Umi Japanese Restaurant

The food presentation was great. Seafood donburi came with a side salad (which was amazing). Chicken teriyaki was a good portioned meal for a main. Ambience was perfectly Japanese with anime inspired music - and some chill maroon5.

I like bentos for the variety of food i can enjoy in one meal. There was the usual vege tempura that i found slightly greasy. The agedashi tofu, im tofu bias so i enjoyed it。there was also salad and some sushi rolls. Not the best bento ive had but it was filling and quite reasonably priced at 16 bucks considering the place.

So fresh, absolutely delish!!

Japanese cuisine are known for their freshness, vibrancy, letting the ingredients speak for themselves with elegant presentation. I'm not saying that one should judge all Japanese restaurant to an impeccable standard, so long as it's tasty and served with passion. Umi Japanese Restaurant however, fails on all fronts and at best, blends in to the background with unremarkable food that's overpriced. When you first walk in, you notice the dated decor. It's clean and tidy, but everything looks worn and aged, not in the deliberate "retro" or "giving it character" way either. Service is a bit slow, and you almost have to sit yourself down instead of being guided to the table, but otherwise the servers are warm and friendly. After studying the menu, you can't help but notice that they are charging nearly downtown restaurant prices for most of their items, so one would hope the food would match up with how much you're going to pay. When the food arrives however, it's a let-down. First off, portion size is on the small side. Japanese cuisine are known for their petite portions which emphasize on presentation, but what's sitting in front of you lacks both. The teriyaki chicken sitting in the bento box for example, looks like half a piece of chicken thigh or less, almost seems like it was a leftover piece from someone else's half-finished lunch. Once you get over the looks, there's the taste, and this is where the second wave of disappointment comes in. The teriyaki chicken is completely overcooked and dry, and so are the pieces of chicken in the sushi roll. The slices of fish sashimi (I assume Travelly) also taste a bit old, and then there's the miso soup. It's bland, almost as if it's been watered down. The tempura pieces are done nice and crisp, but wouldn't hurt to have a bit of seasoning - i.e. salt. Again, the whole experience is one of mediocre blandness. Which leads us to price. It's simply overpriced for what you get. The $16 for my lunch bento box could be better spent at the food-court sushi place (Smart Sushi here at Sylvia Park) with much better tasting food that actually fills you up. Overall, their food and service isn't terrible, just so very average at best and overpriced. So if you are in the area and want to get your Japanese food fix, head elsewhere as you wouldn't find satisfaction here.