Umeno

This is one of the oldest Japanese restaurants in Amsterdam in a residential area near Olympic Stadion. Currently run by a talented chef, Atsu, who creates authentic Japanese culinary experience for a happy few who join him in this tiny restaurant. The flavors and the quality of ingredients are unparalleled. In his chefs menu he combines warm dishes with an amazing sushi selection. Our last meal consisted of a few appetizers (sashimi, king crab, chawanmoushi, soba met sea urchin) and around 10 types of nigiri. This is a real treat. The price we paid for the menu was around 90 euros which is a steal considering the quality and the ingredients you get in the menu. We have been visiting this restaurant for many years now so we can speak of amazing consistency. Allow the chef prepare his dishes, which can be time consuming, but your patience will be rewarded. Highly recommended for the lovers of Japanese food!

We tried out the omakase menu, which was quite nice. The ingredients were so fresh and high quality. They served freshly grated wasabi! The first 2 dishes were really good, loved the sashimi and the tuna and avocado salad. I didn’t like the truffle steamed egg and tempura dish as much. At last the sushi was all really good! The atmosphere was really quiet and the chef didn’t talk as much. The service could have been better. But overall the experience was nice and the food was really good!

The food was exceptional, with standout dishes including the fishcake and tuna (toro). The fishcake had a perfect texture and was full of flavor, while the toro was buttery and used in various ways. A nice addition was the uni (sea urchin) in combination with the oyster. The service was also great, with the chef and staff being attentive and knowledgeable about each dish. However, the only criticism I had was that the courses were served quite quickly after each other. This may be the norm during an omakase experience, but it did make it feel a bit rushed at times. Overall, I highly recommend this omakase experience for anyone who loves high-quality sushi and Japanese cuisine. Overall, this is the best place for traditional Japanese food in Amsterdam.

Heard so many good things about this restaurant so maybe my expectation was a bit high. Sashimi was fresh but not of high grade. Sushi rice was off. Deer tataki a bit gamey. And deer is supposed to be one of my favorite meat. Nothing too bad but nothing really worth mentioning. Chef is in a cute outfit though. I might still take friends here due to lack of good Japanese restaurants in Amsterdam. But it just didn’t meet my expectations.

Pros: Sashimi is really fresh and tasty Cons: 1. very a few choices of fish types of sashimi. We ordered large sashimi and large Nigiri, 70% are tuna. 2. Overpriced in my opinions 3. Very bad service. We asked for more wasabi. Staff didn’t inform us beforehand but charged us 10 euro for WASABI. No need to say 10 euro for waasabi is expensive. Staff should tell their customers how much they will charge you as the price of wasabi is not on the menu.

Come here for 5 years now and the food is always delicious and fresh. Like the other comments complaining about the interior (you come for the food right?) and about their price (if you want more just go all you can eat), it’s the quality you pay for which you can’t eat at lots of other Japanese restaurants. The service is always top notch, very friendly! Even though I don’t come often, but every time I go it’s amazing. Their tuna with qual egg is a party in your mouth. Looking forward to my next planned visit.

I recommend getting the reservation as soon as it opens. Hard to get a table as there is limit amount of table (2x2 at the bar, a table that can fit up to 3 I suppose, 2 small 2person table and a possible big table able to fit 8). As they have 2 times a month, they release their reservation for the coming month. Their dinner starts at 19:00 the amount of courses of the menu is unknown, on regular days they have also à la carte. There is only 1 chef for the cold side and 1 chef for the hot side. Also, when sushi is served, it is hard to get other tables in between as it is 1 sushi 1 course, making consumption fast. The interior is dated. It is lacking in maintenance, but it still feels cozy as the lights are dimmed. Limit drink choices; therefore, they are open to bringing outside drinks for a fee. The bar counter is reserved for regular guests, and if they are non or non-requested, they will be able to serve other guests. The staff is not highly trained, not on fine dining level, making their price point highly reached. It is better to do an izakaya to lower the level of expectation of service than an omakase, but not meet the full level. Also, they do not really explain the dishes like where the fish comes from or anything like that what you will expect of omakase. I will say their sashimi is good; their fish is good, but I am not sure their knife skill is up to the level. Their sushi rice is good. Also, strangely, is that their soy sauce is a bit sweet. The good thing is fresh ground wasabi, what I less like is that they stated when requested for extra things (like wasabi) there can be cost to it. What I do not like, it seems like cannot get extra pepper and salt to your dish. There is clearly different in level between the hot and cold dishes. The dishes are not fully though about. Like the soup with egg white with truffle, as the soup is very delicate flavors with the strong flavors of the truffle over ruling the whole dish but if you cut the big disk in smaller pieces it comes in better harmony. What you also can notice is how you get treated between regular guest and non-regular ones. like extra courses and options. Not judges, as I am not sure how they have come to an agreement. But I suppose all guests should be treated the same and if some do needs to pay more and some not a problem but should be an option. I recommend they should have fixed time slots to get all people in the same time as omakase does. Also, clearly the guests are not familiar with Japanese etiquette in omakase or just in general Japanese environment. Like minimal perfume use, not talking loud. I think for the price is just too little, we even went to snack bar. 2.5H lasted the omakase. There is no mention of if we are full or not as normal omakase does. Will I come back not really, this is because you need to book way in advance, the quality, price is just a bit too high for what you get and service is basic. 3.5/10