Umma’s Lunch Box

If you want an affordable Korean food fix this is the place to go. It is not Korean food that will blow your socks off, but for $ 8 to fill your box to the brim this deal sure kicks butt! My favorite is the vegetable wrap with the peanut sauce! If you bring your reuseable box you get a dollar off with a free drink. The owner is super nice, which is a plus!

Great staff and Korean-​style take-​out restaurant underneath the 5^th Avenue Theater! Like the others have mentioned, you are charged by the size of your container, not the weight of your food. My box ended up being less than $ 8 for a bunch of delicious Korean-​American side dishes. Try the fried chicken, spam musubi, and japchae!
Will be back!

I went here for lunch today. Props for being open on MLK Day. I really enjoyed the food as well as the concept. Also something to note here is that the food price is by the plate, not by weight, which is SUPER nice. Apparently if you bring your plate back the next time you come, its even cheaper. I will be coming back here forsure.

This is the place where I first had kimchi, and now I’ll be fighting an addiction for the rest of my life — thanks a lot, «Umma.» This is my favorite place for lunch for so many reasons. It’s tasty, socially conscious (reusable boxes!), super friendly, and really affordable.
Since I’m a woman in a sedentary job, the 8oz box ended up being a great option (although I feel silly carrying it downstairs because it sure does look small). But for less than $ 5, I can pack it with lots of delicious rice, veggies, and a little protein (their delicious broiled chicken or the more responsible but still good tofu), and it’s enough food to fill a typical soup bowl, which is… probably about how much food I should be eating for lunch, anyway. And at that price it’s basically not worth bringing my own lunch from home, which would be a lot less yummy, too.
Plus, the veggies are all seasoned so well that it makes it really easy to make «good» choices when I’m filling up my little box. I’m so glad that this is an option!
Full disclosure: I also have the 16oz box for the days when I can’t handle the idea of moderating my consumption of such delicious food.

What a great lunch buffet & staff! Located in the awesome underground pedestrian corridor beneath the Rainier Tower, this place serves it up really good.
I’ve tried just about everything and it’s all good, if not really good. My favorites are the popcorn chicken with that deceivingly subtle red sauce, the broiled (?) chicken, musubi and tofu; all preferably with fresh rice. It’s all best enjoyed during the main rush since everything tends to be more fresh, tender, moist, whatever, etc. Often times I might grab a later lunch (more-​or-​less during HH) and while some items can run short or sold out, my favorite side/​binder, the rice, can be rather dry. I also appreciate Jae’s (sp) friendly personality and generous helping hand when I sometimes ask for some ginger (from the back) on the side. Sometimes he gives me too much or a little, when I always ask for just a little bit, haha.
Keep in mind, sometimes they can be slammed while other times very slow.
Another big seller for me is their sustainable marketing! BYOB (box!) is encouraged not only for cost savings all around, but also less waste.
Note: if you work downtown and/​or frequent these sort of buffets, seriously consider keeping and reusing containers (and personal set of utensils/​silverware is a nice thing, as well). Totally understandable we can’t save this way with everyone but the least we can do is save at these cool buffets. I have it down to almost secondhand nature.
Thanks Jae and everyone at Umma’s for your good food, friendly warm staff and sustainable mindset. Thumbs up!
PS: I’ve cut back on a few items temporarily, i.e. sometimes fried or raw stuff, while I figure out an odd symptom.

This place resides right underneath 5^th Ave theater. No wonder I had never seen it before! But thanks to Unilocal tips (GPS is no help), I was able to find it! (go down the stairs to the right of 5^th Ave theater if facing the theater!)
The thing that has been on my mind since my visit there: Their fried chicken. It was absolutely delicious! Crispy on the outside, juicy/​tender on the inside and had some kind of light sauce on it — wow. I could see filling up my tray with just fried chicken and being a happy camper. Unfortunately, we came during the lunch hour so there was a huge line and only one piece left at that time, but I was so glad I at least got to try it.
But that also meant that I would fill my tray with other items. Jap Chae, the veggies, sushi, spicy pork, marinated chicken and everything was just delicious. I can’t believe they sell it per container vs weight. Feels like a steal!
Seeing as its a buffet, I’m assuming that the dishes are restocked throughout the lunch hour, but I don’t actually know how often that is and didn’t bother to ask since I was on a time crunch.
I appreciated how the servers are super friendly and they definitely managed to maintain a family feel to it, even despite the lunch rush.
Note! If you save and bring back your tray, they give a discounted price and happy hour (an even more discounted rate) is between 230 – 330 I believe.
I’m really sad that this place is only open during lunch hours on weekdays, but would definitely make my way back here when I can. I am still really thinking about and craving their fried chicken! So good! lol.

A Korean style buffet but the food is flavorful. It is under Rainer square on 5^th. I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to fully check out the place. I had some sushi some pork and some chicken with some noodles. Everything was good. I may need to bring some friends back here for lunch and try more.

I love this idea! Creative way to serve lunch in a traditional way of a «lunch box» or «bento box». I found the bar of options served my desire to try small bits of menu options without committing to one dish.
Its a nice «fast food» concept w/​o the drive-​thru grease! I especially like the idea of purchasing a larger box made of plastic to bring back for your lunch box treat! Nice job luring your customers for a second, third, fourth… not your typical brown bag lunch!

This place is fantastic !!! Another gem that I found due to Unilocal .
If you are ever in Seattle and looking for an affordable, quick, tasty AND healthy lunch. This is it! I dropped by around 230 and apparently they were having happy hour prices !! Which is even more affordable than usual. I got the 16oz container for $ 8.
The containers aren’t measured by weight but by volume, they don’t really mind if the lid doesn’t fit which was awesome because I got a big greedy and stuffed my box full of too much stuff.
I had a bit of everything including the pork, bibimbap, japchae, banchan, beef, katsu chicken, spring rolls with peanut sauce, kimbap, and their delicious kale and cucumber salad.
I cannot wait to come here again, I wish they had ummas lunch box in CA.

This is one of those places only locals would know about; It’s in the basement of a sketchy looking theatre, but don’t let that hold you back cause let me tell you, you’re missing out. The place is run by the nicest people ever; they offer free samples to first timers, which is great because they have a huge selection of mainly Korean dishes. They have everything from traditional Korean side dishes to fried chicken and even spam musubi. Unlike most places, Umma’s charges by the box unlike, and the people who work there encourage you to fill your box to the brim; they helped me stuff a spring roll into my box and told me I should get more food when I was paying at the register: D

Thanks again, Unilocal.I had just arrived in town, was hungry, and asked for suggestions. Umma’s was the top choice in my area. It was kind of hard to find, but just go down the stairs next to the theatre. From there it is on the left.
I guess I looked lost, because the sweet kid working there asked if it was my first time. I said yes, and he said, «Let me put together a sample for you.» He grabbed a small dish and put all kinds of stuff in it, explaining and describing everything. It was awesome! I went back for the whole meal. Let me tell you, the medium dish is big enough. Really, it is big enough.
I had the job chae (sweet potato noodle), steamed carrots and cabbage, the vegetarian bibmbap with tofu, some vinegar radish and cucumber, and I tried some burdock root for the first time. I liked it a lot. I put some hot sauce on it and tucked that meal away.
Buy the dish. That way you can go back with it, get a discount on future meals, and don’t contribute to the landfills.

Really good food that has a home cooked taste. Good selection for veggies, carbs, and meats. Everything from potato salad, mac salad, fired pork, tofu, kale salad, wtc. Their home made hot sauce is excellent!
Seating area feels like a mall and it’s hard to find the location, but other than that there is no complaints. The food is slightly higher considering the portion sizes but it’s fresh and convient.

Spring rolls with peanut sauce was okay but korean noodles and kimbob was no tasty.
and also I coudln’t eat unpleasant smell of meat. Moreover the price was no reasonable because their food quality was no good. It is not worth the $ 8.
I am totally disappointed… and I can’t understand about 5 stars good review.
Maybe They never tried to eat korean good food before? If it is true, I feel so sorry about that.
Maybe people think the price is cheap because They charge by size of box.
But They don’t care about Food quality?!? They just wanna fill it up??? I saw someone (next to my table) built like 3 top of tower. Owner will be not happy about that kinds of selfish customer. I think this place is for really starving people…

I arrived from the east coast in the mid afternoon and needed a snack to hold me over to dinner. I saw people coming out of a side staircase by the theater and back trailed them to Umma’s Lunch Box. Awesome experience.
You may think you are about to have some mall food court Chinese food but you will be surprised at how good this place is. The cook/​server advised me about the spice/​flavor of each dish and even told me to «cram» more food onto my dish. Fresh and flavorful.
The most economic way to buy is with a 16 oz box, but if you are local, you can go green by washing your plastic dish and bringing it back.

Pretty good for fast food. Service was great. Prices are competitive and like everyone else says you pay for volume not weight. So stack it up! It’s definitely not Korean restaurant style but for a quick express lunch it beats eating Jimmy Johns!

I’ve been a regular at Umma’s because its just a unique buffet line style restaurant that beats all other nearby locations for its originality, type of food, and service.
Things to note about this place:
–Its not a pay by weight, but pay by size per the use of provide plastic containers. Their pretty small sizes, but good thing is that you can stuff that crap out of the plastic containers. Also, as mentioned before if you reuse your container, they take a dollar off.
–Don’t be shy on packing that container down! The owner’s recommend it!
–Thursdays and Fridays are my favorite days for its popcorn chicken. The batter over that chicken is ridonkulous.
I’m not really technical on the type of names of Korean food served that this joint. But I haven’t had anything on the menu that was bad!
GU approved!

Oh, how I love this place. It’s centrally located downtown, steps (okay, blocks) away from the convention center and is perfect for a quick Korean meal… which is usually somewhat of an oxymoron.
Their selection is very good. They have a couple kinds of spicy meat dishes (chicken and pork), japchae noodles, rice, prepared foods like sushi, spring rolls, and mung bean pancakes, and a full selection of banchan such as cucumber, bean sprouts, broccoli, daikon, and, of course, napa kimchi.
There are no item requirements – you can put anything you want in the box (as long as it closes, of course.) This is key for me as I can’t have too much starch… but I can pile my box with veggies! I recommend getting the 28 oz. box for 9.99, the smaller sizes are a lot smaller but not that much cheaper.

Delicious variety of Korean food at a good price. Can’t really ask for more. I think this place is definitely a great lunch place with good food. I love how they give you a discount if you bring back your plastic container as well! A restaurant that is environmentally friendly is a good one.
In terms of the food — I like there clear noodles and all of the different types of meat! There is not one type of meat that they don’t cook well. They also have spring rolls, vegetables, kimchi, fried rice… Great variety and affordable!
FYI — This is located in a food court type of place, so the seating is limited.

A solid «A-​OK» if you looking for a quick lunch. This place may be a little tough to find, its located in the walking concourse underneath the building. Its basically a hot food bar where you pick up a box and fill it up with whatever they have.
Its a pretty big selection from sushi rolls, spam musubi, bulgogi, spicy pork, noodles, veggies, familiar Korean banchan items, cold salads etc. The guy is super cool that works there so he is helpful in explaining anything or letting you have a sample. I usually get the to-​go box meal, its a flat rate price of like $ 7 & change, just fill the box up to be dammed and you are good to go! Or if you a bit hungrier, they charge you by weight.
You’ll see how it works when you get there.
A good amount of tables next to this place, clean and the staff is super nice. A good grab & go lunch spot for me!

There seems to be a dearth of Korean restaurants in the city proper and I am glad that Umma’s is in close walking distance from my office! It certainly is better heading outside of the city limits north (Shoreline to Everett) or south (Federal Way to Tacoma) when I need to satisfy my Korean food craving. I think it is awesome that the food served is organically sourced, too!
I won’t go over what many have said because it has been covered ad nauseam, but I think the most important thing is whatever container you choose to fill — make sure you stuff the hell out of it and then some! Since you are not paying by weight, but by volume, it only makes sense to get the most out of it, right?
Container sizes:
28oz 16oz 8oz 16oz (disposable container)
$ 9.95 $ 7.95 $ 4.50 $ 7.45
$ 8.95 $ 6.95 $ 3.99
$ 7.95 $ 5.95 $ 3.45
The first row of prices relates to regular price for meal and container. The second row is price of meal when you bring back your CLEAN container. Third row is the happy hour price that runs from 2:30pm to close!
So stop by if you happen to be nearby — tasty stuff!
UNIVERSITY STREET
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** = STAIRS — Walk down stairs and take a left. Restaurant will be at bottom of stairs and to your left!