Umi Sushi Bar & Grill Reviews

We first found Umi Sushi several years ago during a visit to Austin. Now whenever we get to Austin we like to return for a delicious meal. The menu includes cooked dishes, for those who don't care for sushi and/or sashimi. The dishes are fresh and well prepared. We have never had any bad dish during our visit. We have tried many different rolls and other dishes and always come away pleased. Even our young grandchildren (below 6 years old) enjoy the food. We will continue to return to Umi when visiting Austin.

The sushi was good, service was good. But the host omg the attitude on her face. You could just tell. Yeah not someone I even want to deal with here. Not sure if I want to come back here again.

went with family for the sushi, service was prompt, efficient, the place was clean, the price is reasonable for Japanese food, the overall experience was good

Tip, go before 6:30 PM and get a break on select food (happy hour). Atmosphere is good, food is better. My only complaint is that in attempting to be authentic, they obscure commonly known items such as "seaweed salad".

Good sushi, fast service.

good sushi, nice date place

Love it all. Very delicious with an amazing presentation and lovely server. Hot sake was the bomb. Loved the Chuka Salad.

Its not uchi but it will fill your sushi fix without spending 100 bucks. The tempura fried ice cream was worth the 5.00 Atmosphere is a little outdated but tolerable, and the music wasnt horrible either.

Pros: Good place for sushi at lunch. Cons: It's in BFE South Austin.

Arriving at 1pm on a Saturday, we were the only patrons in this impressive looking restaurant. We immediately asked the hostess, "What does Umi mean?" Surprised, she replied. "I don't know (giggle). I guess I should since the place is named Umi, huh?" The sushi rice did not have even a HINT of vinegar in it. Plain, blah. The deep fried oyster special was good as was the tempura. We ordered over $100 worth of sushi and sushi rolls. All of it was "meh". Just no flavor, no real texture. My son's fried rice was artfully presented and just average as well. With only one other table of patrons (who eventually arrived) one would think we'd have some great service. Nope. Had to call our server over time and time again to refill ice teas and water glasses. She'd clear some empty plates yet left others on the table even after we had left. I don't think we'll be returning. It wasn't that it was "bad", it just wasn't all that good.

Just blah. That's the first thing that comes to mind for describing the sushi at Umi. I thought it would be much better from what I had read about. When we walked in the door the first thing I noticed was that the place needed an air freshener and the music was way too loud. The waiter seated us at a table that was not clean and we had to ask for it to be wiped up. Probably should of left then but I needed a sushi fix. The maki rolls, tho described great on the menu , just seemed uninspired when they arrived. The individual pieces of sushi were sloppy..big hanks of the fish hanging off the rice. It was average at best-- Comparable to the sushi you can get at the grocery store. Menu was very large and I thought the prices were high for the quality. There are MUCH MUCH better places in Austin to go for sushi. We won't be back.

I asked for the combo and it was ok but i ll recomend you to ask for a mor exotic and tasty. Combo is good if you just want to.calm your hunger cause it came with a little salad and a nice soup.

This is not a good place to get fresh sushi! I've seen better sushi at Costco then this place, rolls are overpriced very small and not creative. Fish was lukewarm and meat was way overcooked. Don't let the bright sign off the freeway fool you people this place is pretty foul. Service matched the food too...beware!

This was an incredible find as we ordered three different items and all were superb. We went for lunch and the service was excellent. Wish they had brown rice, but that's just the health nut inside me.

I've been here for lunch, dinner, and for happy hour and I have to say that I enjoy the happy hours times the most. The lunch time is great though; $10-$12 gets you a decent lunch combo but sometimes it would take longer than hour with the drive time included. Dinner is always nice too, but the price gets me. Sushi is expensive though, which is why I prefer the HH. If you get there during the week between 4-6 they have lots of rolls on special and cheap cocktails and pints of beer. Everything I've had is quality and very tasty. They have a reverse happy hour on Friday and Saturday nights but beware, the place gets really loud with music and its packed. I'll be back tho!

Food was absolutely delicious, but both the playlist and inexperienced waitress put a damper on dinner. Our waitress kept us waiting fifteen minutes for change, claiming she thought that the 50% extra in cash was a tip. No, ma'am, but nice try. Aside from that and the odd choice of heavy bass music, the sushi rolls that we bought were better than average. I'd recommend it for the food, but I'd give the visit three and a half stars if I could.

Best sushi on I-35, fresh, excellent food, great prices, the complete dinner (soup, salad, lots of sushi) is a great value, servers are very personable, I've been coming here while traveling on business for the past 7 years...have gone to other sushi spots in Austin, but overall, this is the best...$2 draft beer specials every day...can't beat it.

Well. . call us old fashioned perhaps but the loud DJ kinda put a dampner on the evening for us even though we really enjoyed the Miso, and a good selection of sushi and rolls. I'd go back for the food ... and the service. perhaps this is only a Saturday evening phenomenon which may pass.. Still I would recommend the place .. doesn't look lke much from the outside, but inside is nicely decorated, and a nice ambiance. I would have preferred some quiet music. Tried Shaggy dog , spider , Rainbow, Spicy Tuna ... all were excellent. Funny how other places in Austin we've had Salmon, it's been soggy/watery like it's frozen I suppose. Not so here, it was excellent. This alone will probably get us to come back.

Eat at Umi's nearly every business trip I take to Austin. Sushi is a bit on the high side, but I have never been disappointed. They have a daily happy hour which I have not experienced, but co-workers say is great.

I was just raped $$$ at this Sushi Bar. $64 for 6 pieces of sushi! NO it wasn't Gold, it was average sushi, but even in Caesars Casino in LV I never payed that much! Six pieces! Be warned. I've eaten sushi for 35 years from NYC to Chicago to LA and Vegas....I was absolutely shocked when handed the bill. Shame on them!

I took the wife to dinner last night while we were in Austin. We found Umi tucked away in a little strip mall. The size and architecture were a surprise, because it was way more than what you would expect from a store front in a strip mall. It was very nicely built and decorated, making an excellent first impression as we walked in the door. We were seated and got our drinks within a minute. It wasn't very busy and yet it took the waiter about 15 minutes to come back and take our order. That's when I started noticing some things that would prohibit me from coming back. 1) The music was terrible. It doesn't fit what you would think of when dining at a sushi bar. It was like a new age drum machine driven- echoey vocals kind of tune. It sounded like the same song being played over and over again..... Very monotonous, to the point where it became irritating. 2) The music was way too loud. The drum machine percussion prevented any type of conversation. We waited for our waiter for 15 minutes and couldn't really talk. This would be a terrible place to take a first date. We ended up both passing the time looking at our phones. Not the romantic evening I had hoped for. 3) The waitstaff was dressed in very very short skirts with black lace type thigh high stockings. Inappropriate for taking someone out for a nice dinner. The wait station looked like a bunch of hookers standing out a corner. It felt like they were going for a Hooters type thing, but from the waist down. The food was great. Really really great. I think every table could be filled if they changed the above 3 things. Unfortunately, the in house dining experience was ruined by decisions of management. But..... You might see me picking up a "to go" order.

This is truly a spectacular Sushi restaurant and by far the best in Austin! Plus, the prices are quite reasonable. I have eaten at a lot of restaurants around the world and this has one of the highest rankings in my opinion!!! The food is exquisite, the service is great, and the decor and atmosphere is very elegant and welcoming. Plus, the food presentation is very prompt and presented in a beautiful fashion! Additionally, there is a huge selection of Sushi and it is purely mouth watering. Plus, the drinks are absolutely amazing and a definite positive add-on to a great evening. I recommend that you definitely be adventurous so you can get an amazing experience at this phenomenal Japanese restaurant!!! Try various entrées, both hot and cold, as well as all the different types of sushi rolls, sashimi, soups, and desserts! Particularly, my favorites are the Caterpillar roll with eel and avocado covered with a delicious sauce on top! This restaurant definitely appeases to everyone of different genures as well, whether going on a date night out or catching lunch with friends and co-workers!!! It is a must try and you will absolutely will not be disappointed!!!

I am somewhat of a sushi snob, but sadly, of late, my paycheck doesn’t match my palate, so I am always on the prowl for quality to sushi at a budget price, which led me to discover this hidden deep south-side gem! My brother and his girlfriend took me here one Sunday evening as we were all starving and since I live in the Arboretum, it was going to be at least a 30-40min trek back up MoPac, so they took me to their weekly go to, Umi! It is located in an unassuming strip mall, but once you go inside, it is surprisingly nice and chic! The best part is, when we walked in around 9pm the DJ was already making the place thump with some amazing house music usually found on W 4th St! The place is clean, especially the restrooms, which I always think is a good gauge of most restaurants’ quality standards. The staff seems a little stand-offish at first, but I think that is more a cultural issue rather than a caliber of service one. The price-point here is a little elevated if you come for a standard dinner, but if you take advantage of the reverse happy-hour (9:30pm-Close) you can definitely get more bang for your buck! We started off with sake bombs, $6.95, which gets you a pint of beer and a full carafe of sake! Next, we had the 3 standards that my brother and his GF usually get: The Shaggy Dog, The Spicy Roll, and The Longhorn. These are off the specialty roll list on the HH menu, but you can save a solid $2/roll! We tried the Tiger Eye Roll just to experiment, but sadly, this was the only roll that really didn’t do anything for me. The Shaggy Dog and Spicy Rolls were good and filling, but the The Longhorn stole the show! Everything happening with this roll and in my mouth was fantastic perfection! Honestly, when I make my way back down here, I will be treating my champagne taste to a sake bomb and Longhorn Roll budget meal! SAKE SAKE SAKE! BOMB BOMB BOMB!

Lovie Lovie

Great ambiance; it has a very sophisticated décor and the service was pretty good. The presentation was very nice. Unfortunately, the sushi fell into the category of disappointing. If I were just meeting someone for drinks and maybe an appetizer, I might come back, because it is very nice inside; very quiet, very comfortable. But I'll never go back for the food. There are too many other really good sushi places.

This is our go to sushi spot in south austin. Wonderful happy hour and delicious sushi. Out son loves the tempura udon noodles. The owner is sweet and always comes over to say hello.

I recently re-discovered this place and want to recommend it for happy hour. Reasonable and delicious sushi, sashimi, beer, wine, and cocktails. I always sit at the bar, get great service and meet interesting people. I have had everything on the sashimi menu as well as a lot of items on the happy hour menu. Check it out.

Awesome! This place has wonderful balances of flavors, fresh fish and excellently prepared. I go here whenever I can! Soooo good. Everything I have tried has been delicious.

I went there Friday for the first time and it was awesome and it was happy hour (9:30-close)! A DJ was there and was Jammin! I sat at the bar, the chef doing my rolls made them so good! I returned Tuesday for happy hour (4-30-630) it was good, I definitely missed my first chef though. I recommend this place, great deals, great service. Go during happy hour!

Late night happy hour is awesome! Discounted drinks and sushi do not mean low-quality. We usually sit at the bar for the DJ and action so if you want a quiet place, do not sit here! We have always had good service and excellent sushi. We mostly order rolls but the sushi is fantastic and fresh. Gotta have a sake bomb while you are here. Our favorite sushi is the maguro, hamachi and yellowtail. Rolls are the Longhorn, the Tiger Eye and Shaggy Dog. Reasonably priced too. We have sushi bars closer to our house but we pass them up to come here!

A Groupon motivated us to go to Umi for a recent Friday date night dinner, and the excellent food, popping atmosphere and excellent service definitely earned us as return diners. I recommend a Bento Box because you'll get a lot if tasty, Umi delights in each box. The House Signature Rolls is chock full of special rolls like the Longhorn Roll, and many more familiar options such as the Dragon Roll. Even if you don't have a Groupon, Umi Sushi is worth your time, money and taste buds.

I visited flit the first time and really enjoyed everything. From the staff, to the food, to a random DJ by the sushi bar. Food was delicious and drinks were good prices I enjoyed everything.

Good place to enjoy quality sushi. Staff is good. Their pineapple sake is on point! They have 2 times for happy hour which includes rolls at half price if your conscientious of budgeting.

I have wanted to go to this sushi place for years but it's nowhere near my home or work so just never got there. My daughter was graduating nearby so I took my entire family (all over 21 so no kids) for an early dinner after the ceremony. Other than a few people at the bar the place was empty. It looked nice enough inside and they were having happy hour so we had a lot of interesting things to choose before we had our entrees- not great bargains (looked like most items were $2 off) but better than nothing. Everyone ordered at least one or more appetizers, an entre and drinks. The waiter couldn't answer many questions about the menu- or even how long the place had been in business, it was just odd. He must have been new but really- surely he should know the basics? But the real issue we had was with the food order- it all just randomly arrived in no particular order. Soup and salad came out then my husband's entree came out immediately- while we were still eating and before the ordered appetizers. That happened with all the food- some entrees and then some appetizers. My sister never actually received one of her two sushi orders. The waiter said he'd check on it but it never came and there was no explanation- so we just said never mind. The last food to arrive at the table - significantly after the last entree arrived was my daughters appetizer- really? I know it's a bit of an art to get the food out in a certain sequence but that's what they do for a living. Unfortunately most the food was all just ok- nothing great. The tempura was off-soggy & odd tasting. I don't think the oil was hot enough. The exception was the salmon skin roll- it was delicious. Then we ordered dessert. 2 of us ordered the same thing-the red bean ice cream tempura . When it arrived it was actually green tea- which wasn't even on the menu. We questioned the waiter and asked if we could get what we had actually ordered and it did eventually arrive with the ice cream being hard as a rock- no way to eat it while the batter was still hot. As were we leaving the waiter apologized for a less than great experience. I spent close to $250 for a mediocre evening. It was VERY disappointing for what was supposed to be a nice celebratory night for her. Perhaps it was just an off night but for me it's certainly not worth a return visit.

I came with a group of friends on Saturday night and were excited to eat delicious sushi as we had heard good things. However, our waitress was quite slow at serving us and bringing out the food. Two peoples food would come out at a time with the last three people receiving their food after the first two had finished. While the food was good the lack of good service really left a bad taste in my mouth. Then to find out we had gratuity added into our check for being a party larger than 6 was the cherry on top.

Waitresses excellent. Kind of spendy. Service so slow I had to cancel my desert. Lack of staff clearly. Food good. Management needs to improve or this place is going out of business. I'm not going back again, which is a pity as I used to like it.

Yuk! I’m in from out of town so I decided to order from Uber Eats. I was craving melt in your mouth sushi and boy I got the opposite. Delivery service was prompt and the order was presented nicely, but it tasted too fishy for me. I ordered spicy tuna, spicy salmon rolls and a rainbow rolls. How can you mess those up? Maybe the dining in experience is better, but I would not order take out. The sushi went in the garbage and now I need a back up plan.

I can't give it the 5 stars because its not the best sushi I have had, but it is really good and the environment is nice! I went on NYE and it was really busy. Poor wait staff were running like crazy. Prices are normal for sushi. Overall, nice place, good atmosphere and good sushi

We had been here a few years ago and it was great. But this time I have to say average. It was the Monday after Easter and the restuarant was not busy. But the service was very slow . We ordered a 2 person sushi boat that took almost an hour. Then we ordered Green Tea Ice cream which should be a refreshing palate cleanser . But they put chocolate and whipped cream. Very strange! The quality of the sushi and sashimi was good.. Hopefully it was just an off night!

Late Saturday night after a concert downtown and decided on the sushi happy hour here. We ordered 4 rolls and the pineapple sake for the table. It was good and the price was great!

Umi is a nicely laid out restaurant with the sushi bar in the back where it is quiet and one can appreciate the their expertise in making of the dishes. We ordered off the luncheon menu which has a great selection. We always order the garlic edamame which is for garlic lovers only. Love it! I had the yaki soba which came with a salad and great miso soup. It was almost too much. I have always had a satisfying meal at Umi. I did find the service a bit slow but nothing that would take more than a tenth of a point off.

Stopped for some sushi to go. Staff was helpful and polite.I ordered a crispy shrimp hand roll. Sorry no picture as it did not last long enough to have a photo taken. If my to order is as good as as the hand, I will make this a regular stop when in the area

I am not a sushi lover like my sister, but this place rocked. Atmosphere was great-very relaxing. Server, Tiffany, was very knowledgeable and helpful in making selections. All the food we had was fresh and delicious. I had the shaggy dog and it was awesome. I don't do raw fish so this is a cooked roll. My sister had the rainbow roll and would recommend it because it was fresh and yummy. Will definitely eat here next time I am in Austin.

Make sure to make a reservation and while waiting outside order the edamae and the peppers. They are not hot and have an amazing dipping sauce. This restaurant is an amazing discovery with unique rolls, Asian infused unique dishes and fresh ingredients. I would say this is an expensive restaurant but well worth it and the experience is memorable. I can't remember the items I ordered as they had unique names but everything was fantastic, even the dessert. This is a place worth getting the dessert everything is made in house. Enjoy

I come here quite often with friends for happy hour. We sit at the bar and enjoy the drinks, both on the menu and specials invented by the bartenders. Hannah's ginger lemon drop was delicious recently! All the servers are great and the food is good, even for me who doesn't like seafood. The spicy tuna tacos are amazing, as are the spicy edamame.

Love, love, love Umi. Great happy hour specials. The "Hot Roll" is delicious! You can sit in the dining area for a quiet, romantic experience or in the bar area to watch football and enjoy happy hour.

Wow. I have eaten a lot of sushi in my life and this place was fantastic. The chefs have some really creative ideas. We arrived before 6:30 and were able to order off the happy hour menu which was really reasonable. The Austin role was my favorite along with the Dynamite roll. My friend enjoyed the Wazzup roll the best. This is my new favorite place when business brings me to Austin.

I was driving home after visiting family and stopped by this place randomly because I was hungry. I thought it was a traditional sushi place but when I walked in it was more comtemporary and upscale. The food was ok and the staff was helpful.

Excellent Sushi

Love coming here for the Reverse Happy Hour. Sushi at other times of day is great as well but the deals at night cannot be beat!

Excellent service and value. The sushi was fresh and the signature roll was quite tasty. Chef did an excellent job. Tea was in a large cup when I would rather have had a pot with a small cup, but was delicious.

Every time I come to Austin, my sister and I come here for a cold glass of white wine (nice wine list), amazing salads with the best orange ginger dressing, and fresh sushi that is out of this world. Though in a strip center, the restaurant is hip and chic on the inside. I highly recommend this restaurant. Great lunch specials also!

Great place. Went in during happy hour and left happy. Had assorted of sushi and appetizers and enjoyed everything. Staff friendly

Four adults and two toddlers had pretty decent food for the price but we'll never go back due to horrible service. Not sure if it's due to there only being one waitress for Sunday night or her ignorance of the menu offerings or just bad communication between her and kitchen but had to ask for our missing salads and other things like the California rolls that were missing from the bento dinner... Just realized the sauce for the tempura was missing too! The only reason we decide to try this place was because it was one of the very few Japanese restaurants open on Sunday. Eat Japanese food on a Saturday so you don't have to go here.

Umi has been my favorite sushi place in Austin for over 10 years. The portions are large, the variety and quality are great, and the prices are much better than other similar Sushi restaurants. My family and I went to a birthday dinner last week. The very young waitress, accompanied by a trainee, seemed distracted and resentful of our requests. Someone had to get up and grab silverware from the entrance after requesting a fork.. twice! She seemed more interested in selling us the fresh wasabi, for a $3.00 surcharge, than she was in providing drink refills. It was really a shame, because this place has always been so great in the past, but the bad service cast a negative shadow over what was otherwise a great meal..

First time here. Very friendly staff. Great service (ask for TJ) and great sushi selections. Atmosphere and music is a fusion jazz, funk, hip hop mix. Will definitely return.