new restaurant

In the space formerly occupied by the Home Town Buffet off Westport & the Snyder across from the Ford plant and behind Walmart, there's now a big sign proclaiming Umai Zushi Buffet!

Did a search, and both "Umai" and "Zushi" are common names, but no chain popped up with the full name.

Drove around it, and no telling when they might be opening. Does anyone know anything about this place???

(We love Todai, a sushi buffet chain out of Korea, which is located in major Asian centers in the US also (several in LA, Chicago, Washington, etc.). At least there, they have around 8 salads, always have a minimum of 60 items on the sushi line (mixed individual & rolls), several soups, tempura, and a dozen hot dishes of very high quality - normally including at least 2 crab dishes, beef tenderloin, teriyaki chicken, fresh fish, et al. Can it compare to the best local sushi places here - of course not, but for $15 for lunch and $25 for dinner it's a fun experience (and the clientele is 95% Asian, which at least superficially implies some degree of quality)).

Anytime I see any Asian word used in conjunction with the word "Buffet" my stomach gets all rumbley and I get this uncomfortable little heebie-jeebie feeling...something akin to a full body shudder.

Anytime I see any Asian word used in conjunction with the word "Buffet" my stomach gets all rumbley and I get this uncomfortable little heebie-jeebie feeling...something akin to a full body shudder.

Steve -

99.9% of the time I totally agree with you, but Todai is a truly fun place. It's so crowded that at dinner time they have (I counted once) 23 sushi chefs working as fast as they can keeping the platters filled - the sushi is incredibly fresh, as is the sashimi and (at dinner) made to order maki.

The buffet items that are hot range from dungeness crab to beef tenderloin teriyaki to unusual shrimp dishes (whole shrimp - legs and all). The salads (octopus, seaweed, other unusual salads) are kept fresh. There are two chefs making tempura to order, and the soups are kept so hot that they are hard to eat.

My hope is that this place can be like that!

As I said, Todai is not as good as a top sushi place, but - for example - yesterday my wife & I ate in Prospect, had three very good rolls and two soups, and the total bill was $50. At Todai, the fee for two of us is also $50, and it's a very different fun experience. If you want a relaxing dinner with top dishes don't go to the buffet; if you want to experiment and try lots of stuff in a 3.5 star restaurant for little money (rather than the 4 star or 5 star place) then Todai is wonderful.

It's my one exception to your "rumbley stomach" rule!

Andrew,

Did you all eat at Hanbi? My parents live out in Prospect and have been here several times; they say it's quite good.

Andrew,

Did you all eat at Hanbi? My parents live out in Prospect and have been here several times; they say it's quite good.

Yes, we agree that it's very good!

Only one criticism of it: they do a huge carry-out business, and with so many carry-out orders being made it took us a LONG time to be served. The servers & chef are very nice, we got free salads, but be prepared for a long, relaxing dinner!

BTW, they must have almost 40-50 different rolls listed - biggest selection we've seen in Louisville.

Yum. I would love to try Todai. Anyone yet know anything about the Umai Zushi place? Has it opened yet? Any word on what it will be like?

So I just got a grand opening coupon in the mail today for this Umai Zushi Buffet place. I guess it is open now? I may have to drop in and take a look at what the details are.

I hope it's wonderful . . . can't wait for your report (guess you live closer than I do, as no coupon)

Just called. Their lunch buffet is 7.99 and their dinner buffet is 11.99. I think I remember that correctly. He said he hopes to open next weekend.

My expectations just sunk badly.

Todai - which I love - is around $16 plus drinks for lunch, and $29 for dinner (approximate). That price level is how they can afford to offer the variety and quality I had described, and why I recommended them.

At the price levels quoted, we're talking ordinary Chinese buffet levels!

I'll still probably try them, but I'm not as excited as before ;-(