Reviews - UMAI Japanese Experience
Reviews
9.2of 10
Ratings and reviews can only be left by guests who have booked with TheFork.
Linda C. • 82 reviews
July 3, 2025
10/10Excellent sushi, best we've had in Portugal. Highly recommended.
Daniela F. • 3 reviews
June 21, 2025
8.5/10Bom sushi
sharon c. • 4 reviews
June 18, 2025
10/10Beautiful family run restaurant frequented by plenty of locals. We couldn’t fault the service and it was some of the best sushi we’ve ever eaten - fresh, tasty and immaculately presented - and incredibly well priced. Do yourself a favour and go here…I guarantee you’ll want to return! Sadly we only discovered it on our last night in Loulé, otherwise we’d be booking again. The couple who own it are lovely and he prepares the food in the open kitchen and you can tell the fish is of the highest quality.
Lee R. • 2 reviews
May 27, 2025
9/10Hidden gem although the actual restaurant could be a bit “nicer”. Although quality of food more than makes up for it
Nigel C. • 12 reviews
April 10, 2025
7/10We had the Degustação dinner menu which was an excellent way to try dishes other than those with a lot of rice. Sadly the atmosphere was lacking because the restaurant was empty. We would definitely go again.
Marcel S. • 32 reviews
March 20, 2025
10/10excellent food! really very good! thank you Vitor!
Catriona T. • 2 reviews
February 13, 2025
9.5/10Excellent quality at a great price. We chose the lunch menu and we'll be back.
Natalia P. • 5 reviews
January 2, 2025
6.5/10The sushi is very good and fresh! However, the restaurant is freezing because the manager refuses to turn on the heater, which is disappointing. As a result, instead of enjoying a nice, comfortable meal and potentially ordering more, you just want to finish quickly and leave. We didn’t even order dessert because we were too cold. I visited this restaurant twice, once for lunch and once for dinner, and both experiences were the same. It’s a shame because the sushi is excellent, but the atmosphere is very poor.
Christopher v. • 4 reviews
November 9, 2024
10/10attentive chefs, outstanding flavours and good value.
Steve I. • 20 reviews
October 19, 2024
10/10Second visit in a week and the food was wonderful again!
Susan g. • 22 reviews
September 12, 2024
8.5/10Really nice restaurant .
Gian Luigi P. • 31 reviews
August 17, 2024
9.5/10everything delicious
Emidio H. • 6 reviews
August 13, 2024
10/10Everything was absolutely perfect. This was hands down the best sushi I’ve ever had in my life! I highly recommend visiting—you won’t be disappointed!
Barry T. • 5 reviews
June 20, 2024
9/10Loved the food and the variety of the food
Natalie s. • 3 reviews
May 2, 2024
10/10Great food we had the tasting menu excellent value just a shame they didn’t have tuna don’t like the white fish But everything else delicious
Marcel S. • 17 reviews
April 30, 2024
9.5/10The food was excellent. The fact that you have access only online is a bit annoying. If you are not familiar with the many different Japanese expressions it would be helpful to have better images of the food... But what counts in the end is the quality of the food which was excellent!
Gregg L. • 3 reviews
February 13, 2024
9.5/10Surprisingly good. Nice place. Nice people. Really good sushi.
George S. • 14 reviews
January 21, 2024
10/10We have dined at Umai several times since they opened. The fish is always super fresh and the talent of Vitor and his staff is authentic Japanese. Try the Umai Experience for 2. - 45 pieces of love in your mouth. Highly recommend. Obrigado Vitor.
Andrea A. • 12 reviews
December 29, 2023
9.5/10Nice little restaurant. Tables are quite close to each other but the amosphere is quiet (although I was not there in peak hour). The quality of food is awesome. One of the best Miso soup ever tasted. Also special rolls are excellent and some of them really not common elsewhere, with the right mix of sweet and savoury. I've enjoyed the experience. It's definitely worth going back.
Jenny N. • 1 review
September 9, 2023
10/10The food was delicious and the ambiance was good. The restaurant owners were delightful and skilled. Our son had recommended the restaurant and we weren’t disappointed.
Nuno F. • 2 reviews
August 15, 2023
9.5/10Great food and service.
Dawn A. • 4 reviews
June 28, 2023
10/10Fantastic food, great value and very friendly service. Will definitely be back.
Philip H. • 24 reviews
May 10, 2023
9.5/10Outstanding quality sashimis and sushis; the best in the Algarve. Tiny restaurant where everything is prepared only after you have ordered. Extremely talented and creative chef. Delicious meal each time.
Rowena C. • 2 reviews
March 3, 2023
5.5/10Very very slow service
Vítor T. • 55 reviews
February 21, 2023
10/10
Amazing sushi, highly recommend. Service was slow, but they apologized as they were recently understaffed. Will definitely be back for more!
Eva P. • 16 reviews
February 11, 2023
9/10Top.
George S. • 14 reviews
February 3, 2023
10/10Outstanding in every way. Vitor, the itamae has Japan certified knife and chef credentials. The fish is exquisite. Let him do omakase for you. You won’t regret the experience.
Elena S. • 8 reviews
December 27, 2022
9.5/10This was a very pleasant experience. I read about the chef and the reviews were positive so we decided to give it a try( we don’t live in Loule so we needed to combine it with our chores in the area). Vitor’s knife skills are impressive, the fish was prepared just right for sashimi, and the presentation was beautiful. It seems that Vitor is constantly trying to improve his menu and probably still need to tweak a few things but this is not your ordinary Algarve sushi. Compliments to the chef and best of luck! We are definitely coming back for more!
pedro H. • 2 reviews
December 1, 2022
10/10Great service, amazing food. I recommend it
Nikki P. • 1 review
June 6, 2022
5.5/10
We wanted to order three main dishes but couldn't as they only had one portion of noodles left which was dissapointing and it was 7pm (they said they had a busy weekend). Ordered another dish to also be told after that had run out. We were given a complimentary dish which we enjoyed and we did enjoy the food we ordered but it still doesn't take away the disappointment of not being able to have the dishes we wanted We won't be returning
Cris M. • 3 reviews
May 11, 2022
8.5/10We loved the food and the creativity of the sushi. The service was very nice. We want to see the improvements to be done on decoration outside on the terrasse.
UMAI Japanese Experience • Owner
Thank you for your visit to UMAI and for your review. We are delighted that you enjoyed your time here with us. We always try to improve our space as well as our service because we always want to offer the best for our customers. We look foward to your next visit! Greetings
Lea R. • 98 reviews
April 28, 2022
4.5/10Staff was nice. Otherwise it was one of the worst food experiences I have had in a long time. Guacamole was bad, chips were stale, and we had a hair in our dish. We can forgive the hair but serving stale chips with store bought avocado spread and calling it guacamole is an unforgivable sin. The ramen was awful, broth was made from a bouillon cube, there was frozen broccoli in there, udon noodles, and an actual hard boiled egg. Basically everything wrong, and to charge €13 for that was truly absurd. The poke was okay but also ridiculously overpriced at 15€. Even w 50% off on fork we felt like we paid way too much. Overall it's unfortunate as the staff was nice and we were hoping to enjoy the food. We regretted the experience
UMAI Japanese Experience • Owner
OLÁ Desde já agradecemos pela sua Visita ao nosso restaurante. Temos a acrescentar que os produtos usados nos nossos pratos são frescos e de produtores locais, não havendo assim nada pré feito nem de pacote ou algo semelhante. Todos os nossos pratos, exepto o ramen que tem uma preparação longa, cerca de 4 horas , os restantes são preparados ao momento com rigor e profissionalismo pelo qual somos conhecidos. Ramen normalmente é composto por um tipo de macarrão, uma sopa com caldo à base de ossos de porco, peixe ou frango, e temperados com uma base tarê (molho) que da sabor ao caldo base, para a confecção da montagem do prato, e os adicionais podem variar dependendo da região do Japão e do restaurante que vende o Ramen. Após este esclarecimento aguardamos com expetativa a sua próxima visita! Cumprimentos A Gerência
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