Umi Hot Pot Sushi & Seafood Buffet — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I really wish Google would let us give 1/2 stars.

This visit was more of a 4.5 stars.

This restaurant opened on 10/01/24, and I have to say, whoever planned the layout and the menu of this restaurant, "Bravo!"

At first glance, $24.99 for lunch? Yes, you would think it's pricey, but when you see everything that Umi has to offer, you get it.

Until the end of December, they are including snow crabs on the menu for lunch, so come in while you can get it.

The service was excellent, which is not the norm for Chinese buffet style restaurants, but Umi actually provides good and friendly service with the majority of their staff speaking English.

The variety of food and drinks is excellent.

Now, here comes the important part.

What about the taste and quality of the food?

I'll try to break it down as well as I can.

Now remember, I'm basing my point system based on the quality and taste of other Buffets.

Sushi Nigiri, 9.0/10, besides Jumbo Buffet in Feasterville, you can't get better quality, taste, and variety than Umi.

Sushi Maki, 8.0/10, variety and quality is better than most Chinese buffets, but I wasn't really blown away by the flavor.

Fish Roe, 10/10, absolutely amazing! Don't just skip these, they are absolutely delicious! Everyone in our party enjoyed them.

Crab legs, 7.0/10, they were good sized, and abundant, and you never had to wait for them, but then why only 7 points? Because they were too salty. If it wasn't for the saltiness, I would give 10/10.

Ramen Station, 9.5/10, wow, you guys needs to check this out. Very good broth, which makes the Ramen even better.

Hot Food, 8.0/10, there is a lot of variety, and some things are hit or miss, but overall, well done.

Hot Pot, (no score), I ate so much, that I didn't make space for Hot Pot, but it looked great, and they had so many fresh meat, seafood, and veggie options available. I will make sure to try next time.

Drinks. 9/10. Insane. They have a fridge full of milk tea, boba, Asian style carbonated drinks, included in the buffet. This is awesome. Never seen this before at any Buffet.

Desserts. I was so full but the desserts looked really good. Next time I'll give them a try.

If you check out the photos and videos, you will find all the information you need including hours and prices.

Update:

I was finally able to try out the Hot Pot and it was fantastic!

Make sure you get the mushroom soup base.

The variety of ingredients are insane as well as the variety of dipping sauces you can use. Especially for the hot pot, top notch. Score 9.0/10

Also came for dinner, and yes, the price is heavy at 38.95, especially if you're not a seafood person, or have shellfish allergies.

I, on the other hand liked the Prawn Shrimp, the Abalone, the Soft Shell Crabs, etc.

My only gripe that has stayed consistent my last 5 trips is the same. The crab legs are WAY TOO SALTY!

I get it that they don't want customers to eat too many, but you have to control the salt level. This is waaaay too salty, and we the customers are paying a LOT of money to dine here. If they fix this issue, Umi could be so much better.

Update:

Finally, the crab legs...

Offer of cheesy lobster with social media post. Ill let u know how it is! Ok. So lobster was rather tasty. Our first visit. Definitely recommend as an enjoyable experience and would go back. Buffet includes Ramen and drinks - soda/ water/ bubble teas, etc. Overwhelming when u first come in . Great presentation and clean. Lots of options for both cooked and raw seafood. AAPI dishes. BBQ station next to Ramen bar. Desert station and even ice cream in a cold cooler. Also a hot pot option. As a buffet, not everything was out of park or to my liking but enough was that id make another trip and like to try some other things i didnt get to. I eat some type of AAPI food regularly, so purposely didnt go for those related dishes ...like rangoon or fride rice, ect...Out of the raw bar, only tried oysters and snow crab legs. Enjoyed the oysters the most. Just wish they had horseradish and Tabasco sauce. Crab legs were ok - just steamed and not seasoned. Had to request the crackers for shells. Not wowed by sushi. I prefer sashimi vs rolls but had both. Since all u can eat, hey cut the pieces in thin slices. So u just get a taste. And when paired with rice , ratio of rice is too mich- so literally left a portion of rice behind. Flavor ok but have had better quality. Rolls included both cooked and raw. Not a huge fan of imitation crab in sushi, so wasn't my twist. But will say because of thinness of fish slices, too much rice when paired together. Spicy frog legs - delish! BBQ oyster and mussels- delish; shrimp good too but not deviened and slightly over cooked. Had to literally peel off the shrimp shell. Ibs werr way over cooked. Pineapple fried rice was great. There wa a pot I believe had a sour fish and greens/ cabbage? It was - delish. Bubble tea , refreshing and good. I'm leaving out a lot. As so many options. .Food was enjoyed by others in my party as well. Next time would try some of the other offerings, exploring the hot pot or Ramen as well. There is an entire station to select your ingrediants for the hot pot....

Over all the food was good and the atmosphere wasn't too bad just way too many ppl for my liking. Every time I went up to get food I was constantly bumped into by not just guest but by their food service ppl who where very pushy and didn't wait for the customers to move they just ki da pushed you out the way. Now for the part that really bothered me the most the server. So fist I'm all for tipping especially those servers that literally serve me my food that only make $2.83 an hr but when it comes to a buffet server I don't think 15% in a tip is worth what they do at a buffet. When she brought my bf the bill she literally pointed out the tip percentage at the bottom of the bill. I was super annoyed bc our bill was $85 and she really expected a $15 tip. In my head for what bc all she did was bring our drinks and a hot pot thing. She didn't remove plates hell she didn't even get us refills other staff did those things. So she brought 3 things to our table and expected $15 or more in a tip like wtf seriously? I know for a fact buffet servers make more than minimum wage and I'm sorry but if you make over minimum wage I'm not tipping no 15% or higher bc why you getting paid plus some that ridiculous! Personally I drove 2 hrs for an ok buffet nothing really that special about it...o and we could only have 1 hot pot broth per table...my bf hates mushrooms and I can't eat spicey guess what our hot pot had in it mushrooms and this was after telling our server he doesn't like mushrooms smh. This buffet truly didn't live up to its reviews. And I almost forgot their waiting area was so small ppl where packed in like sardines and getting to the kios to get on the waitlist was a nightmare due to all of...