The sushi was ok. Hibachi was the worst I've eaten. I was only visiting for a few days so I am not familiar on the standard for Asian/Japanese food in Michigan but the worst I've had in the NYC metro area is still a long way better than what I experienced here. Food was unbelievably dry. Two stars goes to the restaurant's decor and decent service.
Andrew Reynolds
best experience yet will definitely be coming back
W2601ZLjacksons
I Ordered the Suki Yaki Steak, and it did not disappoint. The portion size is huge, and it comes with vegetables, a small salad, miso soup, fried rice, and a small sample of shrimp. Our chef was very professional, and highly skilled. If the show is a big part of this for you, I suggest making a reservation, as the restaurant only has normal tables at busy times. Overall, a great place for a relatively nice dinner, but not over-the-top expensive.
Jessica Harris
The food and show were great as always! I was especially impressed that the chef was careful cooking around my husband's shellfish allergy.
Ronald Caldwell
The food and service was excellent! The kids had a great time. 100% would recommend!
Ryn Scott
Always have a great experience at Ukai! Worth the drive from Jackson!
amyadamy
We sat at the hibachi table, which was delicious with a great show. The chef was fun to watch, and super entertaining. My 7-month-old son was fascinated watching the flames. We also ordered an appetizer and sushi roll to the table, as you can order anything from the menu when you sit there. I went with the teriyaki salmon, which was absolutely delicious. The meal comes with soup, salad, a shrimp appetizer and the entree--definitely your money's worth. Everything was great and service was quick. My only complaint is that it's fairly loud in there, and it was at times difficult to talk.
Joshua Sutton
I keep calling around 8 or 9 pm, they close at 10 pm and they seem to always be unable to do takeout. I am paying $30 for a meal that I know can be made really quickly (you watch them make it as a show when seated and it does not take long), but you cannot serve takeout when you don't even have to serve me or seat me? It seems like their emloyees don't care about actual service and just want to get out of there. Otherwise great portions great food. I just cannot actually get my hands on it.
Sanghoon Shin
It is a nice restaurant, and I have been here many times. However, I got disappointed when I checked the credit card bill; the wrong amount was charged. It is not easy to dispute now since I am traveling abroad, so I will just forget about it :( I am giving 2 stars since food itself is good.
tprtnt
Food was excellent.... Service was excellent... I will be returning. Not new and fancy, but for sure authentic........ and again, service was excellent.
Normally great food, but, wife wanted sushi...went to AI Fusion. Great food there too!
Carly J.
Won't ever go back. We had a birthday dinner last night for a friend and they gave the reservation away, then were rude about it until my friend proved to them that she was the correct person, and they suddenly realized they made a mistake. However, they still continued to be very rude, in front of many guests. The manager didn't really care about the situation, he was more interested in the Super Bowl. We waited an hour longer than anticipated, and the food was mediocre at best. They compensated us with appetizers, however we would have rather just been seated when were were supposed to. Many of us had a long drive home.
Stacy M.
I had come here with a group of 12 people for a friends birthday. We were 15 minutes early and wanted to wait to surprise the birthday girl but the 3 host kind of insisted that we proceed to our seats, we asked why and they didn't provide an answer. While seated, we were given a waiter named Sam, who did not seem to like his job. Sam diid not provide good service because he kept forgetting things that were asked for, like literally, he had forgotten something that someone asked for every time he visited the table. The food was average, it's just basic pan-seared food with soy sauce, nothing special. I forgot to take pictures of the food, I do have a picture of the soup and salad, both of which were terrible. After eating, we waited an hour to be checked out while multiple staff members stood around. At the end, we asked Sam why was everything taking so long, he stated that he was serving all of the tables. I will not be visiting this place again, and I do not recommend others to visit. If you do, prepare to waist a lot of time.
David Priebe
Wonderful service, great food.. check it out, you wont be disappointed.
Cristina Whitehouse
My family and I used to come to Ukai when I was little, but it has been years since I have been there. We chose to come for my birthday, I thought the kids would really enjoy the way the food is prepared. I hadn't called ahead because I figured it wouldn't be busy on a Thursday- wrong! It was busy, but we were told we'd need to wait about 20 minutes. I believe that guess was pretty close to how long it took to be seated (no worse than other places), and then we were seated with another family. It's always a little surprising to sit with people you don't know, but it always works out. Anyway, the meal was very good, the server was all alone and managing everyone, it was a busy night, so all went pretty well. This place doesn't have many tables, there are either 8 or 10 tables, and they are spaced a little too close together in my opinion. Toward the end of our dinner there was a group of sorority girls that came in that were really rude and quite loud, for the sake of the employees, I hope they tipped well.
The sushi was ok. Hibachi was the worst I've eaten. I was only visiting for a few days so I am not familiar on the standard for Asian/Japanese food in Michigan but the worst I've had in the NYC metro area is still a long way better than what I experienced here. Food was unbelievably dry. Two stars goes to the restaurant's decor and decent service.
best experience yet will definitely be coming back
I Ordered the Suki Yaki Steak, and it did not disappoint. The portion size is huge, and it comes with vegetables, a small salad, miso soup, fried rice, and a small sample of shrimp. Our chef was very professional, and highly skilled. If the show is a big part of this for you, I suggest making a reservation, as the restaurant only has normal tables at busy times. Overall, a great place for a relatively nice dinner, but not over-the-top expensive.
The food and show were great as always! I was especially impressed that the chef was careful cooking around my husband's shellfish allergy.
The food and service was excellent! The kids had a great time. 100% would recommend!
Always have a great experience at Ukai! Worth the drive from Jackson!
We sat at the hibachi table, which was delicious with a great show. The chef was fun to watch, and super entertaining. My 7-month-old son was fascinated watching the flames. We also ordered an appetizer and sushi roll to the table, as you can order anything from the menu when you sit there. I went with the teriyaki salmon, which was absolutely delicious. The meal comes with soup, salad, a shrimp appetizer and the entree--definitely your money's worth. Everything was great and service was quick. My only complaint is that it's fairly loud in there, and it was at times difficult to talk.
I keep calling around 8 or 9 pm, they close at 10 pm and they seem to always be unable to do takeout. I am paying $30 for a meal that I know can be made really quickly (you watch them make it as a show when seated and it does not take long), but you cannot serve takeout when you don't even have to serve me or seat me? It seems like their emloyees don't care about actual service and just want to get out of there. Otherwise great portions great food. I just cannot actually get my hands on it.
It is a nice restaurant, and I have been here many times. However, I got disappointed when I checked the credit card bill; the wrong amount was charged. It is not easy to dispute now since I am traveling abroad, so I will just forget about it :( I am giving 2 stars since food itself is good.
Food was excellent.... Service was excellent... I will be returning. Not new and fancy, but for sure authentic........ and again, service was excellent.
Restaurantji Recommends
Normally great food, but, wife wanted sushi...went to AI Fusion. Great food there too!
Won't ever go back. We had a birthday dinner last night for a friend and they gave the reservation away, then were rude about it until my friend proved to them that she was the correct person, and they suddenly realized they made a mistake. However, they still continued to be very rude, in front of many guests. The manager didn't really care about the situation, he was more interested in the Super Bowl. We waited an hour longer than anticipated, and the food was mediocre at best. They compensated us with appetizers, however we would have rather just been seated when were were supposed to. Many of us had a long drive home.
I had come here with a group of 12 people for a friends birthday. We were 15 minutes early and wanted to wait to surprise the birthday girl but the 3 host kind of insisted that we proceed to our seats, we asked why and they didn't provide an answer. While seated, we were given a waiter named Sam, who did not seem to like his job. Sam diid not provide good service because he kept forgetting things that were asked for, like literally, he had forgotten something that someone asked for every time he visited the table. The food was average, it's just basic pan-seared food with soy sauce, nothing special. I forgot to take pictures of the food, I do have a picture of the soup and salad, both of which were terrible. After eating, we waited an hour to be checked out while multiple staff members stood around. At the end, we asked Sam why was everything taking so long, he stated that he was serving all of the tables. I will not be visiting this place again, and I do not recommend others to visit. If you do, prepare to waist a lot of time.
Wonderful service, great food.. check it out, you wont be disappointed.
My family and I used to come to Ukai when I was little, but it has been years since I have been there. We chose to come for my birthday, I thought the kids would really enjoy the way the food is prepared. I hadn't called ahead because I figured it wouldn't be busy on a Thursday- wrong! It was busy, but we were told we'd need to wait about 20 minutes. I believe that guess was pretty close to how long it took to be seated (no worse than other places), and then we were seated with another family. It's always a little surprising to sit with people you don't know, but it always works out. Anyway, the meal was very good, the server was all alone and managing everyone, it was a busy night, so all went pretty well. This place doesn't have many tables, there are either 8 or 10 tables, and they are spaced a little too close together in my opinion. Toward the end of our dinner there was a group of sorority girls that came in that were really rude and quite loud, for the sake of the employees, I hope they tipped well.