I've been here twice now, and both visits were excellent! The selection is huge, with something for everyone. The sushi was fresh, the seafood was delicious, and I loved having so many different options to choose from. Everything was well stocked, and the restaurant was clean and inviting. The staff was friendly and attentive, making sure our table was cleared and drinks were refilled throughout the meal. Even though it can get busy, the service never felt rushed. If you're looking for a place with great variety, fresh food, and a fun all-you-can-eat experience, I definitely recommend UMI. I'll absolutely be coming back again the next time I'm in Albany! read more

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This is a tough one. Several of the other detailed reviews about the food were on target, so I won't repeat what has already been written. Instead, here are my Pros and Cons: Pros There is a wide variety of seafood, the likes of what I have never seen before at a buffet (not that I do many but ...). Snails, abalone, whole fish, crab legs, stone crabs (small), crab backs, whole baby octopus, oysters (raw and cooked, fresh), squid, and shrimp offered in a variety of ways. The problem with the crabs is that they only give you a cracker; they don't provide you with a proper tool (pick) to remove the meat from the shell, and the crabs are frozen and overcooked, so it's difficult to remove the meat. Also, what they offer as "butter" tastes like old cooking oil. Ugh. Frustrating. There are also frogs legs (interesting), chicken, pork and short ribs. Plus some veggies. Something for everyone. Cons The ladies room was dirty. Really dirty. See photo of hair on counter next to sink. The sushi offerings were a series of mostly empty serving dishes of dry pieces. I love sushi and this was a real turn off. Then there was the live fly in the pudding (photo). Disgusting. The waitress was very apologetic and took 10% off our bill but I was not keen on eating anything else after that. The service was fair. Wait staff standing around chatting. Could have been a bit more attentive removing used plates. The take away is this ... would I go back? Yes, I always give a place a second change to redeem themselves. And since several people left good reviews about the hot pot, I would try that (it would be a first). But I would go there when they first open and the food is fresh and only if I was in the area. read more

Genuine waste of time. The sushi quality was very low and on par with gas station sushi. If you enjoy consuming mindlessly and don't care about quality or taste then this place could be the right fit for you! If you want something good look elsewhere, if you truly don't care then welcome home! read more

Just okay, not bad. Offers a lot for a buffet & the hot pot is included (unlimited ingredients & vegetables too)! Wouldn't have thought I would have tried (eaten years ago traveling in Asia): razor clams, snail, frog leg, crawfish, abalone cooked in different ways (a very pricey seafood- in garlic sauce with vermicelli noodles & in Buddha Jumps Over the Wall herbal soup). Other seafood items included: ONE whole lobster per person (not sure if this was specifically for the holiday), blue stone crab, crab legs, shrimp many different ways (cocktail, boiled in shell & dusted with seasoning, battered & fried for "Coconut Shrimp" kind of like sweet walnut shrimp), a raw bar area, grilled oysters, oysters & XO sauce... The sauteed string beans were good, pineapple sticky rice. The rice in the large rice cooker was large short-grain with varying types of doness (some crispy, some wet...). The short ribs, pepper beef, & pork belly cubes were lukewarm, not very flavorful & a bit tough. The dim sum options in the steamers were probably great when they first came out, but my shrimp crystal dumpling wrapper was tough and crispy on the edges & mushy shrimp & black sesame seeds inside & the lava custard bun was congealed & lukewarm. There's a few soups like hot & sour, broth for wonton, an herbal chicken & goji berry (good for eyesight). There was a dessert area with a lot of fresh fruit, cake & pudding cups (catering-like quality though), almond cookies & herbal jelly, an ice cream bar case, a few canned K-pop sodas, refrigerator of milk tea, passionfruit juice, mango sago, etc. & 3 cases of hot pot ingredients including various fish meatballs, tofu puffs, udon & potato noodles, watercress, chrysanthemum leaves, napa cabbage, mixed mushrooms, frozen thinly sliced pork belly, beef, and lamb. I didn't get to try the mad-to-order ramen & noodle soup. There's a huge sushi bar with lots of pretty bites, but items looked a bit crispy around the edges. The eel on the sushi was paper thin. The spicy tuna sushi was not. good. Have never heard of or seen the herbal soup Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. Supposedly it takes a long time to simmer & the ingredients are immune boosting & collagen rich. Broth from pork shank, chicken feet, abalone, dried scallops, mushrooms, a quail egg was also in there. It's kind of like a rich hearty dark broth with "healthy root beer" undertones. This soup only appears at the best wedding & other banquets. Try it! Final thoughts: eat anything with abalone ($$) buffet is worth it for that. Get a hot pot & warm up any seafood in the water before eating it. Lots of interesting items to try. Overall it FEELS like a buffet - big on quantity, little on quality, kind of empty. Maybe during seafood season, items would be juicy & tasty, but even the meat items felt like empty St*rbucks food. It's not a bad experience, good bang for the buck. The frog legs were literally like a chicken wing & well seasoned & spicy. The lunch pricing seems good also. read more

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Holy moly! This place is fantastic! It was about $40 a person and it was totally worth it. We added a hot pot which I believe is extra. They have a fridge with all of this food you can throw in it. I mean they have everything. I tried their sushi, fried shrimp, chicken wings, lo mein, bubble tea, hot pot with fresh veggies and beef and pork. There was so much I did not try because I was so full but they have fruit and desserts and carved turkey and lots of seafood choices! The place is super clean. The people are very very friendly. Will definitely be back soon! read more

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It was ok. The website says hot pot is included in the price but it's was very hard to understand how everything works. The hot pot is not built into the table, so I thought the hot pot was the soup offered in the buffet. Then when I was walking around I saw the items that you would use for hot pot. So I had to ask the hostess how do I get hot pot. So she tells me I have to tell the server. So I do that after I've already eaten at the buffet area. So then I walking around looking for the stuff I want to use in my hot pot and I see they have a Ramen and hibachi area in the back. Made to order Ramen. I had went looking for a large soup bowl I had seen another customer with. You need the big soup bowl with the hot pot because it's way to hot to eat out of the hot pot they serve it in. Also there are not many vegetables offered. There's a refrigerator in the back that has some vegetables but there's not a big selection. Its very confusing. I think they need to ask when people go in if they had been in before, if not they should give them the information and location of the different selections that are available. I feel like there's to much offered and some areas are lacking. This was not a hot pot experience that im used to. read more

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Technically the best all you can eat restaurant in Albany with a nice clean appearance. Staff is nice, variety in food is great, and quality is above average. The nigiri options outside of salmon are a bit dry; but honestly, the variety and options compensate for that. Also who can be mad at unlimited milk tea and caviar? Also this place implemented an automatic 12% tip so you don't need to feel compelled to tip 18-20% read more

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I thought about how I should make this review and it still falls so low! To start, their Chinese food containing lo mien, dumplings and more was really good!! The fried rice was delicious!! Then, getting into the seafood was a different story. The squid was cooked tough, crawfish had an off taste. Oysters were too slimy. Moving on to my least favorite. The sushi was terrible. Probably one of the worsts I've ever had, if not THE worst! Everything was made with imitation crab but even that was disgusting. The nigiri was sitting for so long that it was turning color. I also cannot forget the massive flies circling the tables!! And!!!! It was so unbelievably expensive. Save your life and money & go ANYWHERE else!!! (My positive is that the pork was delicious) read more

Umi Sushi & Seafood Buffet - Buffets Near Me - Albany, New York

Never trust a 3 star review what a awesome place I tried five new foods I've never had before and it was all amazing. I've tried about everything and this place has a stellar choice group of unique and interesting delicatessens read more

The food is worth the money. Love the hot pot also. A lot of seafood. Lobster anyway you want it . Also crab,shrimp so delicious

Big Asian seafood and sushi buffet on Central Ave in the northwest Albany. Nice bright interior. Went there for dinner and they have a pretty good selection. Multiple types of crab and other seafood (both cooked and raw), a sizable selection of sushi (which I did not try), and a ramen bar. You can also get hotpot with different soup bases, and they have an open fridge with hotpot ingredients that you can pick out. I mostly focused on the seafood and the hotpot. The snow crab legs were okay, crab claws were meh. But some of the cooked items like the baked oysters, abalone and the big fish (turbot? probably halibut) were pretty decent. Got the mushroom soup base hotpot which has good flavor. It's a buffet so the sliced hotpot meats are of passable quality, but it's good way to cook up some veggies, as the selection of cooked vegetable dishes is not as robust compared to everything else. Decent selection of desserts. They have the little containers of ice cream which were pretty good as they were not super sweet, but sweet enough. Dinner prices are $37, which is not cheap, but considering the selection of seafood, it's not a bad deal. read more

Umi Sushi & Seafood Buffet - seafood plate - Buffets Near Me - Albany, New York

Now we are talking...this is a BUFFET...compared to the last one I went too in Kingston Mid Hudson Buffet. We are talking Sushi/King Crab Legs/ Sea Food Galore. I highly recommend this place. read more

Lee -- the manager completely disrespected my brother. My brother went there for his birthday and found a piece of metal in his meal. After finding it he alerted staff and the manager explained that it was a piece of the scrubber from when the pans are washed and that he could give my brother $2 off. In response to that my brother explained that it was his birthday and he was dissatisfied with the service, and asked to get his meal covered. Completely reasonable. The manager then proceeds to go back and forth disrespecting, gaslighting, and insulting my brother saying that my brother was being "that guy". Only to give him a 50% discount. While the 50% was reasonable, the discourse from the manager completely ruined his experience and lunch on his birthday. Management needs a refresher on customer service training and guest satisfaction. Having worked in customer service myself, I'm appalled by how this interaction played out and that any guest after eating food with cleaning product in it should need to ask for their meal to be covered in the first place. Umi Sushi I truly hope you take this review into account and do better altogether you have lost my respect and customers in us until this have been resolved. read more

I love this place! I go with my best friend at least once a month. There is so many options to satisfy my palate.

When driving down Central Ave you cannot miss the bright florescent Umi. My friend and I were starving and figured why not a buffet. The buffet price is 35$ with a mandatory 12% service charge. There are 6 buffet sections and several coolers for hot pot ingredients. I had mixed experiences with the seafood. The raw and casino oysters were not to my liking but the shashimi and rolls were decent. The selection of pork and beef was large but many pieces were fatty. The Hot pot was my favorite because you could customize the items. We tried udon noodles tons of mushrooms shrimp and pork belly. The drink items are an additional cost and there is no liquor license from what I could tell. The part of dinner that turned me off from returning was the cleanliness of the ladies room. Absolutely foul after checking each stall and quickly running back to the table. Hopefully the owners can reform the cleaning policy as soon as possible. read more

I was a little hesitant about this buffet since it's part of a chain. I figured that could be good or really bad. It's brought to you by the same people who own the Union seafood restaurant and JiBeiChuan Rice Noodles. As many reviewers pointed out, it is crazy there. A mind boggling amount of food. We got there at about 11:30am on a Friday. The goal was to get there early because my husband doesn't like buffets and worries about the food sitting around too long. The restaurant opens at 11am. By the time we got there the place was already packed. There were easily 100 people there including about 20-30 staffers. The large staff was young, helpful and attentive. They brought me an iced tea and told me to help myself to the buffet. The clean plates are stored in the buffet tables--FYI-- but I didn't realize that. The employees rushed to reroute me and give me a clean plate when they saw me mistakenly heading for the cart where the used dishes were being stacked for cleaning. The food is Asian cuisine so I wasn't surprised that the crab and shrimp were still in shell or that the fish was served with skin on and not deboned. It was all quite delicious. I thought the sushi, sashimi, poke and seaweed salad were good, too. The restaurant is clean. It's attractive. It is the largest buffet that I've ever been to. The staff seems to do a good job of watching when to replenish the trays to keep them full and fresh. Our lunch cost us about $47 for two people. My husband said he was glad he came but no buffet was ever going to win him over. As for me, I'm not a big eater and I couldn't possibly eat enough to make "an all you can eat buffet" worth my while. I never even reached the bbq meat area or the ramen noodle section. Pastries? Well, they looked good from afar. I thank my fellow Yelp Elites for recommending this place to me. As they've pointed out, it's probably best to show up hungry. read more

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It just wasn't fresh or good food. Friend got a hotpot that was very disappointing. Watery unflavorful broth with a slimy mushrooms and frozen boxes of meat... My friend asked for a water, they gave him a sprite. We mentioned this and they gave him water that tasted like it was mixed with pine sol... I stuck to the buffet and I'd say it isn't really worth more than your average 10.99 Chinese buffet... and even then you may find better quality food at the Chinese buffet...Sure Umi has a large selection of food but if the food isn't good then what's the point of paying so much money? Just go to Volcano, Mosu, or Wasabi instead of wasting your money here... read more

It's buffet. So the food changes and some days it's worth the $33 plus automatic 12% gratuity. The service is fine and the ambience, like the menu depends on the day and time. It's great to people watch at lunch. read more

Disgusting parking lot full of garbage. Manager is rude. Got there at 3:15 for lunch buffet told I could not get lunch because they were in the process of changing to dinner. Sign says Lunch to 3:30. In addition the price is advertised as 21.99 they add a service charge which brings the price up to 27.99 what a bunch of crap. I will never walk into this place again. read more

I think I've written 2 reviews in my whole life but felt the need to write one for this. I went with a friend and we both had EXTREME cases of food poisoning after dinner here. So bad that we both had to take the day off work (I've only called in sick to work once in my life prior to this, it was bad...). We shared no other meals, this was the only common thing we ate. I've had similar symptoms only one other time in my life. The food was OK while there but this whole experience was really awful. read more

Huge selection of hot and cold dishes. sushi, sashimi, rices, seafood, Ramen, and hot pot. My only complaints were. #1 The crab legs were overcooked and impossible to get out of the shells. #2 Some of the seafood that were cooked in sauces were left in the shell and messy to get out of the shells. read more

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Great collection of great seafood and sushi Highly recommend. Crabs are amazing and great service. read more

Umi Sushi & Seafood Buffet - Great selection of fresh seafood! - Buffets Near Me - Albany, New York

The positives are the service and the selection. The negative is that a selection of mediocre food is not what you want. Tons of sushi, tons of fried food, lots of raw fish. But none of it stands out. Great selection of drinks--nice variety of boba. Would I return? Absolutely not. read more

Vegetarian's experience here - the hot pot with all the tofu and vegetables is the best choice. I was told the spicy and the mushroom base were vegetarian as well as tomato. I really enjoyed all the topping you can mix to dip cooked food into. There was one sushi choice and tamago. Unfortunately the ramen broth all has meat as that would have been better. Staff very nice and efficient. Overall ok, probably won't return very often but that's ok being vegetarian. read more

Umi Sushi & Seafood Buffet - Vegetarian hot pot selection - Buffets Near Me - Albany, New York

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Uggghh!!! Went for lunch. Dirty/filthy, and overpriced for what's on the buffet for lunch. Didn't feel good about 2hrs after eating there. read more

I am a frequent flier at Umi! I do takeout at least once a week. The sushi is fresh and delicious, and their prices are great. The staff is extremely friendly and accommodating. Umi is easily the best all you can eat takeout in the Albany area. So many choices, so little time! I need a bigger stomach! Lol! read more

The restaurant is clean and modern, the staff is very friendly. The food was pretty good. Nothing to write home about.

I came today on opening day, I did not have expectations but when I walked in I saw 2 things- It was moderately fancy and seating was very cramped. I looked around the buffet and saw that there was a lot of seafood and desert for some reason. Some seafood was raw, some cooked. Some options for the non seafood eaters, hotpot and ramen. Service was good. Buffet options for non seafood were limited. Overall I would say that if you like seafood, and don't care about anything else, come here. Otherwise I would go to other buffets in the area. read more

Not what I expected for the price. Food was cold! Crab legs were cold and bland, shrimp had veins left in them, lobster tails dry as hell, seafood boil was cold and full of margarine, instead of butter. Just real nasty... . I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. However, I would like to mention the service was great!!! read more

Excellent number of different food choices. Servers were very attentive. The price was very reasonable

Came for lunch. Food was fresh and constantly rotated. There is an abundance of different things to try. So much seafood. There was lobster and then fried lobster. My niece loved the pork belly. The lomein was tasty also and not mushy. The soup was delicious. There was so much seafood and meat and dessert and drinks, you can definitely get your money's worth. read more

This place is a step above other Asian buffets. I stopped in for dinner, and around 7 PM on a Monday they were packed. There were seats available though, and there was no wait. It was about $40 for dinner, and I advise you come very hungry. They have hot pot, a good amount of seafood (shrimp, snow crab, rock crab claws, oysters, clams...), and very good sushi. I mostly ate sushi and it was all very fresh. I like this place more than others because they have traditional dishes you might not find elsewhere. It was fun to try new things. They have a really nice drink selection of bubble teas, Chinese and Japanese sodas, and more. The dessert was ok - ice cream and the standard buffet desserts. I only had one problem... no crackers for the crab shells. It was hard to get the meat out. Could not find them anywhere. It was very clean though, and staff was quick and kept everything clean. Would recommend! read more

The food in the buffet was kept hot and fresh with a decent variety. Unlike other buffets in the area, this one was well lit and appeared modern. You get a lobster included in the price. The price is a bit more than other buffets in the area, but for what you get, its good. My only complaint was that I noticed some of the plates were dirty when I picked them up. Just make sure you get a clean plate. That's the only thing that stops this from being 5 stars. read more

This was my first time at this buffet. I went out on a Saturday at 12:30pm and I had a larger party with me. They wouldn't seat us until the entire party was present. Pay attention to the signage. On the weekend you will pay the dinner price. You only have two hours to eat and as soon as you sit down they start the clock. The buffet was vast, lots of variety. Some of the items on the buffet are pretty typical for a Chinese buffet, like the chicken and broccoli, or fried cheese wonton. But there are some more unique items on the buffet that may not be typical to someone doesn't eat traditional Asian food. I definitely saw fried frog legs, snails, pickled chicken feet. The fried frog legs were pretty good, well seasoned and fresh. Fried chicken was very good. I was excited to see duck but unfortunately it was on the cold bar. The lamb was seasoned well but gamey, and the Soft fried crab was unseasoned and very fishy. There was also sushi available and hot pot was an option as well. There was a full fridge full of hot pot meats and vegetables for cooking. There is also a nice display of dessert, fruits and a fridge of bubble tea. If you dine in the bubble teas are included in the meal, but if you're taking out, bubble tea it's additional $2.99. Overall, I would say I enjoyed this experience. The restaurant was clean, bathrooms were clean, food was good, and the table service was good. read more

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This restaraunt had all my favorite foods here!, I really recommend going to this restaraunt their enviorment is really clean and overall awesome!! read more

At the beginning this place was very taisty. All foos was fresh and cooked well. During the time UMI slowing down. Yesterday, 5/2/25, sushi was dry (not fresh), crab legs, asparagus was row (not enough cooked). What is going on with them? read more

Only point they are getting is because the staff was helping and nice. Other than that everything is garbage and the unfulfilled feeling you suppose to have from visiting a buffet. On the other hand if you want a stomach clean out that's the perfect place to visit . read more

We have visited UMI once for dinner and once for lunch. Both times the food was very good. Fresh, attractively displayed and delicious! Plenty of crab legs, shrimp, Jonah crabs, clams... sashimi, sushi rolls, hot pots, ramen and many other options. Service was good both times and the restaurant was clean and brightly decorated! For all of the offerings the price is reasonable! For those stating negative reviews... my guess is that nothing would be good enough! read more

Wow, this place is crazy. So much food, a variety of different food selection. Everything was so good and fresh. The staff were so friendly and super nice. read more

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The food doesn't look appetizing made me lose my appetite. Last time I went I got food poisoning.