What’s better than having sushi for lunch? Having all-you-can-eat sushi for lunch! There are a growing number of restaurants that will allow you to stuff yourself to the gills with sushi rolls for a flat price, like Umiya Sushi, a chain that’s been expanding in San Antonio in recent years.
Just before 2:30 p.m. on. Thursday, I added my name to the waitlist at the Umiya location off I-10. There were 10 parties ahead of me, and it took about 15 minutes or so before I was shown to my table. A server came by and took my drink order as I perused the all-you-can-eat lunch menu, priced at $22.95 for adults and $11.95 for kids ages 5 to 10. The menu consisted of chef’s specialty rolls, tempura rolls, more traditional sushi rolls and several appetizers and hot foods from the kitchen.
To start, I ordered the Bamboo Roll, an 8-piece shrimp tempura roll with avocado and crawfish topped with spicy tuna, masago, eel sauce and spicy mayo. I have an affinity for temaki, or hand rolls, so I ordered one with eel to wrap up the first round. The Bamboo Roll has slight saccharine notes from its various sauces, but the spicy tuna came through as the dominant flavor. The eel hand roll was mostly on the sweet side with some thinly cut cucumber in it to add extra freshness and crunch.
After scarfing those down, I ordered a Rainbow Roll, which had snow crab, cucumber and avocado topped with tuna, salmon, white fish and more avocado, according to the menu. I added on a seaweed salad because I felt the need to order something lighter for round two. The seaweed salad was perfectly adequate, but the Rainbow Roll made me recoil when I realized it had cream cheese, an ingredient I was not anticipating tasting.
Furthermore, the roll was heavy on the avocado, and it consisted of very little fish. In other words, the proportions were off from what I was expecting. Still, I tried my best to knock it out, because leftovers result in à la carte pricing for whatever sushi you don’t finish. Guests are also encouraged not to share with others at the table, a null point as I was dining alone.
Determined to finish on a high note, I ordered my last round — two pieces of tuna and two pieces of salmon nigiri, both of which were just fine. If I plan to return to Umiya, I’m going to focus on ordering the more traditional sushi options, without all the fillers and sauces that distract from the fish. I might even go for more of the appetizers and hot foods just to make the most of that $22.95. Umiya’s all-you-can-eat lunch menu is offered from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Find it: 11075 I-10, Suite 200, San Antonio, TX 78230; 13846 I-35, San Antonio, TX 78233