FUJIYAMA — Restaurant in Columbia

My family and I have been to quite a few Hibachi steak houses in different cities, and I can say confidently that the food here is excellent! Fujiyama is a small place, so there is no show at the table (Sure it's fun, but sometimes you just want food, you know?), but the meals we had left no doubt that there is an accomplished staff and Master Chef in the kitchen. My husband and sons had various Hibachi combos of steak and seafood with veggies and fried rice, and I had the Tempura Chicken - fried rice substitute for me was an extra dollar and worth every penny - and all the meals came with the traditional salad and soup. The portions were very generous, and the prices pleasantly reasonable. Even though we started with a generous platter of sushi to share, we spent almost $50 less then usual for the four of us at any other Hibachi steak house we have been to. I think we will be treating ourselves to Fujiyama's for many more meals during the year instead of saving Hibachi only for our customary birthday dinners. The service was quick, attentive (I never made it to the bottom of my hot tea cup once, our waitress was so on top of refills) and very pleasant - and I LOVED the fact the table was set with chopsticks so we didn't have to keep asking for them. If you are looking for Japanese food south of Nashville - look no farther - you found it here...

Absolutely terrible service and this was the places second chance after they added a ten dollar tip onto the bill of my partners 80 year old grandfather when he refused to tip for a cold and tough plate of pork. We waited 30 minutes from ordering for our starter then another 20 for our main.. When it came, my dish was so cold it might as well have sat in the freezer for a couple of hours. I said this to the waitress and she offered to microwave it for me.. maybe it's just me, but I didn't want to pay $17 for a microwaved plate of shrimp but I was willing to wait whilst they cooked me another one. She said she would get someone to come and speak to me and that was fine, my partner started eating as we were hungry having waited at this point for almost an hour. No one came and eventually another waitress asked if I would like a to go box. It was clear at this point that nothing was going to turn this evening around. I said you can bring the bill but I'm only paying for our drinks and the starter. An argument followed in front of the whole restaurant as the older waitress lost her temper and tried to charge me for mains. I paid for what I intended to and we left shortly. Terrible service and terrible...

So we have been looking for a good place that has wonderful sushi options and also good cooked meal options as well. The selection is very good and have a lot of options we want to try in the future. Today we tried the gyoza appetizer as well as the cheese wontons. Both very good. My husband had the general Tso chicken and I tried 3 sushi rolls the Boston roll, the Amy roll and the Fireball roll. They were excellent. The fireball was spicy but not overwhelming as I can’t handle too much spice.

The atmosphere is really pleasant with good decor and makes for a great date night option. The staff is amazing as well and very pleasant.

The price was also the best surprise as we got two appetizers and he got a full meal and I got a special roll and two standard rolls and spent less than $60 before tip. However we did just have water with our meals so please keep that in mind.

We will definitely be back to try other things because this is definitely a place we will be...