The Happy Sumo

I’ve eaten at over a dozen sushi places in the salt lake area and I must say, this place is still my favorite. You can’t beat their Vegas roll; it’s the best. I’ve never had a bad roll there. Nice ambiance, great location and always great service. You can’t go wrong with Happy Sumo.

Not very busy because the Gateway isn’t too popular anymore, they validated our parking. Vegetables were fresh and we like what we ordered. The noodle dishes were more veggies than noodles and overall good service!

The people are very nice and accommodating. The food was amazing. The ambience and the surroundings are perfect for this little sushi house. Out of all the restaurants in the area this one is my hands down favorite. My wife and I had the seared tuna tataki to start things off. Wow! What a flavor packed appetizer. We then had several types of sushi which were absolutely amazing. I have been there twice so far this week and am about to hit the wife up to go for lunch. I give them 10 out of 5 stars.

great tasting maki rolls, good service, nice ambiance; great dining alternative to the very limited food options at The Gateway. I’ll be dining here again!

Ehhhhhh… I was expecting a little more pizazz since the place looked very chic online. Before we get into talking about the food, let’s talk about how an empty dining room with 4 servers be slow. HOW? (Kanye West face). I had to ask, raise my hand, wave, and almost do a little dance just to get their attention for more water and sliced lemons. Alright now to the food…
I enjoyed the apps more than the rolls. My friend ordered a couple of rolls that were supposed to have eel in them, but they substituted tofu wrappers inside with a bunch of veggies. There weren’t any eel inside unless it was the sauce. He didn’t want to make a big deal so I didn’t make it a big deal. But I’m telling Unilocal!Haha
I ordered the sunomono since it was wrapped in cucumbers. Mmmmm… However, there were toothpicks in them. Sad face. I understand that they are designed to keep the cucumbers in tact, but my suggestion is to cut them thinner so it’s not so bulky (says me, the chef girl ardee).
I also ordered the Tuna poke salad. I loved every bite of this since there was a crunch. The crunch was from the chopped up cucumbers, Mac nuts, and fried wontons.
My other friend ordered the teriyaki bowl. We’re slowly getting him into sushi so a teriyaki bowl was a start! I didn’t try it but he loved it.
Would I come back here? Probably not. But if you don’t believe my review and still want to try this place, I recommend the tuna poke salad.

We went here on 4/​8, this place was Fantastic!!! We ordered several Sushi rolls and the noodles, my son ordered the steak. All the food was GREAT!!! We will be back very soon!

This is a classic go-​to sushi place and a name that most people know. However, for quality of food the sushi is a bit over priced. Don’t get me wrong, they have a great variety of rolls and I have never had anything that I don’t like. Having said that though, it will not blow you out of your seat. Great ambience and great service.

I wanted to give three and half stars but decided four stars would be ok.
Stopped by for a quick snack. The ambiance was laid back and the staff were all very nice and accommodating. There were only four other people in the restaurant so it was nice and quiet with a couple of TV’s playing sports and some light jazzy music playing in the background.
The menu was somewhat limited but we decided on a playboy roll (basically shrimp tempura with tuna on top and and sauce) and a simple spicy tuna roll. It took a bit to get to the table but it was exactly what we were looking for at that moment. Simple, fresh, and well made. I can’t say it’s great sushi but I was definitely satisfied.

This place has gone downhill from 1 year ago when i visited the last time. I ordered a Playboy roll and it tasted like a frozen tuna that you get from all you can eat place and not fresh at all. And the sushj roll was smothered with too much sauce. Not coming back!

Gosh, going from sunny California to icy Salt Lake City in the middle of winter was shocking to this Cali girl’s system, so I was immediately hunting down any restaurant offering hot soup and found myself venturing into the Happy Sumo. I’m not sure about the «happy» part, but at least the miso soup hits the spots, I ordered the teriyaki beef dinner set and it was good, I was pretty satisfied. I dare not venture to the sushi or sashimi, since sorry to say, the sushi chefs were not Japanese, and that did not pass my sushi snob standards.
The service was excellent and the restaurant itself was clean and roomy, great for large crowds. The prices are on-​point and the menu was large. Overall a good place to get your Japanese food.

I was in town alone and decided to see a movie to kill time (Happy Sumo is right below the theaters). I have Sushi every week of so, mostly on the coasts, but also in HI and Asia, and I thought this was quite good. FYI — I sat at the bar and only had a Kirin and the Spicy Maki Combo.
I was seated quickly and two people asked me about my drink order — never a bad thing. The sushi chef (is that what we call him) checked in with me regularly. Now I’m ready for my movie. Mission accomplished.

Visiting from out of state and decided to come here with some girlfriends before a comedy show. It was about. 20 – 25 minute wait to be sat which was fine. But waiting another 15 minutes to be greeted and drink orders is what sucked. The waitress didn’t even ask each individual person what they wanted to drink, after 2 said water she assumed everyone wanted water and walked off to get it. That took another 5 minutes and when she came back she still didn’t take our order! Another 5 minutes pass and she finally comes back to take our order. Our food took another 15 – 20 minutes to come out and we never even got our edamame appetizer (which takes 2 minutes in a microwave, I would know I work at a sushi restaurant myself!) our food finally came out but only one persons food and half of another persons food. (The other half they messed up on her order and were remaking). Why the hell would you bring out only 2 peoples food and only half of one is ready at that? Finally the rest came out and she didn’t check on us again for water refills.
We told her we were in a rush but she could care less. She was taking her sweet time. My bill was $ 25 and I gave $ 30 expecting my change back to leave an appropriate tip but she ASSUMED all of the remaining cash was hers and didn’t give me any of my change! I think her name was Alise from what our check said.
Well the LEAST Alise could have done was check on us, got our orders out together, given me back my change, or have some manners. Very disappointed with the experience!

Nice selection of rolls, sashimi and sushi. Combos are pretty tasty. There’s some main dish entrees that look tasty as well like the encrusted halibut. Miso soup isn’t salty so A+ there. Lavish roll makes a nice meal. The roll is wrapped in sashimi with crab and tempura on tho then slightly baked. Nice. Waitstaff are great. Not too pesty but on top of things. Clean and spacious.

Awful service, literally thee worst. I love this place. We were seated in a timely fashion … That was it for service. Our waitress basically ignored us. It was it busy at all & we waited 45 minutes before getting our food. The waitress then over charged us on a side, when we asked about it, she shut us down. She was rude from the start. I don’t think I’ll be back, which is a bummer because I love their sushi but not worth the staff & wait.

This place has really declined over the last while. It used to be a staple of good sushi in SLC, but now competitors have arrived with far better ammunition.
They only seem to employ barbie dolls as waitresses. Which is nice for uh. atmosphere. but they aren’t very attentive and don’t look happy to be there.

I love the Sumo’s crispy rice. It is like desert sushi with a hint of sweetness, tempura dipped rice, and yummy fish of course. I have been here many times, sitting at the sushi bar and always get great service. I do typically go in on Tuesday and Saturday when they get there fish so everything is as fresh as you can get for Utah.
Hiro is the best! Quick, proficient, and knowledgeable.
I have taken friend from Hawaii here who have applauded the sushi and service.

Poor little Happy Sumo. I’m sure he would be very much more unhappy if he saw the state of things at his restaurant. He may even turn into the Ashamed Sumo.
I came here for lunch with a friend, even though I’m not the biiiiigest fan of sushi. I had been here before and been moderately pleased with the food, so I thought I couldn’t go wrong again.
First of all, the service was hardly even available or noticeable. After being seated, it took our waitress at least 30 minutes to bring us two waters. The restaurant had about 5 other tables full, with the rest being empty, so business was not a factor. She also seemed like she hated the fact that we were even there. Our food took a long time, and she never came back to refill the waters until we asked for our check. I made eye contact with her multiple times as well, so I know she saw me sucking those last few drops of water. I KNOW SHE SAW ME.
I ordered vegetable pot stickers to share and the Happy Sumo yaki-​soba. My friend ordered the cabana roll. The pot stickers tasted like the microwave kind you find in the frozen section, and the yaki-​soba was drenched and soaked in awful and almost rotten soy sauce. The cabana roll, however, is the only reason this place earned an extra star, because it was delicious. I didn’t think I would ever find sushi I would like, but I was wrong. Now let me be fair and say that I’m sure I could find an equivalent to this roll somewhere else and experience better quality, but I’ll give The Soon-​to-​be Unhappy Sumo the benefit of the doubt.
It’s not worth the money you’ll have to pay, and the service is lacking in almost all areas. But hey, maybe you’re into that kind of thing.

Haven’t been here in a long time, probably 2006. We actually tried to get into Tucanos Brazilian Grill but the wait was 90 minutes so we went here instead.
We were seated promptly and order was taken, the server didn’t look very happy and we could see it on her face and in her voice. Not very pleasant.
We ordered various rolls and they were very delicious and were mostly impressed with the baked Maine lobster roll. The combination of different flavors and the crispy texture made this a winner. The other rolls were good too, the Nigiri was just so-​so. We loved the large variety of rolls they had and wanted to try others but were too full.
Can’t wait to go back and try some other items. This might be a 2^nd to Takashi in my book for downtown sushi restaurants.

The lollipop roll we had was unique and fun. No rice and being served on wooden skewers makes trying to feed your date justifiable… if not recommendable.
The lettuce wraps were fine but no better than Pei Wei’s and seemed to lack in chicken. Decent spot… but only if I’m in the area and craving sushi.

I’ve never had a bad experience at Happy Sumo. Yes, they are super Americanized so don’t go there expecting authentic Japanese cuisine. But there is a varied menu and I like their trendiness.
I’ve tried a number of rolls that include cream cheese and are drizzled in sauce, and I have enjoyed pretty much every single one. During my most recent visit, I had the miso soup, Thai chicken lettuce wraps and Lollipop roll. The soup was tasty, but the lettuce wraps were just okay. The lollipop roll was very fresh tasting and good. This had tuna, salmon, avocado and crab salad rolled in cucumber which was a unique touch that made it super fresh tasting. I enjoyed it very much.