Umaya Izakaya

Great service. Cozy place. Food was good, but not outstanding. My son liked it more than I did. Our server was very friendly. Tea: is a tea bag in the cup. I had chirashi. My son has eel. All in all it was ok for my taste.

I came here with some colleagues for lunch, and I was pretty impressed. The spicy chicken rice bowl was actually spicy, which I liked. Our server was super nice. He gave us recommendations and was quite attentive to our table. The atmosphere was very laid back, quiet, and peaceful. If you're in the DC area, definitely give Umaya Izakaya a try.

UMAYA IZAKAYA has for eight years served delicious vegan, gluten free, and conventional Japanese meals in its comfortable eatery. Prices are moderate considering the location. Our knowledgeable and friendly server easily described the menu and the ingredients incorporated into each dish. The menu contains both conventional, gluten free, and vegan entrees. I ordered the vegan Japanese fried rice. The generous serving included white rice, edamame, carrots, bean sprouts, and ginger. It arrived mildly spiced. However, preferring food with a bit of a bite, I asked the server for a pepper seasoning. Moments later, she returned carrying a small dish of the Chief's peppery spice mix. A light sprinkle of the tangy spice produced the requested warmth. My wife's large serving of Chicken Teriyaki included chicken, scallions, carrots and a delicious teriyaki sauce, served with white rice. It was richly flavored and according to my wife, delicious. Several varieties of sake are available, which maybe served either heated or chilled. With the exception of the raised booths in front of the aquarium, everything is ADA compatible. Patio seating is available. STUFF: Chef Charles Zhou opened Umaya Izakaya in 2017. "Izakaya" translates as "Stay-Drink-Place." At the original Japanese Izakaya, hors d'oeuvres served as an inducement to consume more sake. Over the years the original bar foods became deliciously complex.

I've enjoyed this place! I have had SO much from here. Umaya has STEPPED IN for me. I've had their sashimi multiple times-- delicious. And lately, many skewers. I've had their duck yakitori, as well as scallop, king oyster, asparagus robotayaki, tuna tataki along with their chicken and veggie gyoza as well, which they've featured BOGO deals on which is great! I also tried their ube cheesecake which is one of the only sweet things I've been able to finish in a long time. Very good. I do agree the portions are small for the price, it works for me currently. UPDATE: Still eating from here and am happy. Got their aspargus, seasoned egg, and they also had BOGO on their chicken potstickers! It's nice to see them to do a deal because of their generally small portions. The BOGO deal on the chicken potstickers made them feel worth it. At $2 a spear, the asparagus is hard to justify, but some days I splurge on food. They also include a sauce, IDK what it is haha, it's green and I believe it has yuzu in it but it's good. I also got a seasoned egg. Came in a to-go container with juice that leaked all into the bag? I've never got a seasoned/ramen egg served like this. At first I thought I was mistakenly sent soup. I didn't eat it because of the mess. My main complaint is--they have condiment cups, that's what they give the green/yuzu sauce in. Why not use those for soy sauce as well? For soy sauce they just give you packets. It's annoying and not ideal. Just rip open a packet into your to-go container of potstickers. This is not ideal. Give me a cup to dip in please!

Freshly prepared, delicious food. We ordered garden roll, house salad and the chicken meatball skewers.

We went as a family of 7, and we were served with the worst food ever. We didn’t even touch our food. It was bad look and taste. And on top of that, when we get up to leave, no one even bothered to come and check what happened. They are the worst. Poor service, bad attitude and they charged us $150 for the food we didn’t even eat. So disappointing. They don’t know what fresh and clean food is. I don’t recommend for any one to go!

As a huge Takoyaki veteran and lover just stopped to take some takoyaki for takeaway and eat them on the go. Even though restaurant seems japanese, standards are not. Instead of 8-10 neatly packed in long one hand-held box and covered with sauce and Katsuobushi I received two plastic containers each with 5 pure balls and sauce on the side - that was some kind of kebab-like mixed sauce somewhat spicy. If You ever tried freshly made Takoyaki You know, that it's so hot that You can burn your mouth to tears if eating too fast - not here, I was easily eating them whole as soon as I opened the boxes behind the next corner - they were clearly microwaved, quite warm at best - confirmed by the fact that food was ready for takeaway literally 2 max 3 minutes after ordering. Wouldn't recommend the place or come back, they don't keep standards to be called Izakaya to me. For 10 pieces for 20 USD also feeling somewhere on the edge of being scammed, I was hoping quality will recompensate... Stupid me I guess.

The food was mediocre and the service was terrible. I’m an Asian tourist visiting DC and I speak Japanese. One Asian female staff, speaking English with a heavy Japanese accent, told me she couldn’t speak Japanese. While I was ordering, she made exaggerated facial expressions mocking my English. At checkout, I decided not to leave a tip because of the poor service, and she didn’t even bother to say thank you — she just turned and walked away. Why should I tip for this kind of rude service? I spent $50 here and didn’t even get a simple word of appreciation.