| rev:text
| - The wife and I met my brother and sister-in-law for dinner here last week, and I was pretty impressed with Umami. Since moving to Madison, I've been consistently surprised at how many ethnic joints there are in town, and it was fun to find this place tucked in amongst the other great stores/restaurants on Willy St. I realllllllllllllllllllly wanted to give this five stars, but I try and reserve that for only truly fantastic places. Umami is *so close*, but the service we had made it only "great" and not "spectacular."
The restaurant itself is an interesting set-up, as it seems to be an old house, renovated into a "hip" restaurant/bar. I'm always a big fan of outdoor seating, so I was pleased that we were able to snag a table outside on a nice summer night.
Looking at other reviews, it seems like people had trouble with service. Our waitress was just okay. I think my experience with her was tainted after being very impressed by the service of a waiter/host inside (maybe he was the manager?). The four of us wanted to get out of our comfort zones and order new things/authentic drinks & dishes, so it was important for us to be able to have stuff recommended to us. Whoever the guy was inside hooked me up with a delicious drink (O-cha Mark) but the waitress didn't seem to know much about the menu.
GOOD:
- Decent selection of beer/cocktails
- The ramen itself was quite tasty. I'm used to the cheap variety, so I was pleasantly surprised with the way it should actually taste. The flavor-infused egg was delicious as well! Get the Spicy Bomb to add.
- The dumplings. OHHHHHHHH the dumplings. We tried two kinds (pork, chicken) and they were fantastic.
- By far my favorite were the pork & beef buns. Holy crap were they tasty, especially when you mix in their sweet&sour or spicy sauces.
BAD:
- Service was fair (at best)
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