Restaurant Review – Umi Sake House

If I have to describe Umi Sake House in one word, the word I’d choose will be BEAUTIFUL! The food is so beautifully crafted, the decor is beautiful, add the mostly eye candy Friday night Belltown crowd to the mix, and it is a place of beauty! For a person who was not too much into Sushi a month ago, Umi has sure made me a convert! I’ve been here three times in the past four weeks! First time was an accident, when my fried M and I were walking along first avenue looking for a place to grab some drinks, and somehow ended up in there without really thinking.

Umi is less than a block from our place, and has been there for over a year now! This is where Bada Lounge used to be, and I hear that it is the same owners. That is one of the reasons we never went in here, since while Bada Lounge was a fun place to hang out and party, the food was just okay. And as I said I have never been into Sushi. But the first time M and I were there, we were seated at the sushi bar, and seeing all the rolls in front of the other customers, we had to get one. We did, I took a bite, and fell in love with Sushi. Then of course I had to take Siv there, who is a big Sushi fan, and he loved the place. Then we told our friends D&H, who really love Sushi, and this Friday night, all four of us went to Umi and had an amazing time. This time I remembered to take my camera, finally!

The restaurant is really big, there are about four tables as soon as you get into the corridor, this area is known as the front porch, and the happy hour here extends from 4-8 PM, when you can get $4 rolls and $5 sake. Then you get inside, and there is a fairly large bar area, with a beautiful red backdrop, where the amazing sake based cocktails are whipped up. Opposite side is the sushi bar, where you can sit and order sushi right with the chef.  Behind, where the pool tables used to be in the Bada Lounge, they have arranged some Japanese style low tables and futons, and some regular tables too. There is also a tatami room with glass walls, which will be perfect for a small birthday party. The idea is that the whole place is arranged like a Japanese house.

As the name suggests, the Sake house is all about Sakes. They have an extensive sake list, where you can order by the glass, or by the bottle, including a couple of warm sakes as well. Like Sushi, I am not a sake fan either, but they have some sake cocktails which are out of this world! We tried seven different flavors yesterday. The mango sake was disappointing, Lychee was my favorite. Both the guys loved ginger sake, they had about six of those each. The cucumber sake was very refreshingly cooling, and the lime, pear and pomegranate flavors were good. They have a traditional cocktails section, I’ve only tried the Lychee lemonade from this section which is made of lychee liqueur, vanilla vodka, cranberry juice and lemon juice, and that was so good!   

Clockwise from bottom: Lychee, Lime, Cucumber and Pomegranate Sakes and Mango Sake, Pear Sake, Lychee Lemonade , Ginger Sake (All $8 each)

Before I start talking about the amazing sushi rolls, let me just cover the appetizers.  To be honest, I wasn’t very impressed with the appetizers here. The appetizer menu is arranged into sections like Fried, Pan Fried, Baked, Steamed, Grilled and Raw, in addition to the soup and salad. I’ve tried the pan fried black cod, the spare ribs and a miso soup from the last two trips, and didn’t like either This time we got the Crispy calamari with sweet chili lime sauce ($7) and it was not bad, but this won’t be the reason anyone decides to go to Umi.

Now, let us talk about the amazing sushi rolls. They have really experimented with different flavors, and have come up with some creative, winning combinations. And the names are so creative too! We didn’t order a single roll that we didn’t like.  The rolls come with the regular sushi accompaniments like ginger and wasabi paste and soy sauce, but we didn’t have to use those at all, the rolls are flavor packed!

Crunchy Lizard ($12) - shrimp tempura, avocado, cream cheese, topped with bbq eel & teriyaki sauce. Had it three times now, amazing flavors!

Spicy Rainbow ($10) -spicy crab mayonnaise mix, cucumber, avocado, tobiko, topped with tuna, salmon, shrimp & yellowtail. We asked for a spicy roll, and it was spicy indeed!

Tarantula Extreme ($15) – soft-shell crab, cucumber & tobiko, wrapped with avocado & topped with spicy crab mayonnaise & jalapeños. I think this is the most beautiful dish in the house! Just look at this beauty!

Street Fighter ($12) – spicy crab, jalapeno, cukes and cilantro, wrapped with seven spice Tuna, topped with mustard seed soy oil. This was from the specials last night, not sure if they have it everyday. But definitely a winner. The thinly sliced jalapenos are such a clever addition to the sushi rolls.

Casino Royale ($12) – spicy tuna, avocado and cucumber, wrapped with yellowtail, lime cilantro, shishito pepper and jalapeno. The sliced jalapenos and the coriander combination along with the tangy flavors. It reminded us of ahi poke! The casino royale and street fighter were very similar in taste though, but both were really good, so no complains there.

The dessert menu is very limited, two ice creams and a cheesecake. We picked this Tempura ice cream ($7) - green tea ice cream wrapped with pound cake, deep fried & served with chocolate sauce. The green tea part was good, but the wrapper was oily and didn’t go with the dessert at all!   

So, if you are a sushi lover, give this place a try, and if you are not a sushi lover, definitely try this place. Next time, I might be adventurous enough to finally graduate to sashimi, who knows! We still haven’t made it for happy hour, so not sure if all the variety rolls are available, but with happy hour till 8 pm, and another one after 10 pm – 2 am, we will surely get there during that time one of these days!
http://umisakehouse.com/ 

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Category: Belltown, Japanese, Seattle Restaurants, Sushi