Umai Japanese Restaurant

The blue fin tuna tonight was amazing. The entire crew is welcoming and it is just a wonderful overall sushi experience!

The sushi quality and service was exceptional. Best salmon and tuna I have ever had. I will definitely be going back!

Any sushi place my fiancé and I go to, we now compare to Umai. We stumbled upon this place after a snow storm a few years ago when the place we were originally looking to go to, was closed. We didn’t know what to expect, but it was the best discovery.
For starters, Umai is BYOB — score! But as far as the sushi goes, it stands on its own. The fish is always some of the freshest we’ve ever had. If you’re a sashimi lover, this is the place to get it! They don’t have too many specialty rolls, but you don’t really come here for that. You come here for the quality of the seafood.
Besides the food itself, the chefs and staff are always super friendly and accommodating. We’ve come to the point where we’ve asked for other items off menu because we always want to try something new and different. I could start listing all of our favorite items, but that would take up majority of this review.
This isn’t the cheapest sushi place you’ll find, but the sushi is totally totally worth it. If you’re a sushi lover, do not miss out on this place!

Yeah this is definitely one of my favorite sushi restaurants.
Their tuna pizza is amazing, I am a big fan of their hamachi (yellowtail) carpaccio which is sashimi with a onion type of dressing. Yummm
Rolls to recommend:
Umai Roll
Dynamite Roll
Tae Special

Quite possibly THE best sushi place we’ve ever been too. The chefs and servers are very friendly, courteous and knowledgable about the menu. The sushi is unbelievably fresh, really the best we have ever had so far. I have not had a single thing on the menu I didn’t enjoy. I’d recommend the bluefin tuna and the dynamite roll. This place is also BYOB and they will chill and open your wine for you. With your check you always get free fried Oreos and chocolate covered banana bites which is a really nice touch. We eat here multiple times a month as it has quickly become our favorite place to eat. FYI: make sure you make reservations! This place is always packed.

I stop in for a takeout dinner since I was staying at a hotel nearby. I had a rainbow roll and a Umai roll. They had bluefin tuna for the day so the rolls were even better than I expected. Great service, great presentation, and great flavors. If your choices are between the bar restaurant and the Chinese restaurant which are nearby, the absolute best place to go is Umai. In my takeout container I also found sample of some other things to try. That was a kind and courteous extra to find when I got back to the hotel. I highly recommend their food, stop by and enjoy.

Wow. This is one of those times you wish you could give 6 stars. Food was fantastic as our party of four shared 7 sushi special rolls each one better than the next — but the real reason for our incredible experience was the service. Our waitress Esther was extremely friendly, knowledgable about the menu, responsive and helpful. It’s a BYOB and we brought a few bottles and they were very quick to bring a bucket of ice and opener as well as a martini glass for me. The party next to us had a birthday and they brought out a birthday cake for them at no charge! Can not wait to go back.

Great place!!! BYOB with no corking fee!!! Food is delicious and our server, Ester was a rockstar! Friendly place too, there was a bday party next to us and the patrons offered us cake! They said the restaurant provided the cake and the gorgeous opening lotus flower candle! So cool. There were 4 of us and ordered Umai, Dynamite, dragon, and some tempura rolls. All outstanding!!! Artful and yummy. We got lucky and they had bluefin tuna just delivered wow! Really love this place.

This place is the best in the area! My husband and I move to the area a year ago and we’ve been searching for a good sushi place. I am glad we found this place. The staff is very friendly and the sushi is really fresh.
We ordered the Umai roll, Dragon roll, the sashimi dinner, and the Otoro sashimi special. Everything was delicious and the Otoro melted in our mouth.
The place is small and clean. Prices are descent and it’s BYOB!
We will definitely be going back!

Ate here on a recent Friday evening and found the place as delightful as most reviewers suggest. The Sushi and Sashimi dinner was outstanding and included generous amounts of both. My wife’s shrimp tempura was also a very generous helping of perfectly done shrimp. On the minus side, it did not include any vegetables like most other Japanese restaurants we have eaten in do.
I like the choice of either soup or salad as the starter course since I do not usually like Miso soup but be aware as many similar restaurants include both when ordering a complete dinner. The extra charge for the tuna that was included on my dinner platter was clearly stated up front but still seemed a bit excessive.
Overall, an excellent place for very good Japanese food that comes with a few minor quarks compared to other local Japanese restaurants.

This place is the best sushi on the east coast. Ray, the owner, is the nicest. When you arrive, everyone behind the counter stops to bow to you. You order your food and they bring out extras for you to try. The wait staff is super friendly. When your food arrives, take a picture before you eat it, because it’s just as much a work of art as it is deliciously scrumptious to eat. You will leave feeling satisfied, happy, and loved!

My fiancé and I came to this place solely based on the reviews. We were a «walk in» as the girl asked us upon entering and were seated within a couple minutes. Atmosphere was comfortable, good music and friendly staff. We ordered simple sushi rolls, salads and a soup. I asked for a crunchy spicy tuna roll with spicy crab on top and my fiancé ordered two Philadelphia rolls. Salads were very tasteful, miso soup was good too. Once we got our rolls, I was a little taken back by the appearance. When I think of sushi, I think of art. I make sushi at home and I’m no chef but my fiancé’s Philadelphia roll was a mess. End pieces that barely had anything in them and each piece was uneven. So when you’d one piece, you’d get a mouthful of seaweed, while another you’d get a normal even mouthful of what it should be. My roll came shortly after and was completely falling apart. I picked up the first piece and I couldn’t even dunk it into the soy sauce without everything falling out of the seaweed. Our waitress asked if everything was ok and while it tasted great, I told her it was disappointing that my roll was just falling apart. Her response was since there’s so much in it, they couldn’t close the roll. Now while I don’t mind the generosity of spicy tuna inside the roll, it was just a mess to eat and I’ve been to other restaurants that are able to «close the roll» while still maintaining whatever it’s filled with. I guess I had higher expectations and while the overall experience was ok, I was just disappointed with the appearance of our food. I’d go back again but I’d unfortunately have to order something that wouldn’t be falling out of the roll.

Great place to go on Christmas eve. Lots of families celebrating the Holidays. It is similar to all other Japanese restaurants you have been to, except there is no Hibachi area, just sushi and teriyaki dishes. I loved my salmon and shrimp teriyaki. Everything was very flavorful, but probably because a lot of sauce was used. The entrees come with soup or salad, both OK. We also received a complimentary dessert of fried oreos and bananas, and those were fantastic. super sweet and melty. Prices definitely on the higher end but worth for a family night out.

I’ve been to a lot of fancy, expensive sushi joints in NYC and honestly, this place definitely ranks up there with them, for only a small fraction of the price! Not sure how anyone could come here and not thoroughly enjoy their meal.
They are extremely generous when you order their sashimi/​sushi and their specialty rolls along with their unique sushi fusion dishes are simply amazing. You can tell that their chef takes pride in the quality of their fish.
When you come here, do yourself a huge favor and order their tuna pizza. You won’t regret it. It is easily one of my favorite dishes I’ve ever eaten. Big praise I know, but I stand by it.
As a bonus, after you’re done with your meal, they bring out some complimentary dessert consisting of fried oreos and fried bananas. Perfect end to a great meal.
Oh yeah, this place is BYOB too and if you bring sake or wine, they’ll provide a bucket of ice to put the bottle in along with the appropriate glasses.
I don’t find myself in this area of Pennsylvania often, but when I’m here, I make sure to stop by Umai. It’s that good.

This is truly great sushi. Very fresh and nicely prepared. Great gang behind the bar AND byob. This is THE sushi place in our area — and if you want great sushi — come here.

This is an excellent sushi place. I’ve only been here twice but hope to be back many more times. We stopped by tonight (friday) without reservations and didn’t expect to be able to get seated, but they found a spot for us at the sushi bar. Apparently they just scored a 100lb shipment of bluefin tuna the day prior so all of their dishes had a small upcharge for it. Definitely worth it… totally awesome to find such high quality and fresh fish in the middle of suburbia.
If you forgot to make a reservation here and can’t get seated I’d also recommend Izu sushi in Lansdale which is almost as good without the crowds.

We were recommended by many friends to go here to have there
wife and went there on a Thursday night for our so called date night and the sushi was so fresh and quite
is a BYO so bring a nice bottle of wine

Umai is my favorite sushi place and I get so excited to go there when I am in the area. The staff are always friendly and service is always great. The tuna pizza is incredible and the Umai, dynamite, and Mexican rolls are all spectacular. Everything is just delicious. Don’t forget BYOB!

Chef Ray is the first thing you will hear when you walk into the door and it NEVER gets old. If you are a adventurous sushi lover, I suggest asking them to make you something special. I also recommend a sushi boat. You can tell them how much money you want to spend and a special roll you want incorporated and they will be happy to make it happen. THEY ARE AMAZING.
The sushi is fresh, the rolls are much more creative than most sushi places and servers are sweet as pie. Did I mention it is a BYOB?!
Dinner date night? Going allllll out on your date night? Go to Umai and be shocked when you look down and the check and don’t feel you are being robbed.
Umai, you are amazing. Keep doing what your doing!

BYOB! Was here for a work dinner and the food was amazing — yet reasonable! Lucked out as they had uni that night … and they do a nice nigiri with a dab of wasabi under the fish!
Can’t find anything with this great balance of quality and reasonable pricing in center city.
Smallish so make sure to make reservations for larger groups (8+). Best to go as a group to maximize sampling opportunities!