FUJI azorean japanese cuisine — Restaurant in Ponta Delgada

Overall, we had a terrific experience. The staff was very friendly and caring and the meal was outstanding. However, I have two comments about the experience that are worthwhile for the restaurant and management to know.

First, the wait to have our order taken seemed quite long from the time we were seated. It was about 20 minutes before we had our food or drink order taken and the restaurant did not seem overwhelmed. That was certainly made up for with the care and attention through the rest of the night but think at least drinks should be served while waiting.

The next comment regards the meal. We did the tasting menu which consisted of eight courses. Prior to the first course, we were served a special dish that was not part of the menu, nor did we order. We were told it was local tuna. However, it looked like four diced pieces of well done steak topped with radish garnish. We tried the dish and my husband and I (who both have a very expansive pallet) both immediately couldn’t stomach it and thought there was something seriously wrong with the food. I don’t say this lightly and don’t mean to come off as rude, but the best way to describe it is that it tasted like what I’d imagine canned dog food to taste like. We were so surprised how bad it was that we considered leaving.

We stayed and had the entire tasting menu which every course was phenomenal. The service was great the rest of the meal as well. The only reason I wanted to mention the first dish is because we sincerely believe that special dish needs to be taken off the tasting menu immediately. It was inedible and almost ruined the rest of the meal. We were also charged for it at the end.

Overall, a great ambiance and meal but hope management sees this and gets rid of that dish (and the charge!) for...

So, why only 4 stars? I was really struggling but the reason was not the food but the service. We had a reservation at 21:30h and until 22h we had nothing to drink. Nt even water. It took forever until we could order. The waitress completely ignored us. This was quite unsatisfying.

The food: The food was really good. As I lived in Japan and worked at several Japanese restaurants I know about the kitchen. We really liked the okonomiyaki, the buta and Tuna Tataki. As an appetizer (Amuse-geule) we had cooked tuna. Very good. A nice start into a nice japanese evening. The sushi was nice. The fish was really fresh. But as I am very critical with the rice I have to admit that I was not really satisfied with the seasoning. For me the temperature was not perfect. It was too cold and therefore could not enhance the flavour of the fish. And the seasoning made the rice "darker" than usual. This is the fact when you use aka-su which was not the case, because I asked the chef if he is using aka-su. The okonomiyaki was amazing. It contained triggerfish and it was a really mouthwatering dish. I could have eaten more!

I know that the restaurant is new and that a new place always need some time that the team works together smoothly. For us it seemed very hectic and a bit chaotic...

We ordered 8 à la carte dishes, 3 Signature dishes and a few nigiri. The edamame was good. Salads were over dressed (we had two different types-spinach and the tuna tataki), the tempura came sitting in sauces- the mushroom “tempura” had batter only on top - the fish “tempura” was sitting in a sweet vinegar akin to what you would use to season sushi rice, and was fried fish but not tempura. The okonomiyaki was a mushy pancake- not little balls with crispy outer batter. The negi toro roll was tiny, made with brown rice and mostly rice and hardly any scallion or toro. The sashimi wasn’t well sliced, but rather crudely and inconsistently. Also, my two companions were served all their food about 20 minutes before I received my final dishes. It took over 2 hours to get our full meal served from the time we sat down and the restaurant wasn’t full by any means - at all times, there were 3 other tables aside from ours. Perhaps they were understaffed due to the holidays? Based on the pricing, everything should have been much better. We were hoping for a more elevated experience after reading the other reviews, but sadly, were...