UME Japanese and Chinese Restaurant — Restaurant in Marianna

Sushi anyone?

UME’s is the best Chinese restaurant in town. As a matter of fact, it is by far the best place to get Chinese food (including Sushi) out of Jackson County and other surrounding counties!

I was informed of UME’s over a year ago and finally decided it was time for me to try it out. I was having a strong craving for a veggie/avocado roll! I wasn’t interested in dining in as I was having quite the lazy evening at home. I called UME’s and the employee on the other end of the line was very pleasant to speak with. The man had no issue with explaining and breaking down the contents of the sushi. You know as well as I do, a majority of restaurant employees do not want to take the time to provide extraordinary customer service! I know they are busy, I get it!

I ordered my sushi. I went inside and got it. I got back into my car and BEHOLD an absolutely beautiful presentation. My first thought was “I hope this taste as beautiful as it looks!” I headed straight home!

I am usually able to tell if anything I eat that was ordered out was pre-frozen. I opened the box and to my surprise the sushi was still warm as if the rice had been freshly cooked. It was!!!!! The rice was freshly prepared. I am always skeptical about ordering this type of food anywhere because I do not like the taste of frozen foods from restaurants. I took my first bite. It was kind of like this...

It’s Winter time and your Southern mama decided to bake your Great Grandmother’s special Lemon Pound cake. Your Mama just took the HOT FRESH cake out of the oven, let’s it cool just a little and throws it on that interesting cake plate with the big glass dome on top! You know what I am referring to, don’t you? Mama disappears to gather the Christmas lights to place on the tree and you are just standing there eyeballing that big glass dome with a perfectly rounded and warm pound cake inside. You have to try it. You know your Mama don’t want you to touch it. So, you grab a knife of any kind, because you are rushing not wanting to get caught, and you slice a little piece of Heaven! You haul tail to your bedroom and shove that cake right in your mouth!!!!!! Your eyes roll back in your head, your knees are weak from the flavor, and the warmth and the softness of the texture make you fall back into your bed! Oh! It’s like that? Well, YES MA’AM it is!!!!!!!

Panama City Sushi and Tallahassee Sushi ain’t got nothin’ on UME’s!!!!

Since then, I have ordered three more times and have gotten the Spider Roll and the Cowboy Roll! All have been freshly prepared with incredible plate presentations! If you are picky about the seaweed that typically has an awful river water flavor, you wont be disappointed with what they provide you. In other places, the seaweed usually takes over the flavor of everything else and it’s all you can taste.

UME’s is not the tie and suit type but it is the place that will make your tastebuds explode with each bite of actual deliciousness! The employees are very kind, the building is clean, the prices are affordable, and the food is divine!

Visit...

The server was SO attentive and charismatic, it looked like the owner was also stepping up and helping people on a busy Friday night. The restaurant seemed super clean and well laid out.

Everyone was so friendly and kind, it pains me to say anything negative...but the food itself was pretty terrible. It was edible, but tasteless. Our Vegetable Tempura was well cooked, but the dipping sauce was so light and tasteless, I am not sure what it really was. It certainly isn't the typical dumpling sauce or Ponzu that is served with tempura.

And no matter if you order Hibachi or a Hot Plate or the Beef and Broccoli, you are going to get the same cut of beef (which was not tender, way overcooked and looked like it had been boiled or steamed, not stir fried), and then one of two sauces, either Teriyaki or 'Brown' sauce as they called it. The fried rice had no vegetables or even describable seasoning to it, and there were a lot of hard kernels of rice that make me think it had been sitting a while, or may have been pretty old. The shrimp on my hot plate were pretty overcooked and rubbery, and had a slight sulfur taste to them, and also had the texture of being boiled, not stir fried. There were literally no char marks of any kind on any of the food on the hot plate...it all just looked...boiled.

My husband ordered the Beef and Broccoli and he had similar complaints about the meat, and also his food was incredibly bland. I never, if ever, add soy sauce to my meal, but it was absolutely needed in this case.

It is a shame, because the staff really was quite wonderful. I wanted this to be our go-to Asian option...

After Fortune Cookie shut down and replaced with yet another Mexican resturaunt I was highly disappointed! But a few years later Ume appeared and I couldn't have been happier!

Ume is a unique Japanese/Chinese concept. On one side of the menu are Japanese dishes and on the other side are Chinese dishes! I got the Lo Mein which came with a bowl of soup!

The Lo Mein was very tasty, but soy sauce was needed for it to have maximum flavor! The soup was amazing. I could drink it as a meal alone. I also ordered the hibachi chicken which came with rice, chicken and veggies. It was also really good! The rice also didn't have much flavor, but pouring the yumyum sauce over it fixed that.

My total came out to be $21. But the portions were very large so I was satisfied with that price!

All in all Ume is a wonderful addition to Marianna and I can't wait to see how much it grows! If you're in the Marianna area you should stop by! Your taste buds...