"This is hands down one of my favorite sushi restaurants but I can’t give it the 5 stars I want to give it because of certain caveats. Here’s the down low on the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Let’s start with the good. The sushi is expertly and exceptionally prepared. It is not only fresh, and beautifully plated but it comes with an array of crafted sauces that are divine! I’ve eaten at A LOT of sushi restaurants, high end and not so high end, since sushi is my all time favorite food and I have yet to find a spot that makes sushi better than Ume (which used to be Rusans back in the day and still serves several of Rusans original dishes like the Big Eye, Ocean’s 11 and Spicy Chicken Yaki udon.. all delicious by the way). Not only is the sushi the best you’ll ever eat, but they are not chintzy on portion sizes either. I would highly recommend the Cherry Blossom, Tuna Dumplings, and the Lobster King crab roll. Into spicy? Then the AK47 is where it’s at! Now for the bad. The entire 4 stars is for the food alone. It probably should be 3 stars but the food is just that good. The ambiance, however, is not so great. The restaurant needs to upgrade the seating, the decor, and the restrooms desperately. A couple of years ago they were working towards this goal but they seem to be struggling to get back on track after the pandemic. To make matters much much worse, they seem to be really struggling with finding enough staff to service the dining room adequately. It appears that many customers go with the takeout option as my husband and I are often one of just a handful of customers in the dining room lately, if not the only customers… and this restaurant used to be packed a few years ago. The Ugly is how bad the staffing situation has gotten …while I am a huge fan of kids and I think it is important that they learn a strong work ethic, I don’t really want to be served by them when I go out for a meal. While this only happened once, if it had been my first time eating here, I might not have come back. Dining out is as much about the experience as it is the food. I hope they are able to find more staff soon and can get back on track again towards being a phenomenal restaurant!"
