UMI Japanese Shabu Shabu — Restaurant in South Salt Lake

My spouse and I came here on their opening night, not knowing it was their first day! It was fun and they have a little robot, named Peanut, that led us to our table and brought our appetizer. Peanut brought a whole new wonderful experience to food service I didn’t know I needed. The food was overall alright. We both got the sukiyaki broth and my spouse added the shrimp paste addition which both were delicious. I liked their shirataki noodles and vegetable options. The appetizers were delicious, we got gyoza. It was crispy, juicy and flavorful. Since they just opened up, everything was obviously fresh and clean.

Our main complaint was the meat quality, and the sauces we got. They can bring 4 plates at a time and each plate has about 4-6 thin sliced pieces of meat. Like, there was no marbling on their “wagyu” and the cuts were messy so it would fall apart when you try to cook it. The others were alright. The only ones we liked were the lamb and the ribeye which are naturally more fatty meats so they tasted better and complimented the broth best. We also never were checked on to order more meat. We had to get up and interrupt another server for more meat after 30 minutes of no one coming to check on us, like to see if we wanted more appetizers, more meat or if we enjoyed it. At the point we got our second helping of meat, we had filled up on vegetables and going back for seconds because we were hungry waiting. The servers were very friendly and sweet so we guess that they were just busy.

They sesame sauce which we usually love at Shabu Shabu restaurants was very salty and there was not much sesame flavor. My husband thought it was peanut (which he is allergic to) because it tasted so odd. The yuzu sauce was okay, just basic. There were many dips and sauces to choose from but we didn’t not get to try those. I would assume that it is more Chinese based hotpot than Japanese because they asked on feedback and we gave feedback on the sauces, especially the sesame, and they said it’s a traditional recipe… come to think of we it we went to another Chinese hot pot before and the sesame dressing tasted similar to Umi’s. Definitely other Shabu Shabu places in Utah have better tasting goma/sesame dip.

However, because It was their opening night, we give them the benefit of the doubt. We are sure they were busy so they may have forgotten to check on us and got caught up with the...

Dinner is AYCE hot pot, the food was good and there was a good variety of options available on the cold bar. Adults are $29.99 each for dinner. The entrance was wheelchair accessible however there is not a push button to open the doors.

I think I got emotional whiplash from our server Jason. We are not slender people and we enjoy good food. I had started ordering items based on the order they are shown on the menu (appetizer, broth, sushi rolls, etc) and was quickly corrected on how I should be ordering. Sure, okay, no problem, whatever works right? I order gyoza and two sushi rolls, plus my broth and two meats to start. I don't like ordering frequently at AYCE places and want to start with what will be most of my dinner. My husband orders gyoza and Jason stops him to inform him that "you know, appetizers are like for the table". Mind you the order we received was literally 4 very average sized gyoza. Sure sure we can share. My husband orders his broth, two meats, and begins to order his sushi before he is stopped again for Jason to inform us they are "full size rolls" and that we already have 16 pieces of sushi coming out and is he sure he wants to order another roll?

Yeah dude we are fat and hungry can we do with a little less judgement? I digress. Jason finishes taking the orders, he puts them in with the kitchen, food comes out pretty quickly. The food is good, possibly great even if we didn't have the looming cloud of judgement coming from behind the bar.

After ordering Jason was sure to check in with us several times, was quick about bringing out a couple more types of meat for the hot pot and seemed very attentive. It had just struck us as very strange behavior to correct patrons on how they're ordering and asking if we are really sure that we wanted a 3rd roll of sushi.

I personally don't think I will be back but maybe it was...

A very weird, mixed bag, overall.

While the food was good, it was limited (some of this was a VERY small self-service veggie/noodle/sauce bar, and the other was a lack of service for everything else). I'll get in to the service more in a moment.

When we walked up (first time here, we suggested it for a double-date) there were two porta potties in front. Odd, we thought, but my wife pointed out some construction nearby, so these were likely for the workers, we figured. It wasn't until near the end of the meal when I went to the bathroom that I noticed a sign on BOTH bathrooms redirecting us to those. Does that mean our servers are also using these? Not a great sign.

Like I said, the food itself was good. Nothing amazing, but the apps were decent and the broth was good enough for a hot pot.

That said, the service was EXTREMELY slow. We went last night (a Wednesday evening) and it wasn't busy at all. So why didn't our drinks get refilled, plates cleared, asked about refills (for the meats and NEVER asked about broth refills) or why did I have to wait over 10 minutes just to ASK for the check?

Our waiter seemed happy to help when we sat down (giving us suggestions, answering questions, etc.), but then disappeared. I saw him sweeping (I think?) at one point, which seems a wrong priority here. For example of the slow server: one of the 3 rolls we ordered (when we first sat down) took 20 minutes to arrive. No clue why, like I said, it was quiet. Similarly I had to get up to ask for the check. And drink refills seemed to be by-request. Again, no broth was ever refilled (or offered).

It's an okay shabu shabu, but I've been to 5-6 within 15 minutes of here, and this was definitely in the bottom 2 of the places I've been. I don't see a...