Fuji's House

I came here on a Saturday night for dinner with a friend.  The place was busy and the noise level was high.  I enjoyed the over all atmosphere; high energy and a lot of fun.

Watching our chef at the hibachi was entertaining.  The usual twirling and flipping of knives, tossing food into the mouths of the dinner guests, etc.  The service was super friendly and fast.  My dinner (steak & calamari) was delicious and I had plenty left over.  

Lots of fun for dinner with friends and family friendly.  Probably not the best place for a first date, as it gets so noisy that you have a hard time carrying on a good conversation.

Having moved to Cincinnati just a few months ago,there hasn't been much chance to explore the dining options here. I bring a lifetime of experience eating good Asian food, and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by Fuji's House. I've been relying a lot on Groupons (and the like) to direct me toward some good (and somewhat subsidized) eats, and that's how I happened on Fuji's.

Ambiance: The dining area is sectioned into two areas: hibachi and table dining. My friend and I didn't quite feel like hibachi, so we sat in a cordoned off area, protected against the bangs and clangs of the teppanyaki chefs, busily impressing their hungry guests.

Menu: We started with the fried chicken wings appetizers. It comes with 4, but these wings are perfectly breaded and fried for just the right amount of time. It was wonderfully crispy and the breading itself had a peppery kick to it. I'm so not sharing next time! I ordered chicken katsu and my friend ordered yakisoba. My dish came with miso soup and a salad, and even though my friend's dish didn't, the server brought her one of each anyway. Always a nice touch. The salad dressing was amazing. I know it's some thousand island derivative, but whatever they did to it, I'd like to bottle it up and take some home with me. The miso on the ot the other hand was fairly pedestrian and I felt it needed more miso flavor. The chicken katsu was once again fried perfectly, but the panko breading wasn't as flavorful. Or I may have been spoiled by the fried chicken appetizer. I also just felt like it was missing something saucy. It comes with a drizzle of tonkatsu sauce. I've never been a fan of tonkatsu sauce so I was fine with the amount that was on my katsu, but it may not have been enough for other people. I didn't try my friend's yakisoba, but she liked it.

Special considerations: The menu advertises homemade cake for birthday people! That's another nice touch but I forgot to ask for it for my friend, even though it was her birthday! Next time.

Service: English wasn't our server's first language but she communicated well enough that it didn't matter. My friend also has a seafood allergy, but the waitress took that in stride and made great efforts to ensure that none of the dishes contained any seafood. No anaphylactic reaction by the end of the night. Whew!

Final thoughts: I'd definitely come back here. The food isn't terribly authentically Japanese, but it was tasty, and in the end, that's all I care about.

Loved that we were able to walk right in at 7pm on a Saturday night for dinner. Did not like the hibachi chicken. Guess I am just used to Benihana..probably wont go back... Service was really good though!