Uma Japan Eatery

We just moved from the city out to the burbs, and one of the things I know I'm going to sorely miss is a large variety of different cuisines close to home...but the Arlington Heights area is known for Japanese food, and I'ma big fan of it, especially outside the common realms of sushi and ramen. The pics of the sandwiches look nice, but I made the call to come here because of one of my favorite Japanese dishes, curry.It wasn't too busy when we came on a Friday night with our toddler. You order before being seated, so we looked at the screen and I decided on the hamburger curry, while my wife got the pork katsu and we ordered a pork bun for our little one. The kind person taking our order let us know she was going to tell the kitchen to remove the spicy seasoning from the bun.I was pleasantly surprised to find my wife's and my entree came with both access to their salad bar and a miso soup. I have to shout out the soup - we all know how miso soups look generally, but here it feels like they make it in house and not just out of a mix? It definitely looked unique.The curry was amazing. I've made it a lot at home, usually by creating my own pork broth then mixing in the boxed Japanese curry roux blocks. Their curry here though was exceptionally rich and beefy. Lots of box curries trend toward sweetness, but this was umami all the way. I even got a little piece of fried chicken on the side. My son's bun was cooked perfectly, and the pork wasn't too chewy while still being tender, and it even had a little American flag on top. My wife also liked her dish and we both agreed this was a place we had to return to.The staff was super friendly and we had no problems being there with a 2 year old. Highly recommend whether you're a Japanese food expert or looking to expand past raw fish and noodles.

What a hidden gem! Tucked away in the corner of a Lowe's and Goodwill is this delicious Japanese shop (renamed Ramen USA). The ambiance of the restaurant is super fun with Japanese ramen shop decor all around and cute little carts for cutlery and seasoning. The food took a little bit to arrive as everything is made to order but it was well worth the wait. The standard Champ Ramen is *loaded* with meats... thick slices of pork, tons of seafood, and perfectly chewy ramen round out a steal of a meal. Our takoyaki balls were perfectly chewy and fried. The flavors on the sweet and savory sauced pork cutlet hit the spot complementing our bowl of ramen. They knew what they were doing giving a complementary piece of chicken karaage too... I don't remember having chicken so tender and juicy. It definitely reset my standards for freshly fried chicken karaage (yes, we ordered a full side after that one piece). Add in the complementary hot teas, incredible value, and extremely friendly service - easy five star review. Glad we stumbled upon this place, definitely check it out - we'll be back.

We arrived at their opening hour, 11:30am on Friday. They opened the door on time, we immediately got a table near the window. There are maybe 5 or 6 tables, so seating was pretty limited. Hand sanitizer bottles are everywhere, bathroom was nice and clean. We ordered and paid at cashier first, then got a table. I could see that they take this COVID-time seriously. I appreciate their effort for such a tough time!Our order: -Potato salad-BIG fried pork cutlet sandwich w/corn soup-Pick-two lunch box w/chicken nanban and Demi glacé HamburgAppetizerThey offer 5 complimentary small cups of appetizers. 1. Cheddar cheese, cubed Ham, and pickled olive2. Seaweed salad3. Potato salad4. Imitation Crab - Mayo salad5: Cheese cake cubeAll tasted good. I especially liked the potato salad and pickled olive. In an Italian chain restaurant nearby, their olives were "hit or miss". But this place's olives were nicely done!If we knew they offered a complimentary cup of potato salad, we might order something else, but it tasted good - so not a big deal. Miso soup - 5 stars out of 5 Good dashi flavor. Nice and hot. Classic taste, no complaint. Corn soup - 5 stars out of 5 Rather gentle milky flavor than peppery. Lots of corn pulp on the bottom. Great soup! BIG fried pork cutlet sandwich - 5 stars out of 5 This item was recommended by our friends. And I am glad they were right about it! Pork was cooked crispy outside, juicy inside. Bread had a nice color outside and still fluffy. Sauce is my favorite Aurora sauce (Japanese mayonnaise and ketchup). The name BIG was not a lie. It's HUGE! Probably the biggest pork sandwich I have ever seen in my life? LOL So cost performance is really good, considering the leftover snack for later. Demi glacé Hamburg - 5 stars out of 5Hamburg was properly cooked, nice and juicy. Carrot and broccoli were fresh and matching well with Demi glacé. I really liked their Demi glacé. I think a little "sourness" was the key to make it taste more refreshing, even though it is beef. So I do recommend this dish to first-timers! Chicken Nanban - 3 stars out of 5 Chicken was juicy and soft inside. But unfortunately, it was a little too oily for me. They offered fried egg roll and fried gyoza as sides, they were a little too dry. To be fair, we arrived right at the opening time, so maybe fryer equipment was not quite ready. But from this experience, I would try more grilled foods than fried ones. Over all experience, I rate 5 stars! They got great signature dishes! My dish of the day was BIG pork sandwich, but the Demi glacé Hamburg had great flavor too. I liked the polite employee, cleanliness of the bathroom, sunny window seats, and atmosphere of Japanese family restaurants. To try home-made style Japanese dishes, I recommend here!

We got here around 11:45am and decided to do a carry out since the sitting area was pretty small. Ordered the bento box with beef curry and pork cutlets and big pork cutlets sandwich. Both dishes were very filling and the bento box came with lots of side dishes. I would definitely be back for pork cutlets sandwich but the bento box was ok. The beef curry was very delicious but the pork cutlets was too hard and almost tasted like a store bought/frozen cutlet. Most of their side dishes also tasted like frozen foods. There was only one person eating inside the restaurant. I don't know if they had many other to-go orders or what. But it took +30 mins to get my orders. So in the future if anyone wants to order take outs, recommend to order ahead.

Why have I not heard about this til now?This place is located inside a strip mall but it does have some legit Japanese food!I have never had Mentai pasta before and it's spicy and good. We also got other Japanese food ( tonkatsu, omelette rice, sushi) but they were all in my belly before we get a chance to take a picture.I would definitely go back and you could order via their text system too!

This place is a hidden gem for sure. The food is amazing and authentic. Very clean and the service is excellent! Of course I stuffed my face before taking a photo, but my friend and I ordered two combos and a side of ginger pork and OMG that pork was the star of the show for me! The shrimp and oysters were fresh and the fried meatloaf was really good too. We had the fried chicken which is never a bad choice. Definitely coming back here to try other dishes. You're getting quality clean authentic food for the right price.

Great customer service. The food does take a little time to come out but the food is quality. The champ ramen portion size is big for its price. All the combos are good. Will need to keep on coming to try the different menu items

Everything Uma serves is top-notch! Ramen, gyoza, tonkatsu, everything! All tucked into a cozy corner of a strip mall. Highly recommended!

We are loyal a customer for Umcamon after the pandemic hit and afterwards they closed. I'm glad there Uma Japan eatery. I have my Japanese pork katsu fixed! We ordered:Bento box you pick 2 : $12.50Yakiniku and Japanese hamburger. When you mentioned Japanese hamburger is meatloaf with sauce and rice. It was good!! The bento came with rice, fried spring roll and gyoza also miso soup. The amount of this lunch box is good portion and match with the priceBreaded pork sauce cutlet bowl $12.50The best! Crunchy, the sauce and the rice just right! It comes with miso soup. I'll be back for this! Panko fried meatloaf $5.99It's a lot! The sauce is the best. I'm can't finish this after ate my bento box Takoyaki $5.99 for 5 PiecesI thought it too pricey but the octopus inside the takoyaki is very generous! The taste better than mitsuwa. Bottom line: the price and the food is good. Just right. Not too expensive no too little. I'll be back to order and try other bento or sushi. You can eat there with vaccine card but the place is small and the wait for the food a bit long. I prefer order to go.

Champ Ramen is big and tasty. Layers and layers of flavor. Soo much of seafood pieces almost seems like there are endless discovery. So happy Rediscovered Uma again.