Umami Restaurant and Sushi Bar West Melbourne — Restaurant in West Melbourne

Umami- West Melbourne- 5-Stars

"I love your sushi roll, hotter than wasabi. I race for your love, Shake-n-Bake Ricky Bobby." -- Drake

My, my, my how West Melbourne has changed. It seems like just yesterday it was naught but pastures with the odd housing development thrown in. Now? It is a veritable metropolis with all the big cities have to offer including amazing sushi. That's right. Amazing sushi. Located in an inauspicious Wickhaven Plaza on the corner of S. Wickham and W. New Haven sits a shining jewel of a sushi joint known as Umami.

Chris Chern, the owner/chef, grew up in his parent's Chinese kitchen and has since gone on to wonderful things.

I was greeted by Chef Chern's mother and warmly shown where to sit and handed a menu. The menu, as you can see, was extraordinarily bold in its offerings and if it was fresh, I knew I was in for a gastronomical treat. In order to get a valid sample for my review, I ordered: Kingfish, Yellow Stripe, Hokkaido Scallop, Soft Shell Crab, Mako Shark, 3 Line Gurt, New Zealand Salmon, Sea Bream, Golden Eye Snapper, Uni and a special order of Wagyu carpaccio.

Within a short amount of time, I was provided by Chef Chern a plethora of eye staggering fine cuts of high quality fish that created a perfect harmony between tradition in the cooking process and modernity in the presentation of the plate. The flavors were palate popping, to say the least. Everything from the Kingfish right on down to the Uni (which absolutely, positively must be fresh) tasted so fresh I would say it was caught that morning. Each dish was created with obvious love, care and most importantly, pride. A Chef who takes pride in their product almost always puts out exemplary fare and my experience at Umami was no exception. With every sample of every dish, this place kept rising on my list of best sushi places in Brevard.

While the fish and all its accouterments were undeniably delicious, Chef Chern outdid himself with the Wagyu carpaccio. Wagyu seems to be the new sushi. What i mean by that is if you think back to the 90s when sushi was first taking off in this country, everyone was talking about it and it seems sushi places popped up overnight all over the place. Wagyu is the new flavor of the month among American chef's and as everyone is using it, it is hard to create a stand out dish. Chef Chern does not have that problem. This was so fresh as to be practically mooing on the plate and the flavors were so delicate and intricate I savored every single bite as long as I could. I would give this dish a 10-star rating if I could. Wait, I am the Big Boy, I can and so I do!

From the greeting by Mrs. Chern to the final bite of rice and fish, this was hands down 5-star all the way. The traditional flavors with modern combinations and presentation really had my palate by the taste buds. This was some of the best sushi creations I've had in a long time if ever and be assured, the Big Boy will be back (if just for the Wagyu and Uni)!

The Big Boy says, "if your anywhere West of Tampa and hunkering for amazing sushi, this is the place for you!" Try it at least once and tell em the Big Boy sent you. #iamthebigboy...

The food is excellent! The service we received was not great.

First time at this restaurant on July 6th to celebrate a birthday. My husband and I got to the restaurant a couple minutes before 7pm. I know this because we received a phone call after we were seated and I checked the call log. We did not receive our appetizer until almost 8. I kept raising my hand to get the waiter's attention. We waited another hour for 3 sushi rolls and 2 egg negiri. We think our server forgot about our ticket. We understand things happen, but he did not own up to it and instead, he said the kitchen is backed up. I didn't believe him since the couple sitting next to us got their food within 15 minutes of sitting down. Before closing at 9, our server asked another table next to us if they wanted dessert, but he never asked us. We had to flag him down to ask for dessert. The whole night our server kept saying to be patient the food is worth the wait, yet many tables who arrived after us ate and left before we did. We didn't get out of the restaurant until after 9. At least the food was great. Taking 2 hours for sushi and dessert was less than ideal. I didn't want to make a scene and ruin my husband's birthday, but the service put a sour taste in our mouth and hope next time we wont be there for 2 hours.

Also, there were only a few tables seated when we showed up. It progressively got busier after we showed up, so I don't doubt the kitchen was busy. But the fact that many people arriving after us eate and left before us was ridiculous and leads us to think the server forgot about our ticket.

Dont worry...we still left a 20% tip in case this server was new. We did not get upset, we just waited patiently so as not to ruin the evening. The red bean tempura icecream was so tasty that it helped us feel better about the situation so one positive.

Here was our order: gyoza appetizer 3 sushi rolls 2 pieces of egg negiri -1 order of red...

Passed by the sign on our way out from the nearby Crystal Buffet prior to COVID and was intrigued by the ratings online - WOW!! What a fabulous, intimate, modern-decor take on the local sushi spot!

The specialty rolls are refreshingly inventive, and we chose the New Englander, complete with tempura asparagus, topped with raw Japanese scallop, spicy ginger sauce (doesn't really taste like ginger, just a tiny bit of heat at the end of the bite), chili threads (makes for great presentation!), and lime zest. For someone who eats sushi often and worldwide, this was such a great way to celebrate the reopening of restaurants in Brevard County!

And the CHIRASHI OH. MY. GOD. The portion was huge - we asked our server if this was a normal portion, not just the chef trying to use fish that would not be sold due to lower demand during the COVID take-out era... and she said YES ITS NORMAL!! Holy jeez - complete with super fresh salmon, tuna, sweet mushroom (it's delicious don't be freaked out), escolar, shrimp, pickled radish chunks, pickled cucumber, etc. and some beautiful masago rice... PLUS, big chunks of CONCH all mixed up almost like a poke bowl! So different from what we get in S Florida in all the best ways possible!

Even the pickled ginger garnishes and ginger salad dressing got thumbs up from the fiancé! Win-win all around, especially since the service was so warm and inviting!

Our server promised once ordering normalizes they will get uni (sea urchin, my favorite!), ikura (salmon roe), and red bean ice cream... literally the trifecta of a great sushi night out!

I'm beyond impressed with this family run operation - definitely will come back. And part of me hopes none of you will be there so you don't take a much coveted spot away from me while they enforce social distancing in the dining room with...