Yume Sushi Buffet & Grill

Glad I’m not the only one asking about this place!
Yes, it’s closed with a ‘For Lease’ sign out front.
Too bad. Yume had its moments when you’re selective about the food you place on your plate. Guess I’ll have to look for something else around the area when I’m around the Sacramento area.

I give this place 5 stars because the lunch buffet price is affordable and the setting is great. I ate here a few times with friends and family and it’s been great. The customer service was good, even though there’s not that much interaction with the waiters. I’m definitely coming back here.

This has got to be the worse buffet I have ever had.
It was located at a random area on Howe Ave. I would have never thought there was anything in that corner. It was easy to find with the GPS.
When we arrived, the parking was plentiful as the private parking lot was HUGE. The restaurant is very open. It was very spacious, lots of seating — maybe tooooo much seating. There were maybe less than a handful of customers besides our group. The place was so big that it felt cold… I really felt like I was sitting in the middle of an ice rink. The washroom was also HUMUNGOUS! There were maybe 5 stalls total; all empty & felt much more colder (if only I wore my snow jacket I would have been fine).
On another note, service wasn’t too bad. Our server came by to pick up plates as they were emptied & water cups were filled frequently — even added some small talk.
The food, what can I say? The dinner buffet was ~$ 14. I thought wow, cheap… can’t go wrong with the price. There were different choices of foood to choose from — from corn on a cob, potato wedges, soup, all types of steamed buns, noodles, chow fun, to sushi rolls and ice cream. All which were old and nasty. Little did I know, the food was horrible. Everything seemed to have been sitting there all day. The food was cold, tasted old, and nothing new really came out. I left very disappointed. The best thing there was probably the jello. It was lemon jello at that (my least favorite flavor jello). I will never be coming back here again… unless they toss all the old nasty stuff thats been marinating there attracting insects & cook up some new batches I will be returning, but I doubt that will be happening. Now I know why the restaurant was empty. & it is way to big for a place with no foot traffic. If only Fuji’s in Elk Grove is this big…

mom and i took pops here for his bday recently and were very happily surprised! the food was fresh and yummy, service very nice and helpful to us newbs, and the restaurant was CLEAN. i mean really CLEAN. the buffet counters weren’t wrecked with spilled food or sauces, the floors weren’t sticky or slippery, and the place didn’t smell like a dirty rag.
we’ll definitely be back again for lunch, especially on a sunday when atrociously hungry and no one’s open yet.
lunch $ 8.95
dinner $ 13.95?

The place is cavernous with an 80’s vibe. I have been twice and no complaints. For the price, good value

My boyfriend & I came here for dinner last weekday. It’s a new place and it’s nice and clean. The buffet was overall good, but I have been to better Asian buffets. The sushi buffet had a variety of rolls that’s made with tempera shrimp and crab. The raw fish taste fresh. The Chinese food (fried rice, chow fun, chow mien) was good; it wasn’t to plain compare to other buffets. And a seafood section that has crab legs and oysters, but the dessert area & salad bar was a disappointment. There is not a variety of desserts, they had ice cream scooped out into bowls and it was iced up. And not too many fruits either.
The buffet was $ 13.95 not including a drink.

Usually for me buffet is a hit or miss restaurant. This one definitely belongs in the miss category. I am being pretty critical & giving it a one star… b/​c a buffet should have enough dishes that once can pick from. @ this restaurant, although selection is plentiful, there are ONLY a scanty number from the vast amount of dishes that are palatable (i.e. worth the calories & the chewing effort). I have to admit a big chunk of this one star goes to the service… the waitress was great @ removing our used plates on a timely manner… there was never a pile of dishes on our table.
I’ve tried dishes from ALL sections. i would say i’ve tasted about 80% of what they had there.
Soup: tried the egg drop & the hot/​sour soups – they both look great until you are swishing it in your mouth… both are so watered down… OMG… not a good beginning to a meal. even the white pepper condiment could not hide how unappetizing these soups were.
Sushi section: fish is NOT fresh & lukewarm to touch… room temperature sushi is not the best way to eat raw fish. the wasabi did not taste like what it’s supposed to… no kicker. feel like it was a cheap brand or it must’ve had mostly other incipient ingredients mixed in & like 1% of the root. Seaweed was also not fresh. the jellyfish has no taste… the sesame sauce was not well mixed in.
Grilled meat: choose the chicken… Okay BBQ sauce. as for the beef… forget it… rubbery @ best. Fish was also alright… but quite salty… if you are a fish head connoisseur, then there is one kind that was decent. can’t tell you which one though.
Cooked seafood: there was a steamed whole sea bass that was satisfactory but a bit on the bland side. the boiled & sitr-​fried small clams were too chewy – the boiled ones had no taste & the sauce over the stir-​fried ones had too much salt. the beef tripe was average at best. the king crab legs barely had any meat on them… NOT worth having the shell pieces & crab juices flying onto your partner’s blouse as you crack into those thin legs. the sauted crabs were petite & also lacked meat content.
Dim-​sum carbs: there are buns w/​sweet bean fillings/​custard & steamed pork buns. felt that these came from packages found in the frozen section of the grocery stores. there’s this rice wrapped in a large grape leaf of sort… it was ALL rice. NO filling, just a chunk of rice w/​three small diced carrot pieces & not much flavor to it.
Miscellaneous stir-​fried stuff that were safe to swallow: bok choy; green string beans; singaporean noodles; deep-​fried herrings.
thank goodness my friend gave me a promotional coupon of «buy one, get one half off»… i still wish i had gone during lunch rather than dinner. it would have been cheaper overall.

3 stars leaning on the 2−½ mark… I’ve had better at other asian buffets. I am so used to seeing crowded buffet restaurants with at least 20 people waiting to be seated, you won’t find that here on a late Saturday afternoon when we went. I was shocked to see only a small scattering of tables occupied… and at a buffet? On a weekend? That’s just so strange to me.
The huge dining room was pleasant to look at and clean. Food was just average and nothing appeared spectacular. Drinks are an additional charge so water suited us just fine. I did enjoy the fried fish, the battered & fried honey shrimp, and the shrimp with vegetables. Their cut up fruit was surprisingly sweet, especially the watermelon. Overall it seems like a good place to fill up — getting a decent bang for your buck, but not a place I would think of first for quality.

I thought I would give them another shot since on my first visit I arrived at the end of their lunch service…
Seriously!
I puked again and I was there as they were still putting out the food…
another 10 bucks down the crapper (literally!)
I tried to be fair… not again… I will not give these people another dime, nor will I put my poor stomach through that again.
I would suggest the same for any of my fellow Unilocalers unless you have an iron stomach and like crappy food!
Confirmed F–

A huge group of us went here for my sister and friend’s graduation. The place is bright and huge, and is very clean. I loved it here.
The buffet is super good. let’s talk with the sushi buffet. their deep fried rolls are super good and crunchy without being soggy. The fish is fresh and is tasty. They are always putting out new rolls.
The chinese buffet is good too. it kinda reminds me of panda. A lot of people don’t like panda, but i do, so YUMMMMMM.
The dessert area, especially the fruits are good. They have jello in like 5 colors and they even have fresh cherries and you know how expensive those are! The ice cream only comes in two flavors, strawberry and chocolate and they are already scooped out.
Over all i think this place is delicious. as far as asian buffets, i would say this is the best i’ve had.

2.5 stars.
$ 13.99 for dinner buffet. Good selection of sushi — long row of different kinds (mainly California rolls with different toppings) and decently fresh sashimi. Two other islands of hot foods, from soups to dim sum to rice and Singapore noodles to teriyaki chicken to 3 different kinds of fish to crab legs, and so on and so on. Four different kinds of soups (miso, wonton, hot & sour, seafood) and a small selection of rather stale desserts.
All in all, a good deal for the price because you leave stuffed, but the quality isn’t something that calls you back again and again. Most of the food was lukewarm, which kept it from being really satisfying. And if you’re strictly in the mood for AYCE sushi, there are way more better options in Davis.

Rolled into Sac this weekend and it was a toss up between CF Chengs in Natomas or Fuji in Davis for the sushi. I did a 180 and switch to the unknown new place on a whim. Yume was pretty much what you’d expect from a Asian Fusion buffet. It was just OK. I’d should have stuck by my first two choices.
In comparison, I’d give Fuji the nod in so far as asian buffets, with Fuji’s being the hands down winner in the sushi, sashimi dept. There is enough hot food at Fujis to usually satisfy most people’s cravings. But Yume wins on the hot food variety dept., plus it may be hard to compare because Yume has a decent selection of Chinese dishes. Also, Yume is a true static buffet with sneeze glass and warming tables.
I must say that the service was extremely friendly and very attentive here. Five stars for service.
BTW, this place is HUGE.

I LOVED the sashimi because the fish was fresh-​most especially the salmon; the hot food items turned out to be really tasty but the sushi rolls were mediocre, which is ok because i’m not too much into rolls anyway.
The dim sum was very tasty, with the exception of the lotus rice wrap. Can’t go wrong with salt n pepper shrimp. The oysters were however, a disappointment… tasted gross and when you bite into it, a smelly dark liquid comes out. Loved the different variety of jello and fruits, but more especially the green tea ice cream… YUM! So for the price of $ 14/​person, I think it was a good deal.

Yume is not better than Fuji’s for one simple reason: their sushi isn’t nearly as good.
Yume calls itself a «Sushi Buffet,» but it predominantly serves Chinese food. And the sushi is OK. For dinner, they served about 8 rolls, and only two were worth going back for.
For a $ 13.95 dinner, the variety of Chinese food is very good. They serve crab legs, oysters, and every thing else that a normal Chinese buffet serves.
But again, if you’re looking for a good sushi buffet, go to Fuji’s. Yume is a Chinese buffet with some sushi. The sushi is better than other Chinese buffets, but not good enough to call itself a legit «Sushi Buffet.»

«Arigato or Yume? Howe Ave. is coming up quickly… left or right? Hurry!» And so commences the evening where the whim for some fresh dead fish needed to be sated!!! We ended up @ Yume. was it the right decision?.. mm, for oysters and S.S. crab, oh yes! for volume, oh yes again! for ambiance and for quality, oh… no and maybe so.
Great price at $ 14 pp for sushi, hot canto chinese style food, and for salad and super duper sweet fruit as well as scoops of green tea ice cream.
Another reviewer was so accurate in that the seating space is cavernous! there simply aren’t enough patrons to make the bowling alley-​like HUGE space pleasing and pleasant… uh, instead, I’m picturing a great rental for Asian parties… karaoking and lotsa relatives… that would be apropos.
Kitsch would be rather apt in describing the immediate impression for my first time here; apparently the former owners of Eastern Empire took this outfit over, and the erstwhile incarnation was once entitled Continental.
But the freshness of the rolls and the oysters were fab… both the steamed ones and the deep-​fried ones. Slightly concerning was the tepid temperature of all sliced sashimi. were these platters of pre-​sliced raw fish that were once frozen, and a bit overwarmed back to temp so as to ensure that the customer did not taste cold in the centre? Or were these slices sitting out too long under the chintzy buffet-​style heat lamps and now our GI tracts were gonna get a challenge?! We just shrugged and hoped for the best.
Wait staff was plentiful… for some reason, midway in our meal, our waitress changed from a Nepalese young lady to one from Singapore! tadah… (hey as long as they kept up the plate service and the requests for special crab and oyster, we didn’t mind chatting it up with either of them!)
The offerings were decent: even dimsum there, like buns (3 types) and lotus-​wrapped steamed fragrant rice. There were satay skewers and grilled ones, as well as seafood soup, miso soup, and lots of various kinds of rice and noodles.
I went for the wakame, edamame, lots of rolls, oysters, and many shrimp… cooked two ways.
Value: 4.5 stars
Service: 2.5 stars
Ambiance: 0.75 stars (better to be half blind and just depend upon thy intact taste buds to maximize this experience and make it a blessed one… word to the wise!)
Proximity to home: 10 stars!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, This is a new established that raised from the old buffet od Eastern Empire. The buffet is decorated with outragously tasty entrees that beckon you to return aand indulge in another bite here and there. Where do we start. Let’s start uoon arrival. Entering is somewhat like the normal buffet set up. You can’t see the food but to your left is a fountain with koi circling the base. You are escorted the sitting area with the tables covered with glass and greenn table clothes underneath them. Wooden chairs surround the tables. I find them comfortable enough. Even if my daughter couldn’t stay in her seat.
The crab legs are awesome. Butter is keep on the side of the crab legs so that you have the type that is melted. Not that lump of butter that we normally see at buffets. I didn’t leave the two middle counters. I saw many entrees that crossed the boundaries of countries. The countries represented were Chinese, Japanese and vVetnamese. But you have to know foods to know the different. The salad bar is included because people must want it. But I didn’t see too many people around that counter.
Oh my god… they have a teryikak beef that is so tender. The satay are of beef and chicken. Although heaven was in the idea of all that you could actually eat.
It is a bit expensive. You pay the same price as you do at the buffet over at Florin Mall. You have to decided which one you enjoy better. This is very quiet. Not to much noise to deal with.

Was craving for some sushi but I wanted a place that has a lot of verity and so I actually wanted to go to Fuji’s but it was too far out for me to drive just for some sushi and so I Unilocal about to see if I can find something closer to me… I’ve been to Mizu in Natomas a few times and I just don’t like that place anymore, no hard feelings… they need to up their rolls… got to Yume around 8ish because I had to wait for the man to get home from work. Even though they close at 9pm M-​F, we didn’t get out of there till 9:30pm. The staff were really nice and they didn’t rush us out or anything… the rolls were delicious… the sashimi were delicious. I will go back to this place soon.

you can’t just walk into a chinese buffet and expect absolutely fresh and perfect food, but this experience was absolutely ridiculous. I used to go here when it was continental buffet and i loved it… this place is not related in any way to continental (from talking to the waitress about this new place)
i walk in with my significant other and request to take a look around. For a saturday dinner (~5 PM), this place was pretty empty. I ask how much dinner is, and the hostess (young white woman) says $ 13.95 and without me saying a simple thing goes into defense, saying «it’s more expensive than lunch because there’s more food than and we even have crabs». I smile. what other chinese buffet isn’t like this? i ask if drinks are included and she said no and goes into defense again…“since we’re running a ‘special’ right now, we’re charging $ 1.95 for drinks… BUT you get free refills!” wow, free fountain refills at a chinese buffet! I’m seated and here’s where the real gripes begin…
Sushi– too cold, not labeled, dry
Crabs– not fresh. as a long time crabber, i can tell you that these snow crabs were stuck in some freezer and steemed. when arriving, the crab took over 15 minutes to come out. when they did come out, they were very light pink, not red. another sign of age and lack of quality was that they were extremely salty. Also, the crabs shells seemed like they were seized to each other. THEIR CRABS SUCK! DON“T GO HERE FOR CRABS
Walnut Shrimp– Pretty tasty, but texture-​wise they were mushy and seemed like they reheated a batch from the day before
BBQ spare ribs– NASTY– full of fat and plastered with the 99 cent stores batch of bottled bbq sauce
FRUIT– all good expect for the cantolouple. as one of the other reviewers said, they weren’t ripe. they were a color that fell between white and very very light green.
The only thing that really made this place enjoyable was the waitress’ service. prompt, friendly, and fairly attentive.
This place will not last. I’ll give them about a year before they go under. Maybe they shouldn’t have changed the huge statue outside and put the money into the kitchen to help with food quality.

First off, I visited this restaurant three times before I wrote a review, because I feel like visiting once sets up a higher chance for isolated-​incidence error.
FOOD — Yume is a sushi and Chinese food buffet. I generally have reservations against the Asian-​fusion eating situations but I feel that they do a good job — particularly in attention to detail.
(I understand that I’m the stereotypical OCD Asian for some of the points here below but here come the details.)
My pet peeve is «sushi buffets» that stick a shrimp tempura center into every roll to save money. It makes them all taste the same and also seems to me like a cop out. Yume is one of the rare places that actually has fish inside AND outside of most their rolls. Some rolls still have the tempura, but those also have a market I suppose among people who don’t like raw fish.
Secondly, when I went the first time (April 15^th) there wasn’t much variety, but for $ 13.99 all-​you-​can eat. It was still a deal. When I went back on the 20^th, there was much more food, and the sashimi & nigiri were fresh and plentiful. The sake (salmon) nigiri was so fatty and flavorful. They also had other standard nigiri items: maguro (tuna)
saba (mackerel), unagi (eel), ika (squid), ikura (salmon roe), etc. and plenty of other rolls with sauce, scallions, and tobigo (roe).
Thirdly, the Chinese food (which I generally abstain from when I go to Japanese /​Chinese restaurants because of the clashing of taste & that most places use it as filler) was actually good here. The second time I went, there was even steamed sea snails, steamed mussels, steamed oysters, and clams in black bean sauce. ²⁄₃ times I went (all for dinner), they had crab legs which I tried only a bit of because I hate bothering with shells. The crab was not too salty or completely tasteless as it sometimes is at other places.
They have four kinds of soup: Egg drop, Hot & Sour Soup, Miso Soup, and Seafood Soup.
I didn’t notice it until my boyfriend pointed out, but they also have ice cream in a freezer by the sushi bar (flavors: strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, and green tea).
They also had dim sum-​style steamed buns as well as gyoza, crab rangoons, chow mein, fried rice, steamed rice, egg rolls, a sweet & sour dish, and tons of other Chinese food items.
For dessert, you can have tiramisu, strawberry roll cake, ice cream, fresh fruit & some other things. (Their fresh strawberries were very sweet.)
My particular critique is that if their oysters had been cleaned of the waste-​sack, they could get that last star but perfection is improbable.
Atmosphere — There are tons of tables (unfortunately, not always tons of business because they are new), and the restaurant is CLEAN.
Service — Super friendly, very attentive, and very, very polite. Plates are cleared off right away (after they ask, and not just assume that you’re done) and the waitstaff is always quick to try to help you (more water, napkins, etc.)
I do love sashimi, and when I got three pieces of the salmon sashimi and was pondering what else to get, I heard one of the sushi chefs say, «excuse me, miss» and when I looked up, he had prepared a sashimi plate for me with salmon and tuna. It was very sweet. The third time I came back, the owner saw me standing in front of the sashimi thinking about what to select and said that if I wanted, he would ask one of the chefs to make me more sashimi. That kind of personalized service and attention to customers is very rare and precious these days.
Overall, it was an extremely enjoyable experience.
I’ve told everyone at my office about this restaurant, and I’ve brought both my boyfriend and a co-​worker & her daughter here which says a lot. I hate reviewing places or telling people about a restaurant because if they have a bad experience, I always feel personally liable, but I do feel confident in this place’s potential and want to see their business succeed.
Their original «grand opening» special was $ 8.99 for lunch and $ 13.99 for dinner, but since the initial business has been slow they’ve extended it to the end of April. Furthermore, they put a coupon in SN&R for buy one get one ½ off buffet meal so a dinner for two people of all you can eat sushi & Chinese only comes out to ~ $ 11!
If you’re a picky eater like myself and want some more detail or wish to ask a question about something I might have left out in this review, feel free to message me about the restaurant, and I’ll help you with what I know. :)
Happy eatings!
— Liz

This review is for lunch only.
The sushi line is lit so that you can’t really see what is in the rolls, and they aren’t labeled. I sampled maybe 5 – 6 different rolls, and only 2 were worth another try. They had sake, maguro, and unagi nigiri. I tried the salmon and it was mediocre. The saving grace for the sushi line was a pretty good seared ahi.
The Chinese station contained many dishes that looked very «tired». I was surprised, as I went at 11:20, 20 minutes after opening. I don’t expect «breath of the dragon» at a buffet, but it looked like some of the trays had been last night’s leftovers re-​heated. The fact that they seem to be cutting corners this early in their existence doesn’t bode well.
I did, however, find some tasty dishes. The grilled steak, served thinly sliced was pretty good. The asparagus chicken was tasty, the asparagus being fresh, toothy, and well prepared. The honey walnut shrimp, with no walnuts was a mushy mess when I first sampled it, but improved when I tried some freshly prepared as the shrimp retained some crispiness and heat.
There were a few things that I didn’t care for. A promising looking deep-​fried salmon was surprisingly tasteless. The beef chow fun, also looking good, was even worse than Plum Blossom, previously my benchmark for bad chow fun. The mushroom chicken dish had a few fresh mushrooms, but the great majority of the mushrooms were clearly past their prime.
They had 4 different soups, hot and sour, egg drop, miso, and another one I forget. I tried the hot and sour, and 1 taste was enough.
I finished off my meal with sliced strawberries, orange wedge, grapes, and some cantaloupe. All good except for under ripe cantaloupe.
The service was friendly and efficient, my water being filled twice before it was empty, and empty plates cleared before I returned with new plates.
I might come back to try dinner for the oysters, but lunch was definitely a letdown.

I’m a skeptic when it comes to sushi buffets. I mean, raw fish? Sitting out? The thought scares me. But I am a sushi fan, so I thought I’d come in and give it a chance.
I came in last Friday during their grand opening when dinner prices were only $ 13.95. I was scared to death when I saw that all their sushi was made with the nori wrappers. I personally am not a fan of the seaweed wrapper, to me, I can taste the fishiness and saltiness of the ocean… I prefer all my sushi with soy wraps. I asked the chef’s behind the counter if they served with soy wrap, and they said no. However, after staring at the multiple plates of sushi before me, I filled my plate and tried a little bit of everything.
To my surprise… I loved it. I couldn’t taste the wrapper, which made me happy. There were a variety of deep fried rolls, which were delicious. If there’s a roll that you don’t see, but maybe you’ve had it at another place like Mikuni, Zen, or another sushi place, just ask the chefs or one of the waiters or waitresses. Apparently, if I understood correctly, some of their chefs previously worked at Mikuni and Zen.
One of my favorite things about the sushi were the dishes that resembled Zen’s Better than Sex and the BBQ albacore. Yummmmmm…
Their Chinese selection was REALLY good as well. The only thing I didn’t care for was the crab legs. They were really dry, small, and didn’t taste very good. :/​Oh well.
All in all, it was a great experience.