ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Fordham University loves to boast about its close proximity to Arthur Avenue. Locals and New York foodies refer to the street and the surrounding area as the “original little Italy” or “the little Italy of the Bronx.” Myriad high-quality Italian cafés, delis and restaurants decorate Arthur Avenue, just waiting for well-off parents to spend a little extra cash on their college kid (who deserves the meal, of course). All the boasting, prestige and quality of these Italian-style establishments goes hand-in-hand with higher prices; and many students on an average college budget simply cannot afford a daily meal at Enzo’s or Mario’s. Furthermore, people grow weary of monotonous food options and the complaint of lack of diverse cuisine is not unfounded.

Look closely, however, and you will find a few scrumptious non-Italian establishments in which both your taste buds and wallet will have no problem indulging. Umai Fusion, a Japanese-style sushi house located on Arthur Avenue, is one of these places, but you have to look closely to find it. Tucked between Estrellita Poblana III (a fantastic Mexican spot, speaking of non-Italian fare on Arthur Avenue) and a cigar shop between 187th and 186th streets, Umai Sushi looks more like it belongs somewhere on the Upper East Side than on Arthur Avenue.

Some students may be familiar with Umai as a solid choice for delivery. If you are already a fan of Umai’s cuisine, then do not ignore the sit-down experience that it offers when you are looking for a good place to eat with friends or go on a date. The decor is clean and minimalistic, reminiscent of really any Japanese restaurant ever. Lanterns hang from the ceiling and bathe the indoor seating in dark red. The dining area, which runs straight from front to back with one side lined with booth seating, looks especially dark from the outside, but the lack of light is not nearly as noticeable once you are inside. I must stress that the dining area is very small. My dining partner and I wagered the place’s capacity to be around 40 people. Each table, finished in rich mahogany, seats four to six people, and the chairs and booths are very comfortable.

We ate at noon on a weekday, and it took about 10 minutes for our waiter to take our order. Other than that, the waiter was very amicable in the way that many foreign waiters are. Funnily enough, it took shorter time for him to bring our food than for him to come take our order. But I am nitpicking.

This place is very good in terms of the price-to-quality ratio. For lunch (11 a.m. — 4 p.m.), Umai offers a special: three rolls (24 pieces) for $9.95. The lunch special, and all of the other specials from what I could tell, includes salad or miso soup.

After much debate over what to order (which is half the fun of ordering sushi), we ordered the Spicy Shrimp Roll, the Mango Tuna Roll and the Spicy Tuna Roll. The latter choice was not ours but, upon our request, the suggestion of the waiter.  Personally I was disappointed with the suggestion; I wanted him to tell us to try the Eel and Avocado or some other exotic option.

We were first drawn to and tempted to try the aesthetically beautiful Mango Tuna Roll. The roll included mango slices and fresh tuna (the roll’s name says everything) wrapped in rice and seaweed, and the chef doused the roll with a cream-based, yellow mango sauce which was very sweet and rich. It was closer to a dessert style sushi roll than an entree roll.  The unique sweet sauce paired with the tuna appealed more to me than it did to my dining partner. He thought the taste did not mesh well with the other two rolls, while I thought it made for a nice contrast from the typical sushi flavor.

The other two rolls looked very similar; however, the Spicy Shrimp Roll was superior. Mostly, saying Spicy Shrimp Roll is just tons of fun. Both rolls were traditionally wrapped (rice on the outside, seaweed on the inside), and, other than wasabi and soy sauce, were devoid of any garnish.

Speaking of garnish, the ginger dressing which topped the romaine, red cabbage and carrot salad, was extra, well, gingery. I personally like ginger, but could easily see how it can overwhelm the appetizer salad.

The only thing strange we noticed was the music. It was all house music, but the remixes were very weird. At one point we noticed that the annoying bass beat in the background belonged to a remix of the TLC song “No Scrubs.” Fitting enough I suppose, because when it comes to finding a nearby spot for an inexpensive but very good meal that will not involve pasta sauce, Umai Sushi is indeed “no scrub.”