UMI Hotpot Sushi & Seafood Buffet has added Tempe, Arizona, to its growing restaurant map, bringing seafood, sushi and individual hot pots to 7810 S. Priest Drive, Suite 101, across from Costco. The restaurant’s formal opening was August 26, according to local opening coverage.
That date deserves a little attention: UMI has been serving for nearly two months as of this report. Recent customer recommendations have brought it back into the conversation, but this is an August opening catching up with the Wire.
The opening report in the Arizona Chinese Times documented adult prices of $25.99 for weekday lunch and $39.99 for weekday dinner, with the dinner rate applying all day Saturday and Sunday. Those are the published opening-period prices; a newer Tempe price sheet has not been confirmed.
The appeal is having several quite reasonable dinner ambitions in one place. Seafood and sushi share the meal with hot pot, where sliced meats, shellfish, vegetables and tofu can take their turn in the broth. Local opening coverage describes spicy, tomato, mushroom and bone-broth options, along with Asian hot dishes, rice, noodles and desserts.
UMI’s national menu advertises more than 200 items daily, with snow crab legs among its featured seafood. That is a chainwide description rather than a counted inventory of the Tempe buffet. The national menu also ranges through sushi and sashimi, cooked seafood, beef, chicken, pork and hot-pot ingredients, so it offers a useful picture of the format without promising every item at every location.
The Tempe opening coverage describes a renovated dining room and a separate VIP room for group meals. The larger UMI network now reaches well beyond its East Coast markets, with restaurants listed in California, Texas, the Midwest and elsewhere. Tempe gives the brand an Arizona address for diners who previously encountered it on somebody else’s seafood-heavy vacation photos.
The official Tempe page lists an 11 a.m. opening daily, with closing at 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 p.m. Friday through Sunday. The restaurant’s phone number is 602-693-8888.
