall, this experience was completely unacceptable. The lack of organization, poor service, and dismissive attitudes from both the hostess and waiter ruined what was supposed to be a special night. My friends and I left feeling frustrated and disappointed. I would not recommend Sumo to anyone looking for a good dining experience, and I will be sharing my experience to ensure others are aware of the...

My mom wanted to go here for her Birthday. She called ahead and asked staff if they could accommodate gluten free. (I'm not allergic, but do have a high intolerance) they assured her they can accommodate. We get there, I inquire about a gluten free menu or things they can make that would be safe. The wait staff bring me a sheet with Sushi's, and Hibachis that I can request to be made a certain way. The server took my order and noted for the chef that I'm gluten free. She brings out a salad, filled with croutons and their house dressing (which according to the sheet is not safe) I remind her I need GF, she takes it back and then puts an unsafe soup in front of me - inquire again, and then she brings back a different soup, and literally a bowl of lettuce for my salad. I ask her about a dressing (on their sheet it said they had a gluten free ranch) she said I don't get dressing. Great, thanks for the lettuce. Now on to the Hibachi. It was a complete mess. First off the chef was not that impressive or engaging compared to the others we saw working the other tables, he kept attempting tricks and dropped the utencils. He made my fried rice seperate - great. Then made the rest if the table's food. Then proceeded to make other things for my meal, right on top of the surface that he just cooked everyone else's food - major cross contamination!!!! 😠 Then he put regular soy sauce all over the shrimp, realized he messed up and said he'd make different stuff, asked the wait staff to bring him new shrimp - proceeded AGAIN to put soy sauce all over it! Realized he messed up AGAIN and then said the kitchen will make more. By the time I got the shrimp, I was already done with everything else. I understand not all establishments can accommodate to food allergies/sensitivities - THEN SAY SO! if you say you are, then educate your staff on cooking/cross contamination. For what I was able to eat, it was just OK, and for the price - completely not worth it. Food was overly salty, and I ended up getting sick a few hours later due to the cross contamination. Those that have food allergies/sensitivities you may want to think twice about...