Umami Burger has been a restaurant that I love since they first opened in LA back in 2009. Friends and I would hit up the restaurant so often that our bank statements started to look like nothing but receipts from Umami. Since discovering their “fifth taste” style of burgers, I’ve found myself exploring their menu on a regular basis. When I was invited to their Downtown LA location, Umami Burger on Broadway, I was excited to see what new items would be on the menu and how they would taste!

The interesting part about Umami is each location is designed differently than the other restaurants. Pasadena has a highly sleek and modern feel to it, Studio City exudes a gothic and lavish aura, while Hollywood comes off as simply down to earth. Walking into the Downtown LA location was almost an oxymoron in the way that it had both a calm and dim yet bustling city vibe. I liked how it had the similarity of being open (as with other locations), but the color scheme and décor gave it a completely different personality.

After walking through the restaurant, it was time for me to sit down and look over the menu. In just a matter of minutes, the waiter greeted me and I already knew what to get.

The first plate to the table was the Japanese Wings ($9). The crispy chicken wings that sat on top of each other were painted in a soy glaze and topped with a Shichimi pepper mix. For the first plate that I tried, I really liked this one. The glaze on the wings made the chicken taste sweet and tangy from the skin all the way to the bone with a nice orange citrus after taste. If this dish could have been all drumettes, I would have thought the chef knew me personally. But then again, it’s wings so I guess I’ll just have to work and tear through them since it’s in the name after all.

After the wings, I was eager to try the Butter Corn ($6) in hopes that it would be just as delicious. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Two ears of corn were covered with grated Parmesan cheese, soy, master sauce, and a lime slice. At Umami, master sauce is the restaurants take on soy sauce which helps to enhance the flavor of meat the Umami way. For the corn, it tasted as if they were grilled a little too long to the point that they were hard to chew. This was the case whether I ate the corn from the cob itself or after I cut the kernels off myself. As a result, it was hard to enjoy the flavor and I could barely taste any sauce. What could have made the corn much better is if the cook time were reduced. Pretty simple.

Next I had the Gochujang Sliders ($9). Almost an intro to the burgers that would come, the guava braised short rib sliders were made with gochujang, and topped with scallions, cucumbers, and thai chili pepper. The two sliders were on the mildly flavored side. While I found the meat to be juicy and tender, I didn’t get the pop of flavor that I was hoping after reading the description. I wouldn’t say the sliders were memorable, but I would say that if you had to decide between the wings and the sliders that you should go with the former, for sure.

At this point, I was ready for an actual entree. As quickly as that thought crossed my mind, the Crispy Diablo ($13) arrived. On the sandwich was a fried chicken breast, dill pickles, spicy coleslaw, and a roasted garlic aioli sauce. From the description I was thinking the sandwich would be fried in a traditional sense—heavily battered and noticeably crispy, but it wasn’t. It was actually a pleasant take on “crispy” as it didn’t taste as crunchy as it could have which meant I could enjoy the entirety of the sandwich a bit more. The pickles added a nice sour accent to the flavor alongside the coleslaw, but it was the aioli that was the standout taste and ultimately my favorite part. Well, after the chicken of course! This sandwich was gone fairly quickly.

The final plate to the table was the restaurant’s exclusive burger, the Trattoria ($13). The patty on this burger is part beef and part bacon lardon. Hearing that almost made me put my napkin in my collar like it was a bib. Alongside the meat is a crispy capicola, arugula, Parmesan frico, roasted garlic aioli, and roasted pine nuts to seal the deal. I was a bit unsure how the pine nuts would taste on the totality of the burger, but had no problem finding out. A few bites in I found the burger to be a bit drier than I would have hoped. Not sure if it was because of the two meats together or the pine nuts, but I doubt that would be the case. Should you order this one, I highly recommend that you have it done medium so you have some effect of ooze and juiciness. While the crispy capicola doesn’t help alleviate any of the dryness, it does add a bit of crunch that is a welcome texture, especially under the garlic aioli.

Dinner at Umami on Broadway had its ups and downs, but overall I was glad to find a few dishes that I really liked. The wings, the chicken sandwich, and after a simple edit on their exclusive burger I was glad I got to try their plates. So much so, I look forward to going back and having them on my next visit. I like how creative Umami is with flavors and hope the next dishes they come up with will be just as unique, if not even better.

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Address: 852 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Phone: (213) 413-8626
Hours: Sunday through Thursday – 11:30am to 11:00pm, Friday and Saturday 11:30am to 12:00am
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