Umi Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Mount Pleasant

A warm summer evening, you enter the restaurant with your group of buddies. You walk to the booth in the back corner and take a seat. You all take waters, the last bit of paper still on the top of the straw. A young adolescent male takes your order “you want two chicken bowls right?” He inquires. “Yeah” you respond, a sense of glee gradually building within your soul. A middle aged woman brings you your white sauce in anticipation of your meal, the creamy rosy white sauce reminds you that it is almost time to eat. While you wait for your meal the aroma of sweet and savory chicken fills the air. Hunger builds within you until alas, the young boy arrives with your two chicken bowls. You prod the first piece of chicken with your fork, past the crispy outside layer and into the juicy middle. You plunge the piece of chicken into your dish of white sauce and take the first bite. Ah, the first bite. The sweet and savory taste of the chicken fills the crevices of your mouth, causing you to feel happiness and joy. You continue to eat the chicken until you embark upon the rice that fills the bottom of the bowl. The first scoop of rice is a new sensation for your mouth, the staple of Southeast Asia coated in a small layer of soy is a new change compared to the savoriness of the meat. Before you know it the rice is gone, it was so enjoyable that time literally flew to the end of your meal. You walk to the counter and leave a tip for the child that supplanted your meal. You exit with your friends, the aroma of the meat lingering in the outside air. “Until next time” you tell them as you drive off into the summer night, windows down and music blasting.

This monologue is perfectly indicative of the Umi experience. Umi is not a restaurant,...

If I could give a NEGATIVE, I would!!! We (my fiancé and I) ordered saki to start. They brought out a saki with 1 shot glass. I said I wanted a glass as well and they came out with another craft and shot glass. We ordered the tender steak hibachi which had 7 TINY TOUGH pieces of OVERCOOKED steak (I presume) and we ordered the Spider Roll and Spicy Tuna Roll. The Tuna Roll looked terrible right from the start but my fiancé tried it anyways and it was horrible...it didn't taste even close to correct. I told him NOT to eat any more of it. Mind you this is only FIVE DOLLARS!!!! I told our server Luisa that we didn't like it and she replied in a sarcastic tone that she was eating the spicy tuna and returned telling us management refused to take it off.. We used to order hibachi here a lot and although it's not gourmet, it was edible. TONIGHT WAS NOT!!!! I WILL NEVER RETURN AND MAKE SURE I TELL ANY AND EVERYBODY ABOUT MY HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!! (Not to mention their were weird floating things in our saki) Don't waste your time or money and most importantly...

SUSHI and CUSTOMER SERVICE BAD BAD BAD. Let me preference my comments, I lived in Japan for half my life, and have had sushi a time or two. I didn't expect a lot, and my sights were too high. My worst dining experience in years. The soup was undrinkable. Simply horrible. The sushi rice was particularly bad, it wasn't prepared properly as sushi rice at all, just normal white rice. When I asked the manager about the sushi rice (very politely), I was treated to the worst customer service in my life, as she proceeded to raise her voice and yell at me. However, it was entertaining and enlightening when she told me during her tirade that "this is America, they don't know any better here. I have a margin, this is a business." It was a terrible experience. Unless you want second rate Chinese food masquerading as Japanese...stay away!!... but if you want to make a entertaining youtube video of the worst customer service in Mount Pleasant, this...