A buffet-style restaurant that offers all-you-can-eat seafood, sashimi, ramen, hot pot, and Chinese dishes is to open April 1 in Upper Arlington.
UMI Hotpot Sushi & Seafood Buffet has had a central Ohio location in the works since May 2026, when it filed paperwork as a business with the Ohio Secretary of State’s office. The chain lists about two dozen locations around the country, mostly in the Mid-Atlantic region from New York to suburban Washington, DC.
The restaurant, at 1831 W. Henderson Road, is UMI’s first in Ohio. There are others in Indianapolis and suburban Chicago.
UMI, which means sea or ocean in Japanese, claims to serve more than 200 dishes daily at its all-you-can-eat restaurants. Featured seafood options include snow crab legs, stone crab claws and butter-baked whole crabs; lobster, prawns and shrimp; fresh and grilled oysters; and sushi, sashimi and nigiri.
The restaurant also offers all-you-can-eat ramen and Chinese hot pot, Chinese dishes such as stir-fries and grilled short ribs, dim sum and Japanese appetizers, and bubble teas and desserts.
The Upper Arlington location hasn’t posted its prices yet, but the Niles, Illinois, location advertised lunch and dinner buffet prices on March 24 of $26 and $39, respectively, for adults.
Two similar all-you-can-eat Asian buffets opened in Columbus in 2025: City Buffet, at 3670 Soldano Blvd. in the Hilltop, and The Feast Buffet, at 2620 Bethel Road on the Northwest Side.
This year, two all-you-eat sushi restaurants have opened on the Northwest Side: Hokkaido Sushi at 1466 Bethel Road and Takumi Sushi at 7370 Sawmill Road.
Follow Dispatch dining reporter Bob Vitale on Instagram at @dispatchdining. You can reach him directly at rvitale@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: UMI Hotpot Sushi & Seafood Buffet brings all-you-can-eat crab to Columbus
Reporting by Bob Vitale, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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