Ukai Hibachi Grill and Sushi Bar

Sit at the bar, Scott’s the best in Lansing. Great atmosphere, food, drinks and price; plus happy hour!

Excellent quality Nigiri. The place was busy with a bunch of carry out orders (popular with locals). Definitely the spot for good sushi in West Lansing. They had a ton of specialty rolls but I opted for Nigiri. I would recommend.

We have 3 children, rather young, so obviously we ate in place of hit the bar. The food was great as it has been each time. It would just be nice if the cooks were more personable… but that is staff and not the place. I always keep in mind that even with the best company training, people still do as people do… food is good.

Solid sushi joint. Very large rolls. I could stand less rice but that’s personal preference. Flavor combinations you won’t find elsewhere. Good cocktails and good service.

This is so my favorite place. It’s like $ 25ish a person for dinner and totally worth it.
The food is amazing and the experience is almost always awesome (depends on the chef) I always get the hibachi steak and it’s always on point

Ukai is my favorite place to eat in Lansing. I have eaten sushi here, lunch and dinner, more times than I can count.
My favorite rolls are the Champagne and Salmon. The champagne roll is salmon, tuna, and yellowtail tuna, surrounded by rice, then seaweed, which is then tempura-​battered and fried. Sauces are drizzled on it. It comes warm, crispy, and delicious.
My favorite way to eat sushi here is with chopsticks, put some wasabi on each roll right before I dip them in soy sauce for a second or two.
The wasabi is nice and strong. Ginger is good, the miso soup is provided when you eat in and is quite good.
Overall, my favorite sushi dining experience anywhere.

I hate to redo my prior rating, but I have to…
I came twice during my last visit. Scott, the bartender, was up to his usual level of multitasking which is an amazing skill to witness. If you come here alone, sit at the bar.
The food was not as good as I recall. The miso soup has dried fish paste in it so that’s out (thanks for giving me the heads up, Scott!). But the sushi was a bit crumbly — like the rice hung out in the cooker too long. Maybe it was my mood after 8 hours in a risk management conference but I went twice and it was just a bit of a bummer.
The wine is cheap, so i will be back.

Pleasant surprise !!!
As I was leaving the hotel the front desk asked me if this is where I was going and I told her yes and she told me I would LOVE it.
Quality was good price was good. Very friendly bartender and service staff — busy for a Thursday night.
Yellowtail Hamachi was stupendous, crunch roll was really good — ordered up Drunken Tiger to try it out, I’m sure it will rock.
Some fruit flies about the bar area, but I understand that, they are a pain, I will bring my customer back here for lunch when we are in the mood for Sushi Hai !!!

Everything, and I mean everything here is incredible. The prices are unrealistically low and quality is phenomenally good. Had their spicy salmon roll today. It was so good I think I cried.

I have stopped here a few times since it was very close to the hotel I would stay at. I never tried the hibachi — only the sushi. Average at best. However, I found the staff to be always accommodating.

Ok the food is good. Really good but…
Well most of the rolls are tempura and while I know I’m always eating in an American Sushi restaurant no matter where I go this place verges on appropriation with the menu names and frying everything!
Many of the speciality rolls are fried tempura and too heavy for me. They taste ok but some of the rolls I would prefer without the batter, grease and heat. Their Bento boxes while again mostly fried (veggies, rolls, noodles) and heavy with sauce are delicious. The menu is insensitive in my opinion. They have items like the Godzirra roll, the Atomic Bomb, Eating Nemo (cute), Crabby Patty (cute), and Kamikaze roll. I feel like this can be taken offensively.
I have not had any sake or drinks but the décor is nice and the service is fast and friendly. I’ll be back but that menu has me feelin some type of way.

I love this place! I’ve eaten sushi all over the country and this is good sushi. The staff is friendly and the sushi chefs are speedy. The bar is excellent with many custom cocktails. The hibachi grill is a lot of fun and it is kid friendly. The lunch menu is an excellent value. Definitely check this place out.

We had tickets to a show, so my family and I stopped here for a bite to eat and a drink before heading over to the Wharton Center. We opted to sit on the patio, as the weather was beautiful.
The waitress took our order and we each got a specialty cocktail, plus 4 sushi rolls to split. We advised her that we were in a bit of a hurry, and she offered to bring the check with the meal. Perfect.
The drinks were good. Not too alcoholic, could have probably used a bit more of a punch, it tasted like you were drinking a juice.
The sushi was amazing. Fresh, tasty, and it all came out on one tray for us to put in the middle of the table and eat from. Then they have small dishes that you can hold in your hands as you grab sushi and dip in your soy sauce (also on the plate). It’s sometimes difficult to eat outside on a patio, but their setup made it very efficient and worth it.
The waitress forgot to bring the bill with the meal, but it wasn’t too long in coming out and when she did eventually remember, we were still eating and not in such a rush to leave still.

Hostess and bar tender were miserable people. We were ready to walk out and should have. But it was raining. When the chef came and we were seated everything changed — very friendly — entertaining — and great food! (Please get happy people in front of the house — that is the only reason for four stars).

Great Sushi bar with Tepanyaki grill. Full assortment of fish and rolls. Close to airport and hotels.
Friendly chef Jay prepares beautiful sashimi. Nice assortment of sake as well.

I had the Spicy Crab Crunch roll & it was amazing!
I posted a photo from the menu because I didn’t waste any time devouring the Spicy Crab Crunch roll.

The hibachi here is very good, but I would not recommend the sushi if you are a sushi lover and like authentic sushi. While I don’t have too many complaints about the freshness and quality of the fish, it’s really more in the craftsmanship. The sushi has a lot of rice and just doesn’t seem to use the freshest and best ingredients.
I had the rainbow roll and the spicy tuna roll which are pretty standard at sushi restaurants but this just wasn’t the best sushi I’ve ever had.
All in all, if you’re going to ukai, go for the hibachi and skip the sushi!

always wanted to go to a Hibachi Grill, now I have. They didn’t dissapoint, so I am told. I couldn’t believe how much food they actually cook for you, The chef was entertaining and did a great job cooking for us.

I actually ate their twice yesterday — once for lunch/​takeout and then hibachi for dinner.
Lunch: the kids’ meal was fantastic, a lot of chicken. The bento box I ordered was HUGE, filling two square takeout containers. The meat was dry, soy sauce almost sweet, ginger dressing not very ginger-​y and tempura veggies were wet/​soggy. But a lot of food that was very tasty.
Dinner: Maybe the second to worst hibachi I’ve ever had. The fried rice had ZERO flavor, the miso soup was separated, the yum yum sauce tasted metallic and bitter. The meat was tasty but the shrimp appetizer was very fishy tasting. We didn’t get a single drink refill until after the chef had served all of our food.
The chefs were entertaining and the meat portion of my dinner was very tender and flavorful.
I also witnessed the server for the grill next to us be very rude and argumentative with a patron, to the point where we nearly left.

Yes, my rating is low, but this restaurant isn’t all that bad. In fact, the sushi chefs alone are notably talented and fun, and there are definitely unique sushi options. It’s also the only hibachi in Lansing, to my knowledge. Our Ukai experience, however, left my husband feeling ill.
When we arrived, the place was virtually empty, but there was a wait. The hostess had a weird thing going on where she would not look us in the eye! It came off as arrogant, like she was annoyed to… I don’t know… walk us to a table? We were seated at an empty Hibachi table waiting for a chef. We waited for fifteen minutes, by ourselves, without being acknowledged. The corner we were seated at was by a covered window (I believe) and I’m sure it was a combination of the hibachi grill heat and the temperature outside but we were feeling extremely muggy, stifled, and began feeling under the wather. Another couple celebrating their anniversary was seated next to my husband. After a few minutes, he asked if I would mind just eating in the sushi non-​hibachi room instead, and before I could decided, he was insisting we not remain in the hibachi room. It ended up being because he was feeling so warm he was lightheaded and also the lady who sat next to him smelled like «an old person’s house». I suppose that’s the risk you take when you dine with strangers. We never saw a hibachi chef and did not feel invited. It was disappointing.
The sushi room had appropriate room temperature, thank goodness, and we were greeted promptly. Our waitress was sweet and helpful with my custom questions. I went with the Tyson roll, which has fried chicken among other things inside! I had it tempura fried. The roll was huge, and very good at first — but after a bite or two I realized how overwhelmingly cream cheesy they were. I had to take half the cream cheese out of each circle. My husband ordered two rolls (names forgotton). He didn’t really like either — he said the shredded shrimp topping on one mixed with the spicy mayonnaise tasted way too decadent and the other roll was bland. He ended up having an allergic reaction to the crab, which I think actually is good thing — meaning the crab they use is real and fresh. He said he just felt fluish the entire time we were there, and couldn’t wait to go.
During our visit, I had asked for a fork for some gyoza we ordered. Since they aren’t readily available and the only utensils at the tables are chopsticks, I’m fully aware of the expection to know how to use chopsticks at sushi restaurants. But… I’m American. Sorry. I find a fork easier to use, naturally, since I use one every day. I asked for one, and the reaction I got was the equivalent of an «you uncultured swine» joke. Rubbed me the wrong way.
Left overs were inedible, so half our meal went wasted. Ukai has a reputation for being a nicer, more expensive Lansing area option, but I honestly thought the prices were very affordable, especially their sushi bar happy hour specials that include rolls and appetizers. You can easily get out of there affordably. Hibachi is more expensive, but you get multiple courses with whatever hibachi item you pick.
I think for us, we had a weird experience overall and did not feel like we had a «nice dinner out». I’d give them another try but my expectations won’t be so high.