UMI DOES NOT SERVE ALCOHOL OF ANY SORT.
We don't fault Umi Sushi for not serving alcohol; we fault them for keeping it almost-secret. The fact is nowhere to be found on their minimalist web site, and only one too-easy-to-miss sign on a side window of their storefront advertises the fact ... in pseudo-Japanese characters which are easy to miss by the people who already drove there thinking they'd have a drink with dinner.
Over the last three decades or so, my wife and I have eaten at literally hundreds of sushi joints -- and Umi is absolutely the first and only one of those we have visited which does not serve sake. (Sake is a Japanese rice wine which is THE essential accompaniment to sushi, as far as we are concerned.)
"But we have a sign!" they say. Yeah, the sign. Here's a picture of it, which was our first view of it, from our table INSIDE the restaurant. But by the time we saw it, we had already driven to the restaurant, entered, been greeted, seated, and ordered hot sake -- and then been told by our server that they don't serve alcohol.
For the rest:
Ambiance: nice, clean
Prices: average, reasonable
Service: young man scared of his shadow, not sure what to do, or what to say, or when to say it. After taking our order to the kitchen he came back and asked my wife if she still wanted hers. (What the ...???) If he has been on the job more than 2 weeks, then there's a problem somewhere. But he still got a 20% tip, because hey, I'm warm and fuzzy, dangit.
Food: miso soup broth was very thin, no tofu cubes, one square of nori per bowl, and some microscopic remnants of chopped green onion floating around (perhaps tell the server to STIR the pot before ladling?); fish overall (sashimi & nigiri) gets a B for fresh salmon and warm eel nigiri. The eel roll could have used a lot less crab salad and more eel, and could have included some eel sauce drizzled over it. Salmon roe and escolar were okay, and the mackerel, which Americans don't order as much (and therefore sits in the fridge a lot), was better than I expected.
If you don't care about alcohol, Umi Sushi might be worth a try, but we won't be back. Once again, no fault on Umi Sushi for not serving alcohol, that is an absolutely acceptable thing to do. But keeping it almost-completely secret until a patron has been greeted, seated, and then denied the first thing he asks for, well, that is pretty annoying.
How can Umi fix that? Put NO ALCOHOL SERVED, BYOB on your web site, big and prominent enough to where people will see it even by accident. Put it everywhere you can think of on the internet -- Yelp, Tripadvisor, Google -- and a dozen other places, so people won't drive all the way to your place BEFORE learning you're dry.
And move that sign from the sidelight of your storefront the top center of your door, right above your logo, so people can't miss it like we did.
Or, get a liquor license, even if just for beer and wine. You'll attract more customers, and repel fewer. (What a concept!) read more