Mt. Fuji Sushi Bar & Japanese Steakhouse

I apologize for the amount of time that has passed since the first one, but I have been busy, and haven’t had the chance to get out to eat. Thanks to all who read the first one, and gave such great feedback, I am at it again. I guess I didn’t make it that clear of the name of the first restaurant, so I will make it real easy to find this place. So here we go again. The second place for review is called Mt. Fuji- 459 2^nd Street Pike, South Hampton PA, 18966. Not only is it a Sushi Bar, but a Japanese Steakhouse as well.

I was at the Horsham dog park on Tuesday afternoon with a good friend, when she was telling me about this sushi place she, we’ll call her D, had dinner at a couple weeks before. After her raving about how good it was, and the fact that they do ½ PRICE Sushi on Mondays and Tuesdays, we decided to take the dogs home and head over there for a late dinner. With Sushi being one of my favorite foods, she didn’t have to sell it much.

A 20-minute drive later, we pulled into a small strip of stores, which were mostly closed. There were lots of cars in the parking lot, but with most of the other businesses closed, finding parking was very easy. I offered to drop her upfront, and D made it VERY clear that she was capable of walking from the car (unless it was raining) LOL… As we walked through the front doors a small pond of Koi fish (a ornamental, domesticated variety of the common carp, a symbol of love and friendship) directly in front of us and the hostess to the immediate right. To our surprise, we were told that we would need to wait 10 minutes or so for a table. I was not expecting that, a wait at 8:45 pm on a Tuesday night in the suburbs. Not a big deal for us, we just waited at the bar, and ordered D’s favorite, a bottle of Pinot Grigio, at a very reasonable price of $24. After enjoying a glass, we were told our table was ready, and was I hungry!

The restaurant had a very nice ambiance about it and was decorated well, not overdoing it on the Asian theme. We sat and talked awhile, not looking at the menu yet, as the server came a second time to see if we were ready. So we glanced over the menu, which has the standard sushi bar fare such as the gyoza ($5) and the shumai ($5). We skipped over the appetizers and moved right into ordering rolls. D kept telling me about the Volcano Roll ($11), saying we had to try one, so I ordered 2, and were they good!! From the taste to the presentation, well done. We also ordered shrimp tempura roll ($6), calamari roll ($6) and the crunchy spicy tuna roll ($7). Everything we had was better than I thought it would be. Having worked at Morimoto in Philadelphia for two years, I was kind of spoiled. I had the chance to have some of THE best fish in the City. So when I go out to sushi, I always have high expectations. I was surprised of how good the sushi was. Some places don’t cook the rice correctly and it tends to be very heavy, but the rice was cooked nearly perfect here, and job well done chefs. As we were finishing up, the restaurant wasn’t nearly as crowded, as it was when we got there.

Our server was very friendly and helpful, with only one complaint in this category. Our soy sauce bowl was empty when we went to use it. This may sound like I’m being petty or nitpicking, but this IS a sushi bar. Most people use it, so if it’s on the table, it should be full.

Overall, I had a great experience here, form the décor, to the service, the food and most importantly the company. If you’re in good company, almost any dining experience will be a positive one. So I would give Mt. Fuji a 7.9 out of 10. I recommend it to everyone, a great place to take a date, or even just hang out for some god food and good times. I will even be back here. Happy Eating until next time!

My First Review

So this is something that I have thought about doing for some time now. I love the restaurant business and I love going out to eat, so I figured I’d share my knowledge and experience with all of you. I will offer my best review of the places I travel to and eat at. Also, I’ll try to help you make the best decision possible when venturing out for a night of the house.

I have had the pleasure (and pain) of working in this business since I was 14. This IS what I do! I have been out to some really amazing places, and some really terrible ones. To know the difference, before I sat through some of these terrible experiences, would have been very helpful.

So my first one, is a place that I have been driving past very frequently on my trips to the gym. The owners have obviously spent money on the whole project; it looks great from the outside. But I wonder, have they done their homework? Can they avoid the missteps and failures that had sunk the others before it? I have been anticipating trying it out and have been asking around to see what experiences people have had at this restaurant. I got some positive feedback and figured it was time to check it out for myself.

I rounded up some dinner companions and headed to na Brassa, on a Monday night, figuring that a reservation definitely wasn’t needed. As we pulled up, the same bright red Porsche was pretentiously parked out front in the same spot that I have seen it many times before. But the parking lot was almost filled, a very good sign. So eventually we found a spot and made our way through the large, heavy oak doors.

Once inside, we were quickly taken to our table where our server was waiting. He took our drink order and showed us where the salad bar was and explained the “Gaucho” way. He explained that there was no menu and that cuts of meat would be carried around the room on “swords”. This meant that the meat would be carved tableside and we were allowed to have as much or as little as we liked. It smelled and sounded great so we were all eager to begin.

The salad bar had a nice selection of food. From soups, beans and rice to lettuce salads, cheeses and sliced meats. I was a little disappointed that the Cesar salad, my personal favorite, was empty the 2 times that I was at the salad bar. Some of the cheeses had that oily look to them, like they had been sitting out a while. The cucumber salad was very bland, but the shrimp salad was very tasty. Overall, the salad bar was slightly above average. When the salads were cleaned off our plates, we moved on to the main course.

On each table is a small paper queue card, with one side that says yes and the other says no. Flipping it to the yes side means that you are ready to be engaged. The workers whiz around the room, offering patrons their cut of meat, cut to your temperature liking. na Brassa offers 14 different meat selections that were cooked in the "Churrascaira" (Brazilian rotisserie). Some of the meat did not have much flavor, and tended to be overcooked for my liking. So we asked our server to have some medium rare product sent our way. It took a little over 20 minutes for it to reach our table, and by the time it did, we were already done.

After we all had our fill and were ready to leave, we asked the server for our bill. To our astonishment, we were charged for each soda that we drank, at $2 a piece! So in the end we spent $18 on Fountain soda! How can a place that is all you can eat, charge for each soda?? This just didn’t make any sense!!

I know this place is somewhat new, and is still ironing out the details, but I expected a lot more! The food was very average, at best, and the service needs a definite improvement. I would have to give this place a 5.5 out of 10. I was very disappointed….