Umiya Sushi is planned for the former Drago’s Seafood Restaurant at 3151 Johnston Street in Lafayette, Louisiana, giving the long-vacant corner at Doucet Road a new prospect: all-you-can-eat sushi, seafood and Japanese kitchen dishes.
Developing Lafayette reported October 20 that a recently filed Lafayette Consolidated Government permit under the name UMIYALA LLC points to Umiya as the incoming restaurant. The publication says renovation construction is expected to begin soon, with an estimated eight to 10 months to completion. No official opening date has been announced.
The name fills in a gap in earlier reporting. An August local report described the building’s purchase by an LLC registered to Houston businessman Yi Cheng Zheng and plans for an unidentified Texas restaurant chain. At that stage, roughly 10 months of interior renovations were anticipated.
Umiya’s established format is full-service AYCE, with dishes made to order and delivered to the table. The company’s description published by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce traces the business to Corpus Christi, Texas, and describes small portions of kitchen items alongside cooked, tempura and fresh rolls.
Sushi with a substantial supporting cast
Existing Umiya menus give a useful sense of the range. The Houston dinner menu includes nigiri and sashimi, seared sushi, specialty rolls and hand rolls, plus hibachi chicken, shrimp and steak. Gyoza, takoyaki, baked New Zealand mussels and fried oysters give the sushi bar plenty of company.
There are cooked and vegetarian rolls, teriyaki dishes, noodles and fried rice, too. The Houston menu even includes a crawfish roll. That particular introduction should be fairly painless in Lafayette.
Portions are designed for repeat ordering: Houston lists many appetizers in small servings and allows up to 20 pieces of sushi or sashimi per customer per round at dinner. Its menu also warns that leftovers are charged at à-la-carte prices. Those are examples of how an existing restaurant operates; Lafayette’s menu and dining policies are still to come.
For price context, Umiya’s San Antonio website lists $22.95 lunch and $32.95 dinner. Lafayette prices have not been announced. Some Umiya restaurants also offer hot pot, including Raleigh, North Carolina, but that option has not been confirmed for the Johnston Street project.
The address comes with a substantial restaurant résumé. Drago’s opened there September 15, 2017, and closed after service February 17, 2024. Owner Tommy Cvitanovich cited a slow start, the pandemic and rising food and operating costs when announcing the closure.
Before Drago’s, Mellow Mushroom occupied the building, closing in June 2017. Earlier tenants included Bako’s and Serrano’s Salsa Company. Umiya would bring a different dining format to that familiar address, with a longer renovation ahead than the words “coming soon” might suggest.
