Umi Fine Japanese & Asian Cuisine — Restaurant in Waltham

TLDR: The environment was good, and the service and food were quick. However, the food was just okay, and there are better places out there. Considering my experience, I'd think twice before coming here again, as 3 stars is pretty middle of the road.

After a day of working, my partner and I were looking on google maps on which restaurant to go to. This restaurant came up and I was intrigued. The reviews was above average so we decided to come here.

Service was quick, no problem at all. We were seated quick as well despite them having an event from what it seemed like.

We ordered Hotate Kaiyaki, the phoenix roll and the torched double toro roll along with a miso soup.

Miso soup is fine, nothing to write home about.

First item, the kaiyaki looked good when the waiter was serving it. it was charred on the exterior, that's always a good sign. This is usually an item that I get to see if the Japanese restaurant is good or not. The flavor was fine—creamy, a bit spicy with umami flavor. A bit on the heavier side but it had mayo so its expected. Now, usually kaiyaki is just scallops, shredded crabstick, and tobiko with mayo. However, they included shiitake mushrooms and enoki mushrooms to both add on and mimic the umami flavor as well as the texture of crabstick and the crunch of the tobiko. These ingredients were listed and I didn't look carefully enough on what it would entail based on the ingredients, but I felt a bit cheated on because i was expecting more crabstick and more tobiko and less mushroom when in fact the mushrooms were the most abundant thing in the dish. The scallops were tiny but they were there. We also found a piece of black shell within the food, but thats besides the point.

Second item was the phoenix roll. They listed tuna, salmon with jalapeno with eel sauce. This sounded good as the sweetness of the eel sauce would play with the spiciness from the jalapeno. When the dish came out, there was visible buffalo/frank red hot sauce and it smelled like it too. Maybe they wanted to add on to the spice, but I'm not sure if that was what they wanted to do. Now this sauce wasn't listed as a part of this roll at all so we were a bit taken back but I digress.

Third item was the Torched double toro roll. For some reason, this roll had truffle oil on it in which we could clearly smell and taste but it also wasn't listed as a part of the roll as well. Not sure what happened there.

In the end, it felt like the place's dishes wasn't too standardize or maybe they had a bad night given there was an event going on that night in which the event took up half the restaurant.

All in all, it was an okay place but I'm not sure I'd be back.

The bill was $81, inclusive of 20% tip. Fair price given...

This is a busy great place for Japanese food. Set in a strip mall, right off the highway,near several hotels. The staff and owners are super nice, friendly and accommodating. The menu is large but not overwhelming. There were 3 chefs behind the sushi bar -each making eye-appealing creations. We went for lunch, as we perused the menu and the blackboard full of specials we were served water and ordered a Scorpion bowl and the best lychee martini. I ordered the appetizer of Uni topped with quail eggs that was just received from Japan and the tuna tartare for my meal. My husband ordered the volcano roll. Oh-so good! The Uni was so fresh and sweet. My tuna tartare was big enough for 2-3 servings. The tuna was fresh with creamy avocados over seaweed salad. Topped with tobiko/ikura and crunchy tempura flakes. It was sweet, salty, a little spicy,smooth & crunchy all at the same time. Excellent. The volcano roll was enough for 2-3 people also. It was a spicy salmon roll topped with scallops, spicy tuna, & crab stick (among other food item) in a delicious sauce. So good. To say the least we went home with left overs. The staff checked in with us several times to see if everything was to our liking. We love this restaurant-great place, good atmosphere. We would recommend this place to all sushi lovers. And we definitely...

First of all, this is my first trip to Waltham, MA. I'm originally from California and I have had a lot of good sushi. This was really good. It compares with some of the higher-end sushi in San Diego. We came here as a department-outing for my job. The waitress was really nice with our orders and they took an average amount of time to prepare it. Too fast of sushi is normally not a good thing and too long to prepare it is quite annoying, and this was just right (as the rhyme says). It taste delicious. And to top it all off my friend from Cali wanted a Samuel Adams beer glass from Massachusetts so I asked the manager for one of their glasses since I didn't have time to pick one up anywhere else. I offered to buy it but he just willingly gave it to me and said, "Welcome to Boston". How cool is that!? I was going to give them a 5-star review anyways, but the glass made me remember to give them one. Thank you,...