Umi Sushi

Sushi restaurants in the city can basically be found on every block, but the tricky part is separating the good ones from the bad ones.  Even more tricky is spotting the gems that tend to be under the radar instead of going to the typical expensive Japanese restaurants in the city.

Even though I don't like fish, I love Japanese food and sushi.  My love for it, however, does not even compare to my sister, who could literally eat Japanese food for every meal every day.  So, when we moved to the city, one of the first things we did was try to find a good Japanese restaurant near our apartment.  After searching multiple times on Google Maps, Zagat, and Yelp, we decided to try out Umi, a very small and understated Japanese restaurant on 31st street between Lexington and Park.  And, after one visit, we knew we had found our place.

Umi is that neighborhood Japanese restaurant that you would expect to find in the suburbs, not off the bustling streets of New York City.  The menu is very simple and straightforward, and they don't try to do anything overly fancy, they just make really fresh and good food.  They have a wide variety of sushi, sashimi, specialty rolls, appetizers, and hot dishes like Teriyaki and Bento Boxes.  The waiters there are also super nice and friendly, and after a few times of going there they remembered us and our orders.

I am a creature of habit, so I pretty much get the same thing every time.  I always start out with a garden salad with ginger dressing on the side.  While I have had my fair share of ginger dressings, I can objectively say that they have one of my all time favorites.  The ginger taste really comes through and it is not over powering.  Next, I always get the Yaki Tori appetizer (as my main course) and a cucumber avocado roll.  The yaki tori comes with two skewers of chicken, onion, and scallions smothered in a delicious and sweet teriyaki sauce, and topped with some sesame seeds.  It is the perfect portion size and it is really delicious.  Even though cucumber avocado rolls tend to be pretty standard, something about theirs just tastes so much better to me.  I think it is because they don't put too much rice on the sushi, and there is a very generous amount of avocado.  Sometimes, I also get a Sweet Potato Roll which is delicious as well, especially when dipped in eel sauce.

Even though I don't eat fish so I can't personally comment on their sushi, I can rely on the rave reviews of my sister and friends.  According to her, they have some of the best sushi that she has ever had.  I could even tell that it was good because the raw tuna had a super bright red color to it so that you could tell it was extremely fresh.  My sister has never had any bad sushi here, and she could not praise it more.  Even though she generally always gets sushi, she has also ordered the Salmon Teriyaki.  What is great about their salmon is that they use sushi grade salmon for the teriyaki.  Since it is sushi grade, you know it has to be extremely fresh since it is the same exact fish that they are serving raw.  This shows that they really care about the product they are serving and they want everything to be as fresh and delicious as possible.

I highly recommend Umi to anyone looking for a great, high quality Japanese restaurant.  It is, in fact, one of my favorite restaurants in the city.  I know it may be tempting to go to the more well known and fancy places like Nobu and Morimoto, but there is really something to be said about the smaller, neighborhood establishments that deliver a high quality product at a reasonable price.  Don't let the understated exterior fool you, if you go to Umi you will be sure to leave feeling full and completely satisfied.