Umai

Umai is a good place lunch, dinner or the occasional sake. It’s a good, cosy atmosphere to enjoy good Japanese foods. My favorite is the tempura dinner plate options. Have it your style, veggie or real good fish.

First ramen place I’ve ever been to and I plan on trying many more. Hope they’re as good as the food and service I had here. The gyoza was phenomenal and so was my spicy pork ramen. Save room for dessert though. Green tea everything! The crème brûlée is on point.

This place was fantastic and had it all. It’s a hip and trendy restaurant that is great for date night because you can dress down or up and fit in.
The service is wonderful as well. They have a gray cocktail selection. I had the lychee martinis and it was delightful. Not too sweet and it brings actual lychee to be able to eat!
The beef hangar appetizer was my favorite!!! It was so tender and it had a great sweet sauce on it.
The sashimi was very fresh. I tried the tuna and salmon.
My friend and I shared several rolls and sadly I can’t remember the names but they were all so good!
My friend had their creams brûlée. The initial
Bite was different, interesting. But as she continued to eat she really grew to appreciate the dessert and love it.
The only dish that didn’t taste like all the flavors went together was their salmon carpaccio.

I got to stop in here for lunch while I was in the neighborhood, and luckily there was no long wait though the restaurant was full! Right when you walk in, the amazing smell greets you, which you know is a good sign for things to come.
I ordered the tonkotsu ramen and my SO got the spicy garlic pork ramen– wow wow wow! The broth in both our our ramens was very intensely rich and had a sort of smoky flavor, which I had never had before. The chashu was grilled and very tender, and the rest of the toppings were on point– a nice serving of seaweek and corn in mine, which I loved. I of course had to steal a bite of the spicy garlic pork ramen, which was super flavorful. Full warning– they do not skimp on the garlic, and you will stink for the rest of the day… but I’d say it’s worth it!
The only thing I’m taking a star off for is the service– we did have to stand around and wait for a hostess to notice us, even though several waiters passed us by on their way out of the kitchen. It also took a long time for our check to come, even though we were one of only a few tables by the time we were done. Slow service aside, though, this place is great!

Yummmmmm! I love this place. Had the best variety of Japanese food I’ve seen, more than just sushi and chicken teriyaki. The katsu don is the best I’ve ever had in the US, and I love many of their dishes. Their sushi is not the best for me, but I’ll admit, it could be because they are dressed minimally like you would find in Japan and not slathered in sauces and crunchy things (which I do love.) But at the same time, I do appreciate minimally dressed sushi and this still doesn’t do much for me. Green tea crème brûlée is amazing though! Wish they had some more dishes I love like yakisoba, but that’s more of a street food, I guess and can’t hold that against them.
It gets REALLY BUSY here, so most of the time I get my food to go.

Highly recommend the sukiyaki if you are looking for something warm and hearty and isn’t sushi. Great menu overall — good balance of sushi, udon and ramen, don, tempura, katsu, and yakitori. Will be back next time I’m in Chicago.

Umai is one of my favorite Japanese restaurants in Chicago. There are always plenty of Japanese dishes to choose from and the fish is always fresh. Furthermore, the vegetarian sushi options make it very easy to arrange dinners with friends who may not enjoy Japanese food otherwise.
The best ramen I have had so far in Chicago, I have found at Umai. The soup base and noodle texture are on par with the Ippudo chain of restaurants, a personal favorite of mine when I visit the likes of Taipei and New York. The Nabeyaki Udon is also a delicious alternative during the winter time.
The sushi and sashimi is always fresh. I enjoy anything from the spicy tuna, made with honey sriracha to the ama ebi, classically served with the shrimp heads.
Umai is always a great place to stop in the South Loop and I always look forward to returning.

Any sushi restaurant that has Hitachino White Ale is top notch in my book. You can’t find that stuff everywhere!
We ate everything. We drank beer and sake. I can’t remember anything we ate that wasn’t delicious. I would return in a heartbeat and would recommend this place to anyone.

My wife and I went here on our hunt to eat all the ramen Chicago has to offer. Umai was a great way to continue our journey.
I went with the spicy garlic ramen and it was awesome! Not mega hot but had some great smokey heat to it. Their grilled pork was tender and delicious. The noodles were a little thinner than I’m used to, but still really good and chewy.
Their sushi was awesome too. We only split a roll for an appetizer but seeing other tables made me want to come back to try more.

I came here with a colleague who studied abroad in Japan and we both really enjoyed our meal. I ordered salmon sashimi on sushi rice and the spicy roasted garlic pork ramen while my colleague ordered the soba noodles. The salmon tasted super fresh and the ramen was very spicy/​flavorful. There was so much food, I could barely finish my meal.

Ordered:
–Miso Ramen = Delicious
–Green Tea = On Point
–California Maki Roll = Good just a little too salty :/​
–Lychee Sorbet = Good
Overall I loved the food and you’re given water free lol One star taken away because waitress wasn’t the greatest, not very kind.

Umai was a nice spot to dine on Saturday night! Pretty on point with most of the dishes — not too big or too small for the price. We did edamame, skewers of beef tongue and steak, fried chicken wings, sushi rolls, and sukiyaki. All tasty and served quick. This along with a few Kirins and it was a good night.

We were craving some ramen and sushi and found this gem on Unilocal.The food was definitely delicious, and fish portions were great– nice and thick. Service was not the best though. Our waitress took a while getting our orders, and this was when the restaurant was pretty empty also. Nonetheless, we were very satisfied with our food:
Chicago roll: a crowd favorite! We had about 3 orders of this roll– delicious with good portions of fresh tasting fish with nice additional flavors in the sauce.
Mexicana roll: this was also good, I’m just not a big fan of jalapeño in my sushi. But it was a nice refreshing roll otherwise.
Overall, food was excellent and the restaurant atmosphere was great, with good smells of ramen and sushi. Besides the slow service, we had a great experience!

Ate here with a friend, as I recently moved in down the street. The food isn’t bad (as stated by others, a bit steep for the neighborhood though) and they have great service. Everything that we both ordered was good, fresh, and the Ramen was good also.
Also has a fun atmosphere.

Umai is my «now, where was that place» place.
I’ve been here enough times that it really shouldn’t be in my restaurant blind spot but I think that after last night, I’ve finally got it locked on my mental map — (Blue line LaSalle, walk to Polk) — though the exterior looks totally different without the summertime patio. (Quite possibly the noisiest, horn-​honkiest intersection on which a patio sits, by the way.)
Ramen! It’s delicious. I’ve tried several and so far, «winter ramen» tops my list ($ 14.00) It’s «medium» spice but they can dial it upon request. The broth is well-​layered and the beef, so tender. Sushi I’ve had here has always been fresh and service has been easily five stars. (I’ve had same server three times over five months, inside/​outside! and he is always smiling.)
I find the prices slightly steep for the location though and also, there’s no happy hour. I think it’s ok to mention that a fun neighborhood bar «First Draft» opened not too long ago across Clark and «Sociale» just went in across Polk, so this area is definitely growing. When you want ramen though, you want ramen! I’m definitely locked on Umai.

Si seulement on pouvait mettre des «étoiles et demi», j’en aurai mis 3,5! L’endroit est très sympa, les serveurs sont assez pros et sympas, le services est rapide. Mais les plats né m’ont pas convaincue. Les gyozas n’étaient pas très savoureux. Ceux veggies n’avaient quasiment pas de goût ! En ce qui concerne les ramens, ils étaient bons, mais sans plus. Et j’ai trouvé ça très étrange de mettre du maïs (oui MAÏS!) dedans. Sinon si vous voulez allonger votre soirée vous pouvez prendre des cocktails qui sont pas si mal (prenez plutôt un Manhattan ou un cocktail plus américain qu’un mojito).

Stopped by on a chilly day — which meant I was trying to decide between sushi (my original plan) and ramen. I ended up getting both — a spicy tuna roll ($ 7) and the garlic pork spicy miso ramen ($ 14). The spicy tuna came in 8 pieces — the tuna wasn’t chopped tiny and there was no mayo, so +1. As for the ramen, the noodle texture were more like egg noodles (full disclosure: my guideline for ramen is Santouka). As other reviewers have noted, the spicy miso is not all that spicy (more like a layer on top of a miso) — and the broth is not very porky, but on the plus, there were plenty of scallions and the egg was done perfectly. As for the meat, I think I would have preferred more of the spicy ground pork and less of the belly, which definitely felt out of place (probably placed in last?) and not as tender as I would have liked.
My friend had a chirashi — at $ 25, it was quite large — the size of my ramen bowl — and she had trouble finishing it. There was a good variety of fish (eyeballing it, probably 8 or 9 kinds with 2 to 3 pieces each?) and the salmon in particular looked quite fresh.
The garlic pork ramen is good for folks who like lighter broths, and it hit the spot for that particularly cold day. That said, I think I would probably get a couple of rolls next time. This is a pretty good option for South Loop.

If you’re looking for a good Japanese restaurant in the South Loop, Umai is THE Place! Ate at Umai twice in 1 week (lunch and for dinner) and both times had exceeded my expectations. Good service, great ambience, easy parking, and of course… good quality food!
They have Lunch sets ($ 10 — $ 15) & is enough food to put you into a food coma!
Their soup noodles are all really good — Beef Sukiyaki, Tempura Udon & Pork belly Ramen are all a must try!
The nigiri are very fresh and they are large cut, draping over the rice.
The grill selection is not many, but the Beef tongue & Pork shoulders are very tasty.
Will definitely come back!

My husband and I order from here often, and the food never disappoints. Last night, we had the tempura platter as an appetizer, which is one of my favorites here. Mixed vegetables and shrimp fried to perfection with a tasty dipping sauce. We then ordered one of the evening specials: the king crab miso ramen. It was fantastic! We each ordered one but weren’t able to finish it because the helping was so large. In the past, we’ve also had a variety of their sushi offerings, which have always been terrific. The price is reasonable, and the service is good. The restaurant is always full with other patrons, but we’ve never had to wait long to be seated. We will definitely be eating here again.

Stopped by this spot because I was craving sushi.
I ordered the omakase, which was the chef’s choice selection of fish. While I’m no expert on sushi, I was a little disappointed with the quality of the fish and the tamago. Tamago used to be a defining line for the ability of the sushi chefs and Umai’s tasted like nothing but sugar with no hint of mirin or sake. However, the fish was cut well, was warm, and very aesthetically pleasing. Overall, I’m not sure if I’ll return because the quality was so disappointing.
Service was fine. Waitresses checked up on me occasionally and were very kind.

The food is good, but the service is so bad! I went here for sushi and the waitress did not bring me a drink menu — totally fine, I look pretty young. However, I wanted a beer, so as I ordered my meal I asked for the drink menu. She didn’t bring it over for almost fifteen minutes! By that time, my food had already come, and I didn’t see much point.
The sushi was very good. I ordered the Chicago roll and it was beautifully presented and very yummy. The fish and all of the ingredients were fresh tasting and well-​prepared.
However, once I said I didn’t want a beer anymore, my waitress disappeared into thin air. I am not kidding, I did not see her ever again. I finished my food and sat with an empty plate for quite a while. Eventually, the host came and removed my plate and gave me my check.
The one good thing I can say for the service is that I forgot my wallet, and as long as I left my bag with them, I was very politely and kindly allowed to go home and get it!