Utamaro Japanese Restaurant

We tried this little Japanese restaurant only by all the positive ratings. It's in the heart of downtown Sarasota. The interior is sparse, nothing fancy. If you're a sushi fan, this is the place to go! I've been to numerous sushi places in the USA and abroad. Utamaro is probably the best of them all. They're very generous on the size of the cuts of fish - the largest I've seen so far. All of the sushi we had was excellent. They have a large selection of rolls too. I'm not a huge roll guy, but try the Manhattan rolls. Totally AMAZING!! Try Utamaro thr next time you're in the mood for sushi. You can thank me later.

Gave this place a try because of a friend who kept saying it's the best sushi in the area. It's quite nice. Went in on a sunday afternoon. When we got there, noone was there, and 2 other parties rolled in 20 minutes after us. If you don't want the placed packed, pick sunday rather than saturday/friday. Ginger dressing salad and miso soup came out, and they were delicious. Got us sushi combo (12 sushi nigiri and 1 tuna roll) and medusa roll. Sushi combo let us try the fish we never tried before. Didn't like all of them, but none of them had bad smell or taste. It was just a preference thing. Medusa roll was good, eel sauce they put on top was a little overbearing, but overall, still very fresh tasting roll. Udon was ordered for the kid, not crazy good (i can make it better at home) but we went there for sushi, so I won't knock a star off becaues of mediocre udon. Server (Wynn) was very nice and attentive. Price is a little on the high side, but environment and downtown location probably justifies the higher price than average. Will probably return when i crave something special. Note : parking can be a little tricky during peak time as there are limited number of spaces. Yes you can find spots for sure, but you might have to park a few minutes away if you can't find anything close.

best sushi in town. We come every weekend almost. Everything is incredibly fresh- we dove right in before being able to snag a picture. Much of the fish melts in your mouth and is consistent. The team gets in fresh fish and it brings me right back to Japan. Quality sake options for reasonable prices. Highly recommend the triple tail roll and the Manhattan! Fabulous. Wonderful servers and sushi chefs also. Photo is a random roll we modified.

Incredible. We ordered the lunch special (bagel roll and bang roll), the siesta specialty roll, and the volcano speciality roll. Everything was very good, I recommend all of these. The lunch special is very cheap and comes with soup or salad. Our waiter was very friendly. I recommend!!!! We went around noon and it was pretty packed, most likely from all of the people who work in an office nearby. There are two big tables of 8, then multiple 4 tops and 2 tops.

Let me start off by saying the staff here are exceptional. I ordered two sushi rolls, two salads , and two bento boxes. The bento boxes were awful and chicken was off that day. I've been here before and didn't have an issue. I wasn't going to say anything but server could see something wasn't right. He asked a third time if everything was OK and I was honest. He took both dishes off the bill and said hey we don't want you paying for something you don't like. Very professional and I highly recommend.

I mean…. This place has become my girlfriend & I’s Favorite new Sushi spot! Absolutely delicious as well as you can see & taste the quality in the Seafood. The JALA POPPER is my favorite appetizer, tuna stuffed tempura Jalapeños I mean come on! 🤤 Our last visits Sushi was the Volcano roll & a Sweet potato( I know veggie roll, but it’s outstanding! ) It’s a must to visit them downtown when you’re in SRQ! I’ve even had their signature UTAMARO roll & that blew me away. So what are you waiting for get there now! Get some Sake while your at it too👍🏼

Very small restaurant (which I prefer!). Sashimi list is sparse. Specialty roll list looks long but too many of them are almost identical. Steamed pork buns were the star of the meal! Just perfect in every way. If were not for these, the rating would be 3 stars instead of 4. Tried sashimi yellow tail, salmon, salmon roe. Very nice portions for the price. Salmon & yellow tail were good, but not great. Fresh, but not as velvety soft and rich as it should be. The salmon was leaning toward neutral flavor and was almost fibrous. Not sure what happened there. Salmon roe was exquisite. Tried 3 very different rolls, but all of them tasted incredibly similar. They were quite good generally speaking and I'm sure the casual sushi goer would love them. But they were very "one note" and the main ingredients were just kind of lost. This restaurant is perfect for the semi-rednecks that were there... loud talking, tactless, t-shirt & flip flop wearing folks... the type that order California rolls because they love "sushi." Very down the middle flavors with fish flavors neatly hidden away from the palate. Side note: maybe don't use the restrooms for storage and install a toilet paper holder. Such a stereotype for Asian places to have junky restrooms. Rise above.