Over the past 2 months I’ve had the privilege of getting to work at Utage Sushi bar I’m so happy I’ve gotten to expand my serving experience and have gotten to meet a lot of amazing people while also having a great time in a great atmosphere. It’s sad that former employees and colleagues who have already moved onto other jobs are consistently attacking the owners and sending them hateful messages trying desperately to make them feel bad for firing them after they had stolen , borrowed money without paying it back , treated other servers and the owners with the most disrespect you could imagine , breaking into the restaurant after hours and so much more. I’m so happy that the restaurant is onto better things and has some of the sweetest servers. I’m proud that I’ve gotten to work there this summer before going to college and that I’ve gotten to meet tons of amazing customers.

If you're in downtown Athens, it's definitely a must to visit here! Great food for college students and for anyone who wants sushi. It's really nice to still see a local restaurant and not the usual saturated franchises stuck in Athens. And the atmosphere is a really cool ol'school bar+asian influences design. I came here with my friends and the servers were genuinely great and the rolls are to die for! Oh and their deal for choosing 3 FILLING rolls for $33 is a steal😆 I see a lot of people complain about prices and changes but honestly in today's inflation it only is fair(just look at sushi at publix or kroger). Plus it's in downtown Athens, which you're already lucky not to spend an arm and a leg(if you're not getting takeout food lol) I'll also say I came here awhile ago and noticed its under a new management. I remember before it felt cluttered and messy(kind of like a trashy bar) but now its much better. Plus it's nice to look at a cohesive and pleasant menu, definitely fits in with the current times. Overall great restaurant, great service, great location and great

Great experience. We ordered three rolls and all of them were very tasty. Our server was attentive and the food came out quickly. Thanks for a great meal!

Very nice service, delicious sushi, and soup. We definitely recommend trying.

Okay, so let me first state that I recently moved to Athens from greenville Sc. My boyfriend and I were looking for a sushi place that was authentic with great food. This did not fit the bill. I normally can eat anything and everything, albeit some textures I can’t eat. The fried rice my daughter had, was flavorless and had frozen veggies. The chicken Katsu curry my boyfriend got was flavorless, it literally tasted like unseasoned fried chicken with a curry that tasted like a diluted version of the real deal. I had two rolls, the fish was a fattier fish (they try to cut down on the price with a different cut of the fish) and I didn’t care for the texture of my other roll. I was extremely disappointed because I seen the reviews and made My decision to try to it out based off what everyone was saying. I will say, the service was great. Our waitress was really sweet and attentive. But If you like authentic sushi and/or Japanese food this is not the place for you. I’m gonna have to do some research to find a good place. Sincerely, not a Karen.

I'm not quite mad, but I am a little disappointed Quick service, loved the waitress - prompt and funny and brought everything great. Food was not good though. Tuna rolls we're more like tuna paste (look at the pic?). Ramen was a giant bowl of ramen noodles in a bland pork broth. Meh. Won't try it again, sorry.

There were only 3 staff members working when my group came to Utage. The hostess was trying her best to be a server, and the manager (who was our server) had to go in the back to help the cook. I ordered the chicken fried rice because it seemed like a safe food option. I’m not from Athens, so I always pick a safe food when ordering new places. There was no soy sauce on the fried rice, which was odd but I put some on and added the “yum yum sauce”. I wish I tasted the sauce first because it was SOURED. But, I ate about half my meal because maybe it was just the flavor or their sauce, a bit sweet. Nope. Less than 2 hours later, I was violently throwing up. It’s been almost 36 hours since I’ve eaten there, and I still can’t keep any food down. 1/5, 0/5 if I could rate that low.

I went for dinner at 5pm when it was empty, and the atmosphere was too quiet for my liking, but the service was friendly and the food was great! Everyone enjoyed their sushi. Prices are just okay, but you probably can't do much better for sushi in downtown.

Server was really nice: however, this was unable to save us from the food. Ordered the domo plate, veggie tempura plate, bagel roll, and a chicken karaage ramen with tonkotsu broth. The tuna sashimi tasted frozen and bland. The octopus was really chewy and rubbery. The saving grace for me was the salmon pieces that were somewhat decent. I really enjoyed how nice the server was. He was genuine and very helpful. If you're looking for good sushi, this place would not be it.

The food and customer service was amazing here and the environment was warm and welcoming. John Isaac was our server and he was such a pleasure to be around. We got seated right away and got our food so fast! My husband and I ordered ramen and the serving sizes were HUGE. Well worth the price! We love ramen and this is definitely the best ramen place in Athens that we’ve found. We will definitely be back here to try the sushi and other ramen!

Delicious, as usual.. perfect Valentine's sushi dinner! Thanks Lia for great service!

She argued with our two black friends about the ritos and protests, which is completely unprofessional. She wouldn’t listen to their points (even though he was being very peaceful and polite) and just yelled at us.

The waitress' political and social views were unwanted and quite aggressive but the ramen was on point, three stars.

We had a great time at this Japanese restaurant just recently. The food was tasty, and the best thing of all was that it was reasonably priced. John-Isaac was our server, and he made the experience quick memorable. We look-forward to returning sometime soon.

Get the rainbow roll!

I really hate to throw down the one star, but this place has gone down hill badly since the change in ownership. It used to be our go-to for good sushi in town but we went there for my wife's birthday and it was just...not good. The agedashi tofu which used to be good was just...fried tofu. where is the dashi? That's a broth. The vegetable appetizer was literally four pieces for $7 and the asparagus was 3/4 just inedible fiber. The miso soup is abysmal without even so much as the extra effort to put some tofu or spring onions in it. The tamago nigiri was literally bad as in not fresh, rotting, stinking, turned... they served that. However considering how dead this place was at peak dinner time, I'm not surprised they're having a hard time turning over their food stocks. The other good sushi place downtown had a wait time of 40 minutes for a table so it's not just that there's no appetite for sushi. Just not Utage's sushi. The prices that utage charges reflects when it was under better management who cared about the quality of the food. I feel as though the current management is just trying to coast on that reputation while pinching pennies wherever they can. It's not going to pay off as they've lost us forever as customers. We will not be back.

Utage is a great place for Sushi in Athens, Georgia. The service was good, but the food was phenomenal. I had the 18$ special which I chose to upgrade with Tuna Tataki and rolls from list B. The Yum Yum roll and The Bulldawg roll were great. The Tataki was very good as well. The special also included soup and salad. The soup was some of the best I have had. If you find yourself in athens and like sushi you give Outage a try you will be glad you did.

The service was great. I came in for an early lunch with a friend one Friday afternoon. I was greeted quickly and ordered miso soup along with two rolls of sushi, which were of good portion and were absolutely excellent. The food was delicious and also exceptionally priced for the quality sushi that it was. 5/5 would recommend.

Service was good but the food given it's price point was the low light. For the price of the sushi there I might as well get the same quality at my local Kroger at a lower price. If they could lower the prices of the sushi they are serving or have better deals it'd be worth it since the quality of the rice, fish, etc. were just so subpar. Spend your hard earned money elsewhere

Utagi is in my opinion the best Asian cuisine in town and I'm picky with Asian... their ingredients are just at that level of high quality .. the portions are ok.. I'm a fatty so I like to fill up but taste wise it's very good , and reasonably priced . Now on to sushi , I'm no professional in that aspect , it's just not my thing and iv only tried a few types of sushi..but within my experience it was fine .. I stuck to California rolls so I'm in no place to judge their sushi really ... from here on out though utagi will be only choice for Asian

This is a decent place for sushi. We ordered a variety of rolls and sashimi and enjoyed all of it. It wasn't over the top delicious, but it was good. The only dish I couldn't eat was the salad. I love salad and ginger dressing but this looked so unappealing. The lettuce was not fresh and looked wilted and was drowned in dressing. Ginger dressing is normally a bit thick but this was thin and runny. I didn't eat it. The service was good, which was a plus.

Closest to authentic Japanese food. I was truly reminded of when I was in Asia! Love it!!

In agreement with many other reviewers, the fish quality & table side service are both excellent. Definitely the best sushi in town. I'm glad I was recommended this place by a colleague. I will be back.

Best sushi and ramen in Athens!

Great place with tasty sushi and good quality food for reasonable price

Always an excellent meal, and very reasonable for lunch. Staff is super friendly and helpful to newer consumers.

Best sushi rolls in Athens.

Great specials! The servers are usually nice. I come for the sushi roll specials cuz theyre great. The appetizer was cold though :(

Raman is not good, and taste like instant noodles. American sushi are not bad. Sashimi are not so fresh, so you won’t think it’s good….

We sat down and ordered our food at 6:30. There were no more than 3 other tables of people. We had a party of 8. 15 minutes after we ordered they brought out 1 of the orders. 20 minutes later 2 more of the 8 orders came out. 20 minutes later 2 more of the eight made it to the table. Another 20 minutes passed and they brought out 2 more orders. If you’re adding that’s 7/8 orders after 1 hour and 15 minutes. The 8th order never made it. Meanwhile, we watch 3-4 groups come in, get served, and leave. This was a completely ridiculous low level of service. To top it off the owner refused to come talk to us about it and made no apologies, despite the fact that he was the sushi chef that messed up the orders. He left the service people to do the apologizing. I won’t set foot in this restaurant again. You can bet your last dollar on that. If you want a good dining experience go somewhere else.

Great Waiter, didn't catch his name - but very helpful guy with our order and suggestions for a Dane. And he didn't judge us when when we ate all the sushi very very fast, it was amazing. Great appetizers and beer as well

Wife took me out for dinner! :) She said she really enjoyed about a year ago on multiple occasions.She said this isn't the same place it used to be...I had an rather sad bowl of Ramen and they messed wife's Ramen bowl...tuna appetizer was over cooked and dry,lettuce it came with was wilted and dry.... :( server was apologetic and very nice. Sorry people just giving honest report. Would give this place another shot to see if was fluke event,but not at over $50.

The five stars isn’t for the food or the horrible hostess. She’s rude AF, she doesn’t know how to communicate to her colleagues without sounding condescending. First the food: so we decided to take our celebration of my grandsons 11th birthday because he wanted ramen so badly for his birthday dinner (😊). Well we ordered several dishes, ramen bowls, sushi, tempura and cold sake. Ramen: flavorless noodles I mean flavorless broth everything lacked flavor and seasonings. I ordered the Karaage chicken ramen bowl, if I’m not mistaken Karaage is supposed to be crispy fried chicken mine was lightly flowered dusted deep fried chicken chunks. My grandson had the grilled chicken version, he wasn’t happy either my daughter ordered the veggie option. Again NO NO FLAVOR. Sushi: are you kidding me, they looked good but that’s as far as it went. Tempura: came to the table hit and crispy and again no seasoning or flavor. Mango cold Sake: that was actually actually amazingly great. Our server Bryan!!!!!! OMG excellent friendly prompt service. He made sure we were not waiting on anything. He always asked if we needed anything, he asked how is everything ( we lied and said all was good). But he actually saved Utage downtown Athens from loosing out on a $135.00 tab. Utage is very lucky to have his energy and customer service.

The food was very delicious would recommend volcano roll and the donkatsu also the eel nigiri the service was great the place looks really nice and the chef and waiter was really nice 10/10

Don't go with a big group. Kitchen (as of December 2023) is understaffed. People who arrived an hour after us were getting food before us. Wait staff is friendly and helpful. Food is tasty and decently priced.

Always missing items for carry-out orders.

A+ sushi spot with great service! Restaurant was clean, fairly quiet, and made for an enjoyable place for a mother/daughter dinner. We did the sushi boat with 3 types of sushi, 2 salads, 2 soups, and 2 appetizers, and it was more than enough food for 2. Absolutely perfect experience! If we're ever back in Athens, we'd definitely go here again.

Best sushi in Athens. Great lunch specials!

Ok first off M-Thur AYCE all-you-can-eat is made fresh to order. The sushi is fresh and great taste combinations. The service to start may be slower but once you get rolling the sushi keeps flowing. I suggest to try rice cake ice cream afterwards it's a small sweet treat with just the right amount of chocolate sweet. Great roll names that fot this college town. This is definitely worth the stop.

Manager Amy provided Trash customer service. First time getting food from here and very unimpressed.

Get the special roll and you will never be disappointed

The food was good. The service was poor, we were the only patrons...

OMG GREAT SUSHI 🥡🍣🍜🥢

Very tasty food and friendly service. The menu looked diverse, and I'd be interested to try more items off of it. The rainbow roll and the yum yum roll were both delicious.

Jeb was spot on serving guest and handling togo orders. Sushi and hibachi was awesome!

The combinations options are great. Really loved the yum yum roll the Sunday roll and the atomic bomb roll. ... Also my kid loved the chicken and rice.

Waiter was non attentive and sat in the back on his phone. We had to go up to him to tell him we were ready to order. Calamari was overcooked. Sushi was good. Probably wont be coming back.

Other than a bit of a wait i was not disappointed, the chefs there are amazing. And i love the yaki they make. Go get some yaki they are fried noodles and pork. But it's so worth the wait.

Love this place. Utage special is amazing! We always do the deluxe lunch special.

Clean, friendly staff, mandatory masks, amazing food and service. I love it here. Try the chef's choice of sashimi, it's always amazing

I was directed here from the Postmates app. I was not aware that they didn't allow orders from Postmates. The lady there was really rude in telling me so. I do not pick nor place the restaurants that are featured on the app. I only pick up and deliver. I get that she was frustrated from getting people from Postmates come in but I don't have a thing to do with that. Call the corporate number for Postmates to express that frustration. I didn't catch her name but she knows who she is.

hard to find parking

Best sushi in Athens. Really well priced also.

We enjoy eating out. Last night we went to this magnificent restaurant which we didn’t know before. We passed a lovely evening there with very good meal and a nice crew and a talented cuisine. We added this venue in our list and we shall definitely return very soon. Highly recommended.

I would say it is fairly good Japanese-like food. I can always find things I like, but everything seems to have a fusion twist, or seem like another cuisine (eg Thai, Korean) doing Japanese food. The edamame were fresh and perfectly cooked, the rolls were good enough but fell apart. Many dinners were like teppanyaki food on a plate with too much sauce (in my opinion, but Americans seem to love all the sauce).

Utage is my favorite sushi place in all of Georgia. The ramen bowls are HUGE! The sushi is delicious. I recommend the White Tiger Roll. It’s spicy and full of flavor.

Top notch as always!

Always get the boat

Great food and service.

Great place

Excellent sushi and sashimi! Fresh and delicious. The wait staff is knowledgeable and very friendly.

Utage Special rolll

Delicious food and friendly staff. Can't wait to come back!

Delicious food and Large portions! The ginger dressing was the best I've ever had.