Ithaca Sumo Japanese Hibachi and Sushi

We thought it was wonderful. Our chef was very entertaining! Food was delicious! The décor was much nicer and fancier than we expected. The kids can’t wait to come back.

To be honest almost all the sushi options in Ithaca are terrible. Sumo competes with Plum Tree for being the best of all the mediocre sushi restaurants in Ithaca — as a student I favor eating out at Sumo because it takes CityBucks. The salmon don is certainly cheaper than other restaurant’s options (~14 $) which is nice but they don’t give much fish and it is sliced thin compared to Plum Tree. Their Spider Roll is quite good for the price, and while their Lobster Tempura roll is expensive, it is quite delicious.
The biggest issue with this place is wait time. If you do not come between the hours of 5:00 — 5:30 be prepared to wait an hour for either your food or to just sit down at a table. I came here for Valentine’s day about a year ago –with reservations– and the waitress kept telling us to stay seated, making us wait an hour before we could get a table despite the fact we had reservations. I avoided the place for a while, then tried it again this time eating at 5 pm. The service was fine so I tried eating there with a group of friends around 6 pm… waited an hour for food, and waiters were rude to us when we asked multiple times where our order was.
In other words, the Japanese food at Sumo is one of the best you’ll get for Ithaca but if you go there any later than 5:45 you are taking a gamble that may end in a less than pleasant dining experience.

Sushi was good and portion sizes were excellent. Environment was modern and overall a good experience. Lunch options are helpful for business professionals looking for lite fair.

The best sushi in Ithaca. Shrimp tempura, spicy girl, and spicy tuna were all great. Fun atmosphere. Great date night, but also fun for groups.

Very good sushi. Large place and pretty loud due to hibachi. Can be good for groups. Tried typical rolls and was happy. Service is quick. A little pricey for Ithaca but quality makes up for it.

My boyfriend & I LOVE sushi. I mean, really love it. We love to try new sushi places and happened to be in Ithaca for the weekend. We looked and Sumo had the best ratings and reviews. So we decided to try it.
We weren’t disappointed!
I started with miso soup, boyfriend had hibachi soup. I wished I had ordered his– it was so tasty!
We had: ebi shrimp mango roll, black pepper roll, sweet potato tempura, cornell, and another roll whose name I can’t remember. Doesn’t matter– it was all good!
There were abotu 100+ kids from Cornell coming in & out of the hibachi rooms all night. Despite that, we still loved the meal.

Great food and terrific show by our hibachi chef. Terrific service all evening. An Ithaca gem.

Great food and great atmosphere.

Wonderful fresh ingredients expertly prepared by the sushi chefs and great service! Reasonably priced for the quality of the food. Would go back tomorrow if we were staying longer. YUM.

This is my dinner spot during business stripy to Ithaca. The staff already knows me. Great service and good sushi (given that we are in Ithaca). If you want privacy while you dine asked to be seated in a booth. For a date definitely get a booth. The relax Riesling wine was good. Good lunch specials.

Sumo is the best quality sushi around, and the price reflects that. Huge hibachi room**, however, the chefs are hit-​or-​miss: some are entertainers, some are clearly just going through the motions. The staff is generally friendly though not overly helpful. No chopsticks unless you ask; which I think is odd. But, the food is delicious, and the portions are large.
**Because of the size & shape of the room, it can get really crowded and LOUD. If you have sensitive children, you might do better sitting in the dining room.

If Sumo was located anywhere else, it wouldn’t be a 5 star restaurant. But it is hands down the best sushi in Ithaca. The fish was fresh and the rolls were tight. The ambiance is perfect for a date or dinner with friends. The hibachi is also great as well, and the tables are big so they are great for a party! They also give both noodles and rice with hibachi and I’m all about the double carbs situation so that is a definite plus. This past time at Sumo, my boyfriend at I split the sushi for 2 and some shrimp shumai. Both were delicious and fresh and I would go back there in a second! If you have a sushi craving in Ithaca, look no further than Sumo.

Very pleasantly surprised, especially since Ithaca so far hasn’t offered as many good East Asian restaurants as I would have thought. Great taste, lovely presentation of the food, and wonderful atmosphere. (Bonus: A/​C! Thank goodness. What a rarity.) I ordered a vegetable tempura dish and my companions ordered udon. We all loved our food! Topped with plum wine. They don’t tell you this on the menu, but their green tea is actually genmai – extra delightful!
Before coming, I read that a few people thought the service was bad here, however my experience has been the opposite; Our waitress was very patient in helping us.

It’s fun to go there, but service needs improvement.
I asked like 3 times for chopsticks and an extra cup for sake. I liked the complimentary sake jet (1 or 2 ounces) for the hibachi, but food had too much salt for a Japanese food.
Price was not great either. $ 24 for a filet mignon hibachi. Hmmm pricey.

WAY TO GO SUMO! Good sushi at a great lunch time price.
3 rolls, miso soup, and side salad for like $ 11. My girlfriend and I have shared an order before and been satiated. (I think there is a 2 roll as well if your appetite is a bit smaller.)

Really enjoyed it. Nice service and food. I am very picky about my Sushi and I enjoyed my sushi here. Fresh, cool and tasty.
Nice ambiance, music and décor.

love Love LOVE Sumo
It’s a regular lunch spot for me (great prices/​food and fast service) and convenient location/​plenty of parking
For dinner this restaurant is a winner too
I usually opt for sashimi but if you are with others that shy away from raw fish the hibachi is fab too
Especially fun at dinner for large groups and they have a private room available for parties
Highly recommend!!!

I don’t know anything about the hibachi «experience» which seems appropriate for party groups and tourists, but we have visited Sumo several times and gotten regular table service.
The pluses: The sushi is usually good, at least to my palette, and the other dishes are of average-​to-​good taste and quality – if you happen to visit on an «on-​day». The décor is very nice and the front-​end staff (except for the servers, see below) are ready with a friendly greeting.
The negatives: Sumo seems to have «off-​days» and the quality of food is inconsistent. You never know if it’s going to be good or below average. Additionally, the servers are very stoic and nonchalant, and do not answer questions readily or ask you for clarification if they don’t understand something. At least twice they’ve gotten my order wrong, probably because they didn’t clearly understand what I said and didn’t ask me to be sure.

Definitely opened by a Chinese owner. The worse part about this place is the service. I asked the poker face waiter what types of fish are included in the chirashi and what are the differences between the sashimi regular and deluxe. He said they have different fish. And the deluxe chirashi is decided by the chef, I asked if he could ask the chef what they are, he replied: the chef will decide, and he stood right there looking at me like I am an idiot to ask that. I have visited many real Japanese sushi bars and the chefs always told the waiter/​waitress what they are!
At the end we ordered spider roll, fantasy roll and rainbow row. In California, two rolls usually feed us both, here the price is the same, but the portion is half, so we had to ordered 3 rolls and still hungry when we left. We left because the fantasy roll is not tasty at all. The spider roll was ok, and rainbow roll is below average, the fantasy roll tastes like junk. We felt like they put a lot of sauce around each piece to cover the non freshness of the sashimi.
Nice part: nice interior decoration, must have invested a lot of $$, the restroom is not clean enough. For instance, tissue paper here and there on the floor, water drops everywhere. If you wanna try to be high class restaurant, you not only need to have nice decoration. Please improve your service and clean the restroom more often and throughout.

I just tried the Chinese food in this restaurant. There is a TV showing world final. Great.
The Chinese food is nice. The servers are very friendly. The environment is very comfortable.
I strongly recommend trying this restaurant.