There are three varieties of sushi bars on Long Island: the cozy neighborhood joint, the intimate chef-driven spot and the giant blowout restaurant. The impressive new Umami falls into the blowout category, although its highly segmented minimalist dining room is more in line with the smaller chef-driven spots. You can sit at the brightly lit sushi bar and work your way through a 13-course omakase dinner, for example, or enjoy a looser meal in one of the many wood paneled dining nooks near the windows.
(The parking lot view of suburban Albertson is nothing special, but it's nice to have some natural light flowing in.) And then of course there are the circular booths up at the front, surrounded by a cage of light wood panels that shoot down from above like octopus tentacles. The Japanese restaurant, now in its third iteration, has taken the look of something you'd see in Flushing, Queens: showy, slick and spendy.
The building was previously home to Hokkaido and then in 2011 became Sakaya, both of which served sushi and hibachi. New owner Alex Dai worked as a sushi chef at Sakaya, and took over the restaurant when his former boss retired last year. Dai did a complete remodel and ditched the hibachi grills, turning the space into a private dining area.
He is flying his fish in daily from Japan. “He is a very talented chef,” said manager Joey Tse. “He wanted a more traditional sushi feel, wanted to create a restaurant that's more adult, more upscale.
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