Umiya Sushi Mcallen — Restaurant in McAllen

When was the last time I gave a glowing review to a new local place? I can't recall...time to correct that. Let's get into it.

So here we have another challenger in the category of "all you can eat, delivered to your table" style of service in the vein of Zen and Olive Garden's Never Ending Pasta Bowl. These have been hit or miss for me, where the issue or quantity over quality became the main cause of skepticism. I am happy to say that Umiya finds the just about perfect balance.

The Food. Let's get this out of the way. Yes, it can be considered expensive. At 18-19 dollars for the lunch AYCE, with drinks not included, it's 4 dollars more than what you would pay at Zen, but the variety of dishes offers easily surpasses Zen by a mile. While I hate to turn this into a pure comparison review, it's difficult to avoid, so let's get it out of the way. Umiya offers more nigiri or sushi piece options, they offer tempura options, they also have more appetizer options and finally, they have dessert options. You are just getting more bang for your buck. There is a normal menu, my guest had a shrimp teriyaki plate for 13 dollars, so you do have options. That being said, if your a big eater and want to experience everything and anything, try the AYCE at least once. In addition to sheer variety the food was also very tasty, it always came out to temperature and portion size was just right for constant sampling.

The Service. Excellent. Our waitress was friendly and attentive. She answered all our questions and even helped my guest make a substitution that was not on the menu. Aside from her service, the food delivery is speedy. Again, not to knock Zen to much, but anyone who has ever gone there during the lunch rush can probably vouch for how slow the food service gets when it gets crowded. At Umiya the sushi bar, and I imagine the kitchen, is stacked with cooks so it never took longer than 5-8 minutes for my next order to come out. Bussers were also always around to pick up used dishes, so top marks for service.

Atmosphere. Oh boy...so yeah, I had to take a star off this one. This is a personal preference of course, but eclectic is about the only way I can describe the interior of Umiya. Between the traditional warm tones of the wood fixtures and leather furnishings and the crazy neon of the sushi and drink bar, it feels like this place has an identity problem of what it wants to be. On the plus side, they had TVs everywhere so you can focus your eyes on something other than the garish decor.

I had a great experience here. The first great experience of the year and the first great experience I've had at a new local place since forever. While the price may keep some people away or keep you from making it a regular stop, it's the perfect spot for special occasion or splurging to spoil yourself....

EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED!!! WILL NEVER COME BACK TO THIS ESTABLISHMENT!

We have been a regulars to UMIYA since their first days of Opening till now! Unfortunately, Today will be My Last Day to be here at this Establishment!

We have been treated very poorly since we came in the store till we left! Nothing can described the horrible services and foods that we had here. They were Good back then but now not anymore!

Note to Management & Future Customers: HOSTESSES: We were not welcome when we arrived. There were no smiles, no customer services, they just basically wants us to be out of their ways by taking us who have 2 children (4 years old and 8 months old) to be SITS by the Entrance to The Restroom! I was already ANNOYED since there were so many empty tables where we can be sits! I have to asked to get another table and they took us to the table next to that!

WAITER: This waiter treated us like he has put in his 2 Weeks Notice to the restaurant! No customer services, just straight up ask what you want to order! Brought waters and no straws, brought sauces with no gingers, no kids utensils, no napkins (not to mention extra), and we ordered MISO SOUP for my daughter first and it took them 30 MINUTES to get to our table (right before we about to leave)! If You don’t want to work there, don’t work there! We came to eat at this restaurant and expected to be served professionally not to beg you to get this or that for us! We literally feel like we were begging and asking for things that we were supposed to get!

SERVER: EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL! Brought HOT SOUPS and Delivered them on TOP of my 8 Month Olds Son!!! Do they have EYES! The Car Seat is there and the restaurant was not busy at all! There were plenty of spaces for them to walk around! And they chose to gave me the HOT BOILING SOUP over My Son Car Seat while he was sitting in there! Unacceptable!

FOOD: Sushi Rolls were so bad, rice was obviously tasted like it was left out for a long while, no crunch on the tempura, teriyaki shrimps were disastrous! It looked like it was microwaved and put a big gulp of jelly sauce on top of it! SUPER SALTY! Same as the Squid Salad and Seaweed Salad! The Surf Clams and Octopus Sashimi were NOT FRESH! The Color was like that with no touch of soy sauce! Foul smells!

We left a lot of food untouched and paid our bills! We wanted to leave quietly and never comeback but the Waiter had the audacity to ask us to pay for Leftover!!! Making us talk to the Managers and They Couldn’t do anything! They Did nothing!

NEVER COMING BACK AGAIN! Should have listened to Our Friends Advices since They Had Food Poisoning the last time...

Ive been here maybe 6+ times in the duration they’ve been open and typically it’s a ok experience. Decent food and options, nice staff and prompt service, I usually never have any issues here but my experience today might have ruined it all for me. First off my bill was $38 ( pre tip ) which is perfectly fine for the usual experience I have. But for the first time in my life I feel like I wasted my money. Things that went wrong today Ordered the tempura vegetables and received raw batter in my vegetables not just 1 time but 3 times, even after reordering the item again ( received no apology or mentions of this even after I pointed it out to the server ) I was served the wrong food, to which the server told me to just eat it but without the rice ( wanted sashimi ) ; this was an issue cause the rice made the fish warm and it was unpleasant after a few bites After placing my initial order I placed a secondary order, waited about 20-25 minutes just for the sever to come back and say “ there was an issue with the system so your ticket wasn’t printed it’s barely gonna get started rn “ First off a simple apology would be nice, the overall attitude of the server was off putting especially since I couldn’t find her to ask about the progress of my order throughout those 20-25 minutes I waited. After that I immediately checked out and left cause I was so frustrated. I usually can come in here and eat a decent meal within 1 hr and be on my way to work or etc., so waiting anymore would’ve made me late to my obligations. I do feel like my experience today was mainly on part due to the server, since the food items I did receive and usually consume tasted fine, and all the other staff I’ve ever met here have been super nice. Maybe reinforce proper service and attitude to customers to the staff? Because honestly if my server had been nicer and more communicative towards me and my time I wouldn’t have been as...