BY CAROLYN ONOFREY
Ichi Umi
6 East 32nd Street
K-Town
212-725-1333/ichiumi.com
With all-you-can-eat buffets a rare sight in The City, I had been waiting for the perfect time to gorge myself on Sushi at Ichi Umi. After a short trip to Connecticut, I walked down Madison Avenue to 32nd Street and into the much anticipated megalith of Sushi and other Japanese/Korean fare that housed Ichi Umi. Walking in to the enormous sushi cafeteria we had about a 30 minute wait ahead of us. The place was packed, and it was mostly with Asian people. Most always a good sign when you’re getting ready to dine at an Asian restaurant.
The interior was pleasant with a painted ceiling to look like a blue sky and other shades of blues and greens lining the walls and various lighting fixtures, all designed to mimic the waves of the ocean. Not so pleasant were the ugly tables, sticky with who knows what, set up in a cafeteria-like inspiring fashion.
Buffet at Ichi Uni
I went up to the buffet and filled my plate about three times before I hit maximum capacity. With hundreds of choices (over 50 of them sushi related) I kept myself busy with the seafood based spread. Standouts for me included the Lobster Fried Rice, a moist, slightly sweet fried rice with larger than expected chunks of lobster mixed throughout, the Kimchi, rolled up in cute little bite-size appetizer portions, and the crab cakes, with a light panko crust and a lump crab inside.
Plate of assorted sushi, raw oyster and kimchi roll at Ichi Umi
I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with most of the other options. The sushi (of all things!) was not up to par, tickling my gag reflex more than once with chewy pieces of fish and equally as chewy seaweed. Most of the other food was tough and dry, as most buffet food is but I have to admit that I was expecting more at $31.95 a pop.
Dessert was a nice way to finish the meal (even though I didn’t have much room for it) with a scoop of Red Bean and Mango ice cream.
There was even a crepe station run by the most miserable human being I have ever met in my life. Talk about someone who hates their job. As she literally threw the ingredients on to the crepe you could see her uttering a string of curses under her breath. Happy to get away from her I sat down with my bowl of ice cream and my chocolate and blueberry crepe which ended up being the best part of the meal.
On a side note, I’m sure glad I didn’t hit the bathroom until after I ate. It was in the top 3 most disgusting bathrooms I have ever seen. Without going into unnecessary detail, save yourself the trip. After dining at Ichi Umi, I understood why there just aren’t that many all-you-can-eat restaurants in Manhattan.
