Restaurant Review
Umi Sushi
2806 Shelter Island Drive
San Diego, CA 92106
619-226-1135
Umisushisandiego.com
By Judi Curry
With all of the Sushi restaurants opening up – and some closing – I thought it might be interesting to take my two visiting students from Korea to one sushi restaurant that has been opened for quite some time. (Yes! I know that sushi is Japanese, but they told me they really liked sushi!)
We had just been at Humphrey’s listening to Scott Stephens and part of his “Liquid Blue” group, and we would be driving right by Umi Sushi so decided to have dinner there.
There is parking right outside the front door, and I will touch on that situation at the end of the review.
Tuna Paradise Rolls
The restaurant is quite large; two dining rooms and a sushi bar. There were 4 sushi chefs, and each one handled those patrons that were seated in front of them. One was particularly jovial, and the laughter rang out continually while we were there. (We elected to sit at a table facing the sushi bar rather than sitting at the bar.)
The menu is very extensive with appetizers starting at $1.95 for miso soup and ranging up to $13.95 for “Special Scallop.” There are 13 categories with 19 possibilities. They offer 13 salads beginning at $4.50 for a green salad, and there are several that are $14.95.
The sushi offerings are many; there are “Special Rolls” – 30 of them! Ranging from $8.95-$15.95. Most of them are in the $9-10 range. Then there are 6 “Baked Roll” – $10.95-$15.95; Deep Fried Roll – two of them at $9.95 and one at $8.95. (They might consider removing one of the them called the “Chargers Roll”. It wouldn’t surprise me if what might have been a “best seller” last season will suffer this season!”.)
As if that isn’t enough rolls, there are also “House Rolls” – $4.95- $8.95; Vegetarian Rolls – $3.95 for a cucumber roll; $4.95 for an Avocado Roll; $5.95 for a Vegetable Roll – avocado, cucumber, gobo, radish, sprouts and pickled radish – and a Vegetable Tempura Roll – Kabocha, Yam, Avocado, Cucumber, Sprouts, Eel sauce, for $7.95.
Tempura Udon
The Sashimi section has 10 offerings for individual palates; and deluxe sashimi (19 pieces); small sashimi plates (25 pieces); medium sashimi plates – (35 pieces) and a large sashimi plate (45 pieces). They range from $34.95-$98.95. The smaller portions start at $11.50.
They also offer a variety of entrees – Sushi and Sashimi – all served with Miso Soup – and vary in price from $14.95-$49.95. Their combinations are served with steamed rice and miso soup and allow you to create your own combination (2 items – $16.95/3 items $18.95). The choices for the combination include Chicken or Beef Teriyaki, Sashimi (3 pieces of tuna and 2 pieces of salmon); Sushi – tuna, salmon and shrimp; BBQ Short Ribs, Mixed Tempura, a Hand Roll of California Spicy Tuna or a California Roll.
AND … there is a “Chef Special”, served with salad, Miso soup and Rice, all for $11.95 and your choice of Sesame Chicken, Orange Chicken or Spicy Chicken.
Menu not finished yet, for there is also a Kids Menu – $6.95-$7.95; Noodle Specials – $9.95-10.95; Kitchen Specials – $11.95-$17.95; and Fried Rice – $9.95-$10.95; Yakisoba –all $9.95 and Udon – also $9.95. The menu is rounded out with four desserts – $3.95 for green tea and/or mocha ice cream or Tempura Ice Cream and/or Cheese Cake for $5.95.
Beer and wine are served, as well as Saki.
The service was very good. There were 4 people waiting on us at all times, and they were very helpful. So … what did we have?
Joan ordered the Tuna Paradise Rolls ($13.95) that had spicy tuna and well as regular tuna as part of the roll. It was covered with a seaweed salad. There was plenty of wasabi and ginger on the plate. It was so big that we took some of it home.
Ally, who was my student 10 years ago and is here for a visit, ordered the tempura Udon – $9.95. It came with two pieces of shrimp in the soup, and many pieces of tempura battered shrimp and vegetables separately. It too, was very good, and very large. We took some of it home also.
Vegetable Udon
I ordered the Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura ($13.95) and like the rest of the order, there was so much that much of it came home with me. It was served with Miso soup, that was just fair. A little bit salty for my taste, and only a few pieces of tiny tofu, but it was okay. (The menu lists a seafood Miso that has a lot in it for $5.95 but that is a separate order.) It also came with steamed rice but I was not interested in that and brought it home to Shadow, my dog.
Now here is a funny part of the dinner.
Ally ordered a “Ramune” – a Japanese soda. It came in three flavors – strawberry, cherry or grape. She ordered the grape. The bottle was brought to the table, and none of us knew how to open it. We read the directions; we tried many different methods to open it and finally had to ask the waitress to show us how it was done. And it was tricky. And, even more tricky was that after it was opened a “marble” – for want of a better term – formed at the neck of the bottle. (My Japanese student Hitomi has since told me that there is a hook that should be held as the liquid is swallowed and it cannot be drunk very fast. It is an “old style” soda. And…it was very tasty . You have to have a little bit of strength in your arms and hand to open the bottle for drinking. It was quite a conversation piece.
See if you can guess what soup this is.
Joan and I were not as brave – she had green iced tea – and it was really green – and I ordered lemonade that was served in a can.
Our total bill was $48.50, not including the tip. We had a lot of food; service was good; and we would go back.
“Ramune” – a Japanese soda
Now a word about parking: midway through our meal I was asked if my car was the blue one parked in Handicapped. It was, and I was asked if I could move it slightly – I was within the lines – because a car could not get in to take the place next to me.
Grudgingly I moved my car, only to find that it was a 4 door truck that was trying to park next to me. There was no way that he could have parked in that space even if there was no car in my space. And he parked somewhere else. BUT…when we went to leave there was a black truck – Arizona plates – parked so close to me that I could not get in my door. He was parked over the line, as was the truck parked next to him. It took almost 10 minutes to find the owner of the truck, and he took his own sweet time in moving his truck.
Fortunately our meal was a good one and we were not in a hurry to leave, because it was aggravating to have to wait for the truck to move.
In spite of the parking situation, there is no doubt that I will go back. The prices were reasonable and it seemed more authentic than some of the other sushi restaurants in the area.
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