Umami Japanese Restaurant in San Marcos

We stopped in for lunch. It was past the normal lunch hour so it wasnt busy. Staff - constantly asked us if we were ready to order which made me feel rushed despite the almost empty restaurant.Tried the signature dishes and they were okay. Would not recommend the sushi muffin. I didnt care for the flavors. The sushi we ordered tasted okay and not super fresh. The bao bun was soggy so it just fell apart and was messy. The gyoza was the only thing I enjoyed. Good flavor and sauce.Parking is limited.

Ive been to Umami a couple of times now and the food has always been fresh and delicious. The sushi is great, as are the bento boxes and the tempura! The atmosphere itself is very nice and laid back, and is overall a good spot to grab a bite with friends and hang out. I love their bao buns, and always ordered the mixed tempura. I would definitely recommend this place for sushi, as their rolls are plated absolutely beautifully and are always delicious!

Great sushi place in college district. Great looking sushi bar, fresh fish. We were party of 3. Two sushi and 1 chicken teriyaki bento box. The sushi movers were extolling the virtues of their food. However, I am not a sushi eater, I always get the teriyaki. They didnt have steak, only chicken. The chicken tasted like microwave frozen and freezer burned yech. The rice scoop with black sesame was fine. The goyza were more like broccoli soup hush puppies. Interesting, but unpleasant with teriyaki. The Japanese salad was like the leftover bottom of the bag of Walmart chopped salad, and the dressing was gross. Usually the Japanese dressing is my favorite. Not here. I ended up returning the chicken. I was not offered analternatovr, just given 10% off my bill, after mentioning it several times. Service was average, for a disinterested college student...he was affable, but clearly not his destiny. The atmosphere is beautiful. Outdoor patio is perfect. Menu is nice. 5 stars for sushi, 1 star for Japanese food. Recommended for sushi only.

The sushi here was Delicious. There is a fine art into making good sushi. And I will say this place, does it. I recommend this sushi place as a must try.

The food is always great here! Weve ate in before and ordered takeout. The prices are very reasonable. Today it took a little long for someone to come back and check to see if we were done eating. I think they might have went on break or something, but when we finally did catch one of the servers, they brought the check and to go boxes very quickly. I still love their food and will go back again!

This place is awesome. Didn’t expect great sushi from a campus restaurant but due to the ratings we stopped in. Everything was delicious. Their rolls that have krab have a slight sweet taste that we all loved, really sets it apart from other restaurants. The Dynamite was also different from what we are used to, instead of having a thick sauce on top that is broiled until browned, they fry their roll and put their spicy Mayo on it and then put fried shrimp and scallops on top, beautiful! Everything we have was great.

So many good things at this Japanese restaurant. The service is fast, not just one waiter but several will help and attend. The food is carefully prepared. Their ramen is on point. The sushi and cut rolls are delicious (caveat the spicy ones are truly spicy!)Ninja, Dragon, Spicy lemon. All good.And the mochi ice cream to finish cools and cleans the tongue and mouth.Cold beer and sake. Worth visiting again and again.

First off, I do not like sushi--I came here for my husbands sake. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of options for a non-seafood-lover. It was definitely mostly sushi, but they had a few kinds of ramen, some bao buns, and a few chicken options in the bento meal.I got the chicken teriyaki bento dinner. It comes with miso soup, salad, rice, and two other sides that you choose. I was impressed by the variety of sides that came with the meal. The plating was beautiful (for both my food and for my husbands sushi). The atmosphere is beautiful--they have a wall of screens showing what I believe are scenes from Japan. I didnt like the music, but it is modern, popular music.As for the food, I believe it was made well, but I did not particularly enjoy it. I was hoping for more hearty, savory, flavorful options. The sunomono salad tasted like sweet pickles to me. The teriyaki sauce was good, but once I got past it, the chicken itself (albeit very tender) was flavorless and my first bite had gristle so I was picky about which pieces I ate after that. The miso soup had a strange smell/flavor, but I have not had miso soup many times so maybe thats what it usually smells like. The gyoza (pot stickers) were good. The rice was as good as rice is. The salad was good, but the dressing was vinegar based, and it was too much for me at the bottom of the salad, where it pools.My husband enjoyed this sushi. He got Matthews choice (good), dynamite (good), and summer (very good, pleasantly refreshing and smooth).We probably wont be back, but I still see it as a place that many other people would enjoy.

I ordered take out through DoorDash and decided to get a new place. Oh boy am I happy about this choice! The rolls were amazing, the fish from this place just tastes different, so fresh and flavorful, melts in your mouth. Poki Poki salad is 12.95, this place offers poke salad for $13, but the quality is 2x better. The lemon roll - out of the world fresh. I’m definitely visiting this place in person. Even my 5-year-old son gave his sushi a thumbs up!

I ordered seaweed salad, toro nigiri, spicy tuna roll and freshman roll. It was an off time to go around 4 pm and the first person got their food about 15/20 minutes before me when we both ordered rolls. I had an average experience here, not blown away by the food quality.