Sumo Sushi

By far the BEST sushi place in Lakeland, FL!
I continue to try different places and always rush back here.
I have NEVER had any fish here that wasn’t fresh and if you eat sushi, you how ‘fishy’ tasting it can be if it is not fresh.
The two guys that do the preparing are always friendly and it is almost a ‘Cheers’ like environment, where they know you and your likes/​dislikes.
Can’t recommend this place enough for sushi :)

Friendliest sushi place ever. Very pleasant staff serving great dishes. Always fresh and tasty.

This is officially my favorite sushi restaurant. Today I had the lunch special It included two rolls plus a special roll which was called the cookie roll. It isn’t on the menu but you can ask for it (loved it). Plus they are so friendly and it is a very relaxed and pretty atmosphere. They have a bar you can sit at or booths, and a space for a large group. Great gem… so glad they are here. Did I mention that they are super friendly and I felt valued and welcomed.

Funny, I avoided this place in the southside Outback Shopping Center simply because I didn’t like the name – picturing «sumo wrestlers». Today I was passing it for another eating establishment when I saw the OPEN sign lit up for lunch and decided to give them a shot.
Service was speedy, by 3 Asian guys dressed all in black, including the sushimeister. Seating was booth or sushi counter. The place was decorated in all dark paneling but noisy children indicated it was not a «bar». They have a decent sushi menu and many happy customers were noshing at the counter. My favorite, inarizushi was $ 3.50. Getting them for a dollar in Japan made me look the other way. That’s when I noticed their menu is much more than sushi.
I decided on Korean Bulgogi a sweet marinated beef and onions over rice. It came in Bento box format with 2 dumplings, 2 zucc/​squash tempura slices, steamed carrots and broccoli and a side salad with ginger dressing. Everything tasted divine. (However there must have been msg or something because it had the properties of «not sticking with me» within 15 minutes of eating it.) The cost was a reasonablie $ 13 or so. They had other Japanese options like katsu, miso soup, green tea ($ 3.50). I like that they have a sake «flight» of 3 samples for $ 7, too.
This seems like a decent place for Asian food. I’ll give the sushi a shot next time.

Ordered takeout, didn’t get what was ordered at all. Paid nearly $ 80 and got 3 rolls and sashimi. They weren’t very apologetic and I had placed the order with the owner.

I enjoy the sushi bar immensely. The eel sushi is always fresh and delicious and the price is just right. I was never expecting to find this little gem in Lakeland but I sure am glad I have. I’ll be sure to patronize the establishment often and recommend it to friends and family!

Worst sushi that I have I have had. Most Chinese restaurants offer better sushi… The craftsmanship was extremely shoddy. Every single bite fell apart.

I have been here multiple times but this is my first time writing review. I have to say that it is the best sushi place in Lakeland. Although the the prices of the sushi rolls are a bit on a pricey side but it is good if you love all cooked sushi. Also the quality of the fish is greater than I expected, sashimi is good. Definitely go to this place if you are looking for good sushi in Lakeland.

The best Sushi restaurant in Florida. We dine at Sumo almost daily (we work just a walking distance away). Sushi is fresh with generous portions all the time. When I get bored of eating sushi, I also enjoy the tempora noodle soup or Korean beef dish. The beers are always freezer cold. The recently added flat screen tv’s were definitely a huge plus. Areas for improvement… We would welcome Happy hour specials!

Been here a few times now. The food is good but pricey and the service is lackluster. I ordered the J Special to go last week. When I arrived, I was the only customer in the whole place. No one at the counter and the only server kept using her phone at a table when she saw me come in. Did eventually get her help when I yelled «Hello?». Enjoyed the food, but will not return.

Definitely not great. They put so many sauces and junk on their rolls. Mayo… Why? I’ll continue to drive to Brandon for my sushi. I’m not sure why this has 4 out of 5 stars. Maybe the bar is good.

Atmosphere: very relaxing. It’s quite dark so this would be a great place for a cute little date:) the staff is very nice and one of the younger male staff members is seriously the cutest! He’s so nice and caters to my every need (not in the creepy way)
Food: AHHHH MAAAZZZ INNNNGGG
price: for the quality… WORTH IT!
My favorite roll is the FRUSHI roll! It is absolute perfection!

Luisa C. must be smoking crack (she likes Gelati Joes) and Adam V. thinks that China Wok is good Chinese food, that place is disgusting (he also gives Olive Garden four stars, ridiculous) and Karen B is looking for Chinese food at a Japanese restaurant!
Sumo is amazing. Quality, service and value. No other place in Lakeland comes close for good sushi.

First off, if you think a CHINESE BUFFET serves better sushi than a restaurant that specializes in it, maybe you aren’t the best arbiter of this cuisine?
Sumo Sushi is as good as you’re going to get here in Lakeland. The only places I’ve had it better are in major cities in CA and Washington, DC. Spice Thai would also do in a pinch.
The lack of the 5^th star comes from slow service at lunch time with a big group, but they’re super accommodating to us and despite a previous reviewer, they’ve got quite a good selection of sushi rolls and combinations, and everything is spectacular.

Excellent Sushi bar, the fish is very fresh and the portions are quite fair for the price. In addition the 2 owners\sushi chefs are very friendly and helpful.

I dont know what it is with Lakeland having such mediocre at best sushi restaraunts.
Frankly, Ling’s Buffet has not only more palatable sushi than any I’ve eaten at in this town, but it has an even wider selection of sushi than Sumo. Sure, Ling’s doesnt do sashimi, but they make up for it with their sushi and their hand roll selections. Sumo’s rolls are pretty plain. My sushi dining experiences come from eating them all over Orlando, when I moved back to Lakeland; I was hoping (and still am) to find a place that was similar to the place I enjoyed going to.
I just think it’s awfully sad that the best sushi/​handrolls this town has to offer reside in a buffet. Yes. I’ve eaten at GAUCHE. Yes. I’ve eaten at SPARCE thai and sushi (it stank like bare feet on a 711 floor). They’re no good.
MAYBE Sumo is «traditional» sushi? MAYBE that’s just an «excuse»?
I’ve eaten here a few years back and was completely underwhelmed with their menu and flavor of the food I ate. I pushed the memory into the back of my mind and made a decision to not go back.
We have some friends that raved about sumo having great deals on sushi and drinks and they’re all very good; so I decided to give it another try the other night.
Same overwhelmingly underwhelming menu, no noticeable specials, incomprehensibly overpriced items. I’m telling you: I paid 8 dollars for one knock off of a hand roll I’d get 3 for $ 9 anytime at my preferred place; and it would actually taste wonderful. The spicy fish (just one choice! figure it out!) roll was disgusting.
I had 2 rolls, a strong miso with rubber greens soup, a drink and my meal was alot more than it should have been compared to other restaurants. Basically, I ordered a «2 roll lunch» special at competitor (not really competition comparatively) places and paid for two «3 roll lunches».
The place isnt busy at all; except for a few of the south Lakeland redneck crowd that park their huge clean trucks out front and eat SA-​shimi (EYE-​talian) there all the time. This could mean any number of things, scaling heavily on «not very good things.»
Unrelated observation: something that’s always kind of irritated me about sushi restaurants, they have a list of rolls, some with their own mixes they’ve made up special to their place; yet there are no photos of these items on the menu. I think with raw food warnings all over these places the least they could do is show you what you may want to eat.
I think in the case of Sumo it may end up actually hurting them for people to see what they’re paying way too much for.
EDIT:
Let’s be frank, Are you going to take the advice from someone who’s got reviews and expectations of a business and has given another option for you to try on your own or from someone named «Skeeter» who’s lackluster reviews primarily are in another state or someone that doesnt quite understand that BUFFET STYLE SUSHI is better and an insult to this place?
Sumo Sushi is no good. That’s the end of it.

Overpriced. Service slow and not really friendly. Tablecloth dirty when I sat down. Seaweed salad was a strange color green, didn’t taste fresh, and didn’t have that crunch to it. Sushi wasn’t any better. French kiss roll was drowned in tempura flakes.

They do indeed have the best sushi in town. It’s fresh tasting and prepared well. The negative reviews here must have come from Shingetsu employees, because any negative reviews on this place are complete malarkey IMHO.
If you are scared of eating raw fish, or have worries that you’re kids won’t be able to eat something here, don’t worry. They have plenty of cooked options that are affordable, healthy, and good.
Here is a little secret though… they have some pretty tasty (albeit skimpy) Korean food as well. Get the sashimi rice salad in the stone bowl.
I would give them 5 stars if the Korean food came with banchan (traditional Korean side dishes of various veggies and other goodies) and they weren’t so skimpy. I mean c’mon, the portions are like pygmy sized?

Having lived in the Los Angeles area for a long time, eating a wide variety of food has become a regular occurrence. One day I might do Japanese, another I might do Greek. In a small town like Lakeland, good ethnic food is hard to find. Sumo Sushi not only had authenticity in the air, but also tasted fresh and was overall a pleasant surprise.
The sushi bar was particularly outstanding. There was a good list of sashimi and rolls to pick from and everything ordered had the same quality. The entrée menu struck me as a little awkward and less tended to. The bulgoki dish was out of place in a restaurant in which Japan was the setting. My friend that I was with said it was mediocre at best. Same with the fried ice cream, average and out of place.
In conclusion, for sushi? Definite yes. Best in town that I’ve had so far. Everything else? Test your luck.

Tucked away in a mundane shopping strip it’s easily overlooked. The ambiance is major element in why I enjoy coming here. Dimly lit, modest yet rich in atmosphere. Great for dates, a quiet meal with friends or even solo at the sushi bar.
The Chirashi bowl is a nice sample of the assorted sashimi they have to offer. The Super Cucumber Salad topped with your choice of either Spicy Tuna, Spicy Salmon or Conch is delicious. The Conch is a shredded salad with spicy mayo, so I’d prefer if it were a ceviche style. The Diablo & K.C. rolls are probably my favorites. Beside sushi the menu is a bit limited but they do have standard items like Katsu, Tempura, Udon along with a few Korean entrees like Bulgoki & Galbi.
Although they do have an nice assortment of specialty rolls, the foundation is their quality of sashimi and traditional rolls. I’ve come to accept that due to the location/​market of Lakeland, sushi seems to be always a bit more expensive than in other larger cities. Your definitely going to find places of better or at least comparable quality for less. But when I’m craving sushi in Lakeland Sumo is pretty much one of the only two places I’ll even consider going.