UMI Chinese buffet opens in Ronkonkoma

It doesn't matter what they're serving on the buffet, if they have cold shrimp and crab legs, that's where you start. But there's one exception and that's the new UMI Hotpot Sushi & Seafood Buffet which opened this September in a crowded supermarket shopping center in Ronkonkoma. This sprawling Chinese buffet has the most impressive selection of fish eggs you'll ever see, with a rainbow of greens, yellows, orange, black and red, and big spoons to scoop it all up. 

What are all these fish eggs for? Unclear, but perhaps they can go atop the fresh sashimi being prepared by the line of sushi chefs behind the counter. Around the corner, there's an eye-popping assortment of cold octopus salads and Chinese offerings like chicken feet, perched on crushed ice and surrounded with beautiful decorative bonsai trees. There's also a build-your-own ramen station as well as unlimited hot pot and boba.

This chain restaurant is definitely the most impressive buffet I've seen on Long Island. And the lunch deal, which came to $30.43 after tax and service charge, had me questioning how an operation like this was even feasible. (It's literally $17 for a combo meal at White Castle right now.) Dinner at UMI is $38.99 before tax and service charge. Kids 10 and under are $15.99 and 5 and under are $10.99. 

Maybe there's profit through the sheer quantity of customers. The sprawling space, which is brightly lit with big signage like an Asian supermarket, has two separate dining rooms that were both packed during a recent lunch visit ... really important for quality control when you're talking about something like a seafood buffet.

Corporate representatives were unable to be reached, but the buffet chain seems to have gotten going shortly after the pandemic in 2022, and already sports 30 locations mostly on the East Coast and across the U.S., with eight more coming soon, according to the website. Ronkonkoma is the first Long Island location, although there are also UMI's in Queens Village, Brooklyn and the Bronx. 

There's a diverse crowd at the Ronkonkoma location, as the buffet has been designed to appeal to both an Asian and non-Asian clientele. While the sushi selection was initially the most impressive thing about the buffet, I'd actually go back for the hot pot and some of the classic Chinese buffet items that were exceptionally good here.

First you choose your hot pot base — mushroom soup, mala spicy and tubular bone, among others — and then hit the line of refrigerators which have dozens of noodles, veggies, fish cakes and frozen rolled meat slices. (My favorite were the adorable golden packages of fish cake wrapped in sweet tofu skin that's been branded with Mandarin writing.) Then a small individualized crock of totally serviceable broth gets delivered to your table and begins to boil. Was it the best hot pot I've ever had? No, but did I hate it? No. 

Bite for bite though, the best thing on the lunch menu at UMI seafood buffet is the whole shell-on shrimp, available both grilled on skewers and fried into delicious crispy shrimpies that beg to be eaten with the shell on. Also the crab rangoons were really great too. 

UMI Hotpot Sushi & Seafood Buffet, 278 Portion Rd., Ronkonkoma, 631-888-3979, umibuffet.com. Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 

By Andi Berlin

andi.berlin@newsday.com

Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.