Umai Sushi & Asian Bistro

I can’t recommend ever ordering from this place, especially delivery My order was wrong in several ways. One item was completely wrong. They filed my tempura order with onions after I asked for none. And the pieces had been dropped in some thing else but still packaged up. I don’t know what sauce they included with the tempura but it was horrible. The roll, rising sun, was just plain awful. It was made of some weird crunchy fish that I couldn’t taste over the breading.

I ordered sushi at 1:45 and did not receive food until 2:17. While waiting, I watched a table of 3 people put in two orders of more sushi than I ordered and receive their food. After eating, these people gave the owner a hug… Just because your buddies are eating does not mean I should wait over 30 minutes for my food. I’m from San Diego, in town for the holiday, and was thoroughly unimpressed by this place. They skimp on the rice, and their options are waaaay too limited. On the bright side, my waiter was great.

I always go here for lunch. The prices are reasonable and the portions are pretty good. Prob my most favorite restaurant in South Charlotte. All their chicken dishes are amazing especially the Szechuan chicken. The sushi tastes fresh as well. And I love that they have the all you can eat sushi buffet during lunch.

A fantastic sushi restaurant! They were very fair with their all you can eat sushi lunch! Everything the served was very high quality and delicious. I cant wait to come back one day for dinner. The décor is wonderful and the staff is incredibly accommodating. We wanted to watch the Panthers game and they moved us inside right in front of the TV! Awesome!

I went for the all-​you-​can-​eat lunch sushi last week after much deliberation on which sushi lunch buffet I should try. We were the first ones seated for lunch on a Friday and quickly chose our rolls. Unfortunately, that was the last quickly that I can write. We ended up ordering two times and we barely got out of there in an hour. Not sure what happened with that.
So the sushi, it started out decent. Spicy Tuna, Tuna Avocado, California, Crunch California… but the second time around, it started to be more evident that this was AYCE sushi lunch & not quality sushi.
I really liked the ambiance of Umai and maybe I’ll come back and try something for dinner — or a lunch bento box, but I think that may be my last all you can eat sushi lunch.

We drive the extra miles to eat here or get take out. There is a popular Chinese takeout closer to home but it does not compare with the quality and taste of the food from Umai.
The sushi, meats and veggies taste so fresh, the martini’s are very good and the staff
is always friendly. It is now one of our favorite places to eat!

Holy Sushi Lunch Special Batman!!!
This lunch special was fantastic, it’s a little pricier than I like for lunch — coming in at $ 16 per person. But the quality of the food makes up for all of it.
I rocked lunch with Sammy J (duh). You’re allowed to order 8 items per «round». So that the kitchen can keep up with you. I loved the salmon and avocado roll — it was cooked, and used a smokey salmon. And the spring rolls! Fresh and tasty, although the cabbage fell out with every bite. I highly recommend this for lunch, it’s $ 16, but totally worth it.
Come hungry.

Great service and sushi. Surprisingly not that busy on a regular basis. Prices and variety are good as well. Try the lychee nut sake, it’s awesome!

Really delicious lunch special made to order. No sketch buffet here. On a recent visit I sat outside and stuffed my face with nigiri. I never even made it inside on that visit, the team kept my water glass full and brought water out for my pup too.
I visited again this week for a late omgeeee starving why didn’t we eat until 9pm style dinner. The food came out Jimmy Johns style– freaky fast!
The dumplings hit the spot right away, standard but a nice portion. Y’all weren’t kidding about the spice level of the Marilyn Monroll– pow. Really creative and delicious though. I was also pleased with the $ 6 – 8 roll section the bagel roll never disappoints although I wish they noted on the menu it comes topped with a mayo-​based sauce. If you are in this part of town and are craving sushi this may be your only/​best option without going to Southpark.

2^nd time eating at Umai and most likely the last. It’s not that it is terrible… It’s just not that good. Reviewing their lunch «special», the amount of each component within the roll is just off, not to mention, the rolls are just sloppily thrown together. Everybody likes cream cheese, but that shouldn’t be the only thing you taste. Or what’s up with the huge chunk of cucumber? Also, the ginger dressing for the house salads… Ugh! It must come from a jar because if I weren’t at a Sushi & Asian Bistro, I wouldn’t necessarily know that it is ginger dressing. Again, it’s not terrible but just not that good.
My 1^st experience was for dinner a few weeks ago. I was craving hibachi and gave Umai’s a try. I will say it was quite the generous portion, I got two meals out of it. But it’s not exactly steak. I had ordered online and specified that I wanted my «steak» medium rare. What I received was the same beef that you would find in a Chinese favorite like ‘Beef and Broccoli’ so to call it steak is definitely misleading. For the $ 17 price tag, you would expect a better cut of meat.

All you can eat sushi rolls at $ 12 a person incl a drink. Not bad at all. The wait & host staff seems to be on the youngish side & seemed to be there more to gossip or point at customers & laugh vs. serving customers. Wait & host staff aside. The sushi rolls were tasty & came out pretty quickly considering the amount of customers at the time. The owner picked up the slack from the employees & made sure we were taken care of. The ginger dressing on the salad had a more tangy flavor & wish I knew what brand they use.

We recently moved to this side of town, and were hopeful that Umai would be our new «go to» spot for sushi. Having been spoiled like crazy by the wonderful sushi and value at New Zealand on Monroe, and still saddened by the closing of Mai Sushi at Colony/​Rea, we ventured down to Quail Corners in search of our new neighborhood spot. While the atmosphere is great, the food was not our cup of tea. We started with an order of edamame, which is difficult to mess up. But the beans were clearly not fresh — they tasted like they had been frozen too long because the texture was mealy and the pods were wimpy. Move on to the sushi order — a couple of sake (salmon nigiri) and a spicy tuna hand roll. Well, it was all. okay. The fish was fine, but nothing special. It was all pretty much tasteless, in fact I think the sushi I’ve picked up from the fridge in Harris Teeter was tastier, and half the price. I mean, I would eat it if I were really desperate for sushi, but considering how close we are to SouthPark, Park Road Shopping Center, etc., and the fact that Umai’s prices are pretty steep for what you get, I would definitely head in another direction the next time I crave sushi.
Now let’s talk noodles for a second — because my son is pretty much a ramen afficionado. He is only 12, but has been eating ramen noodles since he could eat solid foods (not the kind that come out of the wrapper). He has an amazing palate, and he certainly does know good ramen… and this was the worst he’s ever tasted (according to him). The broth was just wrong (I tasted it, too), like maybe they added some miso then boiled it, which is a huge no no, or maybe the broth had been revived from the day before one too many times. I have no idea, but all I know is that we’re not fans. The ramen noodles had pork as the protein, and the texture was tough and inedible. I’ve never seen my son leave a bowl of noodles uneaten, but despite our best efforts to salvage it with a touch of soy sauce and some sriaracha, we just had to let it go.
Just for full disclosure — I did order a seafood stir fry dish carry out for my husband and he ate every last bite — but he’s not really that picky and he was really hungry… The dish was $ 18, so it should have been way better than «good» in my opinion. It didn’t look any better than the seafood dish we’ve ordered from Chi Thai (in Arboretum Harris Teeter) for years and years, and was much more expensive.
Anyway — I’ve had better in Charlotte. If you like authentic tastes and textures of Japanese food, you are probably better to steer clear of Umai.

Stopped in for lunch with brother & buddy and had the 3 roll lunch: tuna, crispy California & yellowtail + salad for $ 11. Bro got crispy California & crispy bagel, buddy got garlic beef plate & spicy tuna. Lunch was good and prices ok but 2 of 3 (myself, buddy) got food poisoning, both missed work today. He called to warm them, will see what he says… most likely won’t be going back…

I travel down to Charlotte pretty often for work and this place is my go to for sushi! I order from this place once or twice a week and it’s always delicious. I usually get a nirigi or sashimi combo and a few items from their specialty nigiri — usually toro, uni, or soft shell crab. They do their portions right and give nice thick cuts of fish. Occasionally I’ll get some of their rolls. All very good!
Food Rating: 4.5÷5
Service Rating: 4.5÷5
Ambiance Rating: ⁴⁄₅

Hello friends,
I’m glad a nice sushi spot has opened up near me. It looks really nice on the inside. I usually go in the daytime. They now have a pretty good lunch special. Including sushi!
You are greeted at the door by a hostess, I usually prefer to sit at the bar (so i can see the sushi be prepared). I haven’t had bad service any of the times that I’ve been here. I dont get the same thing when I go, so i always order sushi. All of the rolls that i’ve ordered have been spot on. With none really standing out as a MUST HAVE. However, the egg rolls are very good and crispy & crunchy. (I think they are only 1 buck during lunch. i think) They have pretty good Sake as well. I’ve tried a few and really liked them.
I have and will return, maybe… justttttt maybe i will order an entrée and get something more than Just shushi.
Until next time,
TTFN

What a great find to stumble upon. In the unassuming Quail Hallow shopping center, we decided to try Umai. On a quiet Monday night, this place was pretty empty. We were seated right away. Our waiter was wonderful, helpful, speedy and seemed like he genuinely enjoyed his job. The sushi was fresh with one spider roll and one tuna royale it was a great end to a Long MONDAY. We also snacked on some miso soup, shrimp tempura appetizer, dumplings and this delish fried mashed potatoes. I think our servers name was Justin! He deserves some serious props. Also I think we received our entire meal in less than 20 minutes.

After passing Umai and seeing some recent reviews I wanted to check it out. I decided to order a variety of items to get a good idea of the overall food at Umai.
I started with the edamame and spring roll. Both really good. The edamame was topped with sea salt and warm to the bite, yum! The spring roll was also great, lightly fried and not greasy, with a variety of veggies inside. So, my starters were the best part of the meal.
Onto the sushi. I ordered salmon nigiri, a spicy tun hand roll and the Japanese Mafia roll. The salmon was good. Spicy Tuna, ugh! Unfortunately there were a lot of tuna veins throughout the roll and it was hot, and not hot in a good way. Oh, and to top it off I received a roll of entire rice, and not a hand roll. And, as for the Japanese Mafia, it is a cooked roll, but the fish was cook too long that it smelled and ruined the flavor of what was meant to be. I did enjoy the crab salad in the roll though, since you usually see crab sticks.
Overall, everything was okay, but not a sushi spot I would run back to anytime soon.

Good sushi in Charlotte! Girlfriend and I went here for a date lunch, and we both thought the fish was fresh and the prices were reasonable. I got the sushi lunch with side ginger salad, and she got the all you can eat $ 14 sushi lunch special. Service was reasonably fast, and bill came $ 25 for the two of us. Not a bad place to go when craving some raw fish!

Best Asian food in south charlotte … Love this place! Never disappoints in serving delicious sushi and fantastic desserts !
Two thumbs way up !

The lunch special: $ 14, spring rolls, fried rice or white rice, and a crazy good selection of sushi rolls and nigiri…
So i asked the very nice server, Christian, how it worked and she said to order whatever quantity you wanted, up to 10 pieces… and i misunderstood this to mean 10 pieces at a time… but in reality, it was 10 rolls of 4 pieces each (as stated on the menu), so i ended up with 40 pieces…
and it was outstanding!!! and they asked if i wanted more. i could barely move. We were going to Rusans but they were INSANELY packed when i remembered Umai had opened… so glad Rusans was packed or i would not have had the chance to try this place. I’ll be returning as soon as my waistline lets me.
Just remember: 1 roll= 4 pieces, 1 piece nigiri=1 piece…
I am just amazed at how much better of an experience it is than the standard all you can eat buffet type thing… they encourage not wasting food, and they make it worthwhile to order what you want… so good. i can’t ramble enough about it. Just so good.