Sumo Japanese Steak House

By Christopher Carroll   

Sumo Japanese Steak House in Edmond offers fun and affordable hibachi dining, sushi, and other Japanese specialties. Its casual feel and friendly, knowledgeable staff make it an ideal place for both longtime fans and newcomers to sample a fantastic variety of Japanese cuisine.

Transplants and visitors to the metro area are often surprised at the quality and variety of Asian restaurants in central Oklahoma. Thanks to an Asian community that has grown and thrived in the metropolitan area since the late 1970s, the region is a hotbed of excellent Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, and Japanese eateries. The city was even featured in a 2003 National Geographic article highlighting the uniqueness of our "Lemongrass on the Prairie" culture and the beginnings of the extensive revitalization of Oklahoma City's bustling Asian District.

Several decades after the initial infusion of Asian culture in the region, increasingly diverse outposts of Asian cuisine have sprung up all over the metro area. A number of sushi bars and Japanese steakhouses particularly appeal to diners with a taste for fresh, healthy food and exotic atmosphere. 

Conveniently located on the Broadway Extension just south of 15^th Street, Sumo has offered entertaining and delicious hibachi dining and other Japanese specialties for almost five years.  Guests are welcomed into a roomy, comfortable dining area highlighted by pale wood, water accents, and sumo-themed decor. Sleek, modern furniture is blended with traditional silk wall decorations while a brightly lit sushi bar and regular bar areas highlight one side of the room.

While sushi and regular menu items are available at the bar itself or at the tables in the main dining area, another separate, spacious dining room offers more unique seating options.  Around the corner from a large aquarium is an area of traditional tatami-style dining on elevated platforms with low tables. The far side of the room features tables surrounding the hibachi grills where Sumo’s entertaining chefs prepare meals directly in front of their guests.

Befitting its large and varied menu, Sumo attracts a diverse array of guests who are drawn by the restaurant’s casual atmosphere, delicious food and affordable prices. Whether diners are interested in reliable favorites or are seeking to expand their palates with more adventurous items, Sumo offers something to please anyone with a taste for Japanese cuisine.

For guests seeking a little extra entertainment with their meals, Sumo’s hibachi grills offer a fun and fascinating dining experience with a front-row view of a chef at work. Sumo’s entire staff is especially friendly, informative and attentive, and the chefs seem to be having as good a time as their customers while preparing their freshly grilled entrées.

A hibachi dinner at Sumo begins with a cup of tasty miso soup and a light salad, followed by an appetizer portion of freshly grilled shrimp. The chefs warm up with displays of quick knife and utensil tricks, with the occasional construction of a flaming volcano of onion slices or a smoke-puffing choo-choo train of vegetables included for good measure. 

The proceedings become slightly more serious as the chefs prepare a variety of main entrées and combinations tailored to each diner’s specifications. Sumo offers a wide array of main course hibachi entrées, including grilled chicken, steak, filet mignon and all-vegetable selections. The extensive seafood options include grilled shrimp, salmon, scallops and lobster tails, and each entrée is served with a side of grilled vegetables and freshly prepared rice. The hibachi entrées can also be paired in every imaginable combination, while lighter portions of any main entrée can also be ordered a la carte. The chefs report the most popular combinations are chicken and steak or shrimp and steak, while the varieties of seafood combinations offer options for lighter appetites. 

Children's portions of chicken, steak, salmon and shrimp are also available, and the hibachi chefs seem to particularly enjoy entertaining their younger guests with death-defying displays of well-rehearsed fire tricks and knife juggling. Children’s entrées are also served with soup, salad, grilled vegetables and fried rice, while dessert options like fried ice cream, fried banana, and green tea, ginger, or red bean ice cream offer a unique ending to the hibachi dining experience. 

Guests seeking a more traditional dining experience can enjoy Sumo’s regular appetizers and lunch and dinner menu in the main dining room. The soy-based miso soup or seafood soup are excellent light starters, while salads can be accented with avocados, marinated squid or crabmeat. Other notable appetizers include pan-fried gyoza pork dumplings, fried tofu with tempura sauce, and deep-fried haru maki spring rolls.

Sumo’s selection of regular dinner entrées is highlighted by the very popular tempura options. The impossibly lightly fried selections of vegetables, chicken, shrimp and seafood in delicious tempura batter are served with a tasty dipping sauce and white rice, as well as appetizer portions of miso soup and green salad.

An array of teriyaki options includes chicken, shrimp and beef entrées broiled with the distinctive, sweet Japanese sauce. Popular teriyaki combination plates include the Seafood Teriyaki special with salmon, shrimp, crabmeat and scallops, while the Beef Negimaki entrée features teriyaki-broiled beef rolled with scallions. Vegetable and tofu teriyaki plates appeal to lighter appetites and vegetarians, while the House Teriyaki special includes a generous serving of chicken, beef, shrimp and scallops.

Sumo also features an impressively extensive sushi menu, available both at the bar and in the main dining area. The made-to-order rolls, nigiri, and sashimi are prepared from seafood shipped fresh every other day to ensure high quality, and Sumo’s menu combines items familiar to sushi-lovers, with unique specialties created by the restaurant’s own sushi chefs. Sumo’s sushi items can be enjoyed as appetizers, as a la carte side items, or as a full meal.

Sushi aficionados will enjoy favorites like the California Roll with crabmeat, avocado and cucumber, as well as standard items like the Spicy Tuna Roll and the sweet Futomaki Roll with crabmeat and egg. House specialties include the restaurant’s most popular roll, the Spicy Cowboy, featuring shrimp tempura and avocado in a roll topped with crab and a spicy house-made sauce. Another local favorite is the Red Canyon Roll, with fried calamari, avocado, and spicy sauce inside, topped with baked crawfish, eel sauce and Japanese pepper. Sumo features over 60 more varieties of sushi rolls, including soft-shell crab, eel in a sweet barbecue-like sauce, salmon, tuna, and even a Fried Oyster Roll.

For lovers of more traditional sushi, the simple and delicious nigiri and sashimi offerings include everything from octopus, eel and sea urchin to a variety of fish roe, tofu and egg. Diners can enjoy daily specials and entrée combinations selected by the chefs with assortments of both rolls and nigiri, and a surprisingly affordable all-you-can-eat option allows both veterans and sushi newcomers to sample the amazing variety and find new favorites. Sumo’s chefs are also constantly innovating and adding new specials to the menu, and they are always glad to tailor an item to the customer’s preferences.

Sumo’s lunch menu includes lighter portions of the hibachi grill entrées, as well as sushi specials with soup, salad and sushi roll combinations. While almost all lunch items are $10 or less, the very popular “Bento Box” lunch features a choice of teriyaki or tempura entrée along with a California Roll, rice, choice of shrimp or pork dumpling, soup and salad for only $7.95.         

Sumo offers a truly impressive variety of Japanese items to appeal to both longtime fans and newcomers to this delicious cuisine. The restaurant is open from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and Sumo’s already affordable menu items are offered at a 15 percent discount from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m.