Restaurant Review: Ichi Umi

Ichi Umi is a high-end Japanese buffet with fresh, tasty sushi, catch-of-the-day seafood, and delicious desserts.

A row of moist cakes, chocolates, and other sweets line the dessert buffet at Ichi Umi. Joshua Philipp/The Epoch Times

At Ichi Umi all customers are welcomed with a unanimous “Irasaimase!”—a Japanese welcome—from the staff. After venturing inside, the first thing that will most likely stand out for most New Yorkers is how spacious the restaurant is, an unusual find in midtown Manhattan. Ichi Umi seats six hundred, all in a comfortably roomy manner. The restaurant was once called “Onami.” Later its name was changed to “Minado.” Park said that it will remain Ichi Umi, which is Japanese for “number one ocean.” This restaurant offers surprisingly good fare of one hundred and ninety items on the menu.

The food is decoratively set along the buffet. Each dish is presented in a manner expected from a high-end restaurant. Sushi, sashimi, and a plethora of various rolls cover one side of the buffet, slowly giving way to seaweed salads, shrimp, and king crab legs. On the other end of the buffet, mounds of cooked food are placed for everyone’s enjoyment. Items range from crab cakes and stuffed mussels to marinated baked fish and lobster-fried rice.

A key to good sushi is in the preparation of the rice and the freshness of the fish. Ichi Umi’s sushi is wonderful in both categories. The rice has a mildly soft texture and is not overly sticky or hard. The fish also has a clean freshness to it. This is often a rarity in all-you-can-eat restaurants. The sushi is of good quality.