I came here on a Saturday night for dinner with a friend. Â The place was busy and the noise level was high. Â I enjoyed the over all atmosphere; high energy and a lot of fun.
Watching our chef at the hibachi was entertaining. Â The usual twirling and flipping of knives, tossing food into the mouths of the dinner guests, etc. Â The service was super friendly and fast. Â My dinner (steak & calamari) was delicious and I had plenty left over. Â
Lots of fun for dinner with friends and family friendly. Â 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.
I'm a huge fan of Fuji Steak House. While I do admit that many hibachi restaurants do tend to be all the same: same food, same ambience, same routine, and so on, Fuji offers something that went above and beyond the standards of a hibachi restaurant and created one hell of a dining experience.
The staff has always been great, and the chef's are hilarious. Some places simply cook the food and toss it at you, but they had tricks, laughter, and even literally pouring us mouthfuls of sake (by far the most entertaining experience I've had at a hibachi.)
Naturally, the food is great, and you can get it at a great price as well! They consistently have deals on <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> & <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhalfpricecincy.com&s=41fac7c52c05c2713bfa0e29d80fdb7cef4388aa184c428c95513453d1a17918" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://halfpricecincy.com</a>. Also, there's rarely a wait so you can come right on it. I'll admit it's slightly dive-y, but it makes it homey. They've even got a cute little photo wall. And turtles. Freakin' turtles.
I like Hibachi grills, but with each time I go to one, my skepticism of their authehticism increases. It happened again here and I don't know why. It was excellent food and the chef was very entertaining.
Actually, he was the best part. His knives were fast and humor a presence. Only knock was when he stabbed my face... Just kidding! But I jumped backwards like he was going to when he sent his spatula flying towards my face and caught it with his other tools. That was pretty cool.
I got scallops and steak, and it was very good. The fried rice was probably the best I've had at a Hibachi, so props there. The price was what I expected from a Hibachi, so there were no surprises there.
I've only been here once for the hibachi. It was good, reasonable priced, and standard fare. Perfect for a group, particularly if you're taking someone who has never been. Great for kids.
I usually go for the sushi/sashimi. Always fresh, always served promptly. Again, prices are reasonable. Bonus if you remember to bring a half-price sushi/sashimi coupon from one of those local mailing coupon books, although they do add an 18% gratuity (pre-discount of course) when you use the half-price coupon. I find that quite fair.
Hey, you know you're in for kitsch when you go for hibachi, right? So enjoy the show! Our chef was very enthusiastic and had some great tongue-in-cheek jokes for the setting (Everything here is Japanese. Even I'm Japanese... until 11PM when I become Cambodian).
Notably, Fuji's House offers some non-standard hibachi fare like noodles, calamari and scallops. I had the steak and calamari; my husband had the scallops. Everything was tasty!
Finally, I was impressed with the dining room. I couldn't even count all the tables, all with beautiful pink-flecked black granite. Nice place for a date, birthday, etc... and bring the kids!
This is my favorite hibachi restaurant in Cincinnati (and I guess overall because none of the other ones I have ever been to have shown it up.) I also enjoy some of their more traditional fare, but I almost always end up getting hibachi here.
To start, when you walk in, there is a picture of me and my husband on the window with all the other birthday pictures. This is where we celebrated our 21st birthday so it holds a bit of a special place in my heart. Alongside us and all the other birthday-goers, is a cute little pond (I honestly couldn't tell you if there are koi in it, I would assume as much), then you enter the restaurant. You can eat at hibachi or just normal seating - both are nice and you can get hibachi at the normal seating, it's not cooked in front of you. I have eaten at both and always had good service and enjoyed myself.
As with normal teppanyaki style grills, you sit with other random people (I've had my own table twice here though....once...with just the two of us....) and the guy cooks your food with a little show in front of you. Fuji's isn't too elaborate, but it's still cute. They do the "throw the food in your mouth and catch it game" which is enjoyable as my husband always catches it...then spits it out because he hates vegetables. The show is simple, you can ignore it pretty easily if you want.
The service is good, and they do a good job (mostly) of timing when things are brought out. I love their soup, it is one of my favorite soups. It is just very simple, but good, with a few noodles and scallions. The salad is also good, but sometimes the dressing can be a bit much for me. The hibachi is always delicious - I usually get shrimp or steak (I've ordered filet and chicken as well and never been disappointed.) Â Their sushi, which I have only had once, is pretty good but not my favorite. I like the edamame most as an appetizer.
Their fried rice is my favorite, and after watching them so many times, we can make one pretty similar to it these days, but it just goes really well with their meats. They season it well and not with too much soy sauce - a problem I swear a lot of hibachi places have.
I always enjoy it here. We often go at strange times when it isn't crowded, but we have been when we are the only two people there and when we've been with crowds of people. It is in a weird location, but it is cute inside and you kind of forget that Staples is right next door when you are in there.
Ordered the Filet and Shrimp combo. Â Enjoyed it very much. Â The vegetables and fried rice was also very good. Â I enjoyed the Hibachi show more than Benihanas. Â This was my first time at this restaurant. Â They also have a Sushi counter but that would have been too much too eat. Â Their prices were reasonable. Â Staff was very friendly.
Review Source:Best Japanese food in southern Ohio! Awesome food and atmosphere, really good drinks and plenty of alcohol to choose from. Price is a bit steep, but worth it. I took my husband there for his birthday and paid about 70 for plenty of food and some sake and a few other drinks. Im not from that area of cincinnati and it was a little hard to find, but again worth the search.
Review Source:When Fuji's House opened, it had a very fun 'zen' look to it- contrasting the strip mall it is located in- which made us want to try it out.
We were not disappointed. We ordered the combo meal that came with the full 'show' and some sushi appetizers. Our table was very fun, which is luck of the draw, but we had a great time chatting with the others seated near us. The chef did all the expected tricks like lighting things on fire and throwing things in the air or people's mouths.
It is a good place to go if you're looking for that teppanyaki type of place. The food was good. Prices are about what you'd expect. We haven't been back, but I don't have anything bad to say about the place. Check it out...
Too many years ago, my first sushi experience was at the Benihana in downtown Atlanta. Â Never mind sushi, but at that point, I'd never even been exposed to what Benihana and similar teppanyaki joints are known for: Â the circus sideshow of the teppanyaki master wheeling his cart to the griddle, and then wickedly slicing and dicing meat and veggies at tableside, while flipping, twirling, and gyrating his spatula, fork, and knife with acrobatic flourish. Â And occasionally playing with fire (e.g., the "onion volcano"). Â
At the time, I was completely mystified by the sushi, but my young and unwordly mind perceived, rightly or wrongly, that the teppanyaki show was a somewhat undignified, possibly demeaning, and even cornball cultural spectacle. Â I still don't know what to make of it: Â Is it an exaggerated tourist thing, or does it have cultural legitimacy? Â Nowadays, in a world of sleek, hip SoCal-inspired sushi joints on the one hand and authentic Japanese cuisine on the other, the teppanyaki show seems to me like a quaint throwback. Â (The truth of the matter is that I have no idea how authentic to Japan this Benihana-style spectacle is, and obviously some would say, "Who cares?") Â Anyway, to this date, I've had the teppanyaki experience exactly one time, and it was back in those Atlanta Benihana days.
So we've only been to Fuji's House a couple of times, once because of a very generous coupon and the other night because we wanted some sushi in a hurry and didn't want to deal with the overcrowded whippersnapper madness at a place like Dancing Wasabi. Â Although the giant restaurant was almost entirely empty, we were seated at a teppanyaki table with another couple, who had ordered a teppanyaki feast. Â While we waited for our sushi, I found myself actually enjoying the sideshow. Â Like a kid being entertained by a wacky uncle's parlor tricks! Â The food actually looked and smelled fresh, hot, and tasty, too!
Our sushi came out, and it was probably disappointing by comparison. Â Sushi-wise, Fuji's House is pretty unremarkable. Â By Cincinnati standards, this means that it's OK. Â The raw-fish flavors seemed a bit subdued, and the cooked rolls were sort of bland. Â But at least, the fish was not soggy or freezer-burned, or both, as we have experienced too many times in this area. Â
I can't believe it, but the experience made me want to go back for a little of this old-school teppanyaki razzle-dazzle.
Location is struggling ... the same strip mall as Biggs, Ace Hardware and blockbuster.
We tried the hibachi grill, miso is ok, salad with Ginger tastes like sales with frothy mustard. Â I tried the playboy roll instead ... better than the salad, but can't say this is a destination for sushi.
Typical show, my wife missed the "catch the flying piece of vegetable in your mouth" trick and ended up with broccoli in her eye.
Hibachi was good, food was well prepared, everyone was happy with their meals.
Basically if you are looking for the old Shogun type Hibachi, you won't be disappointed.